Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000017
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00:29 Hello, I'm Lance Wilbur. And I'm Dwayne Lemon.
00:31 And we like to welcome you 00:33 to another edition of TKS a True Knowledge of Self, 00:36 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:39 Now, as we been going through this series, 00:42 we've been touching various subjects, 00:44 and in our last discussion 00:46 we talked about the origin of false education, 00:50 and we saw that origin was there 00:53 right in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. 00:55 And we saw that the tree of the knowledge 00:57 of good and evil, 00:59 the mingling of truth with error 01:01 and the subtle lies of the serpent 01:05 which we identified as Satan according to Revelation 12:9. 01:11 And the rationalization 01:12 that Eve used in her mind to say that 01:15 "Maybe this would benefit me 01:16 and put me in a better position and make me happy. 01:19 And maybe this would be better than what God offered 01:22 and maybe God was not right 01:23 when He said we shall surely die." 01:25 She rationalized in her mind 01:26 and through her feelings and senses, 01:28 she chose self over God and the tree of life 01:32 and the wisdom and the peace and happiness 01:35 that only God could provide. 01:37 And we're doing this all in the backdrop of Babylon. 01:40 We saw that Daniel took a stand for God 01:43 and God honored him for that. 01:45 And we saw that Nebuchadnezzar even though he was, 01:50 it was revealed to him 01:51 that God, the God of heaven was the true God 01:54 that he began to trust in himself once again 01:58 and he had this experience with God, 02:00 but it did not translate into right living 02:04 and God had to humble him. 02:06 Now there were also some other things 02:08 and as, Dwayne, you begin to help us understand, 02:11 there were some other things that took place 02:14 when those Hebrew boys were taken captive into Babylon 02:19 outside of just in educational aspect 02:21 whether their education was changed 02:24 to try to get them away 02:27 from their upbringing in the truth 02:29 and kind of mingled the error with that, 02:32 there was something else that was changed as well. 02:34 Can you please elaborate on that? 02:36 Oh, yeah, definitely. 02:37 And remember, we're always looking for the parallels 02:40 because truth that only pertains to the past 02:43 and has no bearing upon our present 02:45 is not really a beneficial truth 02:47 in most cases. 02:48 And therefore, we always want to find out 02:50 where is the practical application? 02:52 Where do I find a parallelism 02:54 between what has been done in times pass 02:56 and where do I see myself today in the same experience? 02:59 Do I see myself there? 03:00 Now Daniel Chapter 1, I'm gonna go back there 03:02 because once again we find ourselves 03:05 in a situation where it was not just Nebuchadnezzar 03:08 trying to change the educational system 03:11 and to try to take away that true education 03:13 from the minds of Daniel and his associates 03:16 but there was also another attack that he did. 03:18 It's a very subtle one but nevertheless 03:19 it's worthy of recognition. 03:21 The Bible says in Daniel the 1 Chapter. 03:24 We're gonna look at Daniel 1 03:25 and we're gonna go to verses 6 and 7. 03:27 Daniel 1:6, 7 03:30 and we're gonna notice what the Bible says here 03:32 as it is very, very powerful as we unfold this. 03:35 Daniel 1:6, 7, here's what it says. 03:40 "Now among these were of the children of Judah, 03:42 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 03:48 unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, 03:52 for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar, 03:56 and to Hananiah, of Shadrach, and to Mishael, of Meshach, 04:01 and to Azariah, of Abednego." 04:05 We find that it was not just in Nebuchadnezzar's plan 04:08 to take away the education 04:10 that the children of Israel received, 04:12 but he also wanted to take away even their names, 04:15 because Nebuchadnezzar understood something 04:17 that is revealed all throughout the Bible 04:19 and that is that names 04:21 were not just simply given to people randomly. 