A New Name

Well, thank you, Mr. Dinegger. Good morning, everyone. I told him I could have done that.

I could have just let you know about the meeting. He didn't have to come all the way back up here. But happy Family Day! This is one of my favorite days of the Feast of Tabernacles. It's such a special treat to have the children's choir and to be able to see their smiling faces and that bottled-up exuberance. We talk about sometimes wanting to bottle up that energy that kids have, right? Trying to find some way to bottle it up so that we can somehow use it for ourselves. And yes, they're energetic, they're exuberant, but if we could bottle up that joy that is just wrapped up in those young people when they're so excited to get up here and sing and to praise God together, that would be something indeed. So, again, Family Day is one of my favorite times during the Feast of Tabernacles. We have a chance to get together as a spiritual family to reflect on the parallels with the Kingdom of God, with our collective role in it, and to spend some good quality time together getting to know one another in the way that God designed it. Shared experience, having fun together, enjoying each other's company. It's just such an incredibly cool way to get to know one another, to build those relationships. In addition to Family Day, as was mentioned, today happens to be Youth Day as well. I appreciated Mr. Jr., Mr. Pate, Luke Pate. Luke and I go way back. We remember him from when he was about as they say, about as high as the knee on a grasshopper. A real little kid, back running around Northwest weekends and running around camps. It's been just a pleasure to see him growing up into the man he's becoming. And I certainly appreciated the young man who gave this permanent message today, Mr. Lynn Pate, who we go way back as well. And I have certainly appreciated his friendship and his mentorship over the year, and his example of how to live this way of life that we all lead through such difficult trials of life. It has been just very inspiring in that regard. I'm very, frankly, incredibly thankful to be able to say that about many of you in this room today. There are many of you in this room where our relationships go back a number of years. You remember me when I was a child? I'm sorry. But we've learned from one another. We've grown together. And, you know, it is interesting when you consider the Feast of Tabernacles, and when you look around this room of people who are gathered here today, when you consider what brought all of us together here in Montana, it's remarkable.

So many of us have little in common except the book that's sitting on our lap and the calling that God has offered to us. How else and when else would all of us come together in one place to be able to get to know one another like we're going to have the opportunity to do so today in family? It wouldn't happen. We are of diverse backgrounds.

We are very different. Yet we are together, and we are held together in unity by the calling that God has given us. We would have never known one another if not for God choosing us and drawing us to His done and really beginning our collective journeys together. We're all together today as family of God. And I'd like to start by asking my spiritual brothers and sisters, my family, a question. What does your name mean?

What does your name mean? There's a very good chance—I would venture a guess most of you have at least a basic understanding of the meaning of your name. You probably have some idea as to its cultural background, whether it's Irish, whether it's German, whether it's Chilean, whatever it might be.

You may have some backdrop as to what that cultural origin of your name is. You might even know why your parents selected that specific name for you. Why, for example, you're a Dave and not a Tim or a Franz. Or perhaps why you're a Liana and not a Lista or a Monica. Maybe you're named after a grandfather, a grandmother, a beloved aunt or uncle, or perhaps your own father and mother.

You might be named after your own parents. But for those of you who don't know, it's important to recognize that your name was specifically chosen. It was selected purposefully. It represented a moment in time. It represented a pattern in thought and expression of love that your parents decided upon when they decided what they would name their little boy or their little girl.

Names are important. They're one of the first things that people learn about you. You know, one of the first things we mention—what's your name? Okay, nice to meet you. It's one of the very first things people learn about you. And it's something you'll carry with you your entire life. It goes with you. It ends up on that stone that gets marked at the end of our days as well.

As such, as parents, we don't typically enter into that decision lightly. We tend to research, we tend to consider, we tend to kind of roll around that name a little bit and think about it. And we try to make our selections carefully because we do recognize it follows the person the rest of their life. So we try to make sure that we make our selections very carefully. For those of you with children, you might remember the naming process with fondness or a degree of trepidation, depending on your individual circumstances as you went through the process. Sometimes the name just takes care of itself.

