“From then on Gideon was called Jerub-baal, which means “Let Baal defend himself,” because he broke down Baal’s altar” Judges 6:32
Names are what your parents give you at birth ,appellation is a name or tittle that you give yourself or your friends or society gives you. It is sobriquet, byname, nickname, cognomen. When I was in secondary school it was the time the first astronaut went to the moon by a rocket call Apollo. I gave myself Apollo as my appellation .
People give themselves appellations based on their dreams and desires. Society gives people appellations based on what someone has done or perceived to have done. When I was growing up , a young man in our city gave himself an appellation “ Agbako” a Yoruba name meaning, "disaster or waterloo" My father called the boy and warned him the implication of such an appellation. The boy just shrugged his shoulders and left . A few years later he met his waterloo and died.
The above story is interesting. God called Gideon. After some objections he obeyed the call. Then he rushed to build an altar. God said that is not the right procedure?
“That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. 26 Then build an altar to the LORD your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” Judges 6:25-26.
Gideon obeyed . The city was enraged when they found out that Baal’s altar was destroyed .They accused Gideon through his father, his father said why are you fighting for Baal ? If Baal is god let him fight for himself!
That led to this appellation for Gideon - Jerub-baal. Let Baal defend himself ?
Do you know people will give you an appellation based on what you do?
The question is what appellation do you want to bear?
If you do negative things your appellation will follow that line of action. For example :If you steal : guess what directly or indirectly people will call you a thief?
If you are a fornicator, guess what you got yourself an appellation . If you are poor, that is your appellation. If you are always going to parties,drinking alcohol,smoking cigarette and marijuana, snuffing cocaine and heroine, you have earn yourself an appellation! Have you heard of some people being called Yahoo boys,or 419ners? That is what they do and that is the sobriquet the evil appellation they have earned themselves. If you are a wife beater, sleep around, womanise, engage in prostitution, corruption and all the social evils you have earned yourself an appellation. A wrong one for that matter. If you don't change even when you die they will still know your family by that appellation!
On the other hand If you do positive things you get an appellation in that regard. For instance if you always give , they will call you a giver. If you always tithe ,they will call you a faithful tither. If you always pray, he is a man/woman of prayer. Remember Hannah?1Samuel 1. Remember Elijah? James 5 :17. Remember Maama Theresa, The short stature woman but very tall in philanthropic gesture? Remember Dorcas in Acts 9?
What is the Holy Spirit teaching us today:
Names are what your parents give you at birth ,appellation is a name or tittle that you give yourself or your friends or society gives you. It is sobriquet, byname, nickname, cognomen. When I was in secondary school it was the time the first astronaut went to the moon by a rocket call Apollo. I gave myself Apollo as my appellation .
People give themselves appellations based on their dreams and desires. Society gives people appellations based on what someone has done or perceived to have done. When I was growing up , a young man in our city gave himself an appellation “ Agbako” a Yoruba name meaning, "disaster or waterloo" My father called the boy and warned him the implication of such an appellation. The boy just shrugged his shoulders and left . A few years later he met his waterloo and died.
The above story is interesting. God called Gideon. After some objections he obeyed the call. Then he rushed to build an altar. God said that is not the right procedure?
“That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. 26 Then build an altar to the LORD your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” Judges 6:25-26.
Gideon obeyed . The city was enraged when they found out that Baal’s altar was destroyed .They accused Gideon through his father, his father said why are you fighting for Baal ? If Baal is god let him fight for himself!
That led to this appellation for Gideon - Jerub-baal. Let Baal defend himself ?
Do you know people will give you an appellation based on what you do?
The question is what appellation do you want to bear?
If you do negative things your appellation will follow that line of action. For example :If you steal : guess what directly or indirectly people will call you a thief?
If you are a fornicator, guess what you got yourself an appellation . If you are poor, that is your appellation. If you are always going to parties,drinking alcohol,smoking cigarette and marijuana, snuffing cocaine and heroine, you have earn yourself an appellation! Have you heard of some people being called Yahoo boys,or 419ners? That is what they do and that is the sobriquet the evil appellation they have earned themselves. If you are a wife beater, sleep around, womanise, engage in prostitution, corruption and all the social evils you have earned yourself an appellation. A wrong one for that matter. If you don't change even when you die they will still know your family by that appellation!
On the other hand If you do positive things you get an appellation in that regard. For instance if you always give , they will call you a giver. If you always tithe ,they will call you a faithful tither. If you always pray, he is a man/woman of prayer. Remember Hannah?1Samuel 1. Remember Elijah? James 5 :17. Remember Maama Theresa, The short stature woman but very tall in philanthropic gesture? Remember Dorcas in Acts 9?
What is the Holy Spirit teaching us today:
1. There are too many evil altars available to be destroyed socially, physically, academically, politically before you can build a proper altar.
“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. Jer 1:10. There are community evil altars (vices) in our generation that we need like Gideon to deliberately pull down. As a nation we need to collectively arise and destroy the altar of corruption whether in the day or in the night,church or mosques, whether in the private sector or public sector. EFCC cannot destroy the altar of corruption no matter how they try because organization don't commit crime human beings either as individual or a group does! Nigeria and Nigerians must arise and build better altars that will earn us respectable appellations across the nations.
2. There are personal altars you may need to pull down or things in yours life you may need to pull down . Go ahead and pull them down. And build a better altar.
3.Consciously and unconsciously people will give you an appellation based on what you do and may not do.
4.Do good things from today and earn yourself good appellations !
Shalom.
Shalom.
Pastor Amos Dada is an author and a notable conference speaker, he is the Senior Pastor and District Superintendent Christ Apostolic Church Bethel Toronto. He is the Convener of International Gathering of Eagles (IGOE) Conferences and President of the Canadian Institute of Leadership and Development. Invite him to your next event and do your best to attend IGOE 2018 from September 13-16. Save August 11, 2018 for Canada Return to Your Maker Prayer Summit, in Toronto, Canada. You can also subscribe to his channel on YouTube, join him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.@amos_dada
