Chris Hodges - The Covenants Names of God
Thank you, Lord God. Who’s glad to be in church, anybody, anybody? I am too. I could go home right now. I’m so fed by the worship and the time, just the fellowship together. We’re not gonna go home though, y’all, 'cause I worked hard on this message, and I didn’t work hard enough not to keep this little iPad near me though, so I’m just letting y’all know that. I work hard to get those messages memorized and to do it with virtually no notes but anyway. But I have a little, I tell them bring me a little, little secure… security blanket over here just in case. We’ll see how much actually comes out without me having to look over there. But I’m glad you’re here. I’m gonna make one quick announcement. I know there’s weather coming in on Friday, and they’re unsure.
One report I see, it’s, it’s gonna have a wintry mix, and the next time I look it says it’s rain. We will make the call on Thursday whether we’re gonna have prayer on Friday morning, okay? And so we’re gonna wait till tomorrow to make that decision, so just be sure to check out the website, or the app, or whatever ways we communicate. Oh, I don’t know how that is, hopefully you know, okay? So, I’m not on the… anyway, so, all right, so, I have good people who… y’all give it up for the Highlands team who, who does such a good job! So whatever those are, look at it, all right? So, but we will make a decision probably midday tomorrow or into the early evening of Thursday evening just to let you guys know whether we’re gonna have prayer.
I always err on «let’s meet, y’all, come on, everybody,» and I want to, I want to pray, and so, you, you need to know, I’m leaning in that direction. I also wanted to let you guys know that we’re making some minor changes to Wednesday nights in that we’re really gonna focus intently on these services in more of like a biblical master class kind of a way. I don’t know of a better way to say that. So we’re gonna pick topics and announce the topics, and we have a few experts in their field, of course, all biblical teachers that are coming. In fact, I was in conversation last night with Dave Ramsey, and he wants to come and just teach us all about finances. Yeah, so, so we’re working on some things like that.
And so when we tell you First Wednesday, we’re gonna be able to tell you the topic and what you’re gonna be able to come learn, and we’re gonna grow and, and really even make it a little bit more in-depth teaching. In fact, tonight, I’m gonna… it’s gonna… I’m just letting you know, this is gonna be kind of more of an in-depth. If you like it deep, you’re gonna like it tonight, everybody, okay? 'Cause we’re gonna, we’re gonna… I want you to come prepared to take notes, though, and if you mark your Bible, I want you to bring your Bibles to First Wednesday. So this is not gonna be a preach, for at least when I, when I… on the ones that I’m doing this year, it’s not gonna be a preach, it’s… I’m gonna… it’s gonna be a teach. We’re gonna get in, and we’re gonna learn our Bibles, and we’re gonna grow on certain topics. Can I hear a good «amen,» everybody, all right?
So we’ll let you know on Sundays when we announce the topics what those are gonna be. And tonight, I wanna talk about prayer but in an area that I don’t think I’ve taught you in before but one that I use literally every time I pray, and I think you guys know my passion for prayer. I grew up in a church with a pastor who was, who’s… he is the praying-est* person I know. In fact, I talked to him recently, Pastor Larry Stockstil, my pastor, been my pastor since I got saved. Pastor Larry, I said… he told me… you know, he normally gets up around 5 o’clock. He said, he said, «Brother Chris,» he calls me brother Chris, «Brother Chris, I’ve been getting up around 3:30 in the morning, just seeking the face of God».
And y’all need to know, your pastor doesn’t do that, all right, everybody? Just, just letting y’all know. I get up early, but it’s not then. Might… I might get up at 3:30 to go to the bathroom, but it’s not to see God yet. But anyway, but I said, «Pastor Larry, why you get up so early to pray»? He goes, «Oh, I just like beating the devil to the day,» you know, and I watched this man pray, and, you know, we had Saturday prayer. Everything that we do, the 21 Days of Prayer, the Saturday Prayer, all that was from my home church. I learn… I didn’t create any of that. I didn’t start that. That was started at my home church, and in fact, Pastor Larry would show up on Sunday mornings in the auditorium at 4 a.m. I lived in a little parsonage, you… if you can call it that. We had about five or six little buildings on property, houses, very small houses, that Tammy and I lived in when… for a number of years while we were there.
