← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
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- [00:03]
Paul Daugherty
Today we're picking up on part four in the Jacob series. If you got a Bible, go to Genesis 35. Genesis 35.
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Worship Leader
Come on.
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Paul Daugherty
And I want to title this message today. That's not who you are. That's not who you are. You might have been labeled by people one thing, but God says a different thing. I'm so thankful that we are not who the world calls us. We are not even who our parents have called us.
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Worship Leader
We are.
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Paul Daugherty
We are who God calls us. And whether you came in here today feeling discouraged, depressed, excited, hopeful, wherever you're at, God has something great in store for you. In Genesis 35, God says to Jacob, go up to Bethel and settle there. And what God was saying was, go back to the place where you met me. Go back to your first love. He says, build an altar at the place where you used to have an altar. By the way, we should never get tired of altars. We should never get tired of an altar. Like, the altar is the place of healing and transformation.
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Worship Leader
The.
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Paul Daugherty
The altar is the place where we get renewed, restored, set free. What God was telling Jacob was, get back to the altar. Everybody say, get back to the altar. You've heard the words, make America great again. Let me say, make altars great again. Make altars great. This is a place. The altar is the place where God does his deepest work. And God was telling Jacob, jacob, you've walked through some pain. See Genesis 34. And we don't have time to go through it. But Genesis 34 is tragic. Jacob has a painful fallout in his family. If you think that after Jacob's reconciliation with Esau, everything was blissful and great and amazing because we left off last week with Jacob and Esau hugging and the forgiveness and the mercy, and it was beautiful. That was Genesis 33. Right after that, Jacob goes through one of the worst moments in his life. His daughter gets defiled. There's sexual impurity that happens. His sons get angry because Jacob's not doing anything about this. He's not standing up for his daughter. And so the sons take matters into their own hands, and they use a form of manipulation and deception. I wonder where they got that from. Kind of runs in the family. And they use this form of manipulation and deception to then destroy the people that messed with their sister Dinah. And it turns into a bloodbath of revenge. The end. The end of Genesis 34 is tragic. It's sad, it's painful. And God says, jacob, you need to get back to the altar. You've walked through too much pain. You walked through too much healing, you've walked through too much change and transformation in your life for you to walk off by yourself. Come back to the place where you met me. Come back to the place where you found grace. Come back to the place where I changed your name. Come back to Bethel. Bethel represented the cross. Bethel represented the place where he finds forgiveness. Friends, for you and I, there is a Bethel that we are invited to every single day. It's the place where we come to Jesus. We with all of our burdens, all of our cares, all of our sin, all of our shame, all of our flaws. When we look to Easter, we look to the cross. We look to the place where Jesus died for our sins, that by his stripes, we are healed by his blood. We are set free. Our sins are removed. God was saying, jacob, come back to this place. Come back to the altar. Everybody say, come back to the altar. He says, this is where you met me. This is where you met me when you were fleeing from your brother. You, Esau. This is where you met me when you were afraid and anxious. Come back to the altar. So Jacob gets his household ready. He says, we're going to the altar. We're going to church. We got to get ready for church. We got to get ready for God
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Congregation
to move in our lives.
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Paul Daugherty
And the first thing he says is these words right here. Get rid of the gods that you have with you. Get rid of the idols and purify yourselves, and change your. Your clothes now. What Jacob was not saying was, we got to get cleaned up in order to come to God. What Jacob was not saying was, we got to, you know, get nice and put on our church clothes in order to be accepted by God. What Jacob was saying was, get your heart ready for transformation. Get your heart ready for discipleship. Get your heart ready to become the men, the women that God's called you to be. He was telling his sons, he was telling his family. He was saying, guys, we can't see, stay like this forever. We can't stay dysfunctional. We come to God as we are, but we don't stay as we are. God wants to change us. If you walked in here with depression, you need to walk out with hope.
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Congregation
If you walked in here with shame,
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Paul Daugherty
you need to walk out with grace.
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Congregation
If you walked in feeling heavy, if you walked in feeling numb, you need
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Paul Daugherty
to walk out feeling alive today.
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Congregation
You need to walk. You need to change your clothes. You don't have to change your clothes
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Paul Daugherty
to come to church, but church should change your clothes. Church should change you. The presence of God is meant to change us. God says, come as you are, but don't stay as you are. Come in your brokenness, come in your suicidal thoughts. Come if you've been cutting. Come if you've been drinking all night. Come if you've been looking at porn, Come if you've been dealing with sexual
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Congregation
addictions, come if you've been on drugs lately, come if you've been shooting up stuff, come with all of that, but don't stay in that. This is the place where it changes. Bethel is where God changes you. God says, that's not who you are. Bring it, but don't stay there.