04:23 Today when an individual chooses a name, 04:25 they like something that sounds cute, 04:26 maybe reflects a favorite celebrity 04:29 or what have you. 04:31 You know, one time I even looked at my name, 04:32 you know, because I, you know, grown up a hip-hop culture, 04:34 you know how it is. 04:35 In hip-hop culture names are crucial. 04:37 That's right. We know that. 04:39 So, you know, I obviously grown up in this culture 04:42 I said, "Well, I want to know what my name represents." 04:45 So I had to start looking around 04:46 and as I started to look around, 04:48 true story, I did find out what the name Dwayne means. 04:52 My name is spelled differently from some other. 04:54 Some do D-U-A-N-E, mine is D-W-A-Y-N-E, 04:58 and both names can have a different meaning. 05:00 So I looked up D-W-A-Y-N-E, Dwayne. 05:03 You know what it meant? What? 05:04 Little dark one. 05:06 Oh, matches you perfectly. 05:07 Oh, it matched me perfectly. 05:09 My mother saw this little black child 05:10 coming out of her and she said, 05:11 "Let's call him Dwayne, you know." 05:13 And I can't trace myself 05:14 back to anything really special. 05:16 I know I'm dark, 05:18 it's pretty much nothing I can do about that, 05:19 but nevertheless in the Bible it was different. 05:22 It wasn't just about a complexion. 05:24 It wasn't just about, you know, 05:26 some favorite actor or actress that I wanted-- 05:29 I mean, I had a boy that his daughter was born 05:31 and he names her Alize. 05:33 Alize. After alcoholic beverage. 05:36 You see what I'm saying? Yes. 05:37 So, you know, people have the strangest reasons 05:40 why they give a person a name. 05:42 But in Bible times when God gave a name to someone, 05:45 God always wanted that name to represent a character. 05:50 That was very important to God. 05:52 And this is why you will notice that, 05:54 you know, as we put up on the screen here, 05:55 you're gonna notice that there is a comparative 05:57 between the names that were represented 05:58 in Daniel 1:6, 7 06:01 and then also the new names that were given to them. 06:04 And here's an example. 06:05 You will notice on the screen 06:07 that when Daniel's name comes up, 06:08 it says God is my judge. 06:10 That's what the name Daniel means, 06:12 God is my judge. 06:13 But when he was given the name of Belteshazzar, 06:17 Belteshazzar and, you know, 06:18 some of these names that were given, 06:20 they were given from the Chaldean dialect 06:23 so as a result of that, 06:24 there is not a full understanding 06:26 of what these words actually meant, 06:28 but nevertheless there is enough information 06:30 that we're gonna go ahead and present this 06:32 knowing that there could be some more to unfold. 06:34 But again, Daniel meant God is my judge. 06:38 But then when you looked at Belteshazzar, 06:40 it meant that Bel would protect my life 06:42 which of course is dealing with a false God, 06:45 you know, an idol. 06:46 Then you had Hananiah. 06:48 Hananiah, his name meant God has shown favor. 06:52 So God has shown favor unto this individual, 06:55 therefore the name was Hananiah, 06:56 one whom God has shown favor to. 06:59 And their lives were supposed to demonstrate a life 07:01 that God has shown favor. 07:02 But then his name was changed to Shadrack. 07:05 And the name Shadrack comes out 07:07 as a commander of Aku which was actually a moon god. 07:11 So again we see that 07:12 a name that represents the true and living God, 07:15 but then there was pagan name that was associated with them 07:18 to try to take away the power of that name. 07:20 Then there was Mishael. 07:22 Mishael today many people say Michael. 07:24 And Mishael was one who was like God. 07:28 And Michael anybody who is gifted or blessed 07:31 with that name Michael, that's a powerful name. 07:33 It meant Mike is one who is like, El means God. 07:36 So it was-- 07:38 When a person's name is Michael, 07:39 it was God's expectation 07:41 that person should reflect God's character. 07:44 But of course, Mishael's name was changed to Meshack 07:48 which meant the shadow of the prince. 07:50 And again because Nebuchadnezzar 07:52 was giving these names, we know that 07:54 again this would have to associate 07:55 to some false prince, false god or to shadow someone else 08:00 who clearly was not representing God. 08:02 So in all cases thus far, 08:03 we see that negativity connected to new names. 08:06 Finally there was Azariah. 08:08 Azariah meant God has helped. 