So I lived right on property, and when I heard he got there at 4 a.m., I had a key to the auditorium, and it was a 6,000-seat auditorium, so it was a big… it’s kinda shaped like Grants Mill is shaped, but it was 6,000 seats. It was huge. And so, I didn’t know how a man can spend 4 to… 4 a.m. to 7 a. m., I couldn’t understand. How… what do you, what do you… I don’t even know what you’re gonna say. I mean, I can pray, I mean, I can pray, but I run out of material after about, you know, about an hour, y’all. You know what I’m saying? Like, what are you doing? And so, I would sneak in and go way up in the top section of the auditorium for y… I think for two years before he caught me, but just went up there and just watched my pastor. He taught me how to pray, and I learned it from not only his teachings and just, you know, all of that, but also just by watching a person love the presence of God and love prayer, and it impacted my life.
And so, when I became a youth pastor and when I had people I was leading, even before I was a senior pastor, one of the first things that I always taught people was how to pray. And I have a thesis about prayer, and that is… and I think I’m right. And I… people ask this all the time: «How do you get such momentum at Church of the Highlands on 21 Days of Prayer»? Pastors say, «We just can’t get… we don’t get… we can’t get anybody to show up at 6 o’clock in the morning, and for heaven’s sakes, we can’t do it for 21 days, you know»? And I had one pastor tell me, he said… and he was trying to make it funny on something he just couldn’t figure out. He says, «You know, what takes y’all 21 days, we do it in 3,» you know what I’m saying, like? I said, «Well, anyway, so, good for y’all».
You know, «So, how’s it going»? But anyway, but, but of course, he said it to be kind of funny, but they just can’t figure it out. And… but years ago, even when I was a youth pastor, I used to have what it was call… I called it «prayer warriors» on Tuesday night at Tammy and my house, and we had, you know, just, we’d get a hundred kids in our house in Colorado Springs, I mean, where you couldn’t… they’re like fitting in there like sardines, you know, just 'cause they wanted to pray, because I taught 'em how to pray.
So I didn’t necessarily focus too much on the inspiration of prayer. I have found that people are sufficiently inspired. They don’t know what to do. In fact, I can prove it, because there was once this pl… this person had set up booth out in the middle of a public square, like in this middle of a city, and the sign above his booth, it just said «prayer here» and an arrow pointing down where he was standing, and there was a line 50 yards long. 'Cause people, they know it’s right, and even people who don’t love God know prayer is right.
I don’t think they just don’t know, they don’t know what to do. They feel awkward. And if you’ve ever been asked… called on to prayer, you… to pray you’re like, «Oh man,» you get all nervous, you know? You don’t even know what to say sometimes. Or at a meal or sometime. We don’t… I don’t… it’s not that we don’t know it’s important, we just don’t know what to say, okay? So when I wrote «Pray First,» which has… which was a… which has been been the rally cry here at Highlands for a number of years, «Just pray first, pray first».
Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort. When I wrote the book that came out two years ago, I wrote it to basically give everything I knew about, in 40 years of ministry, about prayer. And so, I talked in the book about, and I’m not teaching this tonight, but I, the first section just talks about the fi… I call it the five Ps of prayer: The priority of prayer, meaning pray first. Don’t wait, just get it… pray first. The place of prayer, that you need, you need to get a conducive place to pray. Mine is at… in a ch… in my comfy little chair down in my office down in the basement with a window, a candle, my journal, my Bible, and some coffee. Can I get an «amen,» everybody, right? I have a conducive place where I love to pray. When I first moved to Birmingham, I had big old maps of Birmingham on the wall. I didn’t know we’d be in other cities.
Man, I used to point to Homewood, and point to Alabaster, and point to Fulton-de-Lay, I call it, not Fultondale, anyway, on occasion, and, and just pray over these, these cities and just ask God, «Give us these ci…», you know, I created a conducive pla… the priority, the place. The third is the, is one I’m gonna talk about a little bit tonight. It’s the plan of prayer. In other words, you need to go into it knowing kind of what direction you’re headed in, because the Bible has models, or plans. I believe the Lord’s prayer is one of those. And then the power of prayer, the Bible says «the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person is the one, the prayers, that avail much». And the word «fervent» in the Greek is «energeo,» where we get the word energy. And in the early church, when they prayed, the Bible says they raised their voices together in prayer, you couldn’t hear yourself think when the early church prayed.
