Some names are given in love. Some labels are assigned in pain. And some identities get attached to us in moments we never asked for.

In “That Not Your Name,” Pastor Vince Stegall brought a timely word from Genesis 35:16–18, where Rachel, in the agony of death, names her son Benoni—“son of my sorrow.” But Jacob steps in and says, in effect, no. He renames him Benjamin—“son of my right hand.”

That moment is more than a family detail in Genesis. It is a picture of what God still does for His people.

For every person in Garland, TX, and for families across Murphy, Plano, Richardson, Rowlett, and Wylie, this message was a call back to the altar, back to truth, and back to the voice of God. And for every home throughout Dallas County, Collin County, and Rockwall County, it was a reminder that pain does not get the final word over identity.

A Name Is Never Just a Label

Pastor Vince opened with a personal and honest reflection about naming children—how hard it is, how much meaning is wrapped up in it, and how a name is more than what fits on paperwork.

A name carries:

  • identity

  • meaning

  • history

  • expectation

That is what makes Genesis 35 so powerful.

Rachel names from pain.
Jacob names from promise.

And in that one moment, Scripture reveals a truth we all need:

What gets spoken over you matters.
What you answer to matters.
What you believe about yourself matters.

You Are Not Who Pain Called You

Pastor Vince made the message plain and powerful:

You are not who people said you were.
You are not even who your past tried to make you.
You are who God says you are.

That lands deeply because so many people carry invisible names:

  • failure

  • addict

  • broken

  • rejected

  • ashamed

  • unwanted

  • unqualified

Maybe nobody says those words out loud anymore, but the soul still hears them.

Pastor Vince challenged the church to confront those false names head-on. Because if we are not careful, we start building our future around labels that came from a season of grief, trauma, fear, or failure.

And that is exactly what Jacob refused to let happen.

God Called Jacob Back to Bethel

Before the renaming of Benjamin, Genesis 35 begins with God speaking to Jacob:

“Go up to Bethel.”

In other words:

  • Go back to the place where you met Me.

  • Go back to the place where grace found you.

  • Go back to the altar.

Pastor Vince pressed that point with conviction: we should never get tired of the altar.

The Altar Is Where Identity Gets Restored

The altar is not just a church tradition. It is the place where:

  • shame breaks

  • chains fall

  • surrender happens

  • healing begins

  • identity is restored

And the timing of that call matters.

Genesis 34 had just brought deep family pain, violation, anger, bloodshed, and grief. In the aftermath of that darkness, God did not tell Jacob to run farther. He told him to come back.

That is a word for anyone in Garland or the surrounding cities walking through heartbreak, confusion, grief, temptation, or disappointment:

Don’t run from God in the middle of the pain.
Come back to the altar.

Before the Next Season, Some Things Must Be Buried

Before Jacob and his household returned to Bethel, he gave them a clear instruction:

  • get rid of the foreign gods

  • purify yourselves

  • change your garments

Pastor Vince carefully explained that this is not God saying, “Fix yourself so I can love you.”

It is God saying:

Get your heart ready.
Transformation is coming.

Then Jacob did something unforgettable—he buried the idols.

That image drove the message home:

Some of you do not need more information.
You need a funeral.

You need to bury:

  • old identities

  • old compromises

  • old toxic attachments

  • old loyalties

  • old lies

  • old versions of yourself that cannot go where God is taking you

You cannot carry dead things into living promises.

And sometimes it is not only sinful things that must be buried. Sometimes it is old seasons, old methods, old mindsets, and even old victories that have become museums instead of testimonies.

Pastor Vince said it with clarity: Honor what God did before—but do not build your home in what used to be.

Rachel’s Hidden Idols and the Danger of Carrying the Old Life Forward

Another piercing moment in the message came when Pastor Vince brought up Rachel’s hidden idols from Genesis 31.

She looked fine on the outside, but she was still carrying old attachments on the inside.

And that is where the sermon moved from Bible story to personal mirror.

All of us know what it is to:

  • smile in public

  • hurt in private

  • move forward outwardly

  • while dragging old things inwardly

That is why burial matters.

That is why the altar matters.

That is why Bethel matters.