08:11 It's powerful when a man can remember 08:13 that every time his name is mentioned 08:15 that thought will come into his mind 08:16 that God has helped me. 08:18 And therefore it would be reciprocated to God 08:20 in our devotion to Him, our lives to Him. 08:22 But Azariah's name was changed to Abednego, 08:26 a servant of Nego 08:28 which again was dealing with the false God. 08:30 And now were these just any false gods 08:32 or was Nebuchadnezzar, 08:34 the Nebuchadnezzar have some ulterior motive 08:36 or some agenda here? 08:37 Well, there was definitely an agenda 08:38 because Nebuchadnezzar knew 08:40 that if I can take them away from their gods 08:42 and get them to acknowledge the gods 08:43 that are represented through us here in Babylon, 08:46 then obviously I can create 08:48 better more faithful servants because he knew it. 08:50 And to make them Babylonian essentially. 08:52 Absolutely to make them Babylonians. 08:54 That's the goal. 08:55 So we find that, you know, 08:57 these were things that were taking place 08:58 and in the days of captivity of the children of Israel 09:02 and the children of the tribe of Judah 09:04 and we find that as a result of this effort 09:07 that Nebuchadnezzar was making, 09:09 there was a seeking to steal away this truth 09:12 about what a name was supposed to represent. 09:15 Now again in hip-hop culture this is huge. 09:17 Because in hip-hop culture, 09:19 we know that there are many people today 09:21 who go by different names. 09:22 I'm sure that Afrika Bambaataa 09:24 did not grow up with the name Afrika Bambaataa. 09:26 You know, he came to his level of consciousness 09:29 and therefore he realized, "Hey, you know what, 09:31 I need to make a change to my name 09:32 to associate it more with my roots and my heritage." 09:35 Yeah. So it is. 09:37 We know the story of even 09:38 a man who is very great in this world 09:40 and did many great things 09:41 even though we know that we cannot agree with him 09:43 when it comes to certain religious principles. 09:45 Malcolm X, you know, we know 09:47 he was born in this world as Malcolm Little 09:49 but nevertheless because of again 09:51 looking and reviewing over the issues of slavery 09:53 and slave masters and so on, he got to a point to say, 09:57 "I don't even know if this is really my last name." 09:58 Therefore he just eliminated the little 10:00 and put the "X" there instead. 10:02 And of course, you have scores and scores of individuals today 10:06 in the hip-hop and R&B community 10:08 that go by different names that are more Afro-Asiatic 10:12 and so on that's designed to bring them back. 10:14 And it's not just that idea 10:16 that all people are loosely doing it. 10:17 Some people do that but some of these groups, 10:22 you know, some of these 10:24 religious groups that we call them 10:25 that they wouldn't admit that they are religion 10:28 but the Nuwaubian, the Five Percenters, 10:30 the Noy is actually part of the initiation. 10:34 That's right. Yeah. 10:35 So therefore, it's imperative 10:37 that you are willing to recognize 10:39 that the names that have been given to you are false names. 10:42 They will connect it back to the "Right man" 10:45 and try to paint a evil picture of that in many respects 10:48 and therefore if a person like myself 10:51 or yourself Lance Wilbur or Dwayne Lemon 10:53 if I would have said, 10:55 "Well, I'm gonna hold on to that name" 10:56 it could be viewed by some in hip-hop culture 10:59 especially those who are deeply rooted in it 11:01 as almost an apostasy, 11:02 like, you know, you're not really following the truth 11:06 of what this culture was designed to teach 11:08 and coming back to your roots and these type of things. 11:10 Sacrilegious, blasphemy. 11:11 That's right. That's right. 11:13 Now as an example of names, 11:15 you know, representing character, 11:17 you know, I say that but I think it's good 11:19 to demonstrate that in the Bible. 11:20 You know, coming from a Pentecostal background, 11:23 in a charismatic background 11:25 you will hear a lot about giving God glory. 11:29 You will hear that a lot. 11:30 You know, it's time to praise the Lord, 11:31 it's time to give God glory 11:33 and all of these different things. 11:34 Now, where I came from, I understood giving God glory 11:38 to mean the more that to clap your hands, 11:40 the more you stomp your feet, wave side to side, 11:42 you know, this all meant, I'm giving God glory. 11:44 Or money. 