Creating Intimacy

Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Heard across six continents and 28 of the world’s most spoken and most understood languages. In the pages of Hebrews, a book in the New Testament, it says, “Through Jesus, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.” Up next, Dr. Youssef looks at names of God. Names inviting you to experience God in a deeper and more intimate way. Keep in mind that Leading The Way is listener-supported. Made possible right here in this neighborhood and in neighborhoods across those six continents through your prayers and your generosity. Learn more about the expansive scope of ministry and ways for you to be a part when you visit ltw.org. All right, to allow just as much time as possible in God’s word, here is Dr. Michael Youssef with today’s message from his series, Empowered by Praise.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Now there are some here and on the sound of my voice who remember a day when a person’s name was far more important and valuable than money and prestige. Now for those of you who have not seen those days or have not experienced those days, let me tell you there was a day when a person’s name was of more value than all the gold and the silver in the world. There was a day when a person’s name meant everything to them. Like many of you, I grew up thinking that way. Growing up in a Christian home in a sea of a non-Christian world, our name and our family name meant everything because it literally represented Christ Himself. But even today, there are certain names as soon as they are mentioned, it automatically communicates integrity or dishonor. When you hear a name of a person to this day, you still either communicate honor or dishonor. When a name is mentioned, it immediately communicates the character of that person. I read a story about a young couple who were expecting their first child. Those of you young moms and dads know what I’m talking about, who’ve seen it with our kids and struggling with what to call the first child. What are you going to call him? Finally, Mama said, “We’ll call him Timothy.” And Dad said, “Over my dead body!” She couldn’t understand the vehemence by which he’s resisting that name. The bottom line was that when he was a boy in school, there was a bully in the playground. His name was Timmy. And he could not even imagine, he could not think of his precious little boy going to be referred to as Timmy. But why? Because the name represents for him, represented the worst of memories growing up as a young boy. In biblical times, they named children for what they wanted them or hoped that they’ll grow up to be. You always see that in the scripture where he named him this because of that and he named him this and so forth. These names were important. But listen to me. Not only the names are important, the adjectives that we use with our children are vitally important. They really are. Listen to me. Whether you use those adjectives in front of them or not in front of them, it’s very important what adjectives you use to describe your children. Let me illustrate this. A first-grader and a first-grade teacher who was often, start of school year, asking the kids what do you want to do when you grow up. That’s always a standard with her. She always gets the normal run-of-the-mill stuff. I want to be president, be an astronaut, I want to be a fireman, and so on. Except for little Billy. Billy said, “When I grow up, I want to be possible.” And the teacher queried it, asked again, she said, “Possible?” He said, “Yes, because my mom thinks I’m impossible. So when I grow up, I want to be possible.” We often label our children, so be careful. Sometimes we don’t realize it, but be careful. Now, my friends, I want to tell you, if names are important for mortals like us, human beings, if names are important to us, I want you to think of the absolutely vitally importance in the names when it comes to God. And that is why you find that in the word of God, as we will see in a minute, names represent a person, represents that person’s mission, that person’s future. And that is why when God changes the mission or the future mission of a person, He changes their name. That is why God renamed Abram to Abraham. And He changed Jacob to Israel. We see the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, He changed Simon to Peter. And He changed Saul to Paul because every time there was a name change, it represented a new vision and a new mission for that person. Every time there is a change in name, it signifies a new calling for that person. Now hopefully by now, some of you are asking the question, “Michael, what has this got to do with the praise-filled life that you’ve been preaching about and we’re continuing in this series?” Everything. Everything. Why? Because the names of God are the composite of God’s self-revelation. Because the names of God reveal to us His nature, His identity, His sovereignty, and yes, His will and purpose for us. If you truly want to know God, then you must know His names. Please hear me right. The reason God reveals His names to us in the scriptures, and there are a whole number of them, it is because He longs in His heart for us to be intimate with Him. The reason God reveals His names to us is an evidence of the fact that He wants us to praise Him more fully and more completely. The reason why God reveals His name to us is an evidence that He wants us to freely enter into a deep, not shallow, which we see all around us, but into a deep and abiding relationship with Him. If you ask the average person what is the sacrifice of praise, they’ll probably give you all sorts of answers. Some will not even know how to answer that. But listen to what Hebrews 13:15 said. