Abraham & Sarah | AKA (Part 1)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. Travis Rutland is a spirit filled pastor and ministry leader who has been featured on International Christian Television. He serves as lead pastor of Liberty Square Church in Cartersville, Georgia and as President of Global Servants. His sermons focus on clear biblical teaching, practical truth and encouragement for everyday life. Each message is designed to strengthen your faith and draw you deeper into God's word. This podcast is brought to you to you by Global Servants. For more information about Global servants, please visit globalservants.org now here's Travis Rutland. [00:00:42] Speaker B: Well, good morning again. It's great to see each and every one of you and I'm excited to start this new series today. As we move forward in this. Let me give you a thought on it before we start, which is that a lot of these name changes are not name changes that God gives people. It's name changes that people change their own name. It is name changes that others change their name. So there we're going to be doing different, looking at different people in the Bible. And for most of these it will simply be a jumping off point. We're not going to deal with the specific name change. We're not going to deal with what it meant, what it did mean, what it was changed to. We're just going to use it as a jumping off point. For example, next week is going to be the story of Daniel because when he was taken in captivity to Babylon, his name was changed to, not a lot of people know this, to Belteshazzar. So Daniel's name was changed to Belteshazzar. And we're going to talk about that next week, but we're not going to talk about the specific name change, but more the idea of that. And it, as I said, a jumping off point for us. Having said that, this morning, I want to specifically deal with the name change, the name itself, what was happening, what it meant, what it was changed to. So this one is going to be a little different than the other one. So turn if you will to Genesis. That's going to be in the beginning of your Bible. This morning we're going to talk about Abraham and Sarah. So this morning is Abraham and Sarah. Turn if you will to Genesis chapter 17. Excuse me. And verse 5, Genesis 17 and 5. We'll come back to where we were in the story in a moment. I just want to read this verse before we jump in this morning. As I said, Abraham and Sarah, Genesis 17 and 5. God is speaking in this verse, no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall Be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. Let's pray. God, I ask in the next few moments that you will speak to us. We want to hear from you so clearly. This morning you've moved in this place so wonderfully in praise and worship. And now we ask that your holy Spirit continues to move here. Speak to each of us in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Years and years and years ago, there's a young boy born in England with the name of Maurice Micklewhite Jr. Now, that is not a very impressive name, Maurice Micklewhite Jr. You would not say to yourself, this is somebody that, I mean, you know, names are names, but I don't know that you would just immediately say, Maurice Micklewhite Jr. Is really going to do something with his life or something like that. But this young man grows up and goes into theater and in university and becomes more and more interested in the stage and the screen and acting. But as he enters into acting, his agent and his friends tell him, look, dude, nobody is going to book a guy named Maurice Micklewhite Jr. Nobody's going to go see a movie starring Maurice Micklewhite Jr. And so he begins to think to himself, what's a masculine, manly, cool name that I can change my name to? So he decides to change his name to Michael Caine. And so the actor Michael Caine, that's been in movies for decades and decades, was known as Maurice Micklewhite Jr. Now there is another one, which is, again, interestingly enough, born in England a number of years after this. Born in England. His name is Gordon Sumner, so they probably called him Gordy or Lil Gordy. And so Gordon Sumner, he gets older and he's fascinated with music. His parents give him a guitar and he learns how to play and sing, and he loves the music and singing, and he forms a band. As he gets a little bit older, though, he decides to change his name because Gordon Sumner is not nearly cool enough to be the frontman of a band. And so Gordon Sumner decides to change his name to Sting. And so Sting is the frontman for the lead singer for the Police and has gone and done, you know, numerous solo albums by himself. But. But can you imagine the audacity of changing your name from Gordon to Sting? Like, how did that work? The first time he just walks into his kitchen at his mom's house and he's like, mom, I'm no longer Gordon, I'm Sting. Right? Imagine. I mean, seriously, the audacity to think that you're cool enough to call yourself Sting is just shocking. Imagine if I just came in here one day and I was like, I'm, you know, whatever. I don't even know what the name would be. Try it. You go to your work tomorrow and tell your co workers that you're Sting and see how that goes for you. I mean, but. So he just decides, I'm just changing my name and I'm going to be Sting. We have this in all of our relationships. We have this in all of our things. I rarely call Courtney Courtney. Mostly I call her Court. I don't really know how that started. I honestly don't. We've been married for