11:46 And certainly giving money, definitely. 11:47 In many respects giving money. 11:49 All of this was giving God glory. 11:51 But one day I really sat down and thought about it 11:53 and again, you know, you observe hypocrisies. 11:56 When you start to see individuals 11:57 who one minute are clapping their hands 11:59 and waving side to side shouting and giving money, 12:01 but then you also see these same individuals 12:03 smoking and drinking and beating their wives 12:06 and cussing and swearing and just demonstrating a life 12:09 that is clearly testifying that there is no connection 12:12 between themselves and their Savior. 12:14 You get to a point to say, 12:15 "Well, is there more to giving God glory 12:18 than simply what the external activities make it to be?" 12:22 And here's what happened. 12:24 As I was reading Revelation 14, 12:26 you remember we talked about which gospel. 12:28 We were looking at which gospel. 12:29 And we saw that in Revelation 14:6-12 12:34 we saw the three angels' messages 12:36 which is defined by John the Revelator 12:38 in verse 6 as the everlasting gospel. 12:41 In verse 7, the first angels' message says, 12:45 "Fear God, and give glory to him, 12:47 for the hour of his judgment is come, 12:50 and worship him that made heaven and earth." 12:52 So we find that the first angels' message 12:55 which is the gospel message 12:56 is to call individuals to give God glory. 13:00 So one day I began to think about it. 13:01 I said, "Well, how do you give God glory?" 13:03 I mean, really, is there a Bible definition 13:06 or do I have to keep going 13:08 with individuals' interpretations. 13:10 So the more that I started to think about it, 13:12 I started to look at the Word of God. 13:13 I pulled out my little concordance, 13:14 started looking at the word glory, glory, glory. 13:17 And one of the areas that I found in the Bible 13:19 that was powerful that led me to an understanding 13:22 better than I've ever had before 13:23 on what is the glory of God? 13:25 It was an Exodus the 33 Chapter. 13:28 In Exodus Chapter 33, 13:30 you will find that Moses is having a dialog with God. 13:34 And as Moses is having this dialog with God, 13:37 he says in Exodus 33:18. 13:40 Watch this, Exodus 33:18, 13:44 it says, "And he said, 13:46 I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." 13:51 So Moses wants to see God's glory. 13:55 That was on his mind. 13:56 Now what I like is notice how God responds to him. 14:00 It says in verse 19, "And he said, 14:04 I will make all my goodness pass before thee, 14:07 and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, 14:12 and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, 14:14 and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." 14:18 Now I learned a lesson from this. 14:20 According to verse 18, what did Moses want to see? 14:23 God's glory. 14:24 God answers him in verse 19 by saying, 14:26 "I'll show you My goodness and I will proclaim My name." 14:31 Now, if you and I are having a dialog and-- 14:35 Let's say you were asking me, "Dwayne, what time is it?" 14:39 And then if I answered you and said, 14:40 "Did you know that there is coffee in China?" 14:43 You will probably look at me strange, wouldn't you? 14:44 Because you are saying 14:46 "What does that statement have to do with anything 14:48 that I just asked him about the time, right?" 14:50 So in other words, when people have conversation 14:52 there should be a flow. 14:53 You are talking to me and I'm responding to you 14:55 in light of the conversation and the question you asked. 14:58 So God, He is answering Moses 15:01 but He is using different words. 15:02 But God is in full harmony with Moses' question. 15:05 Moses says, "Lord, show me Your glory." 15:07 And God is saying "No, problem, 15:09 I'll show you My goodness and proclaim My name." 15:12 So the lesson we learnt just from verses 18 and 19 15:15 is that the glory of God, the goodness of God 15:19 and the name of God are synonymous. 15:22 So we find that now. 15:24 So when the angel says give God glory, 15:27 we can also faithfully say biblically 15:30 that the angel is calling us to reflect the name of God. 15:33 Now, how did God proclaim His name? 15:37 It's found in the next chapter in Exodus 34. 15:41 In Exodus 34:5-7 15:43 watch how God proclaims His name 15:45 and you tell me if you see what I see. 15:47 The Bible says in Exodus 34:5-7. 