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Paul Daugherty
So he says, bring all the foreign gods. Bring all the idols. Now, if there was one person that needed to hear this, it was Rachel. In Genesis 31, when Rachel was leaving her dad's house, Laban. Laban. Her father was a con man, and Laban was not a believer in Yahweh. Laban worshiped foreign gods. Well, when Rachel and Jacob and Leah and all the kids were leaving, Rachel snuck into her dad's tent, and she stole the idols of her dad, and she stuck them in a bag, and she stuck them under her blessed butt, and she sat on a camel. I talked about that last week, that we all have a blessed butt. And the truth is, all of us in this room, we have something in our lives that's not right. Rachel had something. Like, Rachel was beautiful on the outside, but she had. But she had some stuff on the inside that wasn't beautiful. Like, all of us have a little bit of beauty and a little bit of beast. None of us are only one or the other. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. And so Rachel sticks her past underneath her. She was trying to carry the past gods, the past idols, and anything you could stuff in a bag is no God at all. It's a false God. So she's carrying it, and her dad chases her down, chases Jacob down. He says, listen, someone stole my idols. And Jacob goes, I don't know what you're talking about. Cause Jacob didn't know. Rachel didn't tell her husband. And so Rachel hides this. She says, I can't get off my camel. I'm going through my monthly period. That's what she says. You should read the Bible. There's some funny moments there. But she goes, I can't get up. So she hides these idols all through Genesis 31, all through Genesis 32. Her dad never finds it. Jacob actually says in Genesis 31, cursed be the person who Stole your idols. Jacob didn't know he was placing a curse on his own wife. Jacob didn't know the power of his words. Friends, we got to be careful what we say when we're feeling stressed, afraid, anxious, worried. People right now are saying, World War 3 is coming.
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Congregation
Doomsday is coming.
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Paul Daugherty
Listen, I believe this is an hour for revival.
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Congregation
I believe this is not an hour
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Paul Daugherty
for fear in the church.
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Congregation
This is not a time for us to bunker down and be afraid and stressed out about the economy and AI has taken over. No, I believe this is an hour for God's provision, God's protection. This is the year of the Lord's favor.
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Paul Daugherty
But what Jacob did in this moment is he spoke a curse out of ignorance over his own wife, not knowing it was his wife, and this would catch up with him. So when Jacob says, listen, I need everyone to bring their foreign gods, their idols out. We're going to Bethel. We're going to meet with God. We're going to get ready, we're going to prepare our hearts for consecration. And so he says, get rid of all this stuff. Change your clothes, purify your hearts. Go to verse three. He says, let's go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I go. God is with you through the sorrows. God is with you through the valley. He's with you on the mountain. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears. Now, there's nothing wrong with earrings, but for them, these earrings represented attachments to the past. God was saying, you need to cut ties with all the lies that you've been living in. Come on, 1990s music right there. Everybody say, cut ties with all the lies. What Jacob was saying is, we're going to have a funeral for all the past attachments. We're going to bury all the old contacts, all the old text messages, all
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Congregation
the old stuff, all the X's you've
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Paul Daugherty
been holding on to.
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Congregation
This is an hour to bury the
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Paul Daugherty
stuff you've been carrying. You can't carry that stuff anymore. You can't keep carrying those old habits and those old relationships and those old things into a new future. Jacob was saying, before we walk into Bethel, we're going to have a funeral for our past, and we're going to bury all the gods, all the idols that we've worshiped, all. All this stuff we've been attached to. And once we listen, you can't carry the Corpse of stuff you. If God's going to do something fresh in 2026, you can't keep carrying around the corpse of what God did in the 80s. See some. It's not just attachments to, like, past bad habits sometimes it's attachments to old wine skins. Jesus said, I can't pour new wine into old wine skins. I can't do something fresh in 2026. If you're still regurgitating the glory days of 1996, you gotta bury nights.
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Congregation
You gotta say, praise God for what he did. But I am not living the rest of my life in the museum of the past miracles.
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Paul Daugherty
I'm stepping into new miracles in 2026.
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Congregation
I'm not just gonna live in Abraham's glory days, Isaac's glory days. No, I got some future glory days that God.
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Paul Daugherty
So let's bury it. Everybody say, bury it. And once they bury it, watch this in verse 5, God then sends a terror across the Middle east on behalf of Israel. In fact, it says, as they set out, a terror of God fell on all the towns around Jacob so that no one could touch them. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. There's a phrase my dad used to say, where God guides, he provides. Where God directs, he protects. Interesting. In Genesis 34, Jacob took his family to a place God never directed them.
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Worship Leader
Them.
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Paul Daugherty
And the tragedy that happened in Genesis 34 is directly connected to moving in their feelings instead of moving in the direction of God. I don't want to be moved by my feelings. I don't want to move my family because the economy says this, or money's telling me this, or my friends are going there. No, I'm not going where everyone else. I'm going where God tells me to go. I remember talking to my parents when they would go on missions, trips to places that I thought, you shouldn't go there, right?
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Congregation
I remember when my mom and dad
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Paul Daugherty
were going to Sierra Leone and there was a civil war breaking out in Africa in that specific area.
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Congregation
I said, why are you going there? It's dangerous. You shouldn't go there.
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Paul Daugherty
I'll never forget what they said. They said, the safest place to be is in the will of God. In the direction of God, you are protected. Where he directs, he protects. I remember when our family went to
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Congregation
Israel, while there were bombs going off all around Israel and Lebanon and Jordan and. And parts of Egypt, and there's war breaking out. I'm like, why are we going to Israel?
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Paul Daugherty
And my parents were saying, God spoke to us, that we're supposed to go, y'. All. We're still living, we're still breathing. Because where God directs, God protects. So God leads them to Bethel. And I want to go to verse nine, because here Jacob is building this altar, and God meets with him in Bethel. Look at this in verse nine, after Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again, and he blessed him. And God said to him, your name is Jacob. This is what people call you. This name meant deceiver, con man, heel grabber, cheater, manipulator. But God says, that's what they call you. But that's not who you are. That's what your parents labeled you, but that's not.
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Congregation
I know they said you were an
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Paul Daugherty
accident, but that's not who you are.
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Congregation
I know they said you're mentally impaired, but.
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Paul Daugherty
But that's not.