decades now, and at some point just start calling her Court. Now, occasionally, I will scream out Courtney, primarily when I need something important. Now she's not here. She went to Florida to visit her mom this spring break with Liam. So I'm going to tell you something. So she's probably listening online. But here's the thing she hates more than anything. We have our towels that hang on a hook to dry on the wall, but they are across from where the little shower cubicle is. The little shower box, I guess. And frequently I forget to take my towel off of the hook and hang it on the box, but I don't want to get out. It's all cold out there. It's nice and warm in the shower box. And so I'll yell, courtney, I got an emergency. And she's like, I swear, if this is the towel again, I'm going to murder you. I'm like, no, baby, no, Courtney. Courtney, please give me the time. Right? But most of the time, it's just Court. Now, in the same way, she mostly calls me Travis. Now, occasionally, she will refer to me as Travy. And I'm going to be honest with you. Usually good things are going to happen when she calls me Travy. I'm just. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. She'd been in Florida for a week, so I'm hoping she might call me Travy tonight. Oh, she's got to be so mad when she gets home. Oh, my God. But we have that right. We have little names and nicknames. You ever meet somebody and realize that the name that you know them by is their middle name? You see them sign a document or write a check, and you're like, oh, I didn't know your first name was whatever it is. And we have this. But rarely, few of us will have our names changed by God himself. However, in this moment in Genesis chapter 17, God Himself appears to Abraham and changes his name and changes his wife's name. And that's what we want to look at this morning. So I want you to go back where we were, but I actually want to read the last verses of 16. So look, if you will, at Genesis 16 and verse 15. So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to abram. Verse chapter 17. When Abram 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. All right. I want you to take you back and remind you of where we are in the story. This is not the first time that God has appeared to Abraham or Abram. This is not the first time that God has spoken to Abram. He has told him previously that he will give him a land. He has told him previously that he will make him a great nation. He has given him these promises before, years and years earlier. The problem was that nothing happened. He was getting older. His wife Sarai was getting older. And so Abram and Sarai knew that God had promised him a son, knew that God had promised that this son would then have kids, and those kids would have kids and they would make a great nation. But nothing was happening. And they were getting older and older and older. And so what happened? Abram and Sarai took it in their own hands. They decided to make the promise happen. How many of us do that? We run. We. We run ahead of God. We get ahead of him. He's told us that thing is going to happen. And we are determined not to wait for his timing, but to bring it to pass in our own timing, in our own power and our own control, right? So they do this. So. So Sarai comes to Abram and she says, I'm. I'm getting way too old. I can't make babies anymore. But I have a servant from Egypt named Hagar. And he's. And she says, you need to go in, lie with her, right? Be with Hagar and make a baby with Hagar. And then we will hold. That will be your heir. That will be our heir. So Abram's. Abram says, okay. And he does this. He's 86 years old. He goes into Hagar and with her makes this son, Ishmael. He's 86. And then when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 13 years of silence. 13 years of silence. And there had to be some part of Abram that knew, not necessarily that God was mad at him, but he's not talking to him. The book of Genesis up until this point is full of God appearing to Abram. God giving him a covenant, God giving him a promise. God doing all these things to Abram for Abram, protecting, providing, guiding him, speaking to him. And then he goes around the will of God. He creates an Ishmael. He does what he shouldn't have done. And there is 13 years of silence. The last church I pastored, I had a guy that called me and he said, hey, we need some marriage counseling. Can we come in tomorrow? I said, okay, great, fine. So they were coming in the next day, towards the end of work. They were getting off work. So he was coming from work, she was coming from work. And he got there early. He said to me, I don't know what's wrong, but my wife hasn't talked to me in about a week. I said, okay, well, what do you think is going on? He said, well, here's what normally happens. He says, normally, every single day, I have to be at work before she does. So I get up and make my coffee. And then he said, then I'll make her a cup of coffee. I know how much sugar and cream she likes. And I take that coffee, I put it in a tumbler that she can take with her. I take it into the bedroom, and I leave it on the nightstand before I leave. He said, about a week ago, I made my coffee, and I was running late and I was distracted, and I forgot to make the coffee. He said, and she hasn't talked to me for a week. And I said, okay, wow. And then, like, stream of consciousness. He wasn't even really noticing that I was in the room. He goes, you know what? I don't think she's actually mad about that coffee. He