Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
April 8, 2007 - W0714

You may think you were invited here today by a friend or family member but you were really invited here by God…and that’s great because Easter is an invitation-only event.  “No man can come unto me unless the Father invited him.”  The good news is…everyone’s invited!  Yet some people don’t accept His invitation and that can be a decision of a lifetime.

Sometimes, a single word has the power to greatly affect someone’s life, whether it’s “yes” to an invitation to church, “hired” to someone who has just applied for a job, “no” to a marriage proposal, or a nickname proclaiming one’s value or valuelessness. 

Throughout your lifetime, you’ll be given names by friends, family members, your spouse, or others.  Names couples will call each other include Babe, Honey, Sugar, Angel, Dear, Darling, and Sweetheart.  Though these names are endearing and reaffirming, not all names you’ll be called are necessarily good…but the most important name you’ll ever be called is whatever name God gives you.  And if you respond, it’ll be the best thing you ever do.  In fact, the sooner you settle into what God is calling you, the better off you’ll be. 

I remember one particular afternoon many years ago when I was rushing home from work.  I was very hungry, and with three kids in the house, I knew I had to get home quickly before all the food was gone!  I was driving “quickly” down the highway when I saw a blue light flashing in my rear view mirror.  Oh no!  I was already in a bad mood because I was hungry but now this! 

The Officer came up to my window and asked me, “Do you know how fast you were going? 78 mph.”

“Not!  Maybe 58 or 60, but not 68 or 78!” I said.  “Maybe you need to check your radar.”

In any case, he took out his little book and started asking me questions.  "Name? Address?  Occupation?"

Oh no!  “Pastor,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“Pastor.”

“Really?"

"Yes, really. I'm so sorry. I'm a pastor," I said embarassed.

"Pastor?  Pastor Wayne Cordeiro?  Really?  I was just listening to you on the radio!  I have to call my wife and tell her about this!”

"Oh no, please don't!" I said.

As I mentioned, the sooner you identify with and settle into what God is calling you, the better off you’ll be.

But not everything you’ll be called by/in this world will be good.  You may be called some hateful things, things that’ll make you feel like damaged goods.  When I first moved to the mainland, someone yelled at me, “You lost the war!  Go home!”  Those type of hateful comments…You’re stupid.  We don’t want you here…can make you feel second-hand.  You can’t always help what others call you but the problem is that we often replay those words on the inside.

I’m going to tell you three names that God has for you.  You see, God washes us on the inside and writes His name for us there.  This is not new.  Throughout the Bible, we see God where gives people new names.  He renamed Jacob (sneaky thief) to Israel (prince with God).  He renamed Simon Bargona to Peter (bedrock).

God is famous for changing names and identities, and He has three names He’ll give to us.  The first is…

1.     SOUGHT OUT

When you feel forgotten or like damaged good, you will be sought out.

“And they will call them, ‘The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord,’ and you will be called, ‘Sought out, a city not forsaken.’” (Is. 62:12)

Not just acceptable or okay, but sought out.  One of my most beloved scriptures is John 15:16:  “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

How many of you think you should be dead today but God kept you around for some reason?  God washes you inside and writes the words “sought out” on you, with a purpose for you. 

We recently had an overnight prayer service for the church to come together and pray for one another.  We passed out the prayer requests and each of us had a stack which we needed to pray other. I’m not sure if God designed it but I had one request that said, “My life is broken. My marriage is broken. My family doesn’t want me.  I just lost my job.  I don’t even know what to ask for…Can God do something with me?” and it was signed Nobody. 

When you are feeling this way, God is calling you His first name:  Sought Out.  On the other hand, when life is going well, He calls you…

2.     GOD-GUIDED

When all is going well (e.g., relationships, job, etc.), you may wonder, “What’s next?”  What will excite your soul? A new house?  A pool?  A new car?  To win a lottery? Rather than just making decisions based on what this world offers, what about living a God-guided life?  Stop and ask God if there’s anything He wants you to do, any person He wants you to reach out to, or anything He wants you to say to your spouse or your children through you.

If that’s you, God wants to give you a new name of “God-guided”.  Rather than just making decisions on yourself or this world, steward what He has given you.

“When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but…He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13)

If not God-guided, we may value the wrong things and make poor decisions.  For example, we may sacrifice our families on the altar of success, or we may spend all our lives accumulating something and miss out on life itself.  On the other hand, if we are God-guided, we will steward our time, money, and lives wisely to make an eternal difference in God’s kingdom. 

When you feel like damaged goods, God calls you “Sought Out” as He reaches out to you and pursues you to be what He intends for you to be, not what the world may call you.  When life is good and you’re traveling along without care, God calls you “God-guided” so you can steward His blessings in a way that honors Him and blesses others.  Then, the third (and perhaps my favorite) name God calls us is…

3.     RESCUED

We’ve all seen it in the movies and many of us have experienced it personally...to be in a place where you are barely hanging on and you need to be rescued.  You’ve given up hope.  Maybe you made a decision in haste and it’s a poor one.  Now you have to live with the consequences of those decisions and you hate it.

When you’ve given up hope and see no earthly way out of your situation, God calls you “Rescued”.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save you; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.   (Is. 59:1)

I visited the Sistine Chapel this past year with a few people from the church.  As I looked up at the beautiful painting on the ceiling of God reaching down to man, I thought, “That’s what Easter is all about,” God reaching down to us and us reaching up toward Him.  God will rescue you but you have to reach out for Him as well.  When we’re in church and we raise our hands, that’s what we’re doing – we’re reaching for God.

·        REACH

“He will call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him…” (Ps. 91:15)

We can’t always control what people are calling us or what they’re writing on our outside but we can ask God to clean us out and write one of those names on our inside:

Sought Out

God-guided

Rescued

Everyone will stand before God one day – whether they think so or not – and He’ll ask what you, “What did you do with My Son?”  Hopefully, we’ll all say, “I said ‘Yes’ and I reached.”