Sometimes it's very simple. You know, you have an idea in mind already. Maybe the baby name book happens to open to the perfect page and you see the name and you just go, that just fits. That's perfect. But you also realize, too, there are other times it's a bit more of a challenge. It doesn't quite want to fit. And you may spend a significant amount of time thumbing through the pages of the book entitled 35,987 baby names for you. It's this thick, size 4 font. Nothing but names.

And you're going through and you're making lists and you're trying to decide, what are we going to name this kid? We want it to fit. We want it to be something we're both comfortable with. My dad wanted to name me Bud. Yep. Bud Light. True story. True story. Thankfully, you can see that my mom won that debate. And I was named Ben instead. When my wife and I chose the name for our oldest son, we decided to name him Aiden. And we chose that name because it meant little fire or fiery spirit.

And when Aiden was in the womb, he was a kicker. And so when you would talk to him, he'd kick you. He'd try to kick right through the side of the womb. When Shannon would do anything, he kicked her. Constantly. In fact, after one day, she said it felt like there was a World Cup match going on in her stomach. She said, huh, he's kind of feisty. We came across the name Aiden. We saw the meaning of the name.

We liked it. It had the background that we were looking for. And it just fit. Both of our other children, we chose their names for very specific purposes. They represented moments in our lives, places where we were at that time in our life. Things we were thinking about, hopes and dreams that we happened to have for them. As parents, the names that we select for our children are deeply personal. They have meaning.

They're important. You know, this point was driven home on a recent trip to Nigeria. I'd like to share just a bit of that experience with you today to help set the stage for the direction that we're heading. The title of the message today is A New Name. It's a new name. A little over a month ago, my brother-in-law Carl Kester and I had an opportunity to travel to Lagos, Nigeria in support of the United Youth Camp program there. While it was not the first time to West Africa for either of us, it was Carl's first trip to Nigeria. And it was my first time traveling to West Africa without the senior pastor, Paul Moody.

Some of you may be aware, you may have heard, but Darla was diagnosed with cancer just prior to the camp season this year. She's fine, thankfully. The surgery went well. She's recovering beautifully. We spoke with her just before we came here. We stopped for the Sabbath in Spokane. She spends her greetings to you all.

But she is doing very, very well. In fact, her family and them are all up in a Soyuz for the feast this year while Paul is in Ghana. But with Mr. Moody unable to attend the camps this year, the various pastoral responsibilities while we were there fell on my shoulders. I appreciate when I go with Paul having the ability to go, I don't know, we should ask Mr.

Moody. I love that. I'm doing the same thing here at the Feast of Tabernacles. I don't know, we should ask Mr. Dinegger. And then he sends them back to me. Anyway, we just back and forth, right? The morning after we arrived on this trip, Mr. Akinbo, Oladari Akinbo packed Carl and I and a few brethren into his Toyota van in order to drive us out to a section of Legos that I'd not been to before.

In fact, Dari told us that he hadn't really taken any Americans out to this particular part of Legos before, including those that were in the Ministry. This was a first-time trip for any of the Americans that had ever come to Nigeria in this particular part of Legos. And it wasn't because it was a rough part of town, it was just there was no real reason before to be able to go to that location.

So we headed out there with a couple of the members, or to visit, I should say, a couple of the members of the Legos congregation. A man by the name of Olafemi, Akintalarin, and his wife, Abadesi. Eight days earlier, she had given birth to a son, and as we drove to their home, we learned that we were going to visit them in their newborn child and have the opportunity to experience a very special ceremony to the Yoruba people. The Yoruba are one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. They make up a large majority of the population of Legos itself, which is a huge city. It's roughly 23 million people. It's a very large city.

They make up the largest share of the population of Legos, as well as the southwestern part of the country and the majority of the Legos congregation. Carl and I were the only people present that didn't speak Yoruba. We were the only people there. So the first half of the ceremony was being translated for us so that we knew what was going on. And then, partway through, Darne said, everybody's good enough with English, we can do the last half of the English for Carl and Ben's sake. And they said, yes, absolutely.

So we had a chance to experience it in both languages. But Iso Omoloruko, which is the name of this particular ceremony, is the Yoruba naming ceremony. And it is always performed on the eighth day of the child's life. The child's name is given to that child on the eighth day of their life. Some of you may be tickling parts of your brain, recognizing that number. There are connections in Judaism. There are connections in what God has given his people throughout time. And it's suspected and it's thought that at some point in time the Yoruban people had contact with someone of Israelite-ish origins. They do their naming and they do their circumcision on the eighth day, just as we would see in other ways.

