John Hagee - The Blessing of God's Name
If you have your Bibles, turn with us please to numbers 6:27, as we continue today talking about "The blessings of God's name". God has ordained that his supernatural blessing be passed from generation to generation. How many of you would like to have the blessing of God? Let me see your hand. By the spoken blessing of the spiritual authority, is God's supernatural blessing imparted from life to life. Once the blessing is spoken, it cannot be reversed and it cannot be stopped by a human being. The blessing, once spoken, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Isaac spoke over Jacob and Esau, and what he spoke exactly happened. Jesus spoke to the disciples and said, "You shall be the light of the world" and "The salt of the earth".
At that exact time, their lives were filled with moral imperfections and character imperfections. But they did become the light and salt of the earth, as he spoke the blessing over them. The first thing God did when he created Adam and Eve was to bless them. God blessed Abraham and the blessing was passed to Isaac and to Jacob. In numbers 6, God blessed Israel through the spiritual authority of the high priest. Jesus began his public ministry with the sermon on the mount, which is a series of nine blessings. Jesus took time in his teaching to bless the children. The last picture that we have of Jesus, the Bible says that he lifted his hands and departed into the heavens and he blessed them. So the very first thing and the very last thing Jesus did was bless people. That means it's important.
Today we continue with the blessing of his name. What is in a name? The Bible says, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches". Say that with me. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches". And I can add, it's tax-free. What do you think of when you hear the name Judas Iscariot? Or you hear the name Benedict Arnold? It's a synonym for traitor. What do you think about when you hear the name Thomas, who was the disciple of Jesus Christ? Two thousand years later, people do not call him "Thomas, the soul winner". They do not call him "Thomas, the prayer warrior". Two thousand years later, it's "Doubting Thomas". His name is a synonym for doubt. What's in a name? Numbers 6:27, read it, please. God says that he will invoke his name upon you. Read with me. "And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel: and I will bless them". Read that last line again please. "And I will bless them".
Father, let every person in this room and everyone watching by television grasp the concept that when the name of God is placed upon us, we are blessed. And we are known in heaven and on earth and in hell itself, as the people who are called by my name. Thank you for the joy of being yours. And help us to see and to appreciate and to bask in the glory of what it means. In Jesus' name, we pray. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
You may be seated. The Bible says there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. That friend is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is there. I worked in an orphanage in Houston, Texas a number of years ago. And one day, there was a little red-headed boy following me around. He followed me everywhere I went. And just on impulse, I turned to that orphan boy, and I said, "Randy, if you could have anything in the world that you wanted, what would it be"? Without hesitation, he said, "I'd like to have one friend". I thought he would ask for a bicycle, a trip to Disneyland. But he said, "I'd like to have one friend". "My mother and my father," he said, "Never come to visit me. I don't know where my brothers and my sisters are. I'd like to have one friend".
And so it is in all of humanity that our society is a hurting society, lives twisted, stained, broken, ruined. And masses are looking for one friend. I've got good news for you. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Jehovah Shammah is his name. And when you call, he will be there. He will never leave you and he will never forsake you. Every burden that you have, he can carry it. And every problem that you have, he can solve it. And he is a friend who knows your worse faults and he still loves you. Brother, if that was the only gospel we had, we would still have a glorious gospel, because the world is looking for a friend. And I can introduce him to you today, who is Jesus Christ the Lord and Jehovah Shammah, who is there when you need him. Bless the Lord.
Do you have a friend like that? Do you have one friend like that? Do you have one friend that you could tell all of your deepest secrets to, would not be afraid that they would betray you? Do you have one friend that you know, when push came to shove, they'd die for you? I seriously doubt it. I want to introduce to you a friend in this book that is the friend of all friends, and he is the friend that will be there when you weep the night through. He will be the friend that will walk with you when you stand near the edge of a grave and it holds the very dearest on earth, he will be there. When your dreams are crushed and your life lies in shambles, when the light of hope and reason goes out and darkness covers you like a cloak, he will be there.
