What will you name the baby? | Evg. Michael Maupin

come on let's give that to the lord tonight he is the only one who's worthy oh if you love him it ought to be easy to praise him tonight he's done so much for me i cannot tell it all come on give him your very best i praise you jesus i magnify you i glorify you i exalt you o god you are grading greatly to be praised you are wonderful you are mighty you are marvelous what a great god what a magnificent savior that he is i'm so thankful that i know him no other place i'd rather be especially starting out a brand new year than right here in the house of god in the presence of god in the presence of god's people and i want to give tremendous honor to your pastor first lady and their family and missing most of the dream team tonight and wishing they were here but i know they're watching through the internet and giving honor to them also give honor to your pastor not only as an influence in my life but an influence over this entire world in the body of christ and i appreciate him and his leadership so much and i appreciate what this church means it still blows my mind it still takes my breath away when i pull into this parking lot what a testimony of god's goodness his faithfulness his promises and his blessings to the city of maryville and blount county and surrounding areas and all across the globe i'm so thankful for what this church means and so good to see what a pleasant surprise it was to see missionary navy here tonight glad to see him wonderful doing a wonderful work in the islands of the philippines and thankful for what he does and brother sister fallon in the church from cleveland give the honor tonight and excited about what god is doing there if you have your bibles turn with me to the book of luke the first chapter and we'll begin reading with verse number 59 luke 1 verse number 59. if you have it say amen if you're still looking say hold on i will if you didn't look at all say that's me at least we're honest about it luke 1 and 59 and it came to pass it on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and they called him zacharias after the name of his father and his mother answered and said not so but he shall be called john and they said unto her there was none of thy kindred that is called by this name and they made signs to his father how he would have him called and he asked for a writing table and wrote saying his name is john and they marveled all and his mouth was opened immediately in his tongue loose and he spake and praised god i want to ask you a question for a title tonight i want to ask you this simple question what will you name the baby look at your neighbor and ask them what will you name the baby would you set your bibles down lift your hands and hearts to heaven and help me pray right now lord we love you and we thank you for who you are we thank you for your power and your glory and your majesty and your anointing god anoint these lips of clay to preach your word god anoint your people to hear your word to receive your word but most importantly god to respond to your word lord have your way in this house let us leave here different than what we walked in and we give you praise for what you're going to do in the mighty matchless name of jesus we pray amen why don't you clap your hands one more time and the bible says not only to clap but to shout can you add a shout to your hand clown hallelujah thank you jesus thank you you can be seated this evening we've all seen i'm sure the stereotypical representation of baby new year a baby wearing nothing more than a diaper a top hat and a sash across his torso that shows the year that he is representing the baby new year is a personification of the start of the new year and he symbolizes the birth of the next year and the passing of the prior year in other words he represents a rebirth of another year and another opportunity so once again i ask you what will you name the baby what on this opening service or opening weekend of a brand new year what are you going to name your 2023. zacharias in our reading said don't name the baby after me don't call him zach junior because i'm a doubter i didn't believe the report given by gabriel the angel i question the word of god so don't name him after me but name him what god said to name him name him john what's in a name romeo's shakespeare's romeo and juliet made this question famous and i want to answer that question with this statement there is everything in a name tonight names are important they have great importance in human relationship from the day of our birth our parents use our name to link us to their own preferences and values my name michael my middle name is john it came from a great uncle of mine that was a preacher my name michael was is the name that my mom was going to be named if she was going to be a boy but don't anybody dare say i'm named after my mama tonight we might have to have words a lot of people will name their children after names found in the bible matthew mark luke and john mary rachel rebecca sarah and the list goes on and on but no one will name their baby judas you won't even name your dog judas the significance of a name was particularly true in biblical times in both old and new testaments names were used to express or influence character in hebrew thought a name was extremely significant parents did not name their children because they thought their initials would look good on luggage and clothing not because they thought it would look good in wooden letters hanging on the nursery wall they didn't choose a name because the baby reminded them of aunt susie or uncle johnny many times parents chose names for their children hoping that the name would embody the personality the characteristics or the character that they desire to see developed in their child in other words they would give their child a prophetic name and they may express some great longing of a parent rachel named her firstborn son joseph which interpreted means adding because she desired for god to add another child into her they generally express some hope some wish or prayer of the parent and henceforth the child would embody that name and for the parent's sake they would feel like it was a personal vow and they made it their life effort to realize it and to live up to the name they were given so once again i want to ask this church what will you name the baby tonight what will you name your 2023 