Prior to that point, prior to the eighth day, only the parents know the name of the child. It has not been revealed to anyone else. It has not been revealed to the grandparents, aunts, uncles, anybody. The naming of children in the Yoruba culture also always acknowledges God. The Yoruba word for God is Olua. And so when you hear names like Oludari or Olufemi, the Olu is a reference to God.

In fact, Oludari is a shortened form of Olua d'Amelare, which means God has vindicated me. Olufemi means God loves me. Olu is that piece that indicates God in the name. Carl and I entered into this family compound. It's usually done at the patriarchal compound. Honestly, feeling a little out of place as we kind of strolled in here. We're the only ones that are not part of the immediate family or part of the group that has known this family for an extremely long period of time.

We are complete and total outsiders to an extent that have been invited to one of the most intimate, familial ceremonies of a child's life. But because we were part of a spiritual family, we were invited into this very special and very intimate time. We sat down among aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins and nieces and nephews trying to get to know everybody and talk to everybody.

The women are cooking in the back over gas cooktops, preparing this huge feast that will be eaten after the ceremony is over with. Dari conducted the ceremony, thankfully. I didn't quite know what to expect. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Especially since the first half of it was in Yoruba. I just kind of sat there until he told me what to do. But I was asked to pray a prayer blessing over the child, similar to what we would do for blessing of little children here in the United States.

During the ceremony, those that were gathered, they sang praises to God. They thanked Him for the blessing of the child, for the child's life, for his health, for the protection of the child going forward, for the protection of the parents. For them to raise that child to love God, to point Him in the direction of God. To, as we sometimes say, children are arrows in a quiver, correct? We pull the bow back, we point them in the right direction, and then eventually we have to let go.

And we pray and we hope that they are pointed in the right direction, that that arrow flies true. They thanked God for wisdom. They asked God for wisdom to raise this child, for Him to be pointed to God and develop a relationship. And then the family eagerly awaited the revealing of the child's name.

Most Nigerian children have more than one name. It's a little unnerving at first, when you have a kid introduce themselves by one name, and then later you find out they have a second name, or third, or eighth.

Name. And they go by all of them, which can be a little bit disconcerting sometimes. They have a primary name, which is their legal name. The grandparents choose a name that they will use to call the child. Aunts and uncles choose a name that they will use to call the child. Brothers, sisters, etc. And they'll also have a Christianized name, which is the one that the Americans pronounce when they come over. Because the other ones are hard to pronounce, oftentimes.

You may have a kid by the name of Michael or Gabriel, and they're all biblical names. They're all out of the Bible.

When the name was finally revealed, the child's name was Uluwa-Shei. The family rejoiced and praised God. Uluwa-Shei means God has done this. God made this. God provided this child for us.

Femi and Abist All of the other names were one by one revealed, and every time they revealed one, everybody rejoiced and they praised God and they sang and they danced. The joy was palpable. Carl and I even danced a little bit.

You know, with our impeccable rhythm. Uluwa-Shei, as a name, was not chosen arbitrarily. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't something where they randomly picked something out of a baby book. His parents spent the better part of eight days of their young child's life looking at this beautiful child and thinking, what will we call you? How will we honor God through your name?

For eight days, even Uluwa-Shei did not know his name. He's only eight days old. He wouldn't remember it even if they told him. But part of the process is the parents don't reveal the name to their own kid. The child is surprised at the reveal of their name at the eighth day of their life.

Even he was unaware of what his name was to become.

Let's turn over to Isaiah 62.

Isaiah 62.

Isaiah 62 is one of those passages that is millennial in its scope.

It describes events of a time to come when Christ returns with his reward, returns with his work before him.

Isaiah 62 and verse 1.

We'll go ahead and read through this section here.

Isaiah 62 and verse 1 says, For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns.

The Gentiles shall see your righteousness in all kings your glory.

And you shall be called by a new name.

Which the mouth of the Lord will name.

A name that they will not know, but a name that the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be termed desolate.

But you shall be called Hephizba in your land, Eula.

For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married, for as a young man marries the virgins, those thou, your sons marry you.