And then 2,000 years later, it’s just, «Mm-hm,» you know? Just, people… it just, it’s just gotten a little… you know, again, I don’t mind a little contemplation and meditation, but the Bible talks about praying with passion, you know, with power, and so. And then finally, the persons of prayer, the fifth area that, that you can actually relate to the Godhead differently, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, in completely different ways. I won’t get into all of that, but I talked about the five Ps. And then in the last section, the third section, I talk about prayer and fasting, and how you build it in a local church, and how you build intercessory teams. But the middle section, I talk about the different plans that I have found and have used for a number of years.
I mean, when I say I’ve used these for years, it was just, I’d write these prayer models out using the Lord’s prayer, the Tabernacle prayer, the Prayer of Jabez, and other things. Like, I would, I collected and wrote these warfare prayers. How do you bind the devil over unforgiveness and over generational curses? And wrote all these little prayers people would pray, and I’d staple 'em together and bring them to prayer meetings. When we first started Highlands, those prayer meetings were in homes. I’d bring my boom box. I mean, I’d pull up on a Saturday morning at KT and Deborah Bowles’s home, and where we had prayer, and I had my little boom box and my stack of stapled together prayer models, and I just ha… passed out to everybody. But I noticed prayer grew in our church, not just because I was inspiring them to but because I was teaching them how. Are y’all following me, everybody?
Okay, there’s one of those models that I probably talked about the least, and it’s not really even a model. It’s not a prayer model itself. It’s just something that I do every time I pray, every time I pray, and we’ve… and you, you’re gonna catch on that it’s been the theme of the night, and that is the names of God. We’ve been singing about the names. We proclaim the names of God, «Hallowed be your,» come on, everybody, «Hallowed be your»? Jesus says first thing you s… you do is you just call on the names of God, «Hallowed be your name».
I already quoted Philippians 2, that it’s the name. Look it up yourself, read it, that at the name of Jesus, every demon bows. The Bible says in the Book of Proverbs… I think I’m gonna be fine with it. I’m gonna leave it over there though, y’all. Proverbs 18: «That the name of the LORD is like a tower,» and the towers in cities were places to l… to watch for the enemy. They were places of defense where you could shoot at the enemy. «The names of the LORD is a fortified tower; and righteous people run to that name». The third of the Ten Commandments is, «You shall not misuse,» the King James says, «take the Lord’s name in vain». Most people think that means «don’t cuss». That don’t mean that at all.
Now, don’t cuss, but it doesn’t mean that, all right? The L… the NIV actually translates it, I think, a little bit better when it says «don’t misuse the name». It literally means don’t neglect the name. Don’t mis… don’t empty it of its power. If y’all are taking notes, I’m gonna give you a bunch of good notes tonight. Now, some of y’all need to get your pad out, and I worked hard on this. Y’all need to write some of this stuff down. It’s gonna be good, okay? I’m just, I’ll «amen» myself if y’all won’t, all right. I know you’re not «amen-ing» 'cause you’re writing so many things down right now, right? But we’re not gonna misuse the name. We’re not gonna empty it of its power. We… you have access to, to the names of God, use it everybody. It’s one of the three weapons the Bible talks about.
You have, of course, the authority of the Word of God. The Bible calls it a sword. It’s an offensive weapon when you quote Scripture to the devil or over your situation. The Word of God is a sword in your hand. Of course, the blood of Jesus, we saw this during our Communion time, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That’s how you defeat the devil. That’s talking about the cross. But also, you use the name of God, and I’m not just talking about God. I’m gonna show you there’s a lot of names you can use.
And why do we pray the names of God? This is a beautiful thought I wanna give to you. Because God doesn’t even answer prayer based on who you are. He’s basing… he’s answering your prayer based on who he is. You gotta ask, «Why would God answer our prayer»? It’s not 'cause you’re praying loud, or praying long, or because you actually did it right or lived right, or… no, no, no, he’s not… you ought to be glad about this, that he’s not answering prayer based on you and your character. He’s basing it on who he is and his character.
So, I want to just show you today, and again, this is just a little deeper teaching. We’re gonna dig into the Hebrew language, which is what the Old Testament’s written in. And in the Old Testament, there are eight Hebrew names for God that are used over and over. There are many, you saw some tonight, like Elohim, and Adonai, and Yahweh, and others, right? But I’m gonna show you eight that are used in prayer, and I’m gonna give them to you, and they happen to all show up in the most famous Psalm in the entire Book of Psalms, and that’s Psalm 23. If you grew up in Sunday school, you probably memorized this, and so I put it in the version you memorize it in, which is the King James, and we are gonna read it aloud together. And notice, I said «aloud» and not «asoft». Come on, everybody, all right?