We sing the song "Standing somewhere in the shadows, you'll find Jesus". Solomon said, "The Lord our God dwelleth in a thick darkness". "In the day of trouble, he will be there". When you're thrown into the lion's den, he'll be there with you. When you go to the fiery furnace, he will be there with you. When your accuser surrounds you to eat your flesh, the Lord Jehovah Shammah will be there with you, because he is the God that will be there with you in all cases. When you breathe your last breath on this planet and you put your feet into the chilling waters of the river Jordan, and you begin to cross the river of death, he will be there with you. The last conscious thought you will have on this earth is the hand of God drying the tears from your eyes and welcoming you into the paradise of God. Your last breath here will be your first breath there.
I may not be with you. Your family may not be with you. But we have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and he will be there! And he will bear your burden and he will dry your tears. And he will give you a sense of joy, a sense of appreciation, a sense of destiny, as a child of God, because his name is on your forehead and he will be there for you! Turn the logic around. God will be there for you, but will you be there for God? Are you there, because there is a "There" in your life? God said to Elijah, "Go to the brook Cherith... And I have commanded the ravens to feed you there". God had arranged in the minds of those ravens to go exactly there. He didn't say, "Elijah, go somewhere". He didn't say, "Elijah, go where you feel led to go". He said, "Elijah, you go there and I will feed you there".
If you don't go there, you're going to starve to death. There is the place of God's blessing. There is the place of God's anointing. There is the place of God's power. There is the place of God's presence. There is the place of God's benefits. If you are not there, you're out of the will of God! So I ask you: are you there? God says, I'll be there for you. But are you there for God? God provides where he guides. Say that with me. God provides where he guides. If he leads you, he will lead you beside still waters. If he leads you, he will lead you into green pastures. I want you to understand there is a place for you. We sing many times, "I'll go where you want me to go". But we're not willing to stay where God has planted us. David said in Psalm 1, "You shall be like trees planted by rivers of living water".
Do you know what happens to a pot plant or a tree if you transplant it every 30 days? It dies. You can't produce fruit popping and hopping around. You have to get in the place where God has planted you, put down roots, and produce fruit there. There's not a person in this room who can't pray. There's not a person in this room that can't read the Word of God and witness. You say, "I'm too shy". No, you're not. You got married: didn't you? You're not shy. You sold somebody is bill of goods one day. Try it again. If the people who can pray, won't: if the people who can witness, won't: if the people who can teach, won't: if the people who can sing, won't: if the people who can preach, won't: then there is no future for the church and there is no future for America. Do what you can and do it now, and go to the place where God has planted you had, and be fruitful in the name of the Lord and multiply, and bless the nation.
"Righteousness" is defined as living by God's standard. The United States has a department of standard weights and measurements. Why? That's so that 16-ounces of bologna in Texas is 16-ounces of bologna in California. And I'm sure there are people in California that would swear 16-ounces of bologna in Texas is a lot bigger. The department of standard weights and measurements says that they are uniform. God has a department of standard weights and measurements. It's the Word of God. The standard of righteousness is in this book. The standard of righteousness is the standard all over the world. Sin in Texas is sin in California. It's sin in Europe. Distance, time, social morays, differences of opinion do not change the Word of God. You're either living by the standard of God's righteousness or you're not righteous.
There are two different kinds of righteousness: imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. Say that with me. Imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. Imputed righteousness, Romans 4:22, is that which is given to me by Jesus Christ at the cross. There is nothing I can do to be made righteous. I am made righteous because of what Christ accomplished at the cross. "Imputed" means credited to my account. Say that with me. Credited to my account. When I came to Christ at the cross, a sinner full of sin, full of faults, full of imperfections, full of hang-ups, full of legalism, he simply saw me there and he took the white robe of righteousness and he wrapped it around me, because I could not go into the presence of a holy God, full of my imperfection.
Please understand, there was still plenty in me that wasn't right when I got saved. But when I accepted Jesus Christ, he just draped his robe of righteousness around me. And then immediately, when I went to the throne room of God the Father, in his name, God the Father, said, "All I can see is the robe of the righteousness". Satan says, "Don't you know what a jerk John Hagee is"? God the Father says, "All I can see is the robe of righteousness. As far as I'm concerned, he's whiter than snow. Tell me what it is you want, boy. I'm the Creator of heaven and earth. I hold the seven seas in the palms of my hand. I have created the earth with a blast of my nostrils. I spoke into dirt and it became a living soul! I can give you all that you ask for. Ask of me: for there is no limitation in me".