15:51 It says, "And the Lord descended in the cloud, 15:55 and stood with him there, 15:56 and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 15:58 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, 16:00 The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, 16:04 longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 16:08 keeping mercy for thousands, 16:10 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, 16:12 and that will by no means clear the guilty, 16:15 visiting of the fathers upon the children, 16:17 and upon the children's children, 16:18 unto the third and to the fourth generation." 16:21 Question. Yeah. 16:22 What did God show Moses? 16:25 To me it sounds like character. 16:26 That's exactly is. 16:28 Because God says, "I'm gonna go ahead 16:29 and answer your request. 16:31 Your request was show me Your glory. 16:33 I respond by saying, 16:34 "I'll show you My goodness and proclaim My name." 16:37 God then proclaims His name and what does He do? 16:40 He reveals His character. 16:42 You want to know My name? 16:43 He says, "I'm gracious." 16:44 You want to know My name? 16:46 He says, "I'm longsuffering." 16:47 You want to know My name? 16:49 And He starts going down this list, 16:50 gracious, merciful, longsuffering, 16:52 abundant and truth and goodness and the list goes on. 16:55 So therefore the glory of God, the name of God, 16:58 the goodness of God, it reveals His character 17:01 and this is why even in Matthew 1:21 17:05 the Bible says 17:07 "And they shall call His name Jesus, 17:09 name, for He shall save His people 17:12 from their sins, character." 17:14 So the name Jesus 17:16 is directly connected to Savior. 17:19 And therefore, these are the ways 17:21 that God function 17:22 and this is what the Bible demonstrates 17:24 as it relates to an individual's name. 17:26 This is why it was so important 17:28 that Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, 17:31 they held to their names, where we see Nebuchadnezzar, 17:34 he wanted to steal away those names. 17:37 It was a deliberate diabolical plan of Satan 17:40 to try to change their names. 17:42 So the removal of the name 17:45 was almost like removing the character. 17:47 Trying to remove the character, change the character. 17:50 That's correct. That's correct. 17:51 That's exactly what was happening. 17:53 There is a trying to steal away from the character. 17:56 Now here's the thing. 17:58 In hip-hop culture today we know that, 18:01 you know, names again, 18:02 they carry a lot of weight a lot of weight. 18:05 And what would typically happen is someone who is heavily into 18:08 or influenced by hip-hop culture will say, 18:11 "Well, Brother Dwayne, based on everything you said 18:13 that's exactly why I changed my name 18:16 and that's exactly why you should change yours. 18:18 Why do you still go by Dwayne Lemon 18:20 when clearly you know that names represents character 18:22 and the list goes on. 18:24 Why do you do that?" I mean, that's a good question. 18:25 It's a legit question, I can't deny that. 18:27 That's a very legitimate question 18:29 but it deserves a legitimate answer. 18:31 The key is understanding that there is something, 18:34 if we carefully look at the scriptures, 18:36 there's something more important than the name 18:40 because the name was to carry a purpose. 18:43 What's the purpose? 18:45 Character. 18:46 So therefore, it's the name that is given 18:50 but what's more important is the character. 18:53 I'll give you an example. 18:54 In the beginning remember we studied this, 18:56 we looked at Isaiah 14:12-14. 18:59 We also saw compared with that, we saw Ezekiel 28:13-17. 19:05 We know that in the beginning 19:07 before even mankind was on earth, 19:09 there were angels in heaven. 19:11 The chief angel, his name was Lucifer. 19:13 Now Lucifer was a right name 19:16 because Lucifer meant light bearer. 19:18 So therefore God is light, 19:20 so therefore Lucifer was supposed to take from God 19:22 and bear that light. 19:24 So Lucifer had a right name 19:27 and for a time he demonstrated 19:29 a right character with that name. 19:31 But then what happened was 19:33 as Lucifer began to focus on self 19:36 and as he began to build upon himself 19:39 we found that Lucifer's character 19:42 was now flawed. 