Here we go, everybody, every voice: «The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord», and all God’s people said a good… Amen. Now you didn’t may not have seen in those six verses these eight covenant names, but I’m gonna show 'em to ya, and I’m gonna give 'em to ya in the Hebrew too, okay?
So again, if you like in the He… if you like all of that, here you go, everybody. And I promise you, there’s not a single prayer time that I don’t mention these names, and they’re in all your prayer guides. You’ve heard me, if you ever heard me lead prayer, you’ve heard me use these names, and I was taught them way before Highlands, and it’s just, it’s enriched my prayer life. And it’s to the place where I can ta… you know, can say the eight names in 18 seconds or I can actually spend 15 minutes just going through the names of God and the power that they bring us and quoting the Scriptures around them. And I got way too much material here, so I’m gonna go fast.
Here we go, the first one is: «The LORD is my Shepherd,» Shepherd, and this is the actual verse that is the origin of this Hebrew name. It’s the Lord is… I’m gonna call 'em all, «You are my,» I just like that. I like the way the Psalmist said, «The LORD is my Shepherd,» he’s not the shepherd, a shepherd, he’s «my» shepherd. I love how, how personal these can become. And that’s Jehovah, and it’s pronounced «rayah», Jehovah-Raah. Now you don’t need to know the Hebrew. I’m just giving you that for those who just like some biblical teaching and some, some original language. But it literally means, put this in your notes if you’re a note taker, the word means «pastor». You are my pastor.
Now, I’m your pastor, right? But I ain’t the Pastor. In fact, 1 Peter even talks about, about, you know, we, as shepherds, I’m a shepherd, I’m a pastor, but whe… it says, «But when the Chief Shepherd appears». So you have a pastor, but you got a Chief Pastor, everybody, who loves you and cares for you. And you got a Shepherd who speaks to you. And when I think about Jehovah-Raah, I always think about, I’ve got a pastor who’s pastoring me. I’ve got a pastor, by the way. I’ve got a pastor, Larry Stockstill, talk to him all the time. I’ve got other pastors in my life that just… I mean, Pa… some of y’all know Pastor Jim Laffoon. He’s one of our newest overseers here at Highlands. He calls Tammy and me, I promise you, at least four nights a week, at least, maybe five to six, «Brother Chris». «Yeah, yes, yes sir». And I’ll ca… and I’ll tell Tammy, «Pastor Jim’s on the phone».
And she’ll… and we’re usually, Tammy and I, we spe… we’re very disciplined to sit on the couch, and hold hands, and watch Jeopardy every night. Come on, somebody, right? Okay, and he usually calls right when we’re kind of doing our little moment there. It’s at the same time, Brian Crest. He says, «Is the queen there»? I said, «Yes, sir, she’s right next to me». He says, «All’s good in the world then». And he says I… and he, now he doesn’t… he prays in the morning, but he loves spending the last three hours of his day in prayer. I’m getting ready to go on my prayer time with Miss Cathy, his wife. He says, «Is there anything we can pray with you about»?
And then he’ll prophesy to us and just, Tammy will tell you, he’s calling our kids, he’s… y’all, it’s, it’s a pastor. You need to know Jesus wants to have that kind of relationship with you too, that you can go to him. «He’s a good shepherd,» John says, «who knows his sheep,» he knows them, that’s an intimate term, by the way, «and his sheep know him». And it goes on to say in John 10, go read the, go read the verses there at the first part of it. He says, «My sheep know my voice,» and they turn away from the voice of the stranger, that you have one that’ll speak to you. So when I say, «Lord, you’re Jehovah-Raah, you’re my Shepherd, God,» and I just say, «Lord, I thank you, you’re speaking to me, and you’re guiding me, and you’re asking me, 'Is there anything I can pray with you about? '»
'Cause Jesus is the intercessor between you and the Father, bringing your needs before the Father, and you just need to see Jesus that way. Come on, everybody, that’s a beautiful thing. Then it goes into the next part: «He’s my Shepherd; I shall not want». And that’s literally the quality, or the attribute, of God as my Provider, and the word there in the Hebrew is Jehovah-Jireh. You supply all my need. You’re the one I turn to. Now the first time Jireh is mentioned in the Bible is when Abraham was just about to sacrifice Isaac, you probably know that story, and when the knife was over him, the Lord says, «No, no, no, don’t do it». He was testing his faith. He says, «Look over in the bushes,» and there was a sacrif… a ram in the thicket, and that became the sacrifice, «And so Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'»
Now the mountain of the Lord, by the way, is where God is. The mountain of the Lord is the place where you worship, you know? So, he says every time you turn to God for your needs first and not your… not just, you know, the government, or your boss, or whatever, you say, «God, you’re my Provider,» in fact, so much so, that I won’t even lift my eyes anywhere else. He says, «I lift my eyes to the hills,» that’s the mountain. In Hebrew culture, the highest place in Israel was the place where the Temple Mount is, so they always thought that’s where God is. «So I lift my eyes to the hills… where does my help come from»? Well, it doesn’t come from any other place. «My help,» come on, let’s read the yellow words together, «My help comes from… the LORD».
