Dharius Daniels - Put Some Respect on my NAME

I want to talk about this subject and our time together: «Put some respect on my name.» Put some respect on my name. Clap your hands if you’re ready for God’s word today! Put some respect on my name. I want to begin our time together by informing you of a simple yet significant truth: names are important. When I say that, I’m not speaking randomly; I’m saying that specifically. First of all, I’m implying and asserting that names are important culturally. This is how important names are: when you meet someone you’ve never met before, you do not introduce yourself by giving them your height. You don’t say, «Hello, I’m six feet.» You don’t introduce yourself by sharing your weight, your socio-economic status, your gender, or your race. You introduce yourself to them by giving them your name—a name you choose to share, because many of us have a few, including nicknames, right? So, the name you choose to give them is a reflection of—watch this—how well you know them and how well they know you. Because the name they receive is often an indication of the level of relationship you have. There are some people who can call you by names that others cannot, because they don’t know you like that. Does that make sense? Yeah. If I walk into a room and someone says, «Hey babe, I’m looking for you,» does that make sense? There’s no confusion, right? My mama doesn’t even call me that, so there’s no confusion. The name she uses indicates the level of relationship we have. We didn’t start off calling each other by affectionate names; but as the relationship progressed, the names evolved as an indication and marker of how well we knew each other.

I see this is not just the case culturally; I see that it’s the case biblically. God seems to be in the names all throughout Scripture. We see examples of this. First of all, we see this when a man named Moses is assigned to serve as a leader who will guide Israel out of over 400 years of Egyptian captivity. God tells this man named Moses, «I want you to go and lead this movement to liberate them from this oppression that inhibits them from living life as I intended.» Moses is like, «Okay, I have to go to them, but they are in a polytheistic culture.» Poly means many, so there are many gods: the sun god, the moon god, the fertility god. I can’t just go and say «God»; they’re going to ask, «Which one?» So I need a name. And God says—watch this—"I am.» Moses starts writing it down: «I am.» He’s waiting for God to finish, but God says, «I’m not pausing because I’m resting; I’m pausing because I’m finished. I am what I am—that I am,» meaning, «I will be who I will be.» That word is actually Jehovah, which we call a covenant name. It means He’s saying, «I will be who I will be. I make a covenant that I will be who I will be. I am, was, and will be. I am a covenant name.» He’s saying, «Whatever I put behind Jehovah is what I covenant to be.» Moses, the only thing I’m going to give you right now is Jehovah, because you’re going to need me to be so much that I’m going to have to give you a different name every time you get ready to see me in a different way.

So when you need me to raise your banner in victory, I’ll fill in the blank and say, «Put Nissi there. I’m Jehovah Nissi, the one who raises your banner in victory.» When you feel alone, isolated, misunderstood, and marginalized, I want you to fill in the blank with Shama, «For I am the Lord who is with you.» When you feel lost, without guidance or direction, and you’re trying to make decisions with just three options—all of which are good options, and none of them are bad options—but you don’t want to make the wrong choice, you need the Lord who’s going to be your Shepherd: Jehovah Roy. When you have habits and hang-ups that inhibit you from experiencing God’s best and you’re frustrated with yourself, disappointed with yourself—let me see if you all are feeling this one—tired of yourself. I felt the love right here, so I’m going to go to this side. I want to know, is there anybody honest enough to say, «I not only get tired of other people sometimes, but if I’m honest, I get tired of me»? I get tired of making promises to myself and breaking those promises. I get tired of saying, «This is the last time,» even when it’s not the last time. I get tired of saying, «I’m not going to let them treat me like this anymore,» and I keep letting them treat me like this. I get tired of me.

When you get tired of changing yourself and when you realize that you cannot use willpower, promises, and empty affirmations to change the reality of your life, when you realize that there are some issues that are so deeply rooted that you need some existential and outside assistance, when you realize you can’t fix yourself by yourself, I’ll show you—I’m Jehovah Mcadish, the Lord who sanctifies you. When you can’t fix it, I’ll fix it. When you can’t change it, I’ll change it. When you can’t stop, I’ll help you stop.