“A New Name”- The Unchanging God and His Unbreakable Covenant

Devotional

Day 1: From Exalted Father to Father of Nations: Receiving Identity Beyond Achievement

God names people not by their current reality but by His future promise. Abraham’s name change from “exalted father” to “father of many nations” defied logic—a 99-year-old childless man became a patriarch through God’s declaration. This new identity required Abraham to stop striving through surrogacy or human effort and instead trust the One who makes impossible promises. Like Abraham, many today build identities through career achievements, academic credentials, or cultural approval—all fragile labels. The gospel offers a name rooted in God’s unchanging character, not human performance. [12:35]

“No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.”
(Genesis 17:5, ESV)

Reflection: What achievement or role do you unconsciously rely on to define your worth? How might embracing God’s name for you free you from the exhaustion of self-validation?

Day 2: Silicon Valley’s Empty Promises and the God Who Does the Impossible

Technology and reason promise control but leave hearts restless. Abraham laughed at God’s promise of a son in old age, mirroring modern skepticism that reduces miracles to algorithms and productivity. Yet God’s covenant with Abraham—and His faithfulness through Isaac’s birth—exposes the limits of human ingenuity. The same God who bypassed surrogacy to fulfill His word still intervenes in burnout, loneliness, and dead ends. His power isn’t bound by Silicon Valley’s metrics of success. [08:16]

“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”
(Romans 4:19–20, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you substituted human solutions for divine dependence? What “impossible” situation in your life could become a canvas for God’s power?

Day 3: Circumcision at 99: When Obedience Costs More Than Comfort

Circumcision at 99 was a bloody, painful sign of covenant belonging—a lifelong reminder that God’s promises demand surrender. Abraham’s obedience after decades of failure reveals grace: God doesn’t require perfection, only faith-fueled action. Like circumcision, discipleship today involves cutting away self-reliance—whether hidden lusts, workaholism, or pride in reason. The covenant isn’t about earning favor but responding to the God who claims flawed people as His own. [30:01]

“This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.”
(Genesis 17:10–11, ESV)

Reflection: What “flesh” is God asking you to surrender to fully embrace His covenant? How does Christ’s sacrifice empower your obedience when it feels costly?

Day 4: The Offspring Who Was Cut Off So We Could Be Brought In

Isaac’s near-sacrifice foreshadowed the true Offspring, Jesus, who bore the covenant curse meant for us. Abraham’s descendants repeatedly broke the covenant, yet God kept His promise by sending Christ to be “cut off” on the cross. His blood cleanses deeper than circumcision, securing an unbreakable belonging for all who trust Him. The knife of judgment fell on Jesus so we might be named “child of God” forever. [33:05]

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
(Isaiah 53:5, ESV)

Reflection: How does Jesus’ being “cut off” reshape your understanding of guilt or shame? What would it look like to live as one permanently brought into God’s family?

Day 5: Creed: Not Our Achievement, But His Covenant Keeping

A church’s new name, like a believer’s identity, isn’t a trophy of merit but a testimony to grace. Abraham’s story began with God’s call, not his résumé. Creed Church’s renaming echoes this: we confess Christ’s faithfulness, not our own. Just as Abraham’s legacy spans nations and millennia, our lives find purpose not in fleeting trends but in the ancient, enduring covenant sealed by Christ’s blood. [33:49]

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
(Galatians 3:29, ESV)

Reflection: How does anchoring your story to God’s covenant—not personal success—change your view of daily work, relationships, or suffering? What step will you take this week to live as an “heir according to promise”?

Sermon Summary

God meets Abram in Genesis 17 and gives him a new name at the very moment his life looks ordinary, old, stuck, and impossible. Abram means exalted father, but Abraham means father of many nations, a name that rests not on what he has achieved but on what God has promised to make of him. God chooses a wandering, childless, skeptical ninety-nine-year-old man and makes him part of a plan far bigger than a son, a career, or a comfortable life.