That’s where my help comes from. And I’m just gonna be a person who just like, «I’m just gonna know you as my Provider,» and I declare it, and I work hard, and I, you know, and I, I have a job, and then I write, and I, you know, I do things that generate income, but I run… I remind the Lord regularly, «Lord, this isn’t me, man, this is, this… you the one who gave me breath in my lungs to be even able to do any of that. You’re the one who gives me ability, and so I honor you». I’m not my Provider. Come on, everybody. «My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus».
That’s who p… and you don’t wait till you’re in need to declare that, by the way. And he’ll bless you. I mean, God’ll bless you. I’ve just, I’ve watched it over and over, and you’ve seen it as well. I could tell you story after story how God has supernaturally blessed this church. I mean, the first year of this church, I mean, we just decided we were gonna be generous when we had needs. We didn’t even know if this thing was going to work, and we decided we were gonna, our first check ever written from Highlands was to missions. You can go back… I wanted, I wanted us to always go back into the, the annals of history and see that the very first check ever written at Church of the Highlands with the missions.
And that first year, when we just, we were just trying to make it as a church. We didn’t have any employees but me and my little cell phone on my hip, everybody. Y’all remember when we used to carry 'em right there? «Church of the Highlands». «Can I speak to the pastor»? «Speaking». This is all there is, y’all. Come on, now, okay? But we gave, I think our first year we gave over 25% of our income to missions, and because we were trying to declare it, «You’re my Provider, God». Come on, everybody. The third one is: «He makes me lie down in green pastures,» and your Shepherd wants to «lead you beside still waters».
And by the way, I want you to notice, he ma… sometimes he’ll make you lie down, 'cause you ain’t lying down by yourself. And you just don’t, you don’t want him to make you lie down. Honor the Sabbath, take time. Thank you for… it’s hard, it’s hard to take time to get to for Wednesday nights. It’s hard, it takes effort. You got to defer things that are needed at the house or at school and all, but y’all did it, and I’m honoring you tonight, because you decided, I’m going to slow my life down for an hour and a half on a Wednesday and honor the Lord on this first, you know, this first… second Wednesday of the, of the month. «He leads me beside the still waters».
That’s the… you’re my Peace, and of course, you probably got that and figured out it’s Jehovah-Shalom. This is where the Lord… the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon the first time this one’s mentioned, and he was so afraid that God was going to kill him, and the angel said, «Listen to me, he’s not a killing God, he’s not going to kill you. He’s here to bless you, Gideon». And so Gideon built an altar to the Lord, and he called it, «I was freaking out, I thought I was going to die, I thought I was a goner». But actually, the Lord’s not a goner-God, he’s the Lor… he is, he’s my Peace. And so the next time you feel like you’re gonna die, and anxiety takes over your life, and you’re depressed, and you’re doing too… many of you are so filled with anxiety, you got so much, you got no peace, you’re doing way too much. You know it, we all do it, I’ve done it.
That’s why, by the way, we slow down. I slow down in the 21 Days. And I rested after Christmas and got in these 21 Days, and I keep my schedule. It’s a little bit, but I keep it light so I can seek God, and get in his Word, and let my spirit settle down a little bit. And you just can’t do everything, listen to me, somebody needs to write this down. Not everything that is doable is sustainable, and you’re doing something that if you keep it up at the pace you’re doing, it’s gonna, it’s gonna get you, right? That’s why the… Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes, says, «It’s better, even though you have two hands, to only have one handful,» and if you do, you’re gonna get some peace, «If you got both hands full, it’s toil and a chasing after the wind».