And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

There will be a name given to God's people in the future.

That God will utter, that God will name, and God will rejoice over his people.

Verse 6, I've set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord do not keep silent, and give him no rest until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem appraised in the earth. The Lord is sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength. Surely I will no longer give your grain as food for your enemies. The sons of the foreigners shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored. For those who have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord. Those who have brought it together shall drink it in my holy courts.

Go through the gates. Prepare the way for the people. Build up the highway. Take out the stones. Lift up a banner for the people.

Indeed, the Lord is proclaimed to the end of the world, say to the daughter of Zion, Surely your salvation is coming. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called thot out, a city not forsaken.

This passage in Isaiah 62 describes restorative work, describes the return of Christ, describes the gathering together of the remnant of God. Tucked into this passage is a statement that God's people, those whom he has called, those whom he works with, the Israel of God, will receive a new name, a name that is uttered by the mouth of God himself. Unknown to us at this time, unknown up to the point that it is revealed, brethren, you will be called by a new name. Collectively, individually, you will be called by a new name. This isn't something that's unheard of. This isn't something that is not without precedent in Scripture. God is a loving Father. He knows us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He's called us. He's provided for us. He's given us opportunities and blessings and works with us according to the purposes for our life. Names are important. Names have meaning.

In some circumstances, God ordains a name directly. He states in Scripture, you will call your child this. It is ordained by God that that is the name of the child.

We see that in an example of Isaac, the way that Isaac was named, as a result of Sarah's response and Abraham's response. You know, laughter adhering that they were going to have child. And God said, all right, fine. We're going to name him Isaac. It means laughter. That's going to be the name. You've set the name, right? You've made your decision.

We also see in the book of Luke the promise of John the Baptist's birth and a specific declaration that God made through the angel Gabriel. Let's go to Luke 1. Luke 1. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 5. We'll take a look at how this ended up operating and working.

Luke 1 and verse 5 is where we'll pick it up at.

Luke 1 and verse 5, and we'll read for just a little bit here to kind of get the background to the story, says, There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias. Of the division of Avizna, his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Okay, so we get an introduction here to John the Baptist's parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth. Get a background into their ancestry, their families, going back. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well-advanced in years. And so, you know, we're reaching a point very similar to Abraham and Sarah's situation, where there's no child, there's no heir, and the time is ticking. The clock is ticking, so to speak. So it was that while he was serving his priests before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, so as he was set up in the way that he was, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. So he was on the incense duty, and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Verse 11. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. You know, you might have that response when all of a sudden somebody's there that wasn't there before, right? But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. That name was declared by God, you will call him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. God sends this angel to meet with Zacharias at the temple to inform him that he would be a father. I can't imagine too many of you received the news that you were going to be a father in this manner. It may have been equally as shocking, but this is something that is hard for us to fathom. I mean, it's really hard for us to fathom as to how this process happened with Zacharias. But the angel went on to explain what they were to name him. They were to name him John. And John means God's gift.

We see Zacharias question the angel as to the veracity of his claim. Like, are you sure? I'm kind of old. My wife's kind of old. Are you sure? Kind of asks him. Gabriel basically says, Look, bub, I stand in the presence of God. You can trust the message. You know, you can trust the message. It's going to happen. But he also said that because of your unbelief, that you will be mute to the day of his birth. And from that point forward, Zacharias didn't speak until the day of his son's birth. So let's skip a little bit. Verse 57. We'll move our way down.

Verse 57. By the time we hit Luke 1, 57, Elizabeth's full time had come for her to be delivered. She'd reached full term at that point, and she brought forth a son. She brought forth a son. And we see that the promise the angel gave them was fulfilled. They brought forth the son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. And verse 59. So it was on the eighth day.

On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. So on the eighth day, they come to circumcise the child and decide that he's going to be called after his father. You know, there is a, at that time, at least, it's not so much anymore, but a practice among Judaism to name after members in your family, ancestors.

Today, not after living ancestors, but apparently at that point in time, that was something that was being done. It is not so much something that's being done today, except in small pockets of Judaism around the world. But what they found was that Elizabeth threw him a curveball.