And brother, I open up to count the boundaries of heaven and begin to receive the manifold blessings of God, because I am draped in his righteousness and I am made holy by the righteousness of Jesus Christ! Bless the Lord. Some of you have allowed Satan to intimidate you, browbeat you. When you get down to pray, you hear a voice in you that says, "You're not worthy of the blessings of God". You ever hear that? How many of you have? That's the voice of hell itself. That's the voice of the devil speaking to you.
And here's what I want you to do the next time that happens: you say, "I know you're right, devil. I'm not worthy of any of those blessings. But because my God is a good God: and because he loves me exceedingly, abundantly, above all that I can ask or think, he has put his name upon me. And his forgiveness and his righteousness is with me. Therefore, I am whiter than snow. And he has said, 'whatsoever I ask of him in his son's name, I can have it'. Therefore, today just because you've irritated me, I'm going to ask for everything that heaven has! Get away from me! I'm blessed, in Jesus' name! That's imparted righteousness. Imputed righteousness is that which is done in me". Say that phrase with me. "That which is done in me".
When I came to Christ and confessed my sins, and got up from the altar, I did not get up from the altar an angel, and neither did you. An angel is generally someone who's up in the air harping about something all of the time. From the day I was saved until now, God is continuing to do a good work in me. He continues to refine me. He continues to discipline me. He continues to prune me. He continues to shape me, as the potter shapes the vessel. He sees my life on the spinning wheel of his love and his perfection. And as he sees it there, he begins to slap it, and say, "I don't like that. I'm pulling that out". And he... "Don't like that either and I'm pulling that out".
And I'm in the prayer room screaming, "What are you doing to me"? God says, "I'm shaping you in my own glorious image. You're full of yourself. And I can't stand what I'm looking at. I don't like that and I don't like that". "Hey, I used to be 6'6'". This is all that's left. When I get to heaven, I'm going to stand in the presence of God the Father, not because I'm righteous, but Jesus made me righteous through the work of the cross. I'm going to shout for a thousand years and sing "Amazing grace," because God's magnificent name of righteousness is in my forehead. 1 Peter 1:16 says, "Be holy, as I am holy". Say that with me. "Be holy, as I am holy".
What is holiness? Holiness is inward likeness to God. We are not made holy by being like each other. We are made holy by being like Jesus. Simply stated, you become holy by imitating Jesus. Everything that you ever learned to do, you learned to do by imitation. You learned to talk by imitation. When I'm in south Texas, I sound fine, because everybody around me sounds like me. And when I go to Boston, I sound weird, because I'm imitating this sound and they're imitating that sound. But when I open the Word of God and I stay in it long enough, and I stay in the presence of the Lord Jesus long enough, and I imitate what I see here, that image becomes my image, and I become like him. And I become holy, not because of what I do, but because of what he is and how he has changed me to be like him. Bless his name.
Our faith is a holiness faith. Our book is called "The holy Bible". Our God is the most holy God who sits on the throne of his holiness. Our Savior is called, in the Book of Acts, "The holy child Jesus". Our city is called, in the Book of Revelation, "The holy city". Our spirit is the holy city. Our song is sung by the angels that goes, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and forever more shall be". Now the $64,000 question is this: are the people in the church reading the holy Bible, talking about the holy God, professing to be filled with the Holy Spirit, or are they holy? That's the question. The church in America is full but of what? Of what? Are we full with people imitating other people or are we full of people imitating the glory of Jesus Christ?
You were made holy by what Jesus did at the cross, not by what you do. Holiness is the tradeMark of our family. I am blessed with holiness, because God has given it to me. I don't have to work to earn it: he has given it to me. I can never be holy enough to get to heaven. I can only be holy because Jesus makes me holy by imitating him. The last of these eight names, Jehovah rophe, the Lord that heals. I want you to get this straight. Our God heals. He heals!
