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[Music] Holy [Applause] Love in the summer was 19 feeling pretty lonely but you and you came and you me with the smile bre and the love of the Savior holy love love Holy Love [Music] I was hiding in the darkness you broke through in glorious light you tore a part the veil between us and promised everything will be all right when I asked you to for me youan to me and me tight you welc me welcome to church it is so good to see you all um welcome and uh welcome to those of you joining us uh from wherever you’re joining us this morning whether you are at home uh or elsewhere it’s so good to have you with us as well today and um this morning we’re going to worship Jesus uh together uh Ally is going to be speaking and sharing um and then a little bit later on we’re going to share communion together we’re going to gather around the Lord’s table um with one another but as we come why don’t we stand if you are able you don’t need to stand if you are at home feel free to sink into your sofa um but just as We Gather I’m just going to read a few verses from Revelation chapter 21 and it says this and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying look God’s dwelling place is now a among the people and He will dwell with them they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God he will wipe every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or Mourning or crying or pain for the old Order of Things has passed away he who was Seated on the throne said I am making everything new then he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true he said to me it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end to the Thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the Water of Life and father as We Gather in your house this morning we pray that this would be your dwelling place we pray Come Holy Spirit fill this place with your presence this morning as we as we bring our offering of praise and of Thanksgiving and worship to you and Lord we thank you that however we come this morning whether we are in need whether we are thirsty whatever is going on in life Lord we thank you that we can come to the spring of life life who is you our King Our Savior our friend we worship you Jesus [Music] amen be lifted up be lifted up and as we go down be lifted [Music] up be lifted [Applause] up be lifted up [Music] and as we bow down be lifted up be lifted up and be lifted up and as we bow down be lifted up be glorified be glori [Music] and as we bow down we glori yes GL [Music] [Music] [Music] remember those walls that we called sin and shame but they were like prisons that we couldn’t escape but he came and he died and he rose those walls are down [Music] remember those giants we call death and Grave they were like mountains that stood in our way but he came and he died and he rose those giants to death This Is Our God this is what he is he loves us This Is Our God this is what he does he saves us he bore the cross be the grave let Heaven and Earth Proclaim This Is Our God King [Music] Jes remember that fear that took our Breath Away fa so weak that we could barely pray but he heard every word everywh now those hes in the wilderness tell the story of his faithfulness never once did fa and he never way This Is Our God this is who he is he loves us this is our God this is what he does he saves us on the cross be the grave let Heaven and Earth Proclaim This Is Our God King [Applause] Jesus who pull me out of that grave he did he did who paid for all of our sin nobody but Jesus who pulled me out of that P he did he did who came for all of us s nobody but Jesus who rescued me from that grave y yah who getes the glory and praise nobody but Jesus who rescued me from that grave yah yah way who get glory and praise nobody but him this is our God this is who he is he loves us this is our God this is what he does he saves us before the cross be the grave let Heaven and Earth Proclaim This Is Our God King Jesus on the cross be the grave let Heaven and Earth Proclaim This Is Our God King [Music] Jesus King Jesus [Music] Jesus [Music] Jesus I raise him Hallelujah in the presence of my enemies th ra Hallelujah Lou and beond it always say I raise the hallelu my weapon is theity PR Hallelujah heav come F from me I’m going to save in the middle of the stor louder and louder you’re going to hear my Praises Roll Up From the Ashes hope will arise death is defeated the king is alive he’s alive I Praise Him Hallelujah with everything inside of me oh that I am I praise and hallelu I will watch to dark this praise Hallelujah in the middle of the mystery will praise I’ll praise Him Hallelujah we your hold on me I’m going to sing in the middle of the storm L and L you got to hear my praise is From the Ashes hope will the rise death is defeated the king is alive I’m going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and louder you’re going to hear my Praises R Up From the Ashes hope will the death is defeated the king is sing a little louder sing louder we sing a little louder s louder oh sing a little louder sing a little louder rise up sing a little louder sing Oh Praise sing louder in the presence of my enemies sing a little louder louder than the unbel still louder my weapon is a m sing a little louder cuz heaven comes to fight for me sing a little louder in the presence of my enemies see louder louder than the unbel sing a little louder my weapon is a Melody sing a little louder Heaven comes to me we sing a little louder cuz I’m going to s in the middle of the storm louder and louder you’re going to hear my pra R Up From the Ashes hope will arise death is defeated the king is alive oh I’m going to say in the middle of the stor louder and louder you’re going to hear my Praises World Up From the Ashes hope arise death is defeated the king is [Music] alive raise [Music] hallelu in the presence of my [Music] enemies