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What's in a name? · Clay to Crown

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Clay to Crown podcast.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Today's episode is one that I've talked about for a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: long time.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: And know it... Well, it kind of does. Everything does.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: That's my husband.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: He'll roll his eyes if I say the words, everything
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: goes back to Genesis 1, 2, and 3 in his
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: presence again. But... You know, this one actually, it lands
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: more in Exodus, but there is echoes back to the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: opening verses of Scripture as well. So it's been stirring
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: in my heart for a long time. It's a message
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: that I think the church desperately needs right now because
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: we're so lost in what this actually is. And so
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: today we're talking about names. And when I say church,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I mean global church, like the big C church.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: That's what I mean.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about any one local assembly. I'm not,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't want people to think that my
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: local church is somehow, uh, messed up in this regard. I'm, I'm, that's,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I'm speaking about the big C universal church.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Uh, I just need to put that disclaimer out there
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: for people who might get it twisted.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Um, but so today we're talking about names.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Um, And I don't mean branding. I don't mean labels.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I don't mean titles. Although that's part of it, a title.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: deep identity shaping reality of what it means to bear
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  Speaker 1: a name. And more specifically, what it means to bear
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: God's name. Hence, the global church, the big C church.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: My maiden name is Thompson. Uh, I grew up in
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  Speaker 1: a small, uh, farming community in Northwest Ohio, uh, one
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of about 7,500 people. And, and it's the kind of
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: place where everybody knows everybody.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Or, or at least knew about them or at least,
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  Speaker 1: you know, about their family, you know, those sorts of things.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: And so your name had recognition in, in that sort
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  Speaker 1: of place. And that said, I was a daddy's girl
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  Speaker 1: through and through. I was proud to be a Thompson.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I was proud to represent my dad with that name.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: And even though my dad has been gone.
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  Speaker 1: For 16 years now, that part of me has not changed.
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  Speaker 2: I'm still his girl. I'm still his little girl.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Um, and his name meant something to me because he
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: meant something to me. Does that make sense to everybody?
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, hope you're resonating with this. Um, and so
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: when I married my husband, uh, 20 years ago, I
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: didn't change my name right away.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: It took me almost.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Two years before I legally became Amanda Hughes.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Now, now why?
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  Speaker 1: Um, Well, because Thompson was my daddy's name. It was
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: a part of me because I was a part of him. And,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and for me, that name carried weight. It carried memories.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: It carried my identity. And, and names do that, right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we, we hear a name and we automatically identify,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you know, something, you know, uh, we label something, you know, um,
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  Speaker 1: So let's play a little word game, right? A little
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: game of word association. And you'll understand where I'm going
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: with this.
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  Speaker 2: If I say a.
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  Speaker 1: Name, take a moment and analyze or notice what rises
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: up in you.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Chick-fil-A. Fast drive-thru. Good chicken sandwiches.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: You know, automatically your, your mind goes to, to what
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it is, right? Walmart, crazy, uh, catch all, you know, cheap.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know whatever it is for you, right? Walmart, uh, coach,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: like coach bags, you know, fashion, expensive, esteemed, sought after,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. Pretty, ugly, you know, whatever
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: it is for you. George Washington.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: General. Founding father. First president. You know? Or Hitler. Nazi. Evil. Right?
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  Speaker 1: All of those names stirred something different. So names carry stories.
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  Speaker 1: They carry reputations, expectations, emotions. They are the first snapshot
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  Speaker 1: that we see of something. Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: what's in a name? That which we call a rose
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  Speaker 1: by any other name would smell just as sweet. Essentially,
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  Speaker 1: Juliet was saying that names don't matter, right? We could
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: call a rose a tulip and it would smell the
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: same way. Well, whereas Juliet might have believed that names
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  Speaker 1: don't matter, scripture tells us a different story. Names reveal identity.
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  Speaker 1: They speak of character. They tell of the world to
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: whom we belong.
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  Speaker 2: Think of Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: He was renamed Israel, one who wrestles with God. Think
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  Speaker 1: of Saul, renamed Paul after encountering Jesus on the Damascus Road.
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  Speaker 1: Names changed because their lives changed. Abram and Sarai became
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  Speaker 1: Abraham and Sarah. Their names changed because their lives changed.
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  Speaker 1: So let's do one more, right? All those word associations
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  Speaker 1: with Walmart and Coach, Hitler, you know, let's do one more.
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  Speaker 2: You ready? Christian.
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  Speaker 1: What rose up in you? Or what would your unbelieving
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  Speaker 1: neighbor think if they heard the word Christian? Your coworker?
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  Speaker 2: Your teenager? The server at lunch?