Exodus 15:26 says, "I am the Lord your God that healeth all of your diseases". Not just the little ones, I heal all of your diseases. I can heal broken hearts. I can heal a tormented mind. I can heal a sick body. I can heal broken marriages. I can heal broken relationships. I can heal broken friendships. I can heal the dreaded diseases. I can heal cancer as well as I can cure a head cold. I can cure heart disease as well as I can cure a lower back pain. I can heal you from aids, because there is nothing that conquers the power and the majesty of God. He is the Lord God that has opened the deaf ears, who has opened the blinded eyes, who has caused the withered hands to stretch out. He is the blind man healer and the sea walker. He is the living God. And if healing was the only message of the Word of God, we would still have the most exciting gospel on planet earth.
Our God is a healing God! And because I am blessed by the authority of his name, I can look disease in the eye and say, "I am conqueror over this disease, because Jesus has conquered it at the cross. And I am blessed with healing! And I am blessed with health! And I receive it, in the name of God the Father"! Hallelujah! Every time I talk about healing on national television, I get several letters that say, "Hasn't the day of miracles passed"? Read my lips. No. How many of you in this room have been healed by the power of God? Let me see your hand. Turn the television camera on those hands.
Now, God is a healer! "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever". What he did in Galilee, he can do in San Antonio he can do in Atlanta, Georgia, and he can do in Las Vegas, he can do in Los Angeles, he can do in New York city. He can do it in the ghettos. He can do it in the slums. He can do it in a mansion. Turn him lose and let it happen in your place! Those of you that are watching by national television, I want to tell you how God healed my mother of cancer. The doctor called our family together and said, "She will live at most 12 months. She's going to go through a surgery, have marginal health, have a colostomy. She'll be in the hospital five weeks. And it's all over but the slow walking and the slow singing".
We began to pray. God supernaturally shrunk that tumor in her colon. She went to the hospital, had that surgery that was supposed to have lasted four hours. It was over in an hour and a half. When they came out, she was out of the hospital in three days. In two weeks, she went back to work, totally, supernaturally healed by the power of God. That's been seven years ago. She has fabulous health. She is 76 years of age, because the God that we serve is greater than cancer and he always will be!
David said, in Psalm 103, "Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all of his benefits". And I am telling you, brother, healing is a benefit of God my father. Because he has placed his name upon me, I can claim health and I can claim healing. And I got a letter the other day that said, "Preacher, I'm tired of you saying, 'thank the Lord for health'". Well let me tell you something. You just miss it one time one week, and you'll be glad to thank God for it. It's the best thing going. And I'm glad I got it through the name of God the Father, because he has blessed me. I have it: thank God!
Isaiah said, "Surely," absolutely without doubt, "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows... And by his stripes, we are healed". "Borne" means he has taken it into his open body. "Carried" means he has taken it away and it has been removed. Therefore, every disease and every physical imperfection has been removed from me, because I am blessed of God. I am blessed in that he is a healer. I am blessed because he is the God who is there. I am blessed because he is the Lord, my holiness. I am blessed because he is the Lord, my righteousness. I am blessed, because he's the God, my shepherd. I am blessed, because he's the Lord, my victory, and my banner. I am blessed, because he has set his name upon me.
I am known in heaven and on earth and in hell itself as a child of God. I am somebody. The royal blood of heaven flows in my veins. I am created a little lower than the angels. I'm an heir and a joint heir on planet earth. I'm going to heaven, the holy city. And I'm going to live forever and forever. And brother, if you can beat that, I'd like to hear about it, because I'm a child of God. Hallelujah. But if you have not chosen Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life, you're not blessed, and there is no blessing for you.
You are as Esau: you're outside the blessing. You're a million miles from the gates of heaven when you're one little step from God. And if there's sin in your life, unconfessed sin in your life, you know it's there, you've treated God with disdain, with a casual nonchAlance. Your goodness is your badness. Your self-righteousness is a cancer. God will say to you, on the Day of Judgment, "Depart from me worker of iniquity. I never knew you". Now the choice is yours to be blessed of God the Father and have all of these benefits or to stand outside the gates of mercy, impoverished and without his goodness. And the choice is yours. Can we stand to our feet and bow our heads?