I raise the hallelu [Music] louder than the unbel oh I raising hallelu my weapon is a [Music] Mel I raise the [Music] hallelu heaven comes to fight for me thank you Jesus oh we praise you the Hallelujah come and haveit the Praises of your people today as we lift you up would you come come and move [Music] as a spirit was moving over the world Spirit come move come rest on us come rest on us as the spirit was moving over the water spirit come move over us come rest on us come rest on us calm down Spirit when you move you make my heart when you feel the room you’re here and I know you’re for I’m here and I feel you feel me come Spirit when you move you make my heart when you feel the room you’re here and I know you’re moving you’re here and I feel [Music] you fire and wind come to it again open up the gates let Heaven on in come rest on us come rest on us fire and wind come and do it again open up the gates and Heaven on it come rest on us come rest on us come down spirit will you with you make my heart when you feel the room you’re here and I know you’re moving I’m here and I know you feel me calm down Spirit when you move you make my heart B when you feel the rul I’m here and I know you’re moving I’m here and I know you’re filming [Music] come and fill us all Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all we want you’re all we want and Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all want you’re all we want Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all we want you’re all we want Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all we want you’re all we want Cal down Spirit when move you make my heart when you feel the room you’re here and I know you’re moving I’m here and I feel you feel me come down Spirit when youy make my heart when you feel the room you’re here and I know you are moving I’m here and I know you are feeling Holy Spirit Come rest on us we want you’re all we want Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all we want we Are Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all we want you’re all we want Holy Spirit Come rest on us you’re all we want you’re all we want you’re all we want you’re all we need you’re all we long for you’re Jesus the name of your [Music] ho Ancient of Days King of Kings Lord of lords you’re the Firm Foundation [Music] you’re you’re name of Nam [Music] you are worthy of all praise and my heart is sing How [Music] Great Is Our God you’re the name of name Jesus you are worthy of all praise in my [Music] heart How Great [Music] Is Sing me How Great Is Our God oh s how great how great [Music] [Music] the [Music] praise [Music] great is the god [Music] you’re the name by which we saved [Music] bless you you are good you are strong you are great merciful you’re [Music] the Jesus heart great maybe in this moment we could just sing out the name of Jesus he is the name above every name and he has a name for every circumstance we face so maybe in this moment just call out his name maybe call out the name that you’re longing for in this moment for your circumstance for your situation for your family whether it’s God you’re my provider God You’re My Healer God you are faithful let’s just sing out his name there is power in his name [Music] [Applause] [Music] trust in your the [Music] you Jes shout Jesus from the mountain Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus over everything we PR shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the street Jesus in the darkness over every eny Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus your name cuz your name is power your name is healing your name is break every stronghold sh through the Shadows [Music] cuz your name is power your name is your is we oh break every stronghold shine through the Shadows run you fire you cuz your name is power your name is healing your name is you are break every stronghold shine through the Shadows [Music] the your name is power your name is healing your name is life the greatest name break every stronghold shine through the sh like fire your name Jesus your name is power your name is your name is break every stronghold shine through the Shadows [Music] like cuz your name is the highest your name is the greatest yes your name stands above them we lift up your Holy Name all and all C and your stand above [Applause] them cuz your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above it all in all thones into all pass and positions your made stands above and the angels cry holy all creation Christ holy you are lifted High holy holy forever he’ll people Jesus he’ll people sing Holy to the King of Kings ohly you will always be [Music] holy holy forever your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above all th and to me all p and position your name stands above them [Applause] all cuz your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above on Thrones and to milons and your [Music] stand all the other names fade away you remember [Music] and Lord what a joy and a privilege it is to join with all of Heaven singing holy holy holy is the Lord singing the power of the name of Jesus Lord we thank you for your name we thank you that there’s power in your name and this morning we worship your name we bless your name our King our savior our Jesus we praise you and we love you amen amen [Music] amen amen well that was wonderful um we’re going to make time to continue worshiping uh a little bit later on we’re going to be sharing communion um with one another if that’s your car you need to move it um I’ve now lost my entire train of thought good morning um great to see you all my name is Johnny I’m part of the team here and uh if you are a visitor with us this morning then you are so welcome here it is so great that you are with us and um we got a bit of news to share however this morning we’ve got a whole bunch of people from the dasis with us this morning the Alburn way why don’t