HE KNOWS MY NAME Matthew West Song: Hello my name is Out of the Darkness of addiction and into the light of recovery. Hello, my name is Jordan and I am a drug addict. o That was the first sentence of this young man s story that he sent to me. o He went on to tell me how for years that was how he identified himself. o A two sport all-star athlete in high school, Jordan received a college scholarship to run track and play football at a university in Kentucky. o But during his sophomore season, Jordan broke his ankle. o That is when he received his first prescription to Oxycontin. o He wrote about how addiction quickly took a hold of his life and sent him spinning out of control. o After two failed drug tests, the university kicked him out and removed his sports scholarships. o Jordan had lost everything he had worked for. o He landed at a place called Teen Challenge in North Carolina. o Teen Challenge is a Christian rehabilitation center in the business of restoring lives with the hope of Jesus Christ. Jordan said it was during his time in Teen Challenge that he began to realize that God wasn t done with him yet, and that all of those defeating titles like addict, didn t have to be attached to his name the rest of his life. o His story is far from over. o He told me that in the years since his recovery, he went back and got his master s degree from the very college that kicked him out. o Now, he is a teacher and a coach and a newlywed. o And he has recently felt God calling him into full time ministry. He closed his story by saying, These days I introduce myself a little differently than I used to. Hello, my name is Jordan and I am a child of the one true king! What a powerful example of God at work in someone s story. o I read Jordan s story and couldn t help but wonder how many people in the world are walking around defined by the defeat and the regret of past mistakes, believing the lie that they will never be able to kick an old habit or move on from yesterday s mistakes. o Jordan s story is powerful proof that we are not defined by our past. o God can restore, redeem, and renew our hearts and lives. o He can set our feet on a new path that will lead our lives to a destination far greater than where we used to call home. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come! o Jordan is standing in the light of a new beginning, forgetting what is behind and taking hold of his new name. What do you name yourself? Have you ever felt alone, anonymous, unnamed, an unknown?
o There s something disconcerting about feeling like no one knows who I am, no one knows where I am, no one knows how I am, and frankly, I don t know if it would make any difference if they did. o There is nothing sadder than being alive but feeling isolated, insignificant, and irrelevant like being dead before we die. It may be the senior citizen sits alone day after day thinking no one cares. It may be the worker in a large corporation who feels as though no one knows he exist and no one knows his name. It may be the student and a large school who feels like a nameless face in a crowd. It may be the wife who is a homemaker spending hours alone while her husband works and the kids are at school. These are people who are alive, but who sometimes feel as though their life makes no difference and that the world would not change in any substantial way if they ceased to exist. The Bible says in John 10:1-4, 1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. Jesus says that when a true shepherd comes to get His sheep, the sheep will recognize the voice of their shepherd and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. o They followed their shepherd because they know his voice and they will not follow the voice of a stranger. The Psalmist said in Psalms 95:7, He is our God, and we are the sheep of his pasture. o He knows our name, and we are never alone, we are never anonymous, we are we are forsaken, or forgotten, because when my father and my mother forsake me, then the lord will take care of me (Psalm 27:10). Not only must we know his voice, we have been assured that he knows who is he is and who is not. o He knows his sheep, and in fact, he calls them by name. o In a world of anonymity, he knows my name. Politicians and salesmen and special interest groups are all clamoring for our votes, our dollars, and our time, but the Good Shepard calls us by name to give us hope, and help, and healing. o The Good Shepherd will not leave us alone, but he will come looking for us, even if we are the only one he will not abandon us or leave us behind. He knows our name. Think about that. He knows your name.