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Congregation
I know they said you got add. I know they said that you're distracted. I know they said you're an addict. I know they said you're a sinner. I know they said you're depressed. I know the doctors diagnosed you as a man with cancer. But I call you something different. See, God was giving Jacob.
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Paul Daugherty
God is the greatest name changer. God, not just a game changer. He's a name changer. Somebody say, he's a name changer. He says, you will no longer be called what people have been calling you. That's not. Somebody say, that's not who you are. I'm so thankful that even though my parents gave me a great name, I love my name. At the end of the day, God speaks a name over all of us in this room, regardless of what our parents have labeled us, regardless of what teachers or coaches or friends or doctors have labeled us, regardless of what we've spoken, over us, God speaks a better name. God says, from now on, you will be called Israel. Now, God had already done this. Like, this feels like a repeat chapter. You're like, hold on. We read this in Genesis 32. What's going on, Paul? This is years after Genesis 32. God was saying, sometimes you need to be reminded of who you are, because even after you've discovered who you are, you go back to old habits. What we learn from Jacob is that he's in a process of sanctification like all of us. You're saved when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, but you're being saved the rest of your life. If there's breath in your lungs, God's not done working on you. Religious pride tries to make you think, no, I'm perfect. I'm good, I'm righteous. Everything's fine. I don't need to go to an altar again. Don't need to humble myself. Don't need to be reminded who I am. That's religious pride. That's what the Pharisees had. That's why they hated Jesus. Jesus came to work with disciples.
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Congregation
Who knew?
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Paul Daugherty
I'm a work in progress. I'm under construction like the roads of Oklahoma. Till death do me part. As long as there's breath in my lungs. God's not done working on. How many y' all know God's not done working on you? So God was saying, jacob, I know you've heard this before. I know this feels like another sermon in your life in the same topic. But I need to remind you that's not who you are. Somebody say that's not who you are and he named him Israel. We all need to be reminded of this. We all need to be reminded. That's not who I was. Watch what God does Next. In verse 11, God said to him, I am God Almighty. Now, he had not said this yet to Jacob. This was a new name. This name I had to go in my Bible because there's a letter next to this name where it says God Almighty. There's like a little letter which tells me I gotta go to the bottom of my Bible to read the finer print. It actually means El Shaddai. El Shaddai, the God of Bethel. The God who is with you. The God who keeps his covenant.
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Congregation
The God who protects, the God who directs, the God who provides. Not just Abraham's God, but Jacob's God. God was saying, jacob, I don't want
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Paul Daugherty
you to live off of old revelation of what your grandpa knew me as. I don't want you to live like. I don't want to just worship the God of Billy Joe and Sharon Dardy. I want to worship the God of Paul and Ashley Dardy. I want to worship the God who is the great. I am not the great. I was. I want to worship God for who he reveals himself to me. As every generation needs a fresh revelation of who God is to you.
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Congregation
Don't ride on the coattails of your
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parents relationship with God.
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Congregation
Don't ride off the coattails of Oral Roberts God.
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Paul Daugherty
Well, he's the God of Oral Roberts.
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Congregation
No, he's the God of you right now in 2026. He's not just the God of Billy Joe Dougherty, Billy Graham, Lester Sumrall, Smith, Wigglesworth, Oral Roberts, Peter, James and John. He's your God. He's my God. He's with me in 2026. He's El Shaddai.
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Paul Daugherty
He says, jacob, I got a promise for you. I'm gonna make you fruitful. I've anointed you not to live in poverty. I've anointed you not to be afraid of AI taking your jobs and World War 3 and doomsday. I've anointed you to increase. So stop talking like you're stressed and anxious and afraid and worried all the time because I'm gonna make a nation out of you. I'm birthing something fresh out of you, Jacob. I'm making a whole community of nations. Out of you is gonna come nations that will rule.
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Congregation
Out of you.
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Paul Daugherty
There will be king. There's a king inside of you, Jacob. There's a king inside of you. I know your family said you were broken and messed up and manipulative and deceptive. But there's kings that are coming out of you, Jacob. You're going to produce greatness. I remember hearing this story about this young kid who grew up in El Salvador. His dad was an alcoholic, raging alcoholic. He would get violent. He would hit his mom and hit him. His mom fled to the United States, and he was raised by his grandparents. His grandparents took him out from his dad's house because it was too violent, too bad. And as he was growing up, he had real problems in school, social skill problems. He had problems not just in education. Like, he had problems making friends. He had no friends. His grandparents oftentimes told him, like, you're mentally impaired. You're slow. You don't catch on to things. They took him to a psychologist. The psychologist said he's got all kinds of diagnoses, all kinds of problems. Not just add, but ld, all this stuff. Like, this kid is messed up. In fact, the doctor said he's not going to amount to much, and he's going to be codependent on you for the rest of your lives. He will never make anything of his life. The kid heard this, and all he heard growing up was negative labels. The day came where his grandparents said, we can't take care of you anymore. You got to go live with your mom in the United States. He was about 10 or 11 years old. As he was getting ready to leave, he said, I need an American name. I can't just go there with my El Salvadorian name. I need a name that makes sense in America, like John or Bill or Daniel. He felt like he needed one of those names. This is the first time and the only Time he remembers anyone from his family saying something positive, his grandpa looked at him and said, okay, grandson, the name that you're gonna have needs to be a strong name. A name that holds honor, valor. A name of a great leader, a genius, someone who's going to impact the world. A history maker. I got it. Your name will be Erwin. Kid goes irwin. I've never heard of any genius named Erwin. The grandpa told him a story about a general in the army named Erwin. He said, that's your name.
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Congregation
Erwin.