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  Speaker 1: Because whether we realize it or not, we bear that name, Christian,
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  Speaker 1: wherever we go. So, let's go to Exodus, and I'll
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  Speaker 1: be in Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20 is the
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  Speaker 1: moment when God gives his people instructions for how they
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  Speaker 1: are to live as those he has already rescued. These
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: aren't rules to earn freedom. They are the life shaped
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  Speaker 1: within freedom. So think about it. Basically, the Red Sea
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  Speaker 1: moment is the story of the nation of Israel's rescuing
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  Speaker 1: out of Egypt, right?
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  Speaker 2: Rescuing out of slavery.
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  Speaker 1: Right?
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  Speaker 2: And it isn't until.
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  Speaker 1: Days later that he gives them the law, the rules
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  Speaker 1: in which to live. He already rescued them. And now
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  Speaker 1: he's telling them how to live within that freedom, right? So,
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  Speaker 1: after establishing that he alone is God and worthy of worship,
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  Speaker 1: the next thing he addresses is his name, right? And
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  Speaker 1: going down to Exodus 20, verse 7, it says, Do
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  Speaker 1: not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
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  Speaker 1: The Hebrew word there is nasah, right? To take, it's nasah.
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  Speaker 1: It means carry or bear. That's why some translations don't
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  Speaker 1: bear the name your God in vain. Don't carry it
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  Speaker 1: in vain. And so this is more than just saying
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: don't cuss or don't swear. It's essentially saying don't carry
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  Speaker 1: God's name in a worthless way. We carry the name
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  Speaker 1: of Christian wherever we go, that we are followers of
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  Speaker 1: the most high God, that we are co-heirs with him.
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  Speaker 1: If you are professing Christian, you are carrying that where
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  Speaker 1: you go. Are you carrying God's name? in a worthless way. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when you think about it that way, that's a whole
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  Speaker 1: different level than just don't cuss, don't swear. So, the
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  Speaker 1: Bible uses this language in other places. Further on, when
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: it talks about the high priestly garments, Aaron, the first
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  Speaker 1: high priest, bears the names. He carries the names of
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: the tribes of Israel on his breastplate, right? His breastpiece,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: as he represents them before gods. He wears a plate
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  Speaker 1: on his forehead engraved with,' Holy to the Lord.' meaning
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  Speaker 1: set apart, distinct. He's carrying these names, right? And Israel
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  Speaker 1: was called to be a kingdom of priests, representing God
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  Speaker 1: to the nations, because that's what a priest is. right?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: It represents the people before the deity. And that's what
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  Speaker 1: Aaron was doing with these high priestly garments, with having
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  Speaker 1: the names of the tribes on his breastplate. When he
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  Speaker 1: goes in to the Holy of Holies, he's representing them.
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  Speaker 1: He's the mediator between them and God. And so if
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  Speaker 1: Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests, the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: same is true for us. Peter tells us. In 1
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Peter 2.9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
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  Speaker 1: a holy nation, hearkening back to the high priest and
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  Speaker 1: his priestly garments with the turban that's saying, holy to
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  Speaker 1: the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: A holy nation.
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  Speaker 1: We are a set-apart nation as Christians, distinct from the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the world. We bear his name. We represent him.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: We are carrying his name. So what does it mean
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  Speaker 1: then to carry it in vain? It means to carry
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  Speaker 1: it in a way that empties it of meaning. To
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  Speaker 1: represent him poorly, casually, even hypocritically, right? We do this
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  Speaker 1: when we use God rather than fear him. When our
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  Speaker 1: Sunday words don't match our weekday lives. When we treat
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: his authority lightly, as though his name is a label
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  Speaker 1: rather than a calling.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, get that.
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  Speaker 1: When we treat his authority lightly, as though his name
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  Speaker 1: is a label rather than a calling. I came across
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a quote when preparing this episode today, and it hit
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  Speaker 1: me really hard. It says, The single greatest cause of
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus
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  Speaker 1: with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him
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  Speaker 1: by their lifestyle. I've said this before, and I've recently
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  Speaker 1: re-heard it. Christians don't tell lies. They don't speak lies.
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  Speaker 1: They just sing about them on Sunday. because the words
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  Speaker 1: of our worship songs don't necessarily play out in day-to-day practice.
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  Speaker 1: The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today
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  Speaker 1: is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out
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  Speaker 1: the door, and then deny him by their lifestyle. And
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  Speaker 1: we've seen high-profile examples of that recently, not recently. You know,
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  Speaker 1: over the millennia, there's been many examples of leaders and
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  Speaker 1: influencers whose lives don't match the name they carried. It's
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  Speaker 1: not just out there, though, right? And it's in the
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  Speaker 1: quiet corners of our own lives, too.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Malachi, the.
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  Speaker 1: the minor prophet Malachi, my, my husband says Malachi, he's
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  Speaker 1: the only Italian prophet Malachi.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's, it's Malachi, Malachi.
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  Speaker 1: Um, he, the last book of the Bible, the last
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  Speaker 1: book of our Christian Bibles, um, Malachi confronted the priests, right?