somebody might be going to name their baby baby 2023 will be the year that i finally get the holy ghost maybe 2023 will be the year my family gets saved or or maybe you're going to name your baby why and you're going to spend your entire year questioning god why god did you let that happen to me why did you let my loved one die god why won't you bless me like you bless other people or maybe you're gonna name your baby cry baby i've seen a few of those in my life and you're just gonna cry about everything your feelings going to get hurt about everything pastor didn't shake my hand and and so and so said in my seed and i'm just going to sit here and suck my spiritual thumb and be a crybaby for the rest of the year or maybe you're going to be a worry baby and you're just going to worry about everything that happens in life or or maybe you're going to name your baby pain or maybe you'll name your baby anxiety or maybe fear because fear has been struck into our hearts over these last few years with what has happened on a grand scale across our world or or maybe you're going to have a sad baby and you're just going to stick your bottom lip out and be sad all the time everyone else is dancing and rejoicing but you're just sad don't try to cheer me up i've already called my baby sad and i'm going to be sad for the rest of the year or maybe you're going to have a mad baby and i'm just going to be mad at everybody and i'm just going to be angry and you can't do anything to cheer me up you can't do anything to make me happy i'm just going to be mad or maybe you're going to be a hurt baby maybe you're going to have a hurt baby and you're going to spend your entire 2023 licking your spiritual wounds because of what happened in 2022 and you've never found healing but you're just going to dwell on the hurt instead of the healing or maybe you're going to be a defeated baby not walking from victory victory but from defeat to defeat or maybe a depressed baby you're just going to live your life in depression or a sick baby never claiming the healing that took that he took the stripes on his back for or maybe you're going to be a have a spoiled baby i've seen a few of those in my life too you just try to get me out of my seat they better sing my favorite song tonight they that preacher better preach a good message i'm spoke and the problem with being spiritually spoiled is you become very quickly become religiously rotten or maybe you're going to name your baby lost i come to church every time the doors are open and i stand there and watch as everyone else goes to an altar but i'm just going to name my 2023 loss i'm just going to stay i i don't have to go down there that holy ghost sitting for me i don't have to be baptized i don't have to be baptized in jesus name and you're going to get me lost on a church pew because you've already named your baby lost or maybe you're going to drag your addiction from 2022 into 2023 and you're going to go ahead and name that baby addiction before the day even ends you're going to already name it or maybe somebody's going to have twins in here tonight you're going to name them mistaken failure or maybe you're going to have triplets and you're going to name them shoulda coulda woulda i should have had that part in the choir i could have done better than that person i would have done better if god would just do this or pastor would just do this i would have a better life and i'd have a better ministry or or maybe you're just going to have another 2022 and you're going to name this baby 2022 junior and every problem you had last year and every regret and every heartache and every pain and every situation you're just gonna drag it into this brand new year and you're already determined that this year is not going to be any better it's going to be the same old story and the same old line but i hope that i'm preaching to a church tonight that's not going to have a maybe baby but you're going to have a miracle baby you're not going to have a why baby but a why not baby you're not going to have a crime baby but a rejoicing baby i'm not going to have a worry baby but a worshiping baby it's not about pain but it's about praise it's not about anxiety but anticipation not about fear but about faith not sad but happy not mad but magnificent not hurt but holy not defeated but victorious not depressed but delivered not sick but healed not spoiled but spiritual not lost but saved not addicted but anointed not not the twins the mistakes and failures but the twins called mercy and grace not the triplets of coulda shoulda woulda but the triplets of i shall i will and i did this is going to be the greatest year for my life this is going to be the greatest year for my family this is going to be the greatest year for my finances this is going to be the greatest year for my marriage and my ministry and our church what will you name the baby tonight in first samuel 4 the children of israel in battle with the philistines philistines wiped the battlefield with them thousands die hofknife phineas eli's sons are killed in the battle the philistines take the ark of the covenant the presence of god and when a reporter goes to tell eli about the results of the battle how that thousands lie dead on the battlefield and his sons are both slain and the ark of god is taken eli had the same problem i did he had a little bit of a weight problem and he fell off his perch and broke his neck and during this time phineas's wife is with child she goes into because of the report of her husband and her brother-in-law and her father-in-law and the art being taken and all these thousands killed on the battlefield she goes into premature labor and verse 21 says she names the baby ichabod if anybody's name is ichabod i apologize tonight which means the glory parted from israel because the ark of god was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband and she said the glory is departed from israel and the ark of god is taken and you know what i am certain tonight that mr and mrs phineas had already picked out a name for that baby maybe they were going to name him hasna after his uncle maybe they were going to name him eli after his priestly papaw maybe they were going to name him phineas jr after his dad and call him pj for short but this woman in a moment of weakness in a moment of pain in a moment of frustration and heartache makes a grand mistake and she without even thinking about the long-term