The promise of Silicon Valley keeps telling people that more technology, wealth, power, and pleasure will finally make life amazing. The achieved identity built through work, degrees, companies, homes, or children’s accomplishments remains fragile, because it can be lost in a moment. The gospel gives an identity that is received from God rather than constructed through performance and self-effort. Grace names people according to what God has promised to make them, even while their present circumstances look nothing like the promise.

God reveals himself to Abraham as El Shaddai, God Almighty, the God who makes the impossible possible. God does not ask Abraham to figure everything out before trusting him, because human reason and human strength cannot produce the future God promises. God reveals his extraordinary nature through ordinary means: his Word, his acts in history, transformed lives, friendship, community, and the simple means of grace. The Bible opens the door to knowing God, not as secret knowledge for super religious people, but as the testimony of the God who comes near.

God also commands Abraham to walk before him and be blameless, meaning integrated, whole, and consistent in public life, private thoughts, work, marriage, and home. The high bar of God exposes the disintegrated heart, because no one gives God one hundred percent of life one hundred percent of the time. The covenant answers that failure with grace: God knows Abraham is broken, and God binds himself to his promise.

Circumcision becomes the covenant sign of cleansing, judgment, blood, and belonging. Israel repeatedly breaks the covenant and deserves to be cut off, but Jesus, the promised offspring of Abraham, bears that covenant curse on the cross. Christ is cut off so broken people can be brought in; his blood cleanses, his death bears judgment, and his resurrection secures everlasting belonging. A church’s new name cannot renew hearts inside a building, but Jesus gives a new name, new life, new identity, and new purpose to all who belong to him.

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Key Takeaways

1. Grace gives a received identity Grace does not wait for people to become impressive before naming them. God called Abram Abraham before the evidence of many nations existed, because God’s promise creates the future it announces. Every identity built on achievement remains vulnerable, but the identity given in Christ rests on God’s faithfulness. [14:22]
2. God works through ordinary, broken people Abraham was not chosen because he was strong, certain, or spiritually polished. God met a man with questions, failed plans, and a body unable to produce what had been promised. God’s power becomes clear when human ability has run out. [19:25]
3. God makes himself known through ordinary means God does not hide himself behind spiritual performance or secret techniques. Scripture, Christian community, and the stories of transformed lives become simple places where God graciously reveals his extraordinary nature. Knowing God becomes the deepest enjoyment for which human beings were made. [22:19]
4. Christ bears the covenant curse God’s demand for blamelessness exposes sin all the way down to the heart. Jesus alone lived the blameless life that Abraham, Israel, and every other sinner failed to live. The judgment that should have cut sinners off fell on Christ, so that his people could be brought into God’s family.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:02] - A New Name and Three Promises
[02:37] - Abram’s Ordinary Beginning
[05:22] - Questions, Reason, and Self-Effort
[09:37] - Silicon Valley’s Fragile Promises
[11:11] - Abram Becomes Abraham
[13:44] - Identity Received by Grace
[20:04] - El Shaddai, God Almighty
[22:19] - Knowing God Through Ordinary Means
[25:43] - Walking Blamelessly Before God
[29:06] - God’s Unbreakable Covenant
[31:22] - Jesus Was Cut Off for Sinners
[33:29] - A New Church Name and New Hearts
[34:04] - New Life and Everlasting Belonging

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 17:1–8

Verse 1: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.’” [20:56]

Verse 2: “Then Abram fell on his face.” [29:00]

Verses 3–4: “And God said to him, ‘Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.’” [29:06]

Verses 5–6: “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.” [11:44]

Verse 7: “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” [31:22]

Verse 8: “And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” [17:36]

Galatians 3:6–9

“Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” [17:19]

Isaiah 53:8

“By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?” [32:52]

Matthew 5–7

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...’” [25:21]

Observation questions

In Genesis 17:1–8, what does God reveal about himself, and what commands and promises does he give Abraham?
What is the difference between the names Abram (“exalted father”) and Abraham (“father of many nations”)? Why is the timing of this name change striking? [11:44]
What details in Genesis 17 show that God’s covenant is meant to continue beyond Abraham’s own lifetime and immediate family?
According to Galatians 3:6–9, what is counted to Abraham as righteousness, and who is included among Abraham’s children?