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  Speaker 1: Part of his message in his, um, In his book,
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  Speaker 1: he confronts the priests for offering God their leftovers. The
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  Speaker 1: blind sheep, the crippled goats, you know, the unwanted sacrifices, leftovers.
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  Speaker 1: And God's question through Malachi is very piercing. In Malachi 1.6,
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  Speaker 1: he says, So again, they praised him with their lips.
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  Speaker 1: but then withheld true worship. And we do the same.
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  Speaker 1: We honor the name of God when our life matches
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  Speaker 1: our words. When the songs and prayers and amens of
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  Speaker 1: Sunday are joined with Christian life throughout the week. That
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  Speaker 1: is bearing his name well. When the songs and prayers
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  Speaker 1: and amens of Sunday are joined with a Christian life
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  Speaker 1: walked well throughout the week. And I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about Good Friday a little bit, the suffering and the
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: passion of Jesus Christ that happened.
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  Speaker 2: That day.
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  Speaker 1: The day we remember, Good Friday is the day that
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  Speaker 1: we remember the suffering of Jesus, right?
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  Speaker 2: We remember.
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  Speaker 1: Celebrate it. We remember it every year around Easter. We
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: remember the innocent one that was beaten, mocked, stripped, crucified, right?
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  Speaker 1: The day that hoped seemed lost. But we know that
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  Speaker 1: the resurrection was coming, right? And because of that resurrection,
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  Speaker 1: Scripture calls us The bride of Christ. So I want
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  Speaker 1: you to imagine a wedding. The sanctuary is beautiful. There's
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: flowers everywhere, ribbons, lace, candles are lit. The music is playing.
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  Speaker 1: The groom and his groomsmen are standing at the front.
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  Speaker 1: The groom is looking nervous. You know, picture it, picture
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  Speaker 1: it in your minds, right? Right?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Just a beautiful setting.
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  Speaker 1: Then everyone stands, everyone turns, because everyone is looking toward
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  Speaker 1: the bride. But something is wrong. You notice that her
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  Speaker 1: veil is crooked. As she gets closer, you notice that
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  Speaker 1: her hair is undone and ratty. As she gets closer,
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  Speaker 1: you notice that the dress is torn and It's wrinkled.
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  Speaker 2: It has stains.
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  Speaker 1: It looks like she didn't take any preparation at all
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  Speaker 1: for this moment, right? It looks like she just rolled
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  Speaker 1: out of bed. So as she gets closer to her groom,
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  Speaker 1: imagine now the look on the groom's face. The look
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: on his face as he realizes that she didn't care
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  Speaker 1: enough to get ready.
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  Speaker 2: Think about it.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have that picture in your mind? What would
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  Speaker 1: that groom's face look like? You know, a bride not
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: caring enough to get ready for her own wedding day.
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  Speaker 1: That image is meant to unsettle us, right? Because it
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: would never happen in the natural. Not to that extent,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: but it happens in the spiritual all the time. We
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  Speaker 1: have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son,
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  Speaker 1: and Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 2: Our identity has changed. Our allegiance has changed.
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  Speaker 1: We are not Thompsons or Huses or Smiths or Millers
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  Speaker 1: or whoever. First, we are Christ's. And we should care
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  Speaker 1: enough to get ready for our wedding. And bearing his
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  Speaker 1: name is not easy. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Bearing
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  Speaker 1: his name is not easy. The world is loud. It's chaotic.
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  Speaker 1: It's hostile sometimes. Distracted, tempting. But Jesus, the one who
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: conquered death, left us with a promise. He says, I
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: am with you always, even to the end of the age.
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  Speaker 1: In Matthew 28. So we need to bear his name
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  Speaker 1: with honor. Bear it with worship. Bear it with holiness.
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  Speaker 1: Bear it with integrity. Because the world is watching. Because
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  Speaker 1: their lives and Jesus' reputation depend on it. Bear his
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  Speaker 1: name appropriately. Because Jesus' reputation depends on it.
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  Speaker 2: Remember the quote.
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  Speaker 1: Remember the quote, the greatest single cause of atheism in
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips,
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  Speaker 1: walk out the door, and deny him by their lifestyle.
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  Speaker 1: Before we close, I want to pray over you. So Father,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for giving us your name. Thank you for
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: calling us your children, your priests, your bride. Teach us
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  Speaker 1: to carry your name with honor. Make us understand that
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  Speaker 1: it's not just about a name. It's about an identity.
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  Speaker 1: Make our lives match our words. Make our worship match
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: our walk. And remind us every day that you are
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  Speaker 1: with us, even into the end of the age. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for joining me today. If this episode stirred something
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: in you, I hope that you share it with someone
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  Speaker 1: who needs some encouragement or, you know, whatever. And remember,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: you don't just wear the name Christian. You bear it.
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  Speaker 1: You carry it. So carry it well. Till next time,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: grace and peace.