you guys stand up sorry I didn’t warn you why don’t we welcome these guys Dan Dan yeah yeah he’s got no voice can you say something I’m sure you even when Dan’s got no voice I’m sure he can actually say something can you quickly in just 20 seconds tell us what the Orban way is yeah thanks I’d a late night on Friday so sorry about that my voice seconds okay that’s five um it’s a year out uh where we focus on kind of deep discipleship to develop leaders that are more resilient um where we look at like spiritual practices and stuff like that I think I shared a little bit about it but the Highlight is we’re going to do a pilgrimage in Northern Spain in October the Cino to Santiago so we kind of go on this journey over a year done that was amazing dandrew thank you very much so good to have you guys with us this morning and um as part of the year are you kind of practicing your walking in order to be able to then do a little bit and these guys are having lunch um next door this afternoon and hanging out um here as well but so good to have you with us uh before I share any more family news why don’t we just spend two minutes saying hello to someone around you um and we’ll come back in a moment if you’re joining us at home on the live stream it’s great to have you with us I think you are going to spend a moment with bethin now hi we’re so glad you could join us for our Sunday service there’s lots going on in the life of the church and you can find out more on our social media on Instagram or Facebook or on our website under whatson in the navigation bar we can do all that we can do because of the amazing generosity of people like you so if you would like to give and are able to give you can do that on our website at Soul survival Watford doc. you can give a one-off gift or give by standing order we’d love to connect with you and hear from you so if you’d like to get in touch you can do that on our social Media or you can email us at info@ Soul survival Watford [Music] [Music] in [Applause] [Music] Oh Happy Day come on now oh happy day when Jesus wased I thought this might bring you back together oh happy day come on Church Oh Happy [Music] Day When Jesus [Music] washed When Jesus [Applause] washed When my Jesus wased he washed my sins away well that brought you back in didn’t it great oh I wasn’t planning on doing that but that was a bit of fun um well welcome welcome welcome great to see you so a few things just to say um first is on the Tuesday the 7th of May we’ve got our next worship and prayer night I really missed it in April I don’t know if if few did but I really missed gathering together in April so we’re back together Tuesday the 7th please do come along if you can make this a priority if you’re able to come we’re going to worship together across all the congregations fix our eyes on Jesus pray together pray for our community our church our world and uh these nights are so important um so if you can come along do come along to that um and then the following night Wednesday the 8th of May we’ve got our next young adults night 7:30 next door uh if you are between 18 and early 30s come along to that um Neeve Allen is going to be speaking and uh woo I heard some excitement for Neeve Allen over there which is good um but ne’s going to be speaking and on she’s going to be speaking on what it means uh to be a new creation and how we live in that and there’s going to be space to worship um hang out together and pray and I think at the end of the night the bar will be open as well so come along to that and then Saturday the 11th of May we’ve shared it a couple of times uh now but we’ve got our first Soul women event and I think over four years on Saturday the 11th 8:30 till 11:30 again in next door you can book online it’s a suggested donation of5 which goes uh towards breakfast uh if that is a barrier for anyone just book in and come along uh we would love to have you there I won’t be there but uh there’s going to be a whole team that are going to be hosting that um and uh it’s going to be a great time together I think over 60 already have booked on to come so do book up and come along on the 11th of May and then finally as you all have known we uh were recruiting for an associate pastor earlier in the year the good news is we have recruited someone which we’re excited about sadly we just can’t announce who it is quite yet because we’re just arranging with where they’re base at the moment to align the announcements but hopefully in the next couple of weeks we going to share who it is um and then also to say we’ve got a couple of new roles that we’re going to uh begin advertising for tomorrow um uh another assistant pastor to join our pastal team particularly looking at supporting just some of our pastoral structures pastoral care uh within the church and also we are going to be recruiting a new head of operations uh to join the team sadly very sadly our amazing Katherine mayard uh is moving on to a new role elsewhere um Catherine has served us um incredibly for the last uh nine years and so it’s a huge loss um to us as a church and a team Katherine will still be part of the church family here uh but it does leave uh a new role for someone to come and join the team so if that might be something that uh you would be interested in exploring then all the details will be on the website um tomorrow so Survivor Watford for/ jobs um yeah that is the notices I won’t sing to finish the notices but uh why don’t we um continue in our worship with our giving uh we come forward to give uh there are baskets um at the front and lollipops if you’ve not been before then to come and grab a lolly for the talk there are also the carb machines uh at the back if you’d like to give in that way and if you’re home you can give via our website Souls survival watf for.co /give Why Don’t We Stand and worship together with our [Music] giving I’ve search the world but it couldn’t fill