effects of naming her baby in a moment of pain in a moment of anxiety in a moment of weakness she names her baby ichabod imagine ichabod when he gets old enough to go to school none of the kids want to play with ichabod he's a reminder of the past he's a reminder of the death he's a reminder of the art being stolen he's a reminder of horrible things you don't want to sit beside him at lunch you don't want to play with ichabod at recess imagine when he becomes a teenager no girl wants to date ichabod because their daddy might have died in that battle and they grew up without a father their entire life i don't want to date somebody who has a name that reminds me of what happened in my past and what happened to my future but what this woman didn't know was that yes the glory had departed but what she didn't realize was there was a samuel in the waiting and there was a david in the making and the glory was gone but the glory would one day come back but poor ichabod was stuck with a name and so i rise on this first sunday night of a brand new year to tell somebody in this house don't name your future don't name the rest of this year by what you're going through right now don't name the rest of this year by what you're struggling with right now don't name it ichabod because you don't understand what god is doing and it may seem bleak and it may seem hopeless right now but god is still in control and if you trust him like bishop carpenter said you ought to name your baby what god wants you to name that baby and not what you're going through right now in first chronicles 4 we find another person with a bad name this time his name was jabez and verse 9 tells us that jabez was more honorable than his brethren and his mother called his name jabez saying because i bear him with sorrow now if we're going to get real and if every mother in this house would name their babies by what they went through when they gave birth i weighed 9-6 i'm lucky to be called michael tonight she named him by what she was going through at childbirth but jabez in verse number 10 did something he calls on the god of israel and he says oh that thou would have blessed me indeed and enlarged my coast that thy hand might be with me and that thou would has keep me from evil that it may not grieve me and god granted him that which he requested in other words jabez said i can't help what my mama named me i had no choice in the matter but i can help how i respond to what i was named i have a choice and i'm not going to live up to what the my mama named me and i know i'm preaching to somebody here today your years already been named by circumstances and events that are surrounding your life and you had no choice but you do have a choice tonight you can be like jabez and say i'm not going to live up to that name my 2023 is going to be different god hear my prayer bless me indeed need enlarge my toast and god work in my life genesis 32 we find another person with a bad name although it's a good name now it was not a good name then jacob means sir planner means deceiver means manipulator jacob was the guy that you saw him walking down the road and you passed over on the other side when jacob was in the room women held their purses a little closer when jacob hugged your neck at church you made sure your wallet was still in your back pocket and jacob had done a really really good job living up to his name because his entire life had been filled with trickery has been filled with manipulation and deception he deceived and tricked his brother into giving him the birthright he deceived and tricked his blind dad into giving him uh the blessing and i guess a turnabout is fair play because his father-in-law tricked him into marrying the ugly sister first but jacob sick and tired of being named jacob has an all-night wrestling match with an angel you know the story the angel dislocates his hip doesn't stop jacob the angel says we've been fighting all night long the day breakthroughs let me go and jacob i'm sure looked at that angel and said letting go is why i'm here today i've always been a quitter i've always been a failure i've spent my entire life running that's why he dislocated his hip instead of his elbow or his shoulder because god said it's time that you're not going to ever run again jacob jacob i'm tired of being known as that person that cheats and lies for my benefits and he looks at the angel probably with a a a a a fat lip and a bloody nose and a black eye closed tattered and torn the dirt where they've been rolling around has now mixed with sweat and now he is a bloody muddy mess and he looks at the angel and he says i will not let thee go except thou bless me and the angel says what is your name now you need to understand something that angel didn't hit his head on a rock during that fight he wasn't suffering from amnesia he knew who jacob was but he wanted jacob to come to terms with who he was he said jacob i want you to admit who you are i want you to admit what your name means and jacob said my name is jacob it wasn't with pride he probably looked down and kicked the dirt and kicked the rock and he was ashamed and i guarantee you jacob was getting ready to explain his situation i can't help that i was named jacob i can't help that i was born second i should have been the firstborn esau didn't want the birthright i can't help that i had to trick him out of it i can't help who i am i can't help what all i've done in my life but the angel interrupts him and he says from this day forward you're not going to be jacob any longer but your new name shall be called israel because you have power with god and with man and i've come tonight preached to a jacob you can't help what life has named you but you can end this altar in this service tonight on this opening sunday of 2023 you can look down through the rest of this year and say i'm not going to be a jacob any longer i'm going to be in israel i'm going to be who god has called me to be and i find it amazing that three chapters later jacob's wife rachel is giving birth to her last child because the bible says that she's giving birth her soul was departing that she died and she names that baby boy ben and i now rachel and her dying breath names her last child been on i which you've got to understand once again the importance of names in the bible means son of sorrow once again a woman naming her child a name she's going to die she's not the one that's going to have