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continuously, how often? Continuously. Only on Sundays? Continuously. Let us what? Continuously offer to God the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips as we confess His name. Question: what is that sacrifice of praise? Well, I told you in the last message that David, in praising the name of God, he literally, he’s a king, he’s a king of the most powerful nation at that time. But he humiliated himself before God in the praise of God. He couldn’t care less what people thought of him. He honored God in front of everybody. And he forgot that he is even a king. Why? Because he wanted to honor God in praise. And here in Hebrews 13 gives us the answer. A sacrifice of praise is the confession of the names of the Lord. The sacrifice of praise is the speaking of the names of the Lord in our personal lives. The sacrifice of praise is the invoking of the power of that triune God in us—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the last several messages that we’ve been looking at in this series, I have been telling you about the importance of the praise-filled life. Today I want us to practice that. And we’re going to do, this is a very practical sermon. We’re going to practice it. And then I want you to take this exercise and do it every day. Because praising God is not something you just do on Sunday morning. And those of you who are taking notes, I want to give you a heads up. Start writing now because I’ve got nine names of God. I want to go through them very quickly so I don’t want you to miss. And then I’m going to come to the end and show you. But we’re going to be praising those nine names for now anyway. And I’m going to get you to do them in the Hebrew language, not in English, all right? Not the anglicized stuff that comes from the Latin. We’re going to do it in the original language. The first name and the most used name in the scripture of God is Yahweh. Say it with me. Yahweh. Yahweh means the God who’s always there. Yahweh means the name of God and it’s used more in the Bible than any other name. In fact, it’s used 6,800 times both Old and New Testament. And the translation literally, Yahweh means to be, or the ever-living God, or the self-existent God. All that means that God does not need anything outside of Himself. He does not need anyone outside of Himself for His self-existence. And that is why I want you to yell with me, “Praise Yahweh!” Praise Yahweh! God bless you. The second name that revealed to us in the scripture is Yahweh Yireh. Can you say that? Yahweh Yireh. In English, we often say Jehovah Jireh. And then the song the kids often sing here, and you have to go and explain it, my provider. Because I’m going to explain to you it’s more than just a provider. The word means a lot more than just being my provider. I just want to give you the background so you know where it came from, okay? In Genesis chapter 22, Abraham in obedience to God takes Isaac in order to offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. But don’t miss what I’m going to tell you because a lot of people switch off at this point. In verse five of Genesis 22, verse five, here’s what Abraham said to the servants. He said, “You stay here at the bottom of the mountain while the lad,” talking about Isaac, “the lad and I are going up to the mountain to offer a sacrifice.” Then, he’s what comes, it’s coming, are you ready for it? “Then we, the two of us, are coming back.” Now if you got that, say, “Amen.” Amen. It’s not, “I’m going to offer Isaac as a sacrifice and I’m coming down and you’ll be waiting for me.” No, no, no. “We, the boy and I, are coming back.” Why? Because Abraham was so absolutely confident in God’s promise to him. Abraham was so fully trusting in the promise of God to him. Abraham was totally and completely resting upon the fact that God always, always, always keeps His promises. He was abundantly confident that if he sacrificed Isaac, God is going to raise him from the dead and he’s going to come back with him. And so he gets up to the top of Mount Moriah and he gets ready. And Isaac asks the question, “Father, where is the sacrifice?” And here the Holy Spirit of God gives Abraham a word of prophecy, one of the most powerful words of prophecy ever since Genesis 3:15. And Abraham prophesies with clarity about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and offering Himself as a sacrifice on Mount Calvary 2,000 years later. And so when Isaac asks the question, Abraham said, “Son, God will provide Himself.” Now there some people would translate this as, “God Himself will offer a sacrifice.” No, that’s not how it reads in the original. God will offer Himself as a sacrifice. He’s prophesying of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is a magnificent picture of the Son of God being offered as a sacrifice for all the sinners who will repent and turn to Him. That on Mount Calvary 2,000 years later, God’s Son is going to hang on the cross and offer Himself as a sacrifice. And as Abraham gets ready with his knife, he hears the voice of the Lord said, “Don’t you dare.” It’s a Youssef translation, but you get what I mean. Don’t touch the boy. He said, “Now Abraham, I know that you completely and fully trust in my promises. I promised you Isaac, you waited for him for 25 years. Now you got him.” And as Abraham looks over in the thicket and there is a ram and he offered him as a sacrifice. Right on that spot, Abraham builds an altar, call it Yahweh Yireh. Yahweh Yireh. The word Yireh literally, literally, and it’s by the way, it’s the same word in all three Semitic languages: Aramaic, Arabic, and Hebrew. Yireh is the one who sees ahead. Not just the one who sees. Everybody can see. But it’s the one who sees ahead. If somebody up high up there and he can see things you can’t see. When was the last time did you thank God for going ahead of you and rescuing you even when you did not know it? Because He sees your needs before you do. Because He sees your needs before the need arises. Because He sees the problem before it appears. Because He provides the solution to your impossibility before you discover them. Because He sees your difficulties and He helps you overcome them. Because He sees your temptations and He gives you victory over them before you face them. He is Yahweh Yireh. He sees ahead and prepares ahead even when you can’t see it. Now there’s nothing that you are facing today or you’re going to face in the future that God has not already foreseen and made plans for. Yahweh is our provider today, tomorrow, and for all of eternity. And so I want you to yell with me, “Praise Yahweh Yireh!” Praise Yahweh Yireh! And amen. I can get overwhelmed because I know experientially, and many of you do too, amazing how He goes ahead and makes provision before we even realize what was happening. Now I come to the third name that God reveals to us about Himself, and that’s Yahweh Rapha. And you find that in Exodus chapter 15, verse 26. Here God is making a proposal. He literally making a proposal, offering a proposal to His