The Name of Jesus #1

Name of Jesus Overview

In this foundational message from NTC Ministries, Pastor William Homan opens a new sermon series exploring the identity of Jesus Christ, beginning with the profound significance of His name. Drawing from John 1:1-13 and Genesis 1-3, the message establishes Jesus as the eternal Word of God, the Creator of all things, and the light that darkness cannot overcome. Pastor Homan traces the linguistic journey of the name Jesus from the Hebrew Yeshua and Yahushua, meaning to rescue and deliver, through the Koine Greek and Latin into the English form we use today. He addresses those who argue over the precise pronunciation of His name, emphasizing that intimacy with Jesus matters far more than linguistic precision, illustrating this with a personal story about his uncle who called him by an unusual name only those close to him would recognize. A gripping real-life account of a young trafficking survivor delivered from demonic oppression powerfully underscores the authority in the name of Jesus. The message weaves together the law of sowing and reaping and the call to intimate relationship with God, grounding believers in the truth that they were created in His image as His greatest masterpiece, and that Jesus came to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden.

Name of Jesus Outline

• 0:00:00 – Worship and Opening Prayer: The congregation enters into extended worship, lifting up the name of Jesus and surrendering to His presence before the message begins.
• 0:18:00 – Tithes, Offering, and Ministry Updates: Pastor shares on God as the first giver, encourages faithful giving, and announces upcoming church events including a ladies Bible study and a pumpkin carving contest for the community.
• 0:32:00 – Introducing the Series on Jesus: Pastor explains why he teaches in sermon series, referencing Isaiah’s line-upon-line principle, and introduces this new series on the identity of Jesus, noting the overwhelming depth of the subject.
• 0:42:00 – The Name of Jesus: Linguistic Roots and True Meaning: A detailed exploration of the Hebrew Yeshua and Yahushua, the Koine Greek, Latin, and English forms of the name Jesus, affirming that His name means rescuer and deliverer.
• 0:55:00 – Intimacy Over Semantics: A Story of Deliverance: Pastor recounts a powerful testimony of a young trafficking survivor brought to him by FBI agents, delivered from multiple demons in the name of Jesus, illustrating that intimacy with Jesus produces real authority.
• 1:08:00 – John 1:1-13 and the Word Who Creates: An expository reading of John chapter one establishes Jesus as the eternal Word, the Creator, the true light shining in darkness, and the one who gives the right to become children of God.
• 1:18:00 – Genesis 1: Creation and the Six Days of God Said: Walking through Genesis one, Pastor highlights how each act of creation begins with God said, revealing Jesus as the spoken Word who creates, and celebrating man as the very good masterpiece of God.
• 1:30:00 – The Garden, the Tree, and the Loss of Intimacy: Genesis 2 and 3 reveal how Adam and Eve traded intimate knowledge of God for earthly cunning, resulting in fear, shame, and separation from the relationship God designed for mankind.
• 1:40:00 – Seeds of Intimacy and the Call to Draw Near: Pastor ties together the law of sowing and reaping with the call to intentionally sow seeds of intimacy with God through prayer and removing distractions, urging believers to trust in the harvest.

Scripture References

John 3:16, John 1:1-13, Genesis 1:1-5, Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2:8-9, Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-10, James 3:14-17

Key Takeaways

• The name Jesus, rooted in the Hebrew Yeshua, literally means rescuer and deliverer, and real authority flows from intimate relationship with Him rather than from correct pronunciation alone.
• Jesus is the eternal Word of God who existed before creation, through whom all things were made, and apart from whom nothing that exists was made.
• Mankind is the masterpiece of all creation, made in the very image and likeness of God and declared very good, which means every person carries inherent dignity and worth before God.
• The enemy’s primary strategy in the Garden was to replace intimate trust in God with earthly, experience-based knowledge, producing fear, shame, and separation from the Creator.
• Sowing seeds of intimacy with God through focused, distraction-free prayer is a Kingdom law that produces a harvest of peace, strength, and unshakeable trust.
• The darkness cannot comprehend or overcome the light of Jesus because revelation of who He is comes through an intimate process, not through human reasoning or religious formality.
• Jesus came specifically to restore the intimate relationship with God that was broken in Eden, making Him not merely a historical figure but the living answer to every human need.

Name of Jesus Notes

The Creator Hidden in Plain Sight

One of the most striking truths in this message is the identification of Jesus as the Creator of Genesis one. By reading John 1:1-13 alongside Genesis 1, Pastor Homan shows that the voice declaring let there be light is none other than the eternal Word, Jesus Himself. The Father is presented as the architect who conceived all things in His heart, while Jesus, as the Word, spoke them into existence. This means every galaxy, every species, every intricate detail of the natural world is the handiwork of the one who would later take on flesh to redeem that same creation. Creation is therefore not merely a scientific or philosophical question but a deeply personal revelation of who Jesus is.

Why Intimacy Matters More Than Terminology

A recurring pastoral concern in this message is the danger of prioritizing linguistic or theological correctness over genuine relationship with Jesus. Pastor Homan draws on his own ministry experience, noting that he has seen blind eyes open, deaf ears restored, demons cast out, and even the dead raised in the name of Jesus. He uses a warm personal illustration of his uncle Fred, who called him by an entirely different name yet was understood perfectly because of their close relationship. The point is clear: those in intimate relationship with Jesus recognize His voice regardless of the precise label used, while those who use the correct name without relationship, like the seven sons of Sceva, find no power in it at all.

The Trafficking Survivor and the Power of the Name

Among the most arresting moments of this sermon is the account of a young woman, roughly eighteen years old, brought to Pastor Homan by FBI agents. Born into a satanist group and subjected to deliberate psychological conditioning against Jesus from infancy, she arrived with deep demonic oppression. Three demons were cast out during that first encounter in the name of Jesus, and over the following month she gradually opened her heart to the peace and transformation the Holy Spirit was working in her, eventually giving her life to Christ. This story is not recounted for shock value but to demonstrate that the authority in the name of Jesus is sufficient even against the most calculated and deeply rooted spiritual darkness.

The Garden as a Picture of Lost Intimacy

The Genesis 3 narrative is interpreted here not primarily as a moral failure story but as a relational tragedy. God had designed Adam and Eve to walk with Him in a garden of abundance, to know Him through faith and direct fellowship rather than through painful experience. The serpent’s cunning was to make Eve desire knowledge gained through hardship and self-determination, trading trustful intimacy for fearful independence. The immediate result was not enlightenment but shame and the desperate impulse to hide from God. Pastor Homan argues that this same pattern plays out whenever believers substitute earthly reasoning, anxious self-reliance, or misplaced emotional dependence on other people or possessions for the intimate relationship with their Creator.

Sowing Seeds Toward God to Reap His Life

Woven throughout the doctrinal content of this message is a practical principle drawn from Galatians 6: whatever a person sows, that they will also reap. Pastor Homan applies this specifically to the discipline of intimacy with God, arguing that many believers have never experienced the phenomenal benefits of closeness with their Creator simply because they have never consistently sown seeds toward that relationship. He points to Jesus own instruction in Matthew 6 to enter a private place, shut the door, and pray away from distractions as the deliberate, intentional planting of intimacy seeds. The harvest, he insists, is peace, strength, supernatural wisdom, and the kind of fruitful authority that cannot be manufactured by religious effort alone.

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