to live up she's not the one that she's going to have to grab a hold of ben and i and pat him on the back and say it's okay honey don't don't worry about the kids making fun of your name don't worry about the the bullies at school she was going to die she didn't care all she was doing she was making a selfish proclamation i'm dying and so i'm gonna name this boy what i'm feeling right now but jacob's there and jacob steps in and says honey i know you're dying but i cannot let this happen because i spent my entire life being given a name and spending my entire life living up to that name and i don't want my son to be constantly reminded that he killed his mother in childbirth so jacob interrupts his dying love's final breath and her last wish and the bible says but his father called him benjamin which means son of my right hand or son of power and i've come tonight to tell somebody lies may have given you a name your situation may have already named your baby circumstances may have already branded your year and the first day of 2023 but i want to introduce the father to somebody in this house because he stepped into this room and he's going to say no no no that's not what you're going to name the baby you're going to name it what i say to name it you're not going to name it ben or not but you're going to name it benjamin you're not going to name it israel jacob but you're going to name it israel tonight and as we all stand basically what i'm preaching is proverbs 18 21. death and life are in the power of the tongue now i know the charismatic movement has made the name it and claim it and blab it and grab it doctrine popular and that's not what i'm preaching and i but i am preaching to you the power of prophecy that's in your tongue tonight because you don't understand the power and the authority that you have in your voice and in your mouth and in your tongue and on this first sunday of 2023 you can speak alive or you can speak death into the remainder of this year you can speak encouragement or discouragement you can speak blessing or cursing on this service in this altar the choice is up to you tonight what will you name the baby and closing with luke back to our original story luke 1 and 64. when zacharias named him john the bible says and his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed and he spake and praised god that's what god wants to happen in this altar tonight that's what god wants to happen on the closing of this first day of a brand new year he wants somebody's tongue to be loosed he wants to your mouth to be opened and he wants you to praise god why because i've got a baby the name i've got a year to name and it's not just 2023 and it's not just another year another day another time another season but the words that i pre preached tonight the words that i prophesy tonight the words that i speak tonight will reach all the way to december 31st 2020. so i know we have baby dedication services but tonight we're going to have a baby naming service but i can't name the baby for you pastor can't name the baby for you your spouse can't name the baby for you you have to pick the name tonight but here's the danger if you just say oh that was a cute little message let's just go through the motions let me promise you something there's something or somebody out there that's waiting to name your baby if you don't name it and proclaim it in this service tonight there is something waiting for you whether it's tonight tomorrow next week next month or maybe later on this year there's something out there that's wanting to grab a hold of your 2023 and stamp their name and stamp the what they want your year to be so i've come to tell somebody you need to step out of your seat tonight you need to walk down to this halter and you need to boldly proclaim the name of your baby you need to say this is not just in that average year this is not just an ordinary year but this is going to be a year of revival this is going to be a year of harvest this is going to be a year of anointing this is going to be a year of ministry this is going to be a year of backsliders and prodigals coming home this is going to be a year of financial blessing this is going to be a year that god is going to work like he's never worked before foreign the words you're speaking they don't just stop on the ceiling in this house but they're going into the rest of january and february and into the spring and into the summer and into the fall and all the way to the next year because we're naming the baby tonight come on somebody speak faith in this house somebody speak hope in this house somebody speak peace come on let the miraculous be released in the atmosphere this is going to be the greatest year of my life this is going to be the greatest year of this church i speak it i believe it i name it i claim it tonight in the name of jesus come on that's it let your voice be heard there's power of life and death in your tongue tonight you're speaking life you're speaking hope you're speaking blessings into a brand new year in the name of jesus in the name of jesus come on tonight can be your night to repent of your sins tonight could be your not to be baptized in the holy name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved the name of jesus christ tonight could be your night to be filled with the holy ghost tonight could be your night to be healed tonight could be your night to be delivered you've got to speak it right now name the baby what god says to name the baby you know what i feel tonight i believe in the power of agreement tonight the bible teaches and preaches it any two touching heaven where two or three are gathered together in my name god works in agreement god works in unity so if you feel comfortable you don't have to if you don't want to but if you feel comfortable i want you to find somebody close by you grab them by the hand put your hand on their shoulder and i want you to tell them the name of your baby tonight and then i want them to tell you the name of their baby and then in a spirit of agreement i want us to pray one for another that that baby will be born and that that baby will have its way the way that god wants us to have the greatest cheer that we've ever had come on if you believe it right now why don't you lift a hand but your brother lift a hand with your sister and begin to pray with him in a powerful agreeing prayer that god is going to perform what we speak tonight