me man’s empty praise and treasures they F I’m never in know you came [Music] along put me back together every desire is now satisfied he in you Lord [Music] oh there’s nothing better than you oh there’s nothing better than you oh there’s nothing nothing is better than [Music] you I’m not afraid [Music] to show you my weakness failur fls for you see the and you still going be the god of the [Music] mountain is the god of the valley and there’s not a place you’re Mercy Grace won’t find me again oh there’s nothing better than you oh there’s nothing better than you oh there’s nothing nothing is better than you oh there’s nothing better than you oh there’s nothing better than you oh there’s nothing nothing is better than [Music] you Lord thank you very much for the offering and that you’re there that nothing better than you thank you Lord use this money and expand it multiply and then use it for community and all Beyond thank you amen amen if you’d like to take a seat and hello if I have not met you before um it’s nice to meet you my name is Ally and I’m part of the team here and we’ve been doing a little miniseries on Daniel and it was supposed to come to an end last week but I’m I’m tagging on and I’m making it number four and we’re going so today is now the end of our series of uh talk on Daniel and and uh we’re going to go right back to the beginning and looking at the very first opening verses of the Book of Daniel so chapter 1 starting at verse uh one so here we go in the third year of the reign of jeim king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it and the Lord delivered jeho Kim King of Judah into his hand along with some of the Articles from the temple of God these he carried off to the Temple of his God in Babylonia and put in the treasure in the Treasure House of his God then the king ordered ashpenaz chief of his court officials to bring into the King’s Service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility young men without any physical defect handsome showing aptitude for every kind of learning well informed quick to understand and qualified to serve in the king’s Palace he was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians the king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table they were to be trained for three years and after that they were to enter the King’s Service among those who were chosen were some from Judah Daniel haniah mishael and aaria the chief official gave them new names to Daniel the name Bel shazar to hananiah Shadrach to Mel meach and to aaria Abednego but Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the Royal food and wine and he asked the chief official permission not to defile himself in this way so our last little look at Daniel and um really briefly I mean I think in many ways that opening a few verses tells us what you need to know for the purpose of that and that God’s people had been proph prophesied through their prophets that because they had been so persistently disobedient and really living in a way that was so dishonoring to God and all the things that he values and cares about they um they had it been prophesied that they would be taken into Exile and that those prophecies a whole series of them came true um Jerusalem was sieg besieged and the Babylonians killed the king one of the Kings and then you know to loads them into captivity and there was utter violence and and destitution for the very few that remained but there was a whole chunk that were taken off into Exile and this is the the background really of when we’re talking about Daniel and at the very beginning we’re kind of homing in on this moment where there sort of some of God’s people are assimilated in and I’m going to give you a heads up and it’s right there we looked at it what we’re looking at today is the fact that Daniel held on to his name in that place he held on and my encouragement to you is to hold on to your name and if you don’t know what your name is well that’s exactly what we’re going to be looking at this morning and names are really significant in the Bible uh even more so than they are for us today names for us when I talk about names of things they can be really helpful in identifying um you know like we have a Common Language don’t we that’s what language is and so if I say book you know I mean book although my family laugh at me because I say book and apparently it’s book book I don’t know I cannot say any other any other way book anyway book I keep saying book paper you know uh Bin those kind of things we know what we’re talking about when I use those words sometimes a word is very particularly tied to what the object does so a cooker Cooks things a printer if you’re lucky prints things I don’t know about you if there’s one thing that tests my face my face my faith in this world it is my printer I am closest to walking away from all things holy when I’m trying to print something anyway but a printer allegedly prints things my favorite is the Welsh word for a microwave some of you know this but the Welsh word for a microwave is a poty ping a poty ping and literally what that means is pinging oven because it’s an oven that pings and so we have these words sometimes are related to their meaning sometimes less so I’m not going to ask you to call out but what you what you call this in your family in your household or in the place of your birth but we all seem to have slightly different words for it it’s a remote control that’s what it does it remotely controls the TV in our house we call it a blabber and uh that’s kind of been handed down from my parents who well actually no my sister went to University and one of her housemates she called it a blabber my sister brought it back it became part of the mckinness language and now all of us as we’ve gone on to have our own families we call it the blabber have you noticed nothing puts a household under pressure or ra or raises the anger