had, like, this moment of clarity. He said, I don't think she's actually mad about that coffee. He said, what do you think? I said, I don't either. He said, what do you think she's mad about? I said, I don't know, but we're about to find out. She wasn't mad about the coffee, by the way. When she showed up, she wasn't mad about the coffee, but she had. There had been this moment. And how many of us have this in our own relationships where you're not exactly mad. Exactly. Not just in your marriage, in anything with friends and co workers. You're not exactly mad. But you just don't want to talk to them, right? You just don't want to be in relationship with them because they've disappointed you, because they've hurt you, because they did something that you. That you had encouraged them not to do, because they didn't take advice that you had given them. Because they. Whatever it is. And you just. And then the silence just becomes longer and longer and longer. And all of a sudden, Abram wakes up. And Abram realizes he's 99 years old and God hasn't appeared or spoken to him in 13 years. And Abram had to think to himself, I'm finished. I'm done. I've done this thing. I've created Ishmael. I've gone against what God wanted me to do, what he told me to do. The covenant is over. The promise is over. The covenant is broken. I've destroyed it. I've screwed it up. I commit, I sinned. I've done all these things wrong. And. And it's over. It's finished. And then out of nowhere, In Genesis, chapter 17, God appears to him. And I want you to see this, because it's often not in the translations. Look at verse one again. I am Almighty God. I am Almighty God. Yes, but God is giving himself a name there that is not always in all the translations. God right there, calls himself El Shaddai. He says, I am El Shaddai. So in this moment where he is reconnecting with Abram, the first thing he does is he gives Abram his name. He gives him God's name. This is the first time that El Shaddai is used in the entire Bible. It is used, by the way God is referred to as El Shaddai. Refers to himself as El Shaddai 48 times in the Bible. But this is the first one right here. And he says this is God's name. I love this because he says, I am El Shaddai. I am what? God Almighty. That is the literal translation. God Almighty. Now, the Hebrew here is ancient Hebrew. And there's all kinds of theologians that are way better at this than I am that can tell you how to break down the Hebrew to give you a better name or a fuller understanding. But I have learned in decades of preaching that nobody is interested in the original Greek or the original Hebrew. Nobody cares. Okay? So I'm not going to get into it with you. What you need to understand is that in this Moment God tells Abram, I am God Almighty. There is nothing that is above me. There is nothing that is more powerful than me. Your sin right, your mistakes that you make can be forgiven, can be moved beyond. Your mistakes don't determine who God is. Your mistakes also don't determine who you are. He is God Almighty. Before he gives Abram a new name, he reminds Abram of who he is. He is over this thing. He is sovereign. He is in charge. He is still working. He is still making a way where there seems to be no way he can do all things in the midst of our sin, in the midst of our screw ups. He is not some tiny, minuscule God. God's name is El Shaddai. He is God Almighty. And that's what we hold on to. Do you see? This is so great. He's going to give Abram a new name. He's going to give Sarai a new name. But before he ever gets there, he is going to name himself. They don't invent that name for God. They don't say, oh, this is. He is the God who does this. He's the God who does that. We see that often in the. In the Old Testament in particular, when God moves on behalf of the Jews. Jewish people, they say, oh, he is the God who. He is the God who saves. He is the God who heals. He is the God who sees me. And they give God a name. God does not. Moses, I'm sorry. Abram doesn't name God. In this instant, God names himself as if to say to Abram, I am God Almighty. You don't need to worry. You don't need to be concerned. You don't need to freak out. Have we made mistakes? Yes. Have we sinned? Yes. Have we backslidden? Yes. Have we hurt others? Yes. Have we hurt ourselves? Yes. Have we hurt our relationship with God? 13 years God and Abram have not spoken. My feeling is, if I was God, the first thing that I would say is, man, you really messed this up, Abram. You really messed this up. You really hurt me. I had a plan. I had this all under control. And you took it in your own hands. You took ownership of it. You manipulated it. He said, that's how I would have started. That's how I would have started. Look how God starts. I am El Shaddai. I am Almighty God. Look at verse two. I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. He never mentions the stuff that Abraham Abram did in the past. He never mentions the mistake that he made. He doesn't even talk about Ishmael. He says, I am God Almighty and there is nothing that you can do to thwart my will or my destiny. Even in your own life. He says, I am still in charge of this thing. I will still make my covenant with you. I will still multiply you exceedingly. I even in the midst of all the stuff that we have done, he says, I will still keep my promises. I will still keep my covenant because I am El Shaddai. I love that. So he begins by giving himself a name. God says, this is my name. This is who I am. Now back to chapter 17. Look exactly where