Good morning from Mesquite. It’s Saturday, July 11.
We live in an age of numbers.
Account numbers. Customer IDs. Algorithms that don’t know your name — just your clicks and your demographic bracket. And if you’re not careful, that feeling bleeds into your theology.
With seven billion people on the planet and galaxies stretching beyond what any telescope can reach — are you anything more than a data point to God?
I want to answer that this morning.
Mary Magdalene is standing outside the empty tomb, weeping. She has already seen the angels. But grief is consuming her. She turns and sees a man she assumes is the gardener.
And then Jesus does something that undoes me every time.
He doesn’t announce Himself. He doesn’t perform a sign. He simply says her name.
“Mary.”
One word. And she knew Him instantly.
“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”
— John 10:3 (NKJV)
By name. Not by number. Not by category. Not by the sum of your failures. By name.
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.”
— Isaiah 43:1 (NKJV)
Not your title. Not your role. Not your reputation. Your name. The one that belongs only to you.
You are not a face in a crowd to Him. You are fully known — every ordinary moment, every unwitnessed kindness, every private grief — and loved anyway.
The same voice that spoke the universe into existence knows exactly what to call you.
This morning, He is calling.
When was the last time you sat quietly long enough to hear Him speak your name?
Pastor Duke has been preaching and teaching the Bible since 1988. He has shared his knowledge online since 2011.
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