And Jesus is all about this. I preached on it at our Christmas services: «Peace I leave you; my peace,» I love it, again, he says, «My peace, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not let them be afraid». By the way, I’ll pause right here and honor again the Meadows family. We had a little prayer vigil at the City Hall of Irondale last night, and Susan and the family were there. And I shouldn’t be amazed after 40 years of pastoring people, but they’ve just had the joy of the Lord and the peace of God. It hadn’t been, you know, 24 hours or so, and just… 'cause they’ve… they’re full of faith, love Jesus. Course, they’re sad, they’re grieving, but not like the rest of men who have no hope.
And I just… and I sat over there as, you know, and just watched the, watched the miracle of Jehovah-Shalom all over again. Come on, somebody. I’m preaching pretty good here tonight, I think. Here’s the next one: he restores my soul. Though the word «restore» literally means he wants to return whatever happened to you back from the point of its departure. Did you know that? Isn’t that a cool definition? Like, when the devil, he had a healthy body, but now it’s not, he wants to return it back. There… he wants to restore my soul. You are my Healer. Jehovah-Rapha. And this one comes from when the Israelites were leaving Is… Egypt, the Lord says, «By the way, I’m gonna bless the nation of Israel as you leave, and you’re not gonna have the diseases the Egyptians had. For I am the LORD who rapha you,» I heal you. He’s Jeho… you’re my Healer, okay?
So the healing, by the way, doesn’t mean just physical healing. Healing also means every place where there’s disease, every place where you’re dis-eased. So he’ll heal your marriage if it’s not at ease. He’ll heal your mind, your emoti… are y’all following me, everybody? He’ll heal it all. And by the way, I want to say this to the church, as we enter into 2025, we’re gonna pray for more miracles. I know last year was the year of miracles. This one’s gonna be too, all right, everybody? Because we have a miracle-working God, and we’re gonna keep praying for miracles. We had more, we had at least double the miracles last year just because we focused on miracles, and I think if we just start praying for people who have sickness and disease in their life, they’re part of what I call God’s twin mercies.
And every place you see salvation, you’ll see healing there too. And we’re happy to get a bunch of people saved, but we need to be happy to see a bunch of people get healed too. Come on, somebody. «Praise the LORD, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who forgives your sins,» everybody say, «And». Say it a little bit louder, «And». So it’s there’s both, it’s God’s twin mercies. «And heals all your diseases». When Jesus had that man… remember they tore the roof off and lowered the guy down? And Jesus said, «Your sins be forgiven you,» which freaked the Pharisees out. «Who can forgive sins but God alone»? He says, «That’s right, I’m God». And, but he says, «Your sins be forgiven you. Now, take up your mat and walk,» why? Because they always go together. God wants to save you and, «If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves fast and pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive and heal».
It’s always… God wants to heal you, and can we just have some more faith at Church of the Highlands that we see a lot of people get saved at Church of the Highlands. Can we, can it, can it be said that lots of people get healed too, everybody? Come on, y’all. Whoo! I’m believing for it. By the way, I haven’t told this story yet, I just hadn’t told it. I mean, and it’s a little bit of an indictment on my own faith, but in November of '23, 2023, Pastor Larry, my pastor, was, he was battling a blood cancer of sorts. And, and the doctor told him in November of 2023, «Go home and call hospice, don’t come back to me. I have nothing else for you. You’re gonna die, just go call hospice».
And he didn’t call hospice. He just decided… he listened… he told me he listened to 300 messages on healing and just decided he was gonna be healed. And it got worse and worse and worse and worse, and in about April, it barely turned around. And he didn’t preach. He couldn’t walk. He had a walker, my pastor. Y’all didn’t see… we didn’t invi… you didn’t see him around here, 'cause he co… he was going nowhere. Rick Bezet, my buddy, and Randy, and myself flew down to Baton Rouge basically to tell him goodbye, and I was devastated. The lead team will tell you, I cried three times in front of them, telling them what was going on with my pa… I just, I was just, I was devastated that this person that I loved so much was on his deathbed. I just, I couldn’t… it was like, you know, I just, I wasn’t ready for another pillar in my life to be gone.
And we were talking in April of '24, just this past year, he said, «Brother Chris, I feel like I’m getting a little better». And I heard the Holy Spirit say, «Invite him to come speak to your May», we do an all day, all staff, and I bring in speakers. This is to train the staff. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me, «Invite Pastor Larry». Now he had said no to everything. He hadn’t done anything for months, for five, six or seven months, he hadn’t preached a lick. And he said… I called him, I said, «I feel like you’re supposed to come speak to my staff». He says, «I’m coming. I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna come».