we left off. Verse three. Then Abram 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. No longer shall your name be called Abram. And but your name shall be called Abraham. Your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful. And I will make nations of you. And kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations. For an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you also. I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger. I all the land of Cana as an everlasting possession. And I will be their God. Now this change, this name change for Abram is deeply symbolic. So God has given him God's name, and now he gives Abram his name, his new name. And it's from Abram to Abraham. Abram means exalted father. Exalted Father Abram. Abraham means father of a multitude. Do you see the difference? The name is close, but there is a difference. So his name was Abram. His name becomes Abraham. He was an exalted father. Any of us that are dads, we hope that we're an exalted father. Right? We're a father. But his name becomes father of a multitude, Father of many, Father of a nation, Father of a people, Father of a multitude. So the name change itself signifies the promise that God had previously given. First of all, God tells him who he is. I am still God Almighty. I have not changed. I am forever. I am everlasting. I am over nature. I'm over your sin. I'm over your mistakes. I'm over your the dumb stuff that you do you. I am El Shaddai. So he tells him that. And then he says, now your new name should remind you. Every time you tell people of it, it will remind you of the promise that I have given. So this new name is a reminder of the promise that's. It's so wonderful. It's so magnificent. It probably felt a little dumb at first. He had one son, and it was a son with a servant and not the son with a wife. And so he goes back into camp like little Gordy Sumner, and he says, hey, my name isn't Abram anymore. Abraham. God told me it's Abraham. And they go, wow, what does that mean? And he said, father of a multitude. And they all went, oh, right, right. Because in that moment, that name doesn't make any sense. That name only makes sense in the context of its relation to the promise that God has given. Now listen to me. There's going to be a bunch of promises that God makes to you that will not make sense in immediate. People are going to try and talk you out of it. People are going to say, he didn't really promise you this. He didn't really say that. He didn't really promise you whatever it is you're holding on to. You say, God has promised me this thing. But when you go around and the only kid you got is a kid that you made with the servant that your wife hates, by the way, Sarai hates Hagar and Ishmael. So the only kid you got is. Is. It is a son of Abrams, but it's not a son of Sarai's at all. And you start going around and calling yourself Abraham, a father of a multitude. People are going, I think the old man has lost it. He's 99 years old. I think he's lost it. Because the promise that God gives you, that you claim in the immediate may not make sense, but God is El Shaddai. Do you see this? His name, Abram's name connects back to who God is. If God hadn't told him that, to start telling him that he had become Abraham would make no sense. But God's name is El Shaddai, God Almighty who can do all things. And because he is El Shaddai, then your new name of Abraham, a father of a multitude, makes sense in the context, because El Shaddai can do all things. That's what we hold on to. When you have that promise, that word, when God has spoken something into your life, I want to encourage you, hold on to it like Abraham held onto his new name. I will not be dissuaded. I will not be talked out of this I will not. I will not let others speak into my promise that I got from God. I will make a covenant. You will be the father of multitudes. Your new name is Abraham. It's not about Abraham. It's about God. But because God is El Shaddai, Abraham can believe that he is the father of multitudes. Now, look, if you will, in the same chapter, we're going to skip down, look at verse 15. Then God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah 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. All right, now this is really interesting. Again, like I said, we're not going to dig into the names on all of these because otherwise it'd just kind of be the same sermon over and over again for the next seven or eight weeks where we just talk about, this is what the name meant, this is what the new name means. But on this one, I did want to talk about it. So Abram means exalted father. Abraham means father of a multitude. There's a difference. But Sarai and Sarah are so similar in Hebrew that there is hardly a difference. The understanding is from the ancient Hebrew that Sarai means my princess, Sarai means my princess, and Sarah means princess. So you go, why would God change her name? Why would God change her name? What did we say? Abraham's name change was about the promise. Abraham's name change was about the promise to re emphasize to Abraham that even in his sin, he had not broken the covenant that God had previously made with him because he is El Shaddai. But where was Sarah in this? Remember the thing with Hagar was Sarah's idea or Sarai. At the time, Sarah had the idea. Go in, sleep with the Egyptian servant, make a son with her. We'll raise the baby. It was her idea to take, put their hands on it, to manipulate the promise, to manipulate the covenant. And then for