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Worship Leader
Erwin.
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Paul Daugherty
So he decided to stick with it. Not because he liked it, but because it was the only time he heard anyone say something good about him. It wasn't even about him. It was about the name. So he took on the name. And many times, him and his mom would move from state to state where he could have changed his name. He could have come up with a new identity. He was making, you know, new friends. But he stuck with the name Erwin. And anytime people would say bad things about him or negative things about him, he would grab hold of that declaration that his grandpa said, your name carries honor. Your name carries valor. Your name carries genius. Your name carries history. Making world changing culture, shaping power. Every time he was tempted to shrink back and settle for below average jobs and mediocrity and not putting in a lot of work and living numb and
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Congregation
living dead and acting like he's got
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Paul Daugherty
no future, he kept reminding himself, I am Erwin. I am a leader. I am a genius. I am a creative genius. Irwin McManus became the pastor of a church in Los Angeles, California, called Mosaic Church. Not only has this church impacted California, he's written New York Times bestseller books. I've read his books. This guy's gone on to make movies, make shows, produce music. And he traces it all back to the day he decided to take on a new name. Friends, there's power in the name. Jacob was understanding God was giving him a name that carried fruitfulness, power, impact. Now watch this. While Jacob recognized God was the great name changer, Jacob had to take on that same responsibility. A few verses later in verse 16. As they were leaving Bethel, they were still some distance away from Ephrath. Rachel begins to give birth. Anytime there's a birthing, there's a breaking. Anytime there's a birthing, there's a breaking. Ashley and I, we've had five kids, and I'm not the one that births them. She is. Because only women can do that. Just got to clarify, in 2026. All right, so when I watch Ashley give birth to those Babies, y'. All, there's always pain and conflict while God is birthing something new. There's also a mixture of tension and pain and difficulty. Anytime God's birthing something new in you or in his church or around the world, there's always a mixture of tension, pain, difficulty and birthing. And so she's having great difficulty and so much difficulty, it's a matter of life or death. And as she was having great difficulty in her childbirth, the midwife says to her, don't despair. Don't let a temporary painful circumstance become a permanent vision in your future. Never allow temporary pain to become a permanent vision. Never allow pain in a moment to name your future. Something that will be painful forever. As she's giving birth, she says, listen, God has given you another son. In other words, whatever happens next will not be in vain. Even if you die, there's something good that's being birthed. There's always something good that's being birthed. Even in the place where something is buried. And so as she's breathing her last breath, her baby is breathing his first breath. She's breathing her last breath. Her baby's breathing his first breath. She's saying goodbye. The baby is saying hello. And as she's saying goodbye, she projects on her son the feelings inside of her. She named her son Benoni. And before I get to the next part of this verse, let me just explain what Benoni means. Benoni, the definition of Benoni means the son of my suffering. The kid who brings pain, suffering and death. She was cursing her future because she felt cursed. Liam, can I borrow you for a second? I'm do a little illustrated sermon here. I got a Benoni shirt. Come on up here. This is what she was saying. I want you to. Liam, will you put this shirt on? Just wear it. I know it's not a fun shirt, but this is what she was saying. This is what I want you to walk around as. By the way, names have prophetic power. Shakespeare said, what's in a name? Tell you what's in a name. According to the Bible, names carry prophetic meaning. That oftentimes. This is why God cared so much about changing names. Because he knew the name you've been given carries weight. It can close doors and open doors. It's not lost on me that God has given me opportunities because of my last name. I have favor when I go certain places because they go, oh, you're the son of Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty. I remember what God did through them in the 80s and the 90s, early 2000s. There's favor that my kids will walk in because of the obedience of his parents and grandparents. There is power in a name. There's opportunity in a name. There's grace in a name. But there can also be a bad reputation connected to a name. And this is what Rachel was doing. She was saying, listen, this is who you are. You're Benoni. You're the son of my fear. You're the son of my sadness. You're the son of my regret. You're the son of my sorrow. You're the child who brings trouble, regret, brokenness on the inside. Rachel felt ugly. She felt cursed. She was saying, I put this on you. I put this on you. Parents, we got to be careful what we put on our kids. I love what happens next. As Jacob is watching his. By the way, Jacob was a hundred years old when Rachel died. He was not 40, 50, 60. He wasn't like a 30 year old dad. He was 100 years old. This would have been a moment where Jacob could have said, I'm done. This is the woman I was the most in love with. The Bible says he loved Rachel more than Leah. Jacob, like Rachel was everything. How do you live without Rachel? How do you navigate life without your wife? How do you navigate life without the one that you love the most? Your best friend? He was like, oh, my gosh. And she's naming him this. And she has a. He has a choice. Do I accept the label of my wife, the one that I loved, or do I intervene? The Bible says that as she was naming him Benoni. The Bible says, but his father. Everybody say, but his father. I'm so thankful for the buts in the Bible. I'm so thankful for the but God moments. Aren't you thankful that even though the world labels you this. But his father. His father was intervening. I'm gonna get strong here. Wait, hold on. Let me get some scissors. I'm gonna get smart here. Work smart, not hard. The father was saying, that's not who you are. He was saying, take off that label. And his father said, that's not who you are. I call you. I want you to put on a new shirt, Liam. I call you Benjamin now. Benjamin. Let me give you the definition of Benjamin. Benjamin means son of my right hand, blessed son, my right hand man, favored son. I did a deep dive on Benjamin. Here's what Benjamin means. Benjamin means son who brings favor.