19:43 In other words, Lucifer right name, 19:47 character was in harmony with that name for a time, 19:50 but eventually a time came that as a result of self-exaltation, 19:54 his character changed. 19:56 And as a result of his character changing, 19:58 he was no longer worthy of the name Lucifer. 20:01 He was now called Satan. 20:03 All right, so just walk us down again. 20:06 Oh, yeah. 20:07 So the name match the character initially. 20:10 That's correct. 20:11 But the character changed, 20:13 although he still held the name. 20:16 And after the character became deformed 20:19 or depraved or corrupted, 20:21 the name was changed to reflect the change in character. 20:24 That's correct. All right. 20:26 Very powerful. 20:27 So Lucifer good name, his character 20:29 was in harmony with that name so all was good. 20:32 But then when his character became corrupted, 20:34 his name changed. 20:36 Now let's look at it on the flip side. 20:39 Jacob, we know that the Bible tells us 20:41 in Genesis 32, it talks about Jacob. 20:43 And the name Jacob was not a good name. 20:46 Jacob meant supplanter, deceiver, or liar. 20:50 Jacob bad name but at the same time 20:54 Jacob's character matched that name. 20:57 So therefore we find that Jacob bad name, 21:00 then his character matched that name. 21:02 And how did his character 21:04 matched the name at the beginning? 21:05 Well, what happened was 21:07 Jacob wanted to deceive or deceived his own father 21:10 by stealing the birthright 21:12 that belonged to his brother Esau. 21:14 So we find that Jacob was fulfilling the name. 21:17 He was a deceiver. 21:19 He was dishonest and as a result of that, 21:21 you have Jacob dealing with a bad name, 21:24 but then you have his character 21:26 that was matching that bad name. 21:27 Well, we know the story that as Esau was pursuing him, 21:30 Jacob found himself in a state of repentance. 21:32 And as Jacob repented for his sins 21:35 and he found himself now wrestling with the angel. 21:38 Here it is that when the angel was talking to Jacob, 21:40 the angel asked him, "Well, what is your name?" 21:42 And he said, "Well, my name is Jacob" 21:44 but the angel then told him not anymore. 21:47 Your name is no longer Jacob, you name is now Israel 21:51 because you have overcome 21:52 and you have prevailed with God and with men. 21:55 And therefore we find that once again Jacob, bad name, 21:59 his character, bad character. 22:01 But it was through a change in character for the good 22:05 that he received a new name. 22:07 And so you will find that we have it in the vice versa. 22:10 Lucifer, good name, good character, 22:12 but then eventually, bad character, name change. 22:16 Jacob, bad name, bad character, 22:20 but through a conversion experience, 22:22 his name was changed. 22:24 God has a people in the last days 22:27 and God's people in the last days, 22:29 He refers to them inflicted by a disease, 22:32 a condition that is called Laodicea 22:35 in Revelation 3:14-17. 22:38 And God is letting His people know 22:41 that even though Laodicea, that's a serious name. 22:45 Laodicea deals with the people of the judgment 22:48 but the problem is, is that 22:49 Laodicea even though right now our characters are corrupt, 22:54 we are wretched, we are miserable, 22:55 we are poor, we are blind and we are naked. 22:58 So therefore, while we have a bad character right now, 23:02 through a conversion, 23:03 experience through Jesus Christ, 23:06 the Bible tells us 23:07 that as our characters become like Him 23:10 and we give Him glory and reflect His image 23:13 and His character in a sinful world, 23:15 the Bible makes a promise in Revelation 3:12, 23:18 here's what it says. 23:20 The Bible says in Revelation 3:12. 23:23 Yes, we are going through the battle of sin 23:25 and we are definitely going through trials right now 23:27 and our characters are being tested. 23:29 But as we hold on and if we experience 23:31 what the Bible calls overcoming, 23:33 notice what God says He will do. 23:35 The Bible says in Revelation 3:12, 23:38 it says, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar 23:43 in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, 23:47 and I will write upon him the name of my God, 23:52 and the name of the city of my God, 23:56 which is new Jerusalem, 23:57 which cometh down out of heaven from my God, 23:59 and I will write upon him my new name." 24:04 You see for the Christian, for the child of God 24:07 we see that there is absolutely no need 24:10 for me to go from Dwayne Lemon to Dwayne X. 24:13 That does not change my character. 