Because God is not only interested in changing what others can see. He wants to heal what we have hidden.

Where God Directs, God Protects

Pastor Vince also made a powerful observation from the text: once Jacob obeyed God and moved toward Bethel, the terror of God fell on the surrounding cities and no one pursued them.

That led to a truth worth carrying into every decision:

Where God directs, God protects.

The safest place is not the easiest place.
It is not the most comfortable place.
It is not the place that everyone else is choosing.

The safest place is the will of God.

For people in Dallas County, Collin County, and Rockwall County navigating family decisions, financial pressure, relationship tension, and uncertain seasons, this truth is deeply practical:

Do not build your life based on pressure.
Do not move just because fear says hurry.
Go where God leads.

God Repeated Jacob’s New Name for a Reason

When Jacob returned to Bethel, God said again:

“Your name is Jacob, but you shall no longer be called Jacob. Your name shall be Israel.”

Pastor Vince pointed out something important: God had spoken this before. So why repeat it?

Because even after God speaks identity, we still drift back toward old patterns.

Even after God tells us who we are, old voices keep trying to rename us.

That is why all through life we need divine reminders:

  • That’s not your name.

  • That’s not who you are.

  • That may be your history, but it is not your identity.

God is still a name changer.

You Are Who You Answer To

One of the strongest lines in the message was this:

You may not be who people say you are.
But in practice, you can become who you answer to.

If shame calls and you answer, it shapes you.
If fear calls and you answer, it trains you.
If insecurity calls and you answer, it leads you.

So Pastor Vince gave the church language for spiritual resistance:

When failure calls—“You’ve got the wrong person. That’s not my name.”

When shame calls—“That’s not my name.”

When condemnation calls—“I’ve been made righteous in Christ.”

That is not positive thinking. That is spiritual warfare rooted in truth.

Don’t Bury Your Hope With What You Lost

Rachel died. Jacob grieved. The pain was real.

But Jacob did not bury hope with Rachel.

That part of the sermon was deeply pastoral. Pastor Vince acknowledged the weight of loss and grief, but he also made clear:

Just because one chapter ended does not mean the story is over.

Faith does not deny loss.
Faith feels the loss and still makes room for promise.

Somebody needed to hear that.

Just because one dream died does not mean God has no future.
Just because one relationship ended does not mean your calling ended.
Just because one season broke you does not mean God cannot rebuild you.

Bethlehem Proves Pain Does Not Get the Last Word

Pastor Vince then turned to one of the most beautiful insights in the message.

Rachel was buried near Bethlehem.

That place could have become known only for sorrow. But it did not.

Bethlehem became known as:

  • the city of David

  • the birthplace of Jesus

A place marked by tears became a place marked by promise.

A place associated with death became a place associated with deliverance.

Why?

Because pain never gets the last word when God is writing the story.

That is a word for Garland.
That is a word for families in Rowlett and Wylie.
That is a word for homes in Murphy, Plano, and Richardson.

Do not name your place of pain too quickly.
God may still bring glory out of what hurt you.

What Will You Name This Season?

Near the end of the message, Pastor Vince turned the question toward all of us:

What are you naming this season?

Are you naming it:

  • sorrow?

  • the end?

  • devastation?

  • failure?

Or are you naming it:

  • surrender?

  • preparation?

  • consecration?

  • birthplace?

Because what you call a season often shapes how you walk through it.

And maybe, by the grace of God, the season you thought was only loss will become the place where God restores your identity and rewrites your future.

North Cities, Here Is the Word

For our church family in Garland, TX, and for every person across Murphy, Plano, Richardson, Rowlett, Wylie, and beyond, here is the word:

  • Come back to the altar.

  • Bury what cannot go forward.

  • Stop answering to voices God never gave authority.

  • Let the Father rename what pain tried to define.

You are not your worst day.
You are not your wound.
You are not your addiction.
You are not your fear.
You are not your failure.
You are not forgotten.
You are not disqualified.

In Christ, you are:

  • chosen

  • loved

  • forgiven

  • called

  • redeemed

  • being transformed

So over every false label, every fear-born identity, every grief-born name, and every lie from hell, this message still declares:

That not your name.

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