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Congregation
Son who has strength. You are strong in the Lord. Son who has a right authority on his life. Son who has Power. Come on, give Liam a big hand. Blessed son, hope filled son, chosen son, loved son. Somebody say, that's not who you are.
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Paul Daugherty
But here's what I've learned. You're not who people say you are, but you are who you answer to. You are who you answer to. And I remember when I was a kid, Liam, that there were times where certain people in my life called me some names that weren't nice. As a pastor's kid, I grew up sometimes with people just labeling me certain ways. They didn't invite me to all the parties. They were like, paul's prude. He's like, he's gonna tell his dad he's a tattletale. Paul's not, you know, like all kinds of just harsh statements. Sometimes I would get in, you know, a fight with my brother. He would say something mean. I'd say something mean. And those names and labels, sometimes I would believe them so much that I would answer to them. Where if someone said, hey, hey, insecure
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Congregation
Paul, I'd be like, hey, here I am.
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Paul Daugherty
How's it going?
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Congregation
Hey, unworthy Paul. Hey, I'm right here. Hey, unqualified Paul. Yeah, that's me.
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Paul Daugherty
You are who you answer to.
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Congregation
Hey, ugly.
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Worship Leader
Yeah.
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Paul Daugherty
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you're not ugly. No, but it's. But it's how I believe. It's what I think about myself. You are who you answer to. And so there came a moment where I said, no, no, no, that's not who I am. I'm not what others say. I am what my father says about me. I am blessed. I am favored. I am chosen. I want you to just shout some labels out at me. Shout some words out at me
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Congregation
right here. That's me. You got the right guy.
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Paul Daugherty
Come on.
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Congregation
I heard righteous. I heard awesome. I heard favored. I heard forgiven. I heard chosen. I heard redeemed. Every time the enemy says, hey, ugly, say, I don't know who you're talking to.
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Paul Daugherty
That's not.
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Congregation
You got the wrong person. Hey, good looking. Yeah, that's me.
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Paul Daugherty
Hey.
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Congregation
Hey, sick. I don't know who. That's not my name. I don't know why you're saying, hey, cancer. I don't know why you're saying, that's not my name. Hey, healed. Yeah, you got the right guy. That's me. You're talking to the right person.
- [27:03]
Paul Daugherty
You are who you answer to. So stop answering to labels that were put on you by people who cursed themselves. They want to put. They want to project on you what they've been projecting on. Give Liam, a big hand. Thank you, Liam. Here's what we learned from this moment, is that God can change your name, but you can change the name too. God's not the only name changer in the Bible. Jacob said, if God can do it, I can do it. If God changed my name, I can change my kid's name. Jacob was saying, I'm not letting my kid grow up with a poverty mindset. I'm not letting my. My wife who's dying that I love so much, determine the future of. Of my child. Jacob could have died with Rachel, but he decided not to. He buried Rachel in Bethlehem. Don't bury your hope. When you bury someone that you loved, don't bury your blessing. Just because you buried. Just because you lost someone you love doesn't mean you lost everyone. Just because you lost one doesn't mean you lost your future. Just because somebody's no longer in your life doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't matter. Jacob could have gotten hung up on who he lost his. Instead, he focused on who was still with him. Jacob could have gotten obsessed over the people that were gone. Rachel's gone. Isaac's gone. His dad had died, right? I mean, like, Jacob had walked through some pain. Jacob's going through all kinds of stuff, but instead he focuses on who's still with him. He says, hold on. I still got a son. I still got a future. I still got a hope. And he decides to speak like, you know, Jacob would live to be 147 years old, which means he lived 47 more years after Rachel died to watch what God would do with the son that he prophetically was speaking over. Instead of letting fear and bitterness trap him in a moment. And name Bethlehem, the town of pain,
- [28:51]
Congregation
the town where my wife died.
- [28:53]
Paul Daugherty
The place of discouragement, the place of despair. Jacob doubled down with faith.
- [28:57]
Congregation
He said, no, no, no. This is going to be known as
- [29:00]
Paul Daugherty
the birthplace of Benjamin. Not the death place of Rachel, but the birthplace of something new that God was going to do. Which leads me to my next question. What will you call this season? Will you call it Benoni or will you call it Benjamin? What will you call your future?
- [29:13]
Worship Leader
What?
- [29:14]
Paul Daugherty
Will you stop letting pain and grief and loss name your future? Refuse to label a blessing as a burden Jacob didn't want to carry. Jacob didn't want his son to carry the weight of his mother's death. He said, I don't want my son growing up thinking he's the reason that I lost my wife. I want him growing up thinking he's anointed for increase. He's my right hand guy. He's my son of authority. He's my son with a blessing. Interestingly, Benjamin would grow up as the youngest son of Jacob. God fulfilled his promise. 12 sons, 12 tribes through a broken man, the tribe of Benjamin. You go, well, what happened with this kid? What happened when he went from Benoni to Benjamin? I'll tell you what happened. Benjamin became a powerful tribe. They produce some of the greatest warriors in Israel, some of the strongest warriors. One of the warriors was a guy named Ehud. Ehud was this judge right in Israel. He was a left handed warrior. A lot of the Benjaminite tribe, they were left handed warriors. And he ends up delivering the nation from the Moabite oppression.
- [30:13]
Congregation
All because Jacob decided, that's not who
- [30:15]
Paul Daugherty
you are, this is who you are.
- [30:17]
Congregation
When Jacob changed the name, he changed the future. When Jacob changed what he was labeling
- [30:23]
Paul Daugherty
that season, he was changing the outcome.