24:15 In fact, I say this as respectfully as I can. 24:19 There are individuals who supposedly 24:21 have all these wonderful African-Asiatic names, 24:24 but they are some of the biggest 24:25 promoters of fornication, 24:27 they are some of the biggest promoters 24:28 of drinking Guinness Draught and Hennessy 24:30 and all these other poisonous alcohols 24:32 that are killing people, their own people, 24:34 even the ones who pay money to buy their records. 24:36 There are individuals who are changing their names, 24:40 but they are the ones who'll lift up their hands 24:42 and even lift up a gun 24:43 and they will go ahead and shoot their own brothers 24:45 just because of some point of competition, 24:48 yet they got supposedly righteous name. 24:51 This is ridiculous 24:52 and this is what God wants us to understand 24:55 is that right now the focus is character, 24:57 not the name. 24:58 Jesus says, I got a name and reserved for you 25:00 but first I want to see my character reflected in you. 25:03 So that's my response 25:04 to those into hip-hop culture is that, 25:06 "Dwayne, why is that you haven't changed your name?" 25:08 Is because Jesus already got a name for me. 25:10 And what I want to do 25:11 is I want to enter into an experience with Christ 25:14 that I can overcome as He overcame 25:16 and when I get 25:18 to that new heaven and new earth, 25:19 I'm gonna be rewarded with a new name 25:23 and that name, praise God, 25:24 is gonna also recognize itself with my character. 25:27 And that's what's important right now. 25:29 So how does-- 25:32 Again, Daniel is there, he takes the stand, 25:34 but his name is changed. 25:36 Does the name changed 25:38 or the fact that I have a negative name, 25:39 on the flip side, 25:41 does it make me corrupt or can I take the stand 25:44 even if I've gone through the process? 25:46 You know, you definitely can and I'm not here to knock 25:49 if somebody wants to change their name. 25:51 Just because someone changed their name, 25:53 if you want to do that that's fine, 25:55 but when we try to make the changing of our names 25:57 to make a point or standard of righteousness, 26:00 that's false righteousness. 26:01 Isaiah 64:6 tells us 26:03 that "All our righteousness are as filthy rags." 26:07 There is no righteousness that we can offer 26:08 or commend ourselves to God 26:10 wherein He can look upon us as holy people 26:12 just because we have some different name. 26:14 And that's what's very, very key. 26:16 So, God wants us right now, the focus for God's people 26:20 is for us to reflect that character of Christ 26:23 in this very sinful wicked world. 26:25 That's the message right now that God wants to give. 26:28 And that's the core of true education. 26:30 Yes, sir. 26:32 So, there is something very special and very distinct 26:37 that God desires to provide us with. 26:39 He desires us to have a way to escape all of the trappings 26:46 and all of the past errors and failures 26:49 that we've seen and that we've done 26:51 and committed through our lives. 26:53 God wants to give us a transformation of character, 26:58 a complete restoration. 26:59 He wants to give us not only a physical restoration, 27:02 but He wants to give us a mental restoration 27:05 and a spiritual restoration. 27:06 Now understand again as we said many times, 27:09 this restoration does not mean 27:10 that you'll not experience suffering or hardship. 27:13 This is not what we are talking about. 27:15 We are not talking about nirvana. 27:17 We are talking about peace of mind 27:20 that only God can provide 27:22 and the ability to navigate through life 27:25 and not compromise, stand for God 27:27 and God will honor us and reward us 27:29 according to His righteousness and not our own. 27:32 Amen. 27:33 We want to thank you again for joining us at TKS, 27:35 A True Knowledge of Self. 27:37 We want to encourage you to join us again. 27:39 Invite a friend and consider these things 27:42 and study them out for yourself and understand and remember. 27:46 The Bible says in Proverbs 2:6, 27:49 "That it is God who gives wisdom, 27:52 the Lord gives wisdom 27:53 and out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding." 27:58 God bless you. |
Revised 2016-02-18