The Ten Commandments

Commandment 3

Exodus 20  And God spoke all these words, saying:  2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage  …

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

A name is a big deal to God.

Peter was The Rock

Paul means small and humble

Abraham means father of many

And the list could go on.

Today, I want to talk about Exodus 20:7.

As we look at the words defined, we see:

Take means Lift Up/Exalt

Name means Reputation

Vain means Worthless

So when we say:

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

We could mean:

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

I have heard many talk about the words we utter, the phrases that we say, and the things that come out of our mouths.

Today, I want to talk about the reputation of God.  And I want to do it from testimony.

  • When I committed to give my dating relationships to the Lord … I met Angie.
  • When I committed to God to meet with a man of another race at Promise Keepers, but then asked Him to provide, He gave me Eli.
  • When the Lord told Angie and I NOT TO DECLARE bankruptcy but to face our debt, He gave us a plan to recover.
  • When the Lord asked me to speak at my father’s funeral, He gave me the strength to do it and actually used it to minister to me.

As I write these lists, I shutter at the fact that I could go all day.

Our God is a miracle worker.

He didn’t just create us.

He didn’t just patiently watch us totally screw up our lives.

He didn’t just save, reteach, and restore.

And He didn’t stop by sending Jesus.

Our God watches us rise in the morning.  He watches us at our best … and He watches us at our worst.

He takes delight in us when we seek Him, and His angels rejoice when we worship Him.

He patiently teaches us when we totally destroy His plan with our cavalier free will decisions … and yet, He continues to offer us free will.

Our God is there in the sunset, and He is present in the hurricane.

Our God is there to give us strength in our brokenness and even carry us when we fall.

How can we even live one day without Him?

He saves us in the small things, and He saves us in the eternity.

He forgives us of our small mistakes, and He covers us from our hideous and ugly countenance.

He sends Jesus to meet us in our issues, and He sends Jesus to carry the sin of the world.

And even though we should no better, I think it is worthwhile for us to be told this commandment—again and again—until it is etched into our very souls.

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J