levels as much as when you believe another member of your family is sat on the blabber you know when you can’t find it you’re are you sitting on it no I know you are sitting on it anyway maybe that’s just our family so that’s a blabber it doesn’t tell you anything about what it does but nevertheless because we understand it’s a blab we know what we’re talking about so names they can help us identify things and uh that was certainly the case in the Bible when it came to people’s um given names the names by which they called themselves or were known much more so than now um so it may be that you were named for a particular reason most likely it’s just that your parents particularly like this name or if they were teachers they just had to find a name that didn’t have a bad Association for them or maybe if you have children maybe when you named them you really considered their name but chances are it’s not something that you talk about very much and it’s not even something that other people know unless they particularly um ask you because no one’s sort of the names are not always self-explanatory whereas what we see in the Bible is so often the names were very clearly a reflection of God’s character or or of a particular thing that he was doing in the life of God’s people at that time and you see that throughout where you know people name their children sometimes actually really hard and difficult names but they so capture this moment in their story and in God’s story and other times the names are more positive other times the names are changed in order to reflect something very particular that God is doing so a couple of examples from scripture a very maybe obvious one if you know your Bible is the name Abraham uh he had previously been known a known as Abraham so not a massive change but Abraham means exalted Father Abraham means father of many and God was really underline in this point if you’re not just going to have a kid even though that in itself was miraculous but you’re going to be the father of many a slightly different one is this guy Gideon who we read about in the Book of Judges he was one of the leaders of Israel at one point and the way that he came into that leadership was in another testing time for God’s people where they were again under attack by raiding um uh midianites and uh it was a time of real fear and people were very much worn down by this constant raiding of their supplies and their flocks and Gideon one of God’s people hiding away he was in The Wine Press kind of hiding from this constant Onslaught and into that moment the angel of God Appears and he addresses him with a name he says greetings mighty warrior which you know I want to know did the angel say it with like a raised eyebrow or with a heavy dose of irony because it didn’t look like that but he was calling Gideon into this role of being a mighty warrior in God’s strength Jesus himself is given a very particular name when the Angel appears to Joseph um his Earthly father who raised him he says you’re to give him the name Jesus because he’ll save his people from their sins and the name Jesus means the Lord saves just another little sort of aside on the sort of biblical way of approaching names and we very much reflected that here this morning we’ve been singing about how much we love the name of the Lord and it’s all kind of related to this it’s not that we oh yeah Jesus that’s a nice name I might think about naming my my my child Jesus I actually don’t think you’re allowed to in this country I think that’s one of the names anyway but aside from that what we’re saying is when we say we love the name we’re talking about all that that name represents the activity of God the car the character of God the saving work Jesus saves that’s why we can say say I love the name of the Lord that’s why we can say the name of the Lord is higher than any other name because his character and his consistency is higher than any other name so Jesus himself given a name that carried real meaning and then you’ve got Peter so uh this’s this amazing interaction with Jesus and his disciples we read about it in a few gospels but in Matthew um there’s this conversation where Jesus is saying who do the people say I am and there’s all these kind of like back and forth on that and then Jesus says what about you who do you say I am and then Peter comes out with this amazing statement he says you are the Messiah the Son of the Living God and at that point Jesus says to Peter I’m going to rename you so he had been Simon up until that point and Jesus said I’m going to give you the name Peter and what Jesus was doing there was an amazing word association thing you know when they talk about revising for your exams the really good thing that you can do is to think of something that then lodges in your mind it gives you a picture that helps unlock the learning Jesus was giving Peter an amazing picture to un unlock the learning going forward because what he says is from this time on I’m going to call you Peter and on this rock I will build my church and what he was not saying was from now on I will call you Peter and on you Peter I will build my church what he was saying is I’m going to call you Peter and on the rock that you just declared with your mouth you I am the Messiah the Son of the Living God on that rock I’m going to build my church and so Peter every time you introduce yourself hi I’m Peter you’re reminding yourself he’s the Messiah the Son of the Living God that is the Hope For The World Peter wasn’t the hope for the world Peter is not the one that we all look to back over the years and go oh Peter you did it all no that’s Jesus he’s the Messiah the Son Of Living God so Peter was given a name to unlock some learning and um and so then one last example from the Bible is Barnabas uh we read about him in the book of Acts and in other places in the New Testament and his name was Joseph but he was renamed