Psalms 147:3-5 says, He heals the brokenhearted and binds their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them by their names. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. Verse 4 says, He counts the number of the stars; He calls them by their names. o One astronomer said that the number of stars we can see with the naked eye is about the same as the number of grains of sand we can scoop up and hold in our hand. However there are far more stars then we can see with the naked eye. o It is estimated that our galaxy alone may contain 400 billion stars, and it is estimated that there are more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe. So if you do the math you come to the number of one septillion, that s a 1 followed by 24 zeros. Yet the Psalmist said, God counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. No wonder the writer goes on to say, Great is our Lord, and mighty in power, His understanding is infinite. It is amazing to me that along with the names of all those stars, he knows my name. o He knows his sheep by name. One estimate is that out of a total global population of 7.3 billion there are over 2 billion people on earth who call themselves Christian. o Even if not all of them are truly serving God, that s still a lot of people, and I m one of them, and he knows my name. It is important to recognize the voice of the Shepherd when he calls our name. o If we are headed in the wrong direction the Shepherd will call us by name. Do we know his voice? o If we are about to run over the precipice and into the abyss of false religion and false theology, the Good Shepherd will call our name. Will we recognize his voice? o When we are about to make a decision that will have lasting harmful and hurtful consequences in our life, He will call our name. Will we know his voice? Will we respond to his call? Will we turnaround and run back to the Shepherd and into the safety of the fold? Jesus knows my name. o When I m in trouble and he calls my name well I recognize his voice? o When I m tempted and I m leaning in the wrong direction, will I recognize his voice, will I respond to his voice, and will I follow him, or will I go my own way? Because of the season we are in I begin to think about Mary. o When the angel came to Mary he said, Hail Mary! He called her name. o I don t know if Mary was the first one that the angel approached but when he approached Mary she heard him call her name and she said, Yes Lord.
o Out of all the girls, the young virgins of Israel, Mary was one who was in tune with God enough that when he called her name she heard him. Abraham s name was Abram. o But when God called him out from where he was he didn t call him by his name Abram. o But he said your name shall be called Abraham, which means the father of the faithful. When he called his name he was not faithful but he knew that he would be faithful. If you were to ask Abram what his name was he would have said, Abram. But if you ask God what Abrams s name was he said, His name is Abraham because he is faithful. God is not looking at you and calling you by the name that the world calls you. He is not calling you defeated He is not calling you unfaithful He is not calling you a loser. But he is calling you a winner He is calling you faithful. He is calling you a child of the living God The old name you used to have you don t have anymore because God has given you a new name. Are you listening for the voice of God? o God knows who you are and where you are. o He knows what you ate for breakfast and he knows what you ate for lunch o He knows the mood you were in when you woke up this morning and he knows the mood you re in right now o He knows what s going on in your marriage o He knows what s going on in your job situation o He knows what s going on in your family situation o He knows where you live o He knows your address o And he knows your name. He s concerned about you. There was a time when Jacob was getting ready to face the most critical time in his life. o He had been away from home for over 20 years. He hadn t seen his brother in 20 years. When he left it was a bad situation. His brother said he was going to kill him. It was not a pleasant family situation. And Isaac was going back to meet Esau. o Any Jacob went to God in prayer. He probably said, God are you out there? God do you even know I exist? I ve done so many things that were wrong. I would call myself a trickster.
I would call myself a surplanter. I would call myself a liar. o But when he began to pray God said, I know who you are Jacob. And I know where you been. You call yourself a trickster. You call yourself a liar. But I call you Israel, a prince with God. I know who you are. I know what you been through. But I got you in my sight. And I ve got my hand upon you. And you are my child. And I know your name. When Mary Magdalene was depressed because the man who had given her life had died. o He was crucified. o He was whipped, beaten and hung on a cross. o They took him down and put him in a tomb. o Her world had ceased to exist. o She didn t know how she was going to face tomorrow. o But when she began to make her way to the garden, she ran across a man who she thought was the gardener and she said, Where have they taken my Jesus. o She thought that no one knew what she was facing o She thought her best days were behind her o But then Jesus said, Mary! And when he called her by her name she recognized who he was. You may be down and out. o You may be depressed. o You may be calling yourself a name. o But you need to start listening because Jesus knows your name o He knows what you re going through o And He knows where you are. o I ask you what has God named you? I m going to walk around this auditorium and I want you to tell me what you call or you named yourself. o As I walk into your section I want you to tell me what name you called yourself? o I want you to tell me what name would be associated with you. o But then I m going to ask you what name Jesus has named you. o Because he doesn t want you to be identified with what you used to be but he wants you to be identified with what you are and what you are going to become. CLOSING I want to close today with a something that happen to me this week.