- [30:26]
Congregation
You can choose your own adventure, you can choose your own outcome. Just because you've been labeled one thing
- [30:30]
Paul Daugherty
by parents, friends, teachers, coaches, doctors, psychiatrists, you can choose to reframe and rename this season after Ehud. There was King Saul. You go, well, that was a rough one. I don't know if King Saul was a great king. I mean, didn't he get jealous of King David and kind of go crazy? That's true. But you know what? He started out as a great king. He started out as an anointed king. He was a prophet. He would prophesy. You go, well, yeah, but he ended bad. So that's kind of the end of Benjamin, right? No, it goes on. The Benjamin tribe keeps producing. There was a guy named Mordecai that came through the Benjamin tribe. Now Mordecai was related to Esther, who was the queen in the Persian empire, modern day Iran. And there was a guy named Haman who hated Jews. Haman hated Jews. Anti Semitism was alive and strong during Haman's rule. Later on, there would be another guy with the H word, I mean Hitler, that carried the same anti Semitic.
- [31:29]
Congregation
And so during this moment, this Benjamin
- [31:32]
Paul Daugherty
tribe, this tribe that had been labeled
- [31:34]
Congregation
by a father named Jacob, who said,
- [31:35]
Paul Daugherty
that's not who you are. They had this revelation that made maybe we're anointed to deliver our people. And Mordecai looks at Esther and he says, maybe you've come into the kingdom for such a time as this. Maybe even though it looks like despair and destruction has written a label over the future of the Jewish people, maybe
- [31:50]
Congregation
God has a Different plan. Maybe it's not a Benoni moment, maybe it's a Benjamin moment. Maybe God wants to turn something that
- [31:57]
Paul Daugherty
looks heartbreaking in our nation to a moment of deliverance. And so out of Mordecai and Esther, Haman was destroyed in the Jewish people were liberated. And this week, Israel celebrates Purim. Purim is the week that we remember
- [32:09]
Congregation
what happened through Esther and Mordecai, part of the Benjamin tribe.
- [32:14]
Paul Daugherty
And it's not lost on me that yesterday a ruler in Iran who hated Jewish people, who said, death to Israel, death to the Jews, death to America, death to the Christians, was taken down on the week of Purim. And who's to know that the tribe of Benjamin was not connected in the army of Israel, modern day idf, you could trace back. The soldiers in the Israeli army came from the tribe of Benjamin. But not just them. There was another person who came through the tribe of Benjamin, a guy who was at once called Saul of Tarsus, who had this encounter with God on the road to Damascus and his name was changed to Paul the Apostle. And Paul would often highlight his Benjamite tribe heritage as he's writing letters to the church, as he's saving Gentiles who weren't even a part of the Jewish family. And he says, listen, you are being grafted into Jacob's root. You're being grafted into the tree that
- [33:10]
Congregation
God started with Israel all the way back to Jake. When Jacob renamed Benoni to Benjamin, little
- [33:16]
Paul Daugherty
did he know he was about to
- [33:17]
Congregation
produce through that tribe, through that tribe
- [33:20]
Paul Daugherty
that had been labeled despair and destruction. He was saying, that's not who you are and your future will be blessed. You can change the name. Somebody say, you can change the name. God can turn your Benoni moments, your times of pain and sorrow into Benjamin moments. This last week, we buried our dog. We lost our dog Murphy. And when we lost him, it was sad, it was painful because he meant a lot to us. And you know, a dog can like, become a part of the family, it feels like. And so my kids, as we were like grieving the loss of our dog Murphy, they said, dad, did he live a good life? I said, yeah, he lived 13 years. That's a pretty good life. They said, well, how long is a good life? I said, well, I believe we can live a long life. They said, how long is good enough? I said, well, grand, grand lived to be a hundred years old. And they said, oh, can we do that? I said, yeah, let's pray for that. Let's believe that we can live 100 years old. And I think about how Jacob could have settled at 100, but he decided in this moment that he was going to believe. There's more in store for me. I've got more in my future than what lies behind me. Little did Jacob know that when he was speaking over Benjamin, he wasn't just speaking over Benjamin. He was speaking over Bethlehem. Bethlehem is not known as the town where Rachel died. What is Bethlehem known as? Oh, little town of Bethlehem, The. The place where Rachel died? No, it's the place where Jesus was born. It's the place where a little shepherd boy, labeled by his dad as the youngest, least likely to succeed, unqualified to even be brought into the house, to be anointed by Samuel, that kid that had a label by his dad of one thing. God says, no, that's a giant slayer. That's a king in the making. That's David. A man after my own heart. And through the line of David from the tribe of Judah would one day be the birthplace, the same town. You don't know what the town's going to be like. You don't know what this kid's going to grow up to be like. So why label it negative? You don't know what's going to happen yet. Rachel. Rachel was projecting a future that she didn't even know. Fear and faith, both in the same sentence. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. There's an intersection happening right now in America, in our world, in the church, with Christians right now. You can choose Bonobo or you can choose Benjamin. Benoni is to look at this moment and go, despair, sadness, sorrow, disappointment, grief. Not what I thought. Where's God in this? Or you can do what Jacob did, double down on faith and say, no, that's not what I'm going to label this season. That's not who I am. That's not who you are. I'm calling it Benjamin. When I say the name Benjamin to people who don't go to church, when I say I see Benjamin's in my Future, they're like $100 bills. Because a Benjamin in American culture is a hundred dollar bill. And let me say this, there's no higher bill in America, but the hundred dollar bill. There's no $500 bill, there's no thousand dollar bill. There's only $100 bill is the highest bill symbolizes value. It symbolizes worth. It's saying, when I say, I see Benjamin, I see worth, I see value, I see prosperity, I see hope. I want you to stand your Feet all over this place. You have a decision. In this moment, right now. What will you name it?