And he came, and the staff will tell you, he got up there, he could bare… he could… he got up there and started preaching and teaching our team and it was just as weak and as frail as you could possibly imagine, and he looked weak and frail. He was walking, doing better. And I’m telling you, with every three minutes of him preaching, his voice got stronger. We watched it right in front of us, where at the end, he was talking just like this, «And I’m telling you, the Lord said,» and I was over there in the front row, just like… And I’m telling you, the Lord healed him right there in front of us. And I talked to him a few days ago, he was out, he was out red-fishing down in the Gulf of Mexico, everybody, all right.
Come on, everybody, he’s healed, and the doctor said, «You’re a miracle»! I said, «You’re a miracle,» 'cause we serve a healer, everybody, and you need to know that. I got to get going. I’m taking… this is. Stay over there, all right. This is than what I had written down, okay. «He leads me,» this is the fifth one, «He leads me in the paths,» notice that phrasing, «of righteousness for 'His' name’s sake». And this one’s: you’re my Righteousness, and it’s pronounced, the T is silent, Jehovah-Tsidkenu. And this is where the prophet Jeremiah saw Jesus. He said, «There’s gonna be someone, he called it a righteous branch will come. We’re gonna have a different kind of a God,» and of course he’s referring to the New Testament: «This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness».
So, you didn’t have to earn your righteousness anymore. He would be righteousness for you. In fact, Corinthians flat out says that «God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him,» even though you’re not righteousness, «we might become the righteousness of God in Christ». So you, you get to be clean, and pure, and holy because of what Jesus did, everybody, and that’s where I just say, «Lord, I thank you, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, my Righteousness, that you gave me something I was never gonna be able to have one my own that I now get to it boldly approach your throne of grace with confidence because you cleaned me up and you made me clean and pure». Come on, somebody. And notice that righteousness has a path. In other words, you got to work out your righteousness, man. And we, we don’t just let, «Oh Jesus is my righteousness, I can do whatever I want to». No, no, no. No, we’re letting righteousness get worked inside of us.
As 1 Peter says, «As obedient children, don’t conform to the evil desires that are in you when you live in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, we need to be holy too». I’ll never forget the first year of the church when I called the very first fast. It was 25 fasts ago. We had this brother walked up. We were in a little… we had a little space. He walked up, and he said, he said, «The Lord showed me I’m gonna fast marijuana for 21 days». I said, «You are»? He was a bartender. He said, «I’m giving up marijuana for 21 days». I said, «Well, Brother, I think that’s a good thing». I said, «The Lord may speak to you about the 22nd day too. We want to see about that».
Well, sure enough, this… he didn’t know, he didn’t know any better. He really genuinely thought that was just that he was going after God, and after 21 days, he got totally set free of every… all alcohol, marijuana, forever! Still in the church today! Come on, praise God, everybody! Clean and pure. You better work out your salvation. Let me keep going, everybody. Then he says, «Yea though I walk through the valley,» are y’all getting anything out of this tonight? «Through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me,» even when I’m in the valley of the shadow of death, «Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me». The word, the word there is literally means there. The name is actually «there,» but I can’t say, «You are my There,» so I put you are my Constant Companion, okay? But if you really want the technical name for Shammah, it means «he’s there».
He’s just there. Ezekiel saw heaven and said this, this is where it’s mentioned, «The distance all around would be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on would be called: HE’S THERE». Of course, in the New Testament, they call him Emmanuel, he’s God with us. And then he says, «Your rod and your staff comfort». He’s like, «What do you mean? That’s what he does when he’s there, he hits you with a rod and a staff»? No. Preachers get this… I hear preachers all the time say, «That’s the Lord correcting you and jerking the knot in your tail and all that». No, the rod, you look it up yourself, rods were used to get the enemy off of you. The rods were for the wolves, not for you.
When it says, «Your rods have comfort you,» it’s 'cause he was beating back the devil in Jesus’s name. That’s why he has to be there. So when the devil shows up, he goes, «I got this». Za-pow. Right, everybody? In the New Testament, this is the verse, «Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you». Oh, oh, if that’s the case, then I’m gonna say with, not meekness, I’m not gonna be scared, fearful, even though I really kind of feel that way sometimes. No, «I’m going to say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.'»