She threw him a little bit of a curveball here in verse 60. So in verse 60, says, His mother answered and said, No, he should be called John. His name should be John. So sometime between the revelation to Zacharias, or of separate revelation to Elizabeth, or Zacharias communicating that by writing, we see in a second he has a writing tablet that he uses to communicate.

It could have been that he let her know, No, the child's name is John. But they said to her, There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name. There is no precedent in your ancestry to name your child John. It's not there. Why not Zacharias? Why not, you know, something else? Somebody that's in your family. Why not one of those names? Verse 62 says, They made signs to his father, trying to kind of get Zacharias' attention. What would you have him called? Verse 63, he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, saying, His name is John.

His name is John. So they all marveled. And immediately, at that point, his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed. And noticed the first thing that came out of his mouth? It says he spoke, praising God. He didn't go, Huh! I can talk! He spoke, praising God. It was the first thing that came out of his mouth. The child's name, in this case, was important. It meant something. He was to be God's gift. Not just to Elizabeth, not just to John, but to the whole world, as he went forth in his purpose, full of God's Spirit, to pave the way for the Messiah.

John's name was ordained by God. God knows the plans that he has for his people. He knows their thoughts. He knows the desires of their hearts. So much so, in fact, that at times, as God has worked with his people, he's found it necessary and appropriate to change their names. There are examples that we see in Scripture where God found it appropriate to change their name, to give them a new name.

These name changes frequently reflect a change in purpose, a change in character, a new direction, or a new phase of life. Let's go over to Genesis 17. We'll see one of these examples. Genesis 17. The obvious example is Abram to Abraham, or Sarai to Sarah, which we'll take a look at here in Genesis 17. Genesis 17. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1. Genesis 17, verse 1 says, When I was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me, and be blameless.

And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Abram, which was his name at the time, fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. So he's given him a purpose, a plan. He's given him what his covenant would be.

No longer shall your name be called Abram, which means high father, but your name shall be Abraham, father of many nations. Your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. Verse 7, I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your descendants after you and their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

God told Abraham no longer shall your name be called Abram. Because of his plan for Abraham, because of his plan to make him a father of many nations, to make his offspring like to stand on the seashore and the stars in the sky, he said, I'm naming you Abraham because you are a father of many nations. He gave Abram a new name. God gave him a new name that was representative of God's plan for him, of his purpose, of his will. Sarah had a similar situation in Genesis 17 if you skip down to verse 15.

Again, establishing this precedent in Scripture that we see that names are a little fluid. They can be changed at times. They can be operated with. Genesis 17, we'll go down to verse 15, says, Then God said to Abraham, as for Sarai your wife, her original name, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah, princess, shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations.

Kings of peoples shall be from her. God tells Abraham, not only am I giving you a new name, I'm giving Sarai a new name as well. Her purpose has become and has been realized in this situation. She will be a mother. She will carry the son of promise by whom those promises to Abraham would be delivered.

She was to become a mother of nations, a mother of kings. Her purpose changed. Her character changed. She became something more than she was before. She became what God intended her to be. And as a result, God changed her name. He changed her name from Sarai to Sarah. Let's take a look at one more example. One more example. Genesis 32. Genesis 32.