- [36:27]
Congregation
What will you call it? Jacob was saying, I see Benjamin in Bethlehem. I see a future and a hope.
- [36:34]
Paul Daugherty
Now, here's another interesting thing. Let me just say this. Jeremiah 31, when Israel is leaving in exile into Babylon, and they're being taken as captives. Jerusalem has been destroyed. The walls have been burned down. It lies in ruins. As they're leaving, they're walking down a road outside of Bethlehem. And this is the same road where Rachel was buried. Just because you bury Rachel doesn't mean you have to bury your hope. Doesn't mean you have to bury your blessing as they're leaving this road. Jeremiah, the prophet says in 31, verse 15, this is what the Lord says. A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children. What Jeremiah was saying was, the death of Rachel still carries weight on the road of Bethlehem. That when Rachel died in her tears, she refused to be comforted. She refused to have hope. She refused to believe something good was coming. Because it felt like the end. It felt like the final chapter for Israel. Captivity, exile, Jerusalem's burned down, the loss of a kingdom. And you would go, man, that's sad. What a prophetic like, sad prophecy. But the prophecy is not over. This is not the end of the prophecy. Because the next verse is the continuation. Everybody say, it's not over. Jeremiah says, but this is what the Lord says. Restrain your voice from weeping. Stop crying, Rachel. This is not the end. Though sorrow may last for the night, his joy comes in the morning. This is not your final chapter, Benoni. This is not your final chapter. Victory. Let me say something. In 2009, my dad died of cancer. And when we buried my dad, there were some people in the church that buried their faith. They buried their hope of future, great days, of victory. But when my dad was breathing his last breath, there was a fresh breath that came into that hospital room in MD Anderson, Houston, Texas. As our family began to worship. And my mom looked at me and John and Ruthie and Sarah and Ashlyn, all of us. And she said, God's not finished. And I felt this vision in my heart. The best days are not behind us. God's not finished yet.
- [39:00]
Worship Leader
We.
- [39:00]
Paul Daugherty
We are not known today as the death place of Billy Joe Daugherty. We are known as the birthplace of revival. The birthplace of victory.
- [39:08]
Congregation
The birthplace of our best days. Don't bury your hope. Don't bury your blessing. So God says, stop crying, Rachel. This is not the End. This is not the end. In verse 17, the Lord continues. He says, there is hope. The prophecy doesn't stop, stop with the exile of Israel.
- [39:28]
Paul Daugherty
God was saying, listen, you will rebuild ancient ruins, Benjamin.
- [39:31]
Congregation
You will restore the walls. When Nehemiah asked his king to leave
- [39:35]
Paul Daugherty
to go and rebuild Jerusalem, guess which tribe was the hardest working tribe on the walls of Jerusalem? The Benjamin tribe. The Benjamin tribe was a part of the rebuilding tribe. Not only did they rebuild the wall, they rebuilt Jerusalem.
- [39:48]
Congregation
God says, listen, your future has a hope. Your future has a purpose. This is not your final scene, Bethlehem. This is not your final scene, Benjamin.
- [39:57]
Paul Daugherty
God's not finished. I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. Lord, I just pray right now for someone in this room that's gotten hung up. Maybe even on a disappointment, maybe even on the burial of Rachel. Maybe someone that they lost. Maybe they've even been called Benoni. Maybe they've been labeled something by friends, family members. Maybe they've been labeled as the kid that will never amount to much. Maybe they've been called names in school. Maybe they've been dealing with hurts and addictions and wounds. Maybe they've been holding on to shame from the past or grief or sorrow. But I hear the Lord saying, there is hope. That's not who you are. You are Benjamin. You have favor in your future. You have faith in your future. You have a purpose on your life. Out of you will become kings and queens. For you are a royal priesthood. You are a chosen nation.
- [40:53]
Congregation
You are called and set apart. There's greatness inside of you.
- [40:57]
Paul Daugherty
I hear the Lord saying, don't take on those names and labels that God never gave you. Maybe you came in here today just feeling overwhelmed. Maybe the facts say that Rachel's dead. But I hear God saying, don't focus on the facts, focus on faith. This is what Jacob did. Jacob said, yes, the that fact facts are my wife died, but also there is still hope. God is not finished with my family. God is not finished with Benjamin. God is not finished with my son. God is not finished with my other kids. God is not done with my ministry. God is not done with my dreams. So I won't bury my faith just because I'm burying Rachel. I won't bury my blessing just because I'm burying Rachel. I won't bury my hope just because in the burial place I of someone I lost is the birthplace of what God is going to do in my future with heads bowed and eyes closed. If you're here today and you just need hope, you need Faith. This word is speaking to your soul right now. Why don't you just lift your hand up? All across this room, God's talking to you. He's saying, this is your season to rename and reframe what you've walked through. This is your season to rename who you've been called, who you've been calling yourself. Some of you have been answering to the wrong name today.