While I was wrapping at the giftwrap shop there was a man who came to the booth. I asked him what paper he would like. He said, I just want something with Christian on it because I am a Christian. He said, I want to share my story with you while you wrap my gifts. He said, When I was 21 I had just gotten married and my wife and I had got in an argument and so I was mad and I went out and got on my motorcycle and started driving south. I live in Indiana and I headed towards Kentucky. I drove until I found a bar. He said, I went into the bar and got drunk. After several hours of drinking I went back out to get on my bike and when I did there was a young Christian couple who came up and said, Sir you re drunk, you cannot drive your motorcycle. We are concerned about you. There is a hotel here and we want to put you up for the night and pay for your room. We will give your keys to the man at the front desk and you can get them in the morning. I took them up on the offer and went and slept until morning. In the morning when I woke up I thought what have I done? Did these people steal my motorcycle? What did my wife think because I did not come home? He went down to the front desk and the man at the front desk gave him the keys he said he immediately drove back home and apologized to his wife and told her what had happened. I told my wife the only way that our marriage is going to work is we have got to be like that Christian couple and we ve got to give our life to Jesus Christ. He and his wife found a church and gave their life to God and have been serving him ever since. He said, Now when I wake up in the morning I just ask the Lord what do you want me to do today? Where do you want me to go? He said, Some days the Lord doesn t tell me anything and then other days he will tell him what to do. He said, When I woke up this morning the Lord told me, Battle Creek, Michigan. So I got in my car and started driving to Michigan. I ve never been in Battle Creek before but the Lord told me to go to Battle Creek, Michigan. When I drove across the Michigan line I ask the Lord again what am I doing when I get to Battle Creek, Michigan and the Lord said, Go to Bob Evans. I didn t even know if Battle Creek had a Bob Evans. But I got here and found Bob Evans. When I walked in the door the greeter asked me if I needed a table for one. I ask her if she was a Christian lady. She said no, but there is a Christian lady who works here. I said could I please speak with her for a minute. The Christian lady came out and I asked her do you have just a minute to sit down and talk to me? She said, Yes. We sat down at the table and I begin to tell her the story of my conversion. As I begin to tell her my story tears began to come to her eyes. The man said, The Lord sent me here today to tell you my story and to tell you that God knows your name, he knows what you re going through, and he knows what you re facing, and I have brought you a Christmas monetary gift today. When he told her that the lady began to weep and sob and she said, My husband died in a motorcycle accident two months ago, and she said, I began to think, God you don t even care about me. I don t even know if you know who I am or know my name. My world is falling apart, and he said, I looked at her and said, God knows your name and he sent me here today to tell you that he sees you and he s got everything in control. Let me tell you church, God has sent me today to tell someone God has not forgotten you, and he has not forsaken you. o God knows your name. The old song says: He knows my name, He sees each tear that falls, and He hears me when I call. He knows your name o Are you hearing him this morning o Are you heeding his call this morning He is calling someone here today.
o He is calling someone to back to the fold. o Some He is calling to life o Some He is offering a more abundant life You are saved and you know it, but you re not living an abundant life. o He is calling you to follow him, obey him, and trust him, so that he can bless you. o Some He is calling to ministry o Some He is calling to a closer walk o He is calling to the Word, to prayer, to devotion o Can you hear the Savior calling your name today? o If you hear him calling you, I encouraged you to come. o Let s stand together in the presence of God and let the good Shepherd do a great work in our lives.