We see a story of a wrestling match that I wish I was a spectator during. It would have been fascinating to see this occur. We know the story of Jacob, how he obtained the blessing from his father Isaac, how he traveled to Laban and from Laban here, in this case, to meet with Isfah. And along the way, he encountered the word in the form of a man. He engaged with him and he wrestled him until dawn. Genesis 32, verse 22, says, He arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabach. He took them, he sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. So he sent his belongings and his people and his family all along beforehand. Verse 24, Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. Verse 26, he said, Let me go for the day breaks, but he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Jacob was tenacious. He hung on, he refused to let go, he wrestled with God until morning. He reached out, God reached out and touched Jacob's hip, and it dislocated. There was a tendon in there that he got dislocated. But when he saw that that didn't even stop him, that he was still hanging on, he was still wrestling, he was still holding on, and Jacob demanded a blessing, God relented. And Jacob demanded a blessing, God relented. Notice his words in verse 27. Notice his words in verse 27. So he said to him, God said to Jacob here, What is your name? said Jacob. He said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed. God tells Jacob, I am giving you a new name. You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed. God's plan moved forward, Jacob stepped into his role, and his character changed. If you look at the character arc of Jacob, he was a changed man after this event. He operated differently, most of the time. You know, like most humans, there's situations where we kind of back and forth a little bit. But he became a different person after this event. He was changed. God later confirms his covenant with Israel, illustrating the blessings that God promised to Abraham, and his purpose for Jacob was in the process of being fulfilled. He changed his name appropriately. So what about us? What about those of us who are called today? When we are changed and become what God has intended us to become, sons and daughters in his family. As we drove through the streets of Lagos after the naming ceremony, Lagos is a labyrinth of streets. I don't know how anybody finds any way around in that city. It blows me away. I will look up and go, Oh, I know where we are! This is right next to that one thing! And Dari's like, No, it's like 10 miles over there. Completely wrong part of town. So it's a labyrinth of streets. And as we're driving through these streets, I couldn't help but connect the naming ceremony that we'd experienced with the symbolism of these days. Of the Feast of Tabernacles. These days that we're gathered here to commemorate. Let's go ahead and turn over to the book of 2 Corinthians. Let's turn over to the book of 2 Corinthians. And we'll work on making the connection.

In the book of 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul reflects on the temporary nature of this life. He reflects on the temporary nature of this life. We heard about that in his sermon at this morning. This idea that, you know, we have aches and pains in this physical body. We've heard about that a few times throughout the Feast. Paul describes this earthly tabernacle as a tent. Paul is a tent maker, something he's familiar with. You know, it's a good analogy, and it's a great analogy. You know, from a standpoint of what we are in this life. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 1. This particular section and this understanding, it really has great meaning to us during these days. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 1 says, For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, our physical life is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We talk about putting on that glorious spirit body, the one that doesn't have all the snap-crackle-pops of life. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. You know, we groan in this life, in this physical life, this temporary state of being. We feel the aches and the pains, and we desire more. We desire what is to come.

We desire what God has promised us and assures us of.

We desire a full realization of the down-payment of the Spirit of God that we've received, when we receive the full realization of what that down-payment represents. Someday, this earthly tent will collapse.

That's it. It's over.

In Nigeria, we stay right on the beach. We don't have a camp facility like this for our camp in Nigeria. We pack everything in and pack everything out. And you're camping right on the Gulf of Guinea. It's beautiful. It's really beautiful. But it's windy, and we had a storm blow in one night. We had these really nice REI Kingdom 8 tents, you know, really solid tents. Snap the tent pole right in half. And just... And you know, it's amazing when one of those goes to...

What kind of dance your tent will do? Right? So when one of those things went, all of a sudden, everything else starts to get a little bit wobbly. Everything else starts to go. That's what it's like with our physical life. Something goes, and everything else starts to go. Something goes, and all of a sudden now we're having pains, and we're having other things as well. But these days are symbolic of this temporary nature, of this physical limitation of this creation. We dwell and boost for a time during this feast, in part, to illustrate this temporary nature and the need for eternity.

An eventual shift from a temporary physical creation to the glorious, everlasting kingdom of God. Physical to spiritual, temporary to eternal. One day, Benjamin Light will cease to exist. I will die. I hope it's not soon, but it's going to happen at some point in time. This earthly tabernacle will be destroyed, and at the appointed time I'll be resurrected, or I'll be transformed into a spirit being, and put on that heavenly habitation that we're all awaiting on. And when that happens, I, we, you, will receive a new name.

A name that the Father knows, that has not yet been revealed to us or to anyone else. Because we have changed. Because our character is different. Just like Abraham, just like Sarah, just like Israel, we have become something more at that point. We have become what God intended us to be. Sons and daughters in his family. When that happens, he will bestow upon us a new name. The Apostle Paul talks with you, and almost just scents the anticipation in his words in Romans 8. Let's go ahead and turn over there. Romans 8.

Romans 8. The Apostle Paul talks about the anticipation of this time. There's an eager anticipation for this revealing.

Romans 8, verse 19, says, well, we'll read verse 18. I just can't help. I don't want to leave a tailing scripture. For I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The aches and the pains and the things that we experience in this physical life can't even compare to what we see coming and what we understand to be coming. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered. And I love the way this puts it. The creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and it labors with birth pains together till now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption, for the redemption of our body.