Barnabas which means son of encouragement because it so reflected his gift and his consistent um work in the body of Christ was to draw alongside and was to tuck people in and was to encourage them and so he was given a new name and so then we cycle back to Daniel having sort of established that names are important and then we see the outworking of this in this story that we read this morning because when we meet Daniel he already has a name and his name Daniel really clearly meant God is my judge and not just any God but the god of Israel L is my judge and then knowing how significant that that was because every time Daniel uh introduced himself hi I’m Daniel he is declaring over himself and to anyone else around him I know who I am I know who I submit to I know who I belong to God is my judge every single time and they’re like no that’s that’s not really what we want from you we don’t want that kind of Truth we don’t want your allegiance to the God of Israel we want to undermine that in all kinds of ways so we’re going to scrap that and you’re now going to be called belto shazar which means Bell protects his life one of their gods bell bell protects his life but what is interesting is and we went straight into it after theyve renamed him but Daniel refused to and it goes on into his story Daniel it’s like going I know that we’ve just talked about renaming him but listen Daniel he’s still Daniel he’s and throughout the whole book he continues to be referred to in that way when looked at Through The Eyes of the Israelites and even actually interestingly one of the bab Babylonian Kings eventually refers to him as Daniel which I find really interesting but it’s like he had a decision in that moment like this name was trying to be like pulled away from him and he was like no I hold on to my name everything about his circumstances was trying to say something else it was trying to say God’s not actually your judge this community is your judge these Kings these powers and we go on in all the things that we’ve been looking at over the last few weeks and it’s really worth catching up if you haven’t been around for those talks um it looked like other things were going to be Daniel’s judge you know bow to me act like this eat like this do these things we’re saying we are your boss and in everything he was like no I resolved I will not lose my name he held on to it with all of his might a bit like in these couple of gifts this is me making some lame attempt to be relevant there we go he’s holding on with all that he can poor Spider-Man and this poor person everything is like the world is dragging him Al he is holding on for dear life and this is Daniel to his name and it’s what I want to encourage you think about the grimacing Spider-Man if you need to hold on to your name whatever happens hold on to your name we see this great example in Jesus um you know Jesus who’s already been named um he’s the one that saves the people you know Jesus is means the Lord saves and then there’s like a further Declaration of his name that happens at his baptism and in Matthew 3 when he’s baptized he goes into the water and he comes up and there’s this voice that is spoken over him the Father in Heaven says this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased this is my son and then immediately he’s led into the desert where he is subject to the Temptation that Satan throws at him and as the accuser as the tempter comes against him what does he say twice he says to him if you are the son of God so God has said you are my son and the first thing Satan comes after is if you are the Son of God trying to undermine and unpick that name and similarly as we’ve already seen in Daniel Jesus holds on for him this is not a debate that he is willing to get into he is the Son of God he knows the Father’s Love he knows the father’s pleasure over him and he holds on to his name it is the same or it needs to be the same for us so what is your name what is my name what are these things that we need to hold on to well we find them in the Bible and it’s not as clear as an angel of the Lord coming before us and addressing us as mighty warrior but as you read uh the scripture and as you ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes here’s some of what you begin to see that in two Peter we are called chosen a chosen people a people belonging to God the book of Romans Romans tells us that we are God’s children and his hires Genesis 1 tells us that we are made in the image of God the whole Bible tells us that we are loved that it is um John 3:16 that most famous verse says for God so loved the world that he gave his son when we look at Jesus we remember we are loved and Romans 8 assures us that there is nothing that can separate us from that love we are forgiven not because of anything we’ve done not because of anything that we’ve accomplished or a standard that we’ve achieved but because of the Cross by his grace also that we know in one Corinthians it tells us that love keeps no record of wrongs so not only are we loved like not only is that our identity but the truth that comes with that is that our past is not held against us our failures are not held against us he keeps no record of wrongs the book of um one of jesus’ teachings in Matthew talks about the fact that we are valuable John 15 talks about us being friends of God Zephaniah 3 tells us that God takes great Delight in US John 8 tells us that we are free and Isaiah 43 says that we belong to him your name chosen your name loved your name forgiven your name friend of God your name valuable and those are just some of the amazing uh names that you will find your the truth of your identity is hidden in scripture and it is spoken again and again and again in a million different ways you have a name and it is spoken over you and we’re later on we’re going to be celebrating communion together together and the cross is the place