the next 13 years, God doesn't speak to her husband at all. She had to feel huge levels of shame and guilt. Has God spoken to you today? Imagine every day when Abram goes to lead the sheep into the wilderness to graze. She had to think to herself, oh, please speak to him today. Do you see that she is internalizing? She has broken the connection between her, her husband and God. God never speaks to Sarai. He hasn't. He has spoken to Abram. And now, because of what? Her idea, her sin, her stuff that she has taken Abram and God, the connection is broken. And so when God appears, he says, I am El Shaddai. I'm God Almighty. I can do all things. And he reiterates his promise to Abram, who becomes Abraham. And the new name reiterates the promise that God has given. But Sarai doesn't need the promise. Sarai doesn't need the promise reiterated. What Sarai needs is personal, is intimate, is relational, is authentic. When she was named my princess, it was possessive. Her existence only existed within the context of who she was as Abram's wife. Do you see that? Her father, her mother, named her my princess. So she was a princess just to them. She was their princess. And then she got married and she was Abram's princess. But there was. There was no relationship with God the father. What about Sarai and El Shaddai? And so he renames her Sarah. He says, you are no longer confined by the context of your relationship with your husband. He says, you are now Sarah, which means you have direct connection to God Almighty. You are not Abram's princess. You are a princess. A princess for everybody. A princess that will produce multitudes. A princess that will see kings come from her lineage. He says, you are. You are mine. Now do you see that? El Shaddai makes it personal for Sarah? She no longer is in the context of who she is with someone else. Shared this before, but it's one of my funniest and humbling memories. Years ago, when I was pastoring at the last church, I was invited to speak at a revival in the Atlanta area. I pastored on the other side of Atlanta, out towards Athens. I was a lead pastor of that church. It wasn't as large as Liberty Square. We didn't have such a magnificent building as Liberty Square. But I was the pastor of the church. We were growing. I'd been there for a number of years, and a guy that I met called me out of nowhere and invited me to speak at a series of revival services that he was doing, that his church was doing. I said, great. I'd love to be there. So I was going out there on a Monday night. As we got closer to it, he sent me a graphic of the revival services. And he said, hey, if you want to share this on social media to let people know that you're speaking at it, that'd be great. There were three speakers. This person, their name, their picture. It said, lead pastor at this church. This person was doing something, and they Were like the president of a nonprofit or something. And there was a picture of me, and it said Travis Rutland. And underneath it, I was described as son of Dr. Mark Rutland. That's a true story. I have that graphic saved on my phone just in case I ever get a little bit of a big head. I wanted to say, I'm the lead pastor of a church. I'm the lead pastor of the church. But I was defined. The only context of definition that they gave me was the son of Dr. Mark Rutland. Do you see that? That is what God is trying to show Sarah, in this moment, you are no longer Abram's princess. You were with me. I have relationship. I am El Shadd. I am for you. I am giving you something. You will produce multitudes and kings and lineage. I will give you a son. Look again at verse 16. I will bless her and give you a son by her. He said, sarai, you are now Sarah. You are no longer just defined by your earthly relationships in the natural. You are defined by the fact that I, El Shaddai, am going to use you to produce multitudes. Abram needed his name change to be about the promise that God was still going to fulfill the covenant with him. Sarah needed her name change to be about the personal, the authentic, that God was for her, that El Shaddai had a purpose for her. Her name was about the personal. His name was about the promise. Now, I know this has not been a lengthy message, so I'm going to close, but I'm going to close a little bit longer because I want to talk about something else that we're doing today in the context of this story. Look, if you will, at Genesis, chapter 17 and verse 9. We're in the same chapter, but we haven't read these yet. So God gives his name. God's name, El Shaddai. Then he gives his name, Abraham's new name, father of multitudes. Then we skip down. He gives God gives her new name, Sarah, a princess. No longer confined by her relationship with Abram. She is a princess. Right? So we have all of this in the middle, though in between, there are some verses that are important. Look, if you will, at Genesis, chapter 17 and verse 9, God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. All right, now go down to the end of the chapter, verse 23. God has spoken. He's told about the son he's given, the name changes. So Abraham, new name, covenant, purpose, promise. He goes back to camp. Genesis 17 and 23. So Abraham took Ishmael, his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money. Every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. Circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day, Abraham was circumcised and his son Ishmael and all the men of his house born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him. Hello, 