Partner Sunday: Dig in Ditch

Well, good morning, welcome to Venture. If I haven't met you yet,

my name is Nicole, and I am grateful to be one of the

pastors on staff here. And I am also grateful to Pastor Brandon for the

privilege to get to share the word with you this Labor Day Sunday. And

there's people here, which I was nervous about. So thank you, Thank

you so much for being here. It feels like you're here just you know,

as God's blessing to me. You are joining us on what we're calling

a partner Sunday. We'll have several of these throughout the year. When you

came in, you should have received a Partner pledge card. You may have

received and filled one out last week, awesome. But Partner is relatively new

around here, and so I just wanted to take a minute to kind of

explain that to you. What is partner? You're like, what is this

thing you handed me on the way in and why do you want me to

pledge towards it? So at Venture, we tie and we give to partner,

and Partner helps us move the mission forward in four strategic ways. So

Partner covers all of reach. So if you've been around for a while.

You know what reaches. Reach is how we meet people's needs locally. It's

all of our national and global mission support and so reach stays the same,

it's just now under the umbrella of Partner. We also have church ministries under

the umbrella of Partners, So all of our next Gen kids, youth,

young adults, all of our adult ministries, men's, women's legacy, that

sort of thing, and all of our discipleship fall under Partner. Celebrate Recovery

under Partner. We also have expansion plans for expansion, so this is how

Venture kind of moves outward into our community. And that's like with campus planting,

church planting, and all of the capitol projects around all of our facilities.

That falls under Partner. And then we've also developed a marketplace ministry and

are developing a marketplace ministry so that you in the business world where you spend

the majority of your time, can be developed and resourced to be a light

in the marketplace where you spend your time. So all of these things fall

under the umbrella of Partner, and I am really proud of what we have

already accomplished through Partner. In twenty twenty three, this list behind me is

you know, just from January to August. I cannot read through this whole

thing. Otherwise I'll be keeping you here well into the eleven o'clock service.

But I do want to highlight a couple of things that Partner has been able

to do this year. So this year we have launched our Spokane campus with

weekly services. We have seen two hundred and eleven children sponsor through Compassion through

the Compassion Sunday that we hosted here in the Compassion Journey along with it,

two hundred and eleven children through Compassion. Just this year, we have supported

twenty six missionaries monthly and ten partner organizations monthly, adding actually four missionaries to

our support missionaries to Russia, a Stony, France, and the Caribbean,

which we're really excited about. We put on a VBS for free to our

community that four hundred children attended. And most recently, oh oh, and

we provided backpacks just this month to the Everett Public School District, two hundred

and fifty backpacks full of