Somebody needs to read that verse right now, get it in your spirit, «I’m not gonna be afraid». What can mere mortals do to me? When Tammy and I were one year married, we got us our little townhome apartment. It was about the size of that TV. It was small, and it… but was two levels, and we had a little bedroom. And I was off on Mondays, and I’d… we slept in to like 10 o’clock 'cause we didn’t have any kids. Can I get a better «amen,» somebody? I’m just kidding. But we came… I came down about 10 a.m. the next morning on that Monday morning and the, and the whole bottom floor of the apartment was gone. While we were asleep, somebody robbed us and took everyth… I mean, they… y’all remember the dial-up phone? Even our phone was gone.
The cord was just sitting there in the wall. I just could… walked outside and both cars be broken in, stole our cassette players. Come on, y’all, where you at? You know, and Tammy’s a rock. She’s like, «All right, we got this». And I’m just sobbing, I was there just sobbing, and not because we lost our stuff, we didn’t even have that much stuff, but the violation of it scared me. So when the sheriff deputy came over, and again, I honor our police officers, my goodness, but when he came over, he saw how upset I was, and he said, and I’m a nobody, I mean, it wasn’t Pastor Chri… no, it was just, I was just Citizen Chris. And he goes, he saw how upset I was, he goes, he said, «Sir, I’m gonna park,» my goodness, «I’m gonna park my car right here in front of your front door tonight. You go get a good night’s sleep».
Can we put our hands together for our law enforcement, everybody? You know why I slept? Do y’all know why I slept? Y’all… have y’all forgotten what the word means? Because he was… that’s why I slept. Come play, Tyler, I’ll keep preaching, come, all right, come on, all right. I feel a preach in me tonight, okay? «You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies».
Let me go through this quickly. That’s the… that’s you are my Banner of Victory is what it literally means, and it’s Jehovah-Nissi. And this is where Aaron and her were holding up the arms of Moses, and as long as his arms were up, they were winning the battle, and of course, they defeated the Amalekites, and they said… and they built an altar and said, «The LORD is my Jehovah-Nissi,» and just saying that God’s fighting your battles when you don’t even know it. It’s like our military around the world, they’re fighting… you get to go to bed tonight, but there are wars going on right now with our people there fighting for you, and that’s what the… you’re… can you think of God that way?
And of course y’all know the verses, just write 'em down so I can close tonight, but Romans 8 is beautiful: 31, 35 through 37, just, man, «If God’s for me, who can be against me»? I mean, we just, «We’re more than conquerors,» right? So you need to know, you gotta know, you gotta know you have a God whose name is «I fight for you». I’m your banner of victory. And then the last one’s so cool: «You anoint my head with oil; and my cup runs over». Now, notice there’s two of them in this one. «I’m anointed,» that means you… God… look up, everybody look at me, 'cause I wanna close on this. God wants to anoint you for ministry, every one of you, and you need to start seeing yourself that way, especially you Wednesday night folk. You need to start seeing yourself, «I’m an anointed minister of God. I’m supposed to do something that ministers to others».
And when you choose to let him anoint you, he’ll give you more than you need so you can have something to give. «Your cup will run over». That’s a beautiful phrase. I wanna speak it over somebody’s life who’s disqualified yourself from ministry. No, no, no, you can be anointed. God will anoint you. «But I’m a bad person». So was everybody God’s ever used. He’ll anoint you, and he’ll make your cu… he’ll give you more than you need so you have something to give, your cup’s gonna run over. And that’s the word «Sanctifier».
And this one’s a tricky word, it’s Jehovah-M’Kaddesh, M’Kaddesh, and it’s found in Leviticus. I don’t have time to teach it, but just write it down if you want to study it later. And you say, «Well, I thought we already did the whole sanctified, righteous, holy thing». No, no, no, sanctification and righteousness are completely different. Righteousness means holy. Sanctification means set apart for something special. That’s what it means. God wants to… look at me, look, look. And I love, I love, Lord, you’re my Sanctifier. You called me to this. I was gonna be an accountant. My life was a mess, and you, you set me apart for something special. The best word I can give you, and we’re gonna close, the best word I can give you is fine china.
Like, God never intended for you to be a paper plate. If you wanna be, you can be, just everyday-use kind of a Christian. No, no, no, you can be fine china. And all that teaching’s found in 2 Timothy, and I’m gonna teach it this Sunday. I just decided I’m gonna teach this this Sunday, okay? I’m gonna… 'cause God wants to anoint you, so just take that, wherever I am in that, take it down, okay? Just black screen it there for me upstairs. All right, y’all get anything out of this? Whoo, I love the names of God, everybody. Stand up on your feet.