- [42:06]
Congregation
God says, I want you to change
- [42:07]
Paul Daugherty
the name that you've been answering. Answering to. This is no longer a season to label as fear, stress, anxiety, insecure, below average, inadequate, lazy. This is a season. God says, this is a time of the Lord's favor. This is a Benjamin. Year 2026 is going to be your best year yet if you name it what God is calling you to name it. Secondly, you're here today and you say, I just need to surrender. I need prayer. I need to surrender to God. I need to repent. There is no revival without repentance. Repentance. There is no salvation until you turn to God. If you're here today and you need Jesus, I want you to just lift your hand. Today's your day for freedom. Today's your day for salvation. Today is your day for restoration, for healing. If you raised your hand or you just need to get to the altar, would you leave your seat? Come and join me right now. We're gonna cheer on brave men, brave women, boys and girls, moms and dads,
- [42:54]
Congregation
sons and daughters, husbands and wives, young adults, grandparents. Whatever generation you're in, whatever season you're in, come as you are, but don't
- [43:03]
Paul Daugherty
stay as you are.
- [43:04]
Congregation
Bring it to God. Bring your worries, bring your fear. Bring your hurts, bring your sin, bring your shame, bring your wounds. Bring what you've been walking through. God says, bring it to the altar, Jacob. Bring it to Bethel. Bring it to the cross. Bring it to the place where God met you last time. God says, I'm still here. I'm still with you. I'm not finished with you yet. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Come on. If you need a touch from God today, come and meet him at the altar. Come and meet him at the altar
- [43:31]
Paul Daugherty
when you come down.
- [43:31]
Congregation
Just find a place where you can
- [43:33]
Paul Daugherty
just surrender to him.
- [43:34]
Congregation
Maybe you want to get on your knees. Maybe you want to lift your hands. Just close your eyes and just invite
- [43:38]
Paul Daugherty
the Holy Spirit to minister to you. Let's just begin to worship.
- [43:47]
Worship Leader
I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against Me. I am who you say I am. Am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I am told I am chosen.
- [44:25]
Congregation
You are mighty, not forsake. You are chosen.
- [44:28]
Worship Leader
You are called.
- [44:29]
Congregation
You are set apart.
- [44:30]
Paul Daugherty
You are special.
- [44:32]
Congregation
You are valuable. You are worthy.
- [44:35]
Worship Leader
Not against me. I am who you stand. I am chose. I am chosen, now forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me. God again. I am Jesus say, yes, I am. And who you say, Who the sun sh.
- [45:11]
Congregation
Always free. Freedom in Jesus. Who the son sets free is free. You're a child of God. You are free in Jesus. You have the mind of Christ.
- [45:25]
Paul Daugherty
Lord, I pray for the helmet of
- [45:27]
Congregation
salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of the roof, the shoes of peace,
- [45:33]
Paul Daugherty
the shield of faith.
- [45:36]
Congregation
God, I thank God to rest him. He's a mighty manner.
- [45:43]
Worship Leader
God, you're strong in the Lord.
- [45:46]
Congregation
God calls you forgiven. God calls you redeemed. God calls you restored. God calls you healed. God says, that's not who you are. You are who he says you are. You're a daughter of destiny. You're made in his image. You're set apart. You're chosen. You're forgiven. You're loved.
- [46:07]
Paul Daugherty
Your future is bright.
- [46:10]
Congregation
And your steps are ordered by the Lord says, I'm not done. I'm not finished. Your best days are still in prayer.
- [46:37]
Worship Leader
I am chosen. Not for say I am. I am who you are. For me. God again. I am. Yes, I am. Always who free and dear. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
- [47:24]
Paul Daugherty
God sees you. He loves you. He knows you. He's with you. He's never left you. He's never forsaken you.
- [47:39]
Worship Leader
Yes, I am. And in my Father's house there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
- [48:05]
Paul Daugherty
Don't let who you buried steal your vision for what God is birthing in your future. God is birthing something new right now, in the church, in your life, even right now, around the world. Paul from the tribe of Benjamin said in verse 18 of Romans 8, I consider that our present pain and suffering is not even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in the days ahead. For creation awaits an eager expectation for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed. For we know all of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth, like Rachel, right up to this present time. We too groan in our spirits for a day that we're redeemed. For in this hope, we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
- [48:58]
Congregation
But if we hope in a future
- [49:00]
Paul Daugherty
we have not yet seen, we wait with great expectations. In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and pain.
- [49:09]
Congregation
For we don't know what we're supposed to pray for.
- [49:11]
Paul Daugherty
But the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes for us with wordless groans. And we know that in all of these things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called Benjamin according to his purpose.
- [49:27]
Congregation
For those God foreknew, He also predestined
- [49:30]
Paul Daugherty
to be made into the image of His Son.
- [49:34]
Congregation
What should we say in response to
- [49:35]
Paul Daugherty
all of these things and all of the pain and all of the wars
- [49:38]
Congregation
and all of the problems? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Jacob, it is God who justifies. It is not people.
- [49:53]
Paul Daugherty
Who is the one that condemns you? No one. For Christ Jesus died more than that. He was raised to life and he's seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us. Benjamin.
- [50:04]
Congregation
So what can separate us from the love of Christ?
- [50:06]
Paul Daugherty
Shall trouble or hardship? Persecution or famine, Nakedness or danger or sword? Iran as it is written, for your
- [50:14]
Congregation
sake, we face death all day long. But in all of these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, Jacob, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, Benjamin, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Come on, give praise to God this morning. He is faithful. He chose you. He calls you by name.
- [50:48]
Paul Daugherty
He loves you. And he's not finished with you. Just pray this with me. Say, Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. You rose from the grave to give me resurrection life. And I receive your life, your salvation, your grace, your hope. And I repent of my sins. Thank you, Jesus, that you're not finished with my story. My best days are not behind me. They're right in front of me. And I have victory in my life because Jesus lives in me. Come on. If you believe it, give God praise.
- [51:32]
Congregation
I love you. God loves you.