people. Here’s what He said to them. If you carefully listen, by the way, there’s a difference in Hebrew between listening and hearing, okay? I can hear you if you’re speaking to me in a Semitic language, but I’m not necessarily listening to you. See, in Hebrew listening meaning obeying. I’ll make it easier for you. It means obeying. “Are you listening to me, Bobby?” I used to ask your kids, “Are you listening to me?” Well, they are hearing you, but they are not listening to you. And so God is saying if you listen, that is if you obey me, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians for I am Yahweh Rapha, the Lord our healer. Now the word Rapha means to heal, to cure, or to restore, more accurately. And beloved, God doesn’t only heal and restores. Healing is His name. Can I get an amen? Amen. Healing is His name. His name is synonymous with wholeness. His name is synonymous with power for our weakness. His name is synonymous with being a balm on our wounds. His name is synonymous with healthy self-image. His name is synonymous with mending broken hearts. His name is synonymous with the renewal of our degenerate minds. His name is synonymous with restoring shattered relationships. And the greatest wholeness, of course, we’re going to experience when we see Him face to face because the Bible said we’re going to be like Him. Can you imagine that day? We’re going to be like Jesus. And that is why we praise and we worship, adore Yahweh Rapha. We praise who? Yahweh Rapha! And the fourth name God reveals to us about Himself is Yahweh Nissi. God is my banner. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? God is my flag. It’s basically, if you’re marching down behind your school flag or college flag, whatever it is, banner, He’s the banner. We’re marching under His banner. It’s a wonderful name. Exodus 17. When the Amalekites, by the way, the word Amalekites itself means giants. These were big boys. I don’t know, nine feet tall? They were big, big people. They don’t exist anymore, thank God. He said I’m going to wipe them out and He did. Before they got into the Promised Land when they got to the wilderness, the Amalekites said, “We’re going to wipe the Israelites. We’re going to just wipe them out.” Just think about this. Not the prophets, nor the Messiah who was in the loins in some of them would have been wiped out. And so at this point, Moses said to Joshua, he said, “Joshua, I want you to take a group of fighting men.” Now remember, these are not really a huge army. It’s just a group of fighting men. Joshua being the second in command is the successor of Moses. He said, “I want you to take a group of fighting men go down to the battlefield and you fight those Amalekites.” And imagine the knees that were knocking. We going where? We going where? Those guys, did you have you seen how tall they are? Do you see how big they are? And they said, “Yep, you go down and you fight them, but I want to give you the reassurance that I am going to go up to the top of the mountain and I’m going to hold my staff.” Beloved, this was not just any old staff, but the one that Moses had, that was the staff that God used to perform many miracles. It was the staff that was the symbol of prayer life. This was the staff was the symbol of intercession. This was the staff that was the symbol of Moses’s special relationship with the Lord. This staff was a symbol of Moses’s utter dependence on Yahweh. This staff was a symbol of Moses’s complete trust in the power and the might and the graciousness of Yahweh. And so Moses goes up to the top of the mountain, he lifted up the staff. In fact, he gets very tired and his arms get shaky. Two people had to come and hold his arms. And the Israelites defeated the Amalekites. So in the aftermath of this great supernatural, supernatural victory. This ragtag of an army would could not have beaten those big boys. This is supernatural victory. The Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered. I don’t want you to forget this happened, but also I don’t want you to forget what I’m going to tell you, and that is I am going to wipe them off from the face of the earth.” And God did. And here Moses builds an altar to the Lord and he calls it Yahweh Nissi. Banner. Flag. He is my banner. Can you say Yahweh Nissi? Yahweh Nissi. The Lord is my flag. He’s my banner. Now beloved, hear me right, please. When you’re fighting under Yahweh’s flag, let me tell you on the authority of the word of God, you are assured of victory.
Guest (Male): Thank you for making time in your day for Leading The Way. This is the worldwide Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Michael Youssef. And by the way, if today’s message has challenged you to look at your life a little closer, let me encourage you to speak with one of our Leading The Way pastoral team members. Start that conversation by filling out a short form. Go to ltw.org/jesus. You know when you look around the world and you think over these past couple of years, it’s pretty easy to see how joy has been chased out of many lives. Smiles and laughter have been replaced by fear and anxiety. Some by our own doing, but much by leaning into the messaging shouted by the culture. That’s why the entire team at Leading The Way is so excited about Dr. Youssef’s book. It’s called Empowered by Praise. This book goes toe-to-toe with how so many of us have been feeling of late—overwhelmed by cultural shifts, the loss of loved ones, the political direction of the world, and of course, the personal challenges that perhaps no one is aware of but you. Empowered by Praise outlines a solution, inviting joy back into our souls through offering praise to God for His care, His provision, and His tender mercies during difficult times. Get your copy of Empowered by Praise from Leading The Way. Now right now, Dr. Youssef is offering to send you a copy when you give a gift of any amount to the worldwide ministry of Leading The Way. So no matter the size of the gift, Empowered by Praise can be on the way to you right now. Get the details at ltw.org or call us at 866-626-4356. That’s ltw.org and 866-626-4356. And you know we love to get your notes. Write to Dr. Youssef at Leading The Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. That’s Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. This program is furnished by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world. Learn more at ltw.org.