99 years old. So Abraham comes back to camp and he says, good news, Everybody. God, after 13 years, has spoken to me. And everybody goes, yeah. He says. He told me his new name. He is El Shaddai, God Almighty. And people go, wow, that's amazing. El Shaddai. That's awesome. I say, what else, Abraham? He says, and then he gave me a new name. I'm no longer Abram. Now I'm Abraham. I'm a father of multitudes. God is still going to keep his covenant with me. And they go, man, this is amazing. What else? He says, well, not only that, but Sarai is not Sarai anymore. She's Sarah. Because God is revealing to her that he loves her personally, intimately, that he wants an authentic relationship with her. She is not just my wife, my princess, that God cares and is interested in Sarah. So I'm Abraham, she's Sarah. And the guys say, wow. Did God say anything else? Abraham says, well, Okay, 99 years old. God says, this is the covenant. This is where I'm calling you to be. This is the promise. This is the future. This is where I want you going. This is the destiny I have for you. But in order to get there, there's going to have to be some sacrifices. You understand? There's going to have to be sacrifice to get to where God is calling you to be. We're going to close this service with baptism. Not right now, but in a minute, I'm going to dismiss the folks that are going to be baptized in all of that. Not right now, but baptism is that moment. Remember in the scripture, it tells us the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead that is the idea of baptism is that when we go under the water, if you are held under the water long enough, you die. That is a tomb of water. It is signifying the tomb that Jesus himself was in for three days and then resurrected out of that. We celebrated last week at Easter. The same spirit the Bible tells us, the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead raises up us up out of our sins. Baptism is not salvation. That happens before that happens between you and God. What baptism is, is an inward, is an outward sign of an inward reality that you have been changed, that you have been transformed, that you have died to who you used to be, how you used to live, what you used to say, how you used to act. You go under the water and in that tomb of water, the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead raises you up into newness of life. Behold, old things are passed away and all things are made new. That is what it's about. But remember, in order to inherit the covenant, you have to die to some stuff that's important to you. You have to go through a painful process of sacrifice in order to inherit the promised land, right? I don't want to be flippant about it. On the other hand, it's hilarious primarily because it's not happening to me. But a 99 year old man whose hand is shaking says to everybody in the camp, guess what boys, we're all getting circumcised today. That's hilarious. It's not hilarious then, but it's hilarious, right? But what is the point? What is God saying in that moment? What he's saying is that there's a sacrifice that is necessary in order for us to take hold of the promise and the covenant that is out there. This is an Old Testament truth that is revealed in New Testament reality. I want you to see what Paul said. This is so important. Look at what Paul said in Romans chapter 2. Look at Romans 2 and verse 28. Paul is writing to the church at Rome and he says this, for he is not a Jew, one who is one outwardly. All right? He says a person who's a Jew is not one outwardly. Nor is circumcision that which is outward, outward in the flesh. He says the Old law, the Mosaic law, the covenant that was made with Abraham, it's not about actually being circumcised in the flesh. Because remember, he's writing to all these Gentiles, he's starting churches in Gentile cities and nations. And so they're trying to figure out, do we have to keep Jewish law. Do we have to be circumcised? Which is going to be an important component to it. And Paul says it's not about that. Out outwardly in the flesh. What is it about? Look at verse 29. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart. That tub right there full of nice warm water that we're going to roll out to here and put some stairs on it and people are going to climb up in it. That is circumcision of the heart. That is your new name. That is your new promise. That is your covenant. That is your destiny. That is your future. God calls you if you want to get where you're going, you're going to have to die to some stuff that was in your present. I'm not talking about your past. I'm talking about there's some stuff right now that you got to leave in the water if you want to inherit the covenant and the promised land. There's some stuff that you have to die to. There's some stuff that you have to give up. Old things are passed away. All things are made new. That is what circumcision of the heart. It's no longer about the law. That's. That's done. It's finished. Paul made it clear with that. It's no longer about the law. It is about dying to who we used to be and what we used to do in order to become who God is calling us to be. Abraham cannot become Abraham and inherit the covenant if he does not do the painful thing that God has called him to do. You have a new name. You have a covenant. You have a promise. You have a destiny that is yours and yours alone. But there are some things that you have to die to in order to inherit it. And that is what that water is about. For years and