Interpretation questions

God calls Abraham “father of a multitude of nations” before Abraham sees the promised son or the promised nations. What does this show about the difference between an identity earned through achievement and an identity received through God’s promise? [14:22]
God identifies himself as El Shaddai, God Almighty, in the middle of Abraham’s humanly impossible situation. How does God’s name help explain why Abraham is called to trust rather than manufacture the promised future by his own strength? [20:56]
“Walk before me, and be blameless” reaches beyond outward behavior to a whole and integrated life. How do Jesus’ words in Matthew 5–7 expose sin not only in public actions but also in private thoughts, desires, and relationships? [26:37]
Genesis 17 speaks of being “cut off” from the covenant, while Isaiah 53 says that the suffering servant was “cut off out of the land of the living.” How does Jesus bearing this judgment make lasting belonging with God possible for broken people? [32:52]

Application questions

What achievement, role, or label most easily becomes the answer to the question, “Who am I?” It may be work, education, income, a company, a home, relationship status, or a child’s success. How has that identity felt fragile? [13:44]
Where are you most tempted to follow Abraham’s pattern of trying to make God’s promise happen through your own strength, planning, control, or anxiety? What would it look like to bring that situation honestly to God instead? [19:50]
Are there questions, disappointments, or anger toward God that you have kept hidden? What might it look like to bring those questions to him honestly, while continuing to seek him in faith?
God ordinarily makes himself known through his Word, Christian community, and changed lives. Which of these ordinary means of grace do you most need right now: reading Scripture with someone, joining a group, asking another Christian about their story, or sharing your own story? [24:37]
In what setting is it hardest for your life to be integrated—at home after a tiring day, at work, online, in your thought life, or in a close relationship? What is one specific place where you need God’s help to “walk the talk”? [26:23]
Jesus was cut off so that sinners could be brought in, forgiven, and welcomed as God’s family. When guilt or failure speaks loudly, how does this truth change the way you come to God? [34:45]
God gave Abraham a purpose bigger than personal success: blessing for the nations through God’s promised offspring. Where might God be inviting you to use your ordinary life—your home, work, friendships, skills, or struggles—to bring healing and hope to someone else? [36:00]

Sermon Clips

47s

#NewNameNewLife

“In Christ, you can be forgiven, welcomed, and be called a child of God. As we receive a new name as a church, the greater question I have for you is, will you receive the new life that only Jesus can give? So come to this Jesus, dear friends. He will give you also a new name, the name of his own son who is God, Jesus Christ himself. He give you a new purpose in life. Says Abraham believed and did what God asked him to do, and he will do the same when you embrace this new name, this new life, this new identity, a new purpose.”

51s

#GraceNotWorks

“So as I conclude, let me say this. Perhaps you came in today with questions. Perhaps you believe Christianity is unreasonable. Perhaps you have succeeded professionally but remain exhausted or lonely or guilty or unsure who you are. Perhaps you've been trying to make your life work through your own strength. Abraham could not produce the future God promised, neither can we produce the life with God for which we were created. We cannot perform our way into God's family, reason our way out of guilt, or achieve our way beyond death. But God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves, and that's the good news, friends.”

40s

#BelongingInChrist

“The promised offspring of Abraham has come. Jesus lived the blameless life we have not lived. He was cut off under God's judgment so that people like us could be brought in and made family. He rose from death, now offers forgiveness, reconciliation, and everlasting belonging. You know, becoming a Christian, adopting a new name, the new name he gives for everyone who embraces him is Christian or someone who belongs to Christ. It's not merely adopting a religious label or joining a church.”

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