Just like the family eagerly awaited the revelation of those names. As they listened and they waited for what that child's name would be.

The whole creation awaits the revealing of the sons of God. The creation will sing out in praise to God when the sons of God are revealed. When God's family is set and when that adoption is fully realized, these physical bodies are redeemed. But there's something that we need to be doing in the meantime. It's all well and good to look at these things and it's important, but there's something that we need to be doing in the meantime while we're here and while we're awaiting that change. And brethren, it's something that's so important that if we don't do it, we could well miss out on the kingdom itself.

Let's go over to Revelation 2. Revelation 2.

Revelation 2 will ultimately pick it up in verse 17. But contained within the books of Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 are instructions to the seven churches of Asia Minor. These churches represent attitudes of people in the body of Christ. They may represent errors in the church. You know, as we look in, we consider and speculate on how these things all work out. But they also represented physical church locations during John's lifetime. There were churches that were in cities around Asia Minor that had issues and had things going on within those particular churches. Each of these churches had a very specific message that was recorded for them. And at the very bottom of that message is a statement, To him who overcomes...

To him who overcomes... Hear what the Spirit says to the churches, right? And you can go through these seven churches and take a look at some of these different things. If you haven't done this lately, I'll just review a few of them. It's an interesting study to look at what is promised to those who overcome and who are overcoming. The overcomers of these churches are promised to be given to eat from the tree of life. To not be hurt by the second death. To receive the hidden manna to eat. They will receive power over the nations. They will be clothed in white. Cold and white garments, I should say. Not have their name blotted out of the book of life. They will become pillars in the temple of God. And the list goes on. All these promises that Christ, the revelation to John, promised to those who overcome in those church eras, in those churches, and in those attitudes that we experience in the church today. In the culmination of the message to the church in Pergamos, we see a reference to a new name being given to him who receives it. Revelation 2, verse 17, says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. The word that's used for overcome in this passage is the Greek word nikau, which is essentially defined as winning in the face of obstacles. Being the victor, conquering, overcoming, prevailing. It's a verb, and it's the verb that's in the present tense. This is a consistent, ongoing overcoming. This isn't an overcome, it's overcoming. It's a process, and it's working through things as they go forward. It implies that those who overcome, who are actively overcoming, who are working to repent of their sins, yield themselves to God, will receive a new name. Are those individuals perfect? No. But they're working to improve. They're working to do a little better each day. They're working to yield to God and His will in their life, a little more each day. Those that are overcoming, according to Revelation 2.17, will receive a new name. And that new name will not be known to anyone but the one who receives it, and of course God, who gave it. Brethren, your name will not be the same as the person sitting next to you.

Your name will not be the same as your spouse. This is an individual name that is outlined in Revelation 2.17. This isn't the name of God that will be written on the overcomers that's detailed in Revelation 3.12. In Revelation 3.12 it says, I will write the name of my God and of His city. That's not the same name, because that name is the same from person to person to person, because God is the same from person to person to person. The name in Revelation 2.17 is individual. It is unique. It is not known to anyone but yourself until the point that it is revealed. It's likely, I think as we see the way that names were changed and operated within Scripture, I think it's likely that it's based upon your characteristics, it's based upon your character, I think it's reflective of God's will in your life. Perhaps it's based on trials that you have overcome, that you've experienced, that you've survived. Based on what God knows and what God feels about you. So brethren, as we draw the sermon here to a close today, I ask you a couple of questions. What will your name be? What will your name be? What would you want it to be? What would you want it to be? You know, in the lives of Abraham, of Sarah, of Jacob, and others, their names were reflective of the events that they experienced. The blessings that God poured out on them. Others like John or even Isaac, God declared that name as a result of what they were to do in that life. To those that are overcoming, God will give a white stone and on that white stone a new name that no one knows except him who receives it. To me, that sounds extremely personal. That sounds very unique. That sounds like a name that comes from your life experience or your innermost thoughts that you've shared with God in prayer. The manner in which you've lived your life or the relationship that you've built with him. It's not a name that came out of a baby book that has three million other people in the world of the same name. It's unique to you like a thumbprint. What will it be? What would you want it to be? There's still time.