years, we did not. We had a ministry, Global Servants that I now serve as the president of. Global Servants had a ministry in India for years and years and years. We no longer have that. We're in Southeast Asia and West Africa. But for years we had a ministry in India. India is dominated by the Hindu religion pantheon of gods. Quarter of a million gods. Hindu temples are some of the creepiest places I've ever been in my life. And it's a religion dominated by idol worship. Quarter of a million gods and goddesses. When people are. When kids are born, the name that they are almost always given is a Hindu name. So when they come to full relationship with Christ, when They become believers when they get saved. After they are saved, they're baptized. My dad told me years ago. I've only been to India once and I went as a little boy. By the time I became an adult, our ministry in India was over. But dad told me that he's baptized hundreds, maybe thousands of people in India. He said every single one of them picks out a new name when they're baptized. He said they almost always pick out some kind of a Christian name, but sometimes it's not Christian, it's just Western. It's just an American name. He said that he has water baptized multiple John Glenn's. The astronaut John Glenn. He said, I now baptize you John Glenn. Dad said he's baptized dozens of Billy Grahams. I now baptize you Billy Graham. They go under that water and they die to what their Hindu name used to be. They want to be David or Peter or Paul. They no longer are going to be defined by the name that they were given. They are a new creation and they are coming out of the water with a new name, a new purpose, a new promise, a new covenant. But in order to get that, there's some stuff that you gotta leave behind. There's some sacrifices, painful as they might be, there's some sacrifices that have to be made in order to become Abraham and Sarah. So here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna dismiss those who have signed up to be baptized. I'm gonna. I'm gonna let them go and get changed now. There are folks that are helping them, so there's going to be a number of people moving around for a moment. I'm going to invite Matthew and the band to return to the stage as well. Here's how we're going to close. We're going to close, have an altar call. And then as we're doing the altar call, we're going to roll the baptismal tub out here and we're going to baptize. We have a number of people signed up for baptism. But I want to give you an opportunity right now. If you want to be baptized this morning, I encourage you to do it. We have clothes you can change into. We have shirts, we have shorts, we have towels. You can be baptized this morning. If you have been feeling I need to inherit my new name, my new destiny, my new purpose. I need the covenant and the future that God has for me. This is your moment. I encourage you. While we're singing, you can slip out. You go out that door, you go out and go around we have changing rooms, we have clothes. Pastor Chris and others can help you. But if you want to be spontaneously baptized this morning, I encourage you. Don't wait. This is your moment to put a marker in the ground and say, this is my new name. I am coming out of the water and I am no longer confined or defined by the things of my past. I am a new creation. If you want that this morning, you can have that. There may be others where you just need to spend a couple of minutes talking with God. Maybe because of what you've done, maybe because of things that have happened in the past. It's been a while since you've gotten in the presence of God and heard his voice. We're going to sing. The altars are going to be open. Come down and pray. You want somebody to pray with you? We have prayer team. Whatever it is, we're just going to take a moment and tarry in the presence of God. Now. I'm encouraging you, I'm begging you, please don't leave. If you will, please stay. We're going to sing this song and have some altar time, and then we're going to do baptism. This is a monumental, momentous moment in their life. And I encourage you to stay and celebrate with these people who are being baptized, kids and adults who are going under the water and coming out transformed. We're going to sing this song, and then we're going to do baptism. And I hope you will stay and worship with us and celebrate with them. Them. But this morning, if you need a new name, new promise, and a new covenant, come to the altar. Hear what God is saying. Make that sacrifice, painful as it may be, so that you can inherit the promised land. Let's pray. God, I ask that you finish this message in the hearts of every person here. God, that you would just let your Holy Spirit move in this place. Every person we're feeling, we know those things that shouldn't be in our life. Those things we need to give up, those sacrifices we need to make. God help us. Help us, God, to make those. God help us to come to the front, make the painful sacrifice so that we can inherit the new name and the destiny that you have for us. Finish this sermon in the hearts of every person here. God. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. [00:46:01] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Travis Rutland podcast. If you enjoyed this message and you're in the Cartersville, Georgia area, we invite you to join us at Liberty Square Church. You can also watch online and connect with us on Facebook and YouTube. We'll see you next week for another message from Travis Rutland.