where we were renamed because of what Jesus did on the cross because his body was broken for us and his blood was shed for us all of those names that I’ve just uh read out they became hours in that moment that is what has um been won for us and just like with Daniel and with Jesus circumstances will seek to pull that name away away from us to make us believe that we are not forgiven and that we are not chosen and that we don’t belong to him and when that happens when whether it’s circumstances whether it’s like the voice of the enemy whether it’s our own insecurity something that we’re facing that makes us question it we need to keep feeding on the truth found in God’s word and applied by his spirit this is who I am this is who you are chosen not forgotten his children not a mistake we Are Made In His Image therefore some of that rubbish that we believe about ourselves just can’t be true we are loved not rejected forgiven not guilty valuable not worthless we’re friends of God not an irritation not like he doesn’t have to dredge up all of his like patience just to kind of give us a moment we’re his friends as well as his children he takes Delight in us so we’re not a burden to him or an inconvenience we are free no longer a slave to sin we are free and we are his like he is committed to us and he promises to never leave us and sometimes it’s just so much easier to believe something other than that it’s so much easier to um yeah stick with the names we’ve picked up along the way I sometimes wonder like how much effort did it take from Daniel when every day people were coming up to him saying morning Bel shazar like how’s your breakfast Bel shazar how did you sleep belar what’s going on in your diary this week belar like what did that take internally for him just to get going I’m Daniel I’m Daniel God is my judge not you you know this God of this place that I find myself this king is you this is not who I submit to I’m Daniel what would it take for you to hold on when so often those messages that we’re receiving and those truths that we’ve picked up on the way are saying something else and I know some of you have heard this bit of my story before and I won’t over labor it but years and years ago for me the name that I was holding on to that was contrary to what God Said was the name failure and it wasn’t like through some conquering Army coming in and dragging me off to Exile it wasn’t anything big and dramatic it was just lots of little things that had gone wrong unhelpful things that people had said and it was like I I I looked at the evidence I multiplied the evidence and I just decided that there was something about me that meant that I was a failure and everything I would do would fail and it became a real source of uh both uh fear and kind of inertia there was so much I couldn’t do because I was so petrified that a further failure would kill me so I just decided to play it safe but even when you’re trying to play it safe life happens and I eventually hit yet another circumstance that seemed insurmountable and I crashed and burned spect tally crashed and burned I hit rock bottom I was signed off work I uh was on medication for depression and all and it’s easy to say it as quickly as that now but we’re talking about a whole season in my life and as God began to heal me and restore me partly through the faithful prayers of some older friends that walk with me and and as they were just asking that question God where does this come from it he began to show me this name failure and that it it was there came a point where I had to choose to lay that name down to let lay that label down and because in the meantime what I hadn’t been able to do is step into the things that God was calling me to because of the fear because of this yeah I’m just going to fail again I had to shed that old name the name that was binding me and begin to walk in the truth of who God says I am I want to encourage you this morning it might not be as sort of obvious as that or uh it might not be crippling you in quite the same way but only choose and resolve to live in the truth of who God says you are we will make mistakes in life we can um go through all kinds of Seasons that are hard and painful all that but our name still stands the spef the general names that he has for all of us all those ones chosen love forgive and free that I say quickly but they are gold and also what are the things that he’s spoken over your life the things about your your character your personality your calling your contribution to the kingdom that he’s saying that that’s who you are my daughter that’s who you are my son you’re a mighty warrior you’re a mother of encouragement you’re a you’re someone that so is fa faithful in prayer you’re someone who sees what other people doesn’t see you’re someone that draws people in from the edges what is it that God speaks over you live in the light of that and nothing less what might stop you holding on to your name maybe like me it’s past stuff and I want to encourage you this morning you’ll be so much lighter if you lay it down when you come to rece received the bread and the wine this morning maybe you want to hold that that name the yucky name the unhealthful name maybe you want to hold that and almost bring it before you and it’s almost like metaphorically just drop it before you receive the bread in the wine say I’m letting that go I Feast on you again and all that you are and as I go back to my seat Lord may it be the beginning of New Freedom in my life maybe what’s stopping you holding on on is that you didn’t know you had a name you didn’t know that the the god of Heaven calls you these beautiful names we’ve got to we’ve got to find ways to make the word of God our daily bread where we are chewing over feasting on again and again the truth of who he says we are and the truth of who he is maybe it’s that circumstances have been telling you something else ask the Holy Spirit to like make your heavenly names stick to You Like Glue like Daniel did like that poor person holding on to the escalator hold on to your name he is the god of heaven and he looks on you he calls you his beloved child chosen he’s committed to you you are forgiven you are free like Daniel like Jesus let’s hold on to that name amen and John is going to come and lead [Applause] us actually we’re going to have communion but as we do let’s just take a moment and let’s just pray and holy spirit I pray that even this morning would you you do a miracle in US of writing or rewriting our names on our hearts in our minds and Lord God that um we recognize again that we are named not because of anything we’ve done but because you won and names for us on the cross may you do a work of healing in many of us this morning may you do a miracle of freeing many of us this morning we Feast on you and on your truth too long of we listened to lies that have diminished and depleted us and uh and held our attention and distracted us from you and from your Kingdom open our eyes God to see you again and to live in the light of who you say we are amen amen that was wonderful thank you Ally um we’re going to share communion now maybe those who are serving communion if you could head to your stations that would be brilliant let’s just be still for a moment and Lord we thank you that you invite each of us to your table and Lord we thank you that it’s an invitation that has our name on it Lord this isn’t just a leaflet that’s put through our letter box randomly Lord this is a personal invitation to Feast with the King and Lord we thank you that you welcome us all and Lord As We Gather and as we approach you aresh this morning Lord we pray that you would reveal more of who you are to us Lord but I also pray that you would reveal more of who we are to you that you would speak truth over each of our hearts and Minds again this morning Lord that you would remind us of who we are and maybe for some of us maybe we’re not sure of who we are but would you remind us that we are chosen forgiven loved precious a son and daughter of yours thank you that you know us and you love us and maybe just In This Moment let’s just bring before God maybe the things that we’ve said and done and thought which we know have been wrong and let’s ask the Lord just to forgive us in this moment and to say sorry and Jesus we thank you that you are a God full of grace mercy and and forgiveness and we receive your forgiveness and your love aresh today we praise and bless you loving father through Jesus Christ Our Lord and as we obey his commands send your holy spirit that broken Bread and Wine outpoured may be for us the body and blood of your dear son son Jesus Christ on the night before he died he had supper with his friends and taking bread he praised you he broke the bread and he gave it to them and said take eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me again he praised you and he took the cup of wine and he gave it to them and said drink this all of you this is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for you and for many for the Forgiveness of sins do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me so father we remember all that Jesus did in him we plead with confidence his sacrifice made once for all upon the cross and bringing before you the bread of life and the cup of Salvation we Proclaim his death and Resurrection until he comes in glory amen and together we pray the prayer Our Savior taught us our father in heaven beom amen there are stations all around the room uh over this side there will be gluten-free bread and in the ceramic cups is nonalcoholic wine um but when you are ready uh head to the station nearest to you maybe the worship team want to come up and receive communion first and then we will worship uh together as we take communion for for for [Music] here is love v as the ocean Ling kindness as the FL when the Prince of Life are unome shed for us his Precious Blood who is love will not remember who can cease to sing his placea he we can never be forgotten throughout head Eternal days on the Mount of crucifixion fountains open deep and wide through the flood gates of God’s mercy Flo of us and gracious time Grace and love like Mighty Rivers p and from above Heaven’s peace and perfect Justice kiss the guiltyy world [Music] in Let Me All Your Love accept love you all my days let me seek your kingom only and my life be to your prais you alone shall be my glory nothing in this world I seek you have cleans and sanify me you yourself have set me free [Music] love like Mighty [Music] Riv Grace in love like Mighty R for inste and from above heaven PE and perfect Justice kiss the guy World in [Music] love and Heavenly Father we thank you for feeding us with your precious uh body and blood and may we once again be reminded and know your resurrection power in our hearts and in our lives amen amen why don’t we stand together we’ve got a few minutes um before we end and it would be great to pray for some folk this morning as well um and maybe you are here and maybe you have forgotten um the names spoken over you maybe today you’re just longing for for the Lord just to remind you of who you are in him that you are chosen you are loved you are precious you are special you are forgiven um or maybe you’re here today and you just long to know the power of His name in your life again again and if that’s you we’d love to pray with you so as we just begin to worship again do come there’ll be folk here um at the front uh or if you’re just here and you just would love prayer this morning then do come um but let me pray father would you pour out your presence in this place Come Holy Spirit would you remind us aresh of who we are in you we thank you for your presence let’s worship together and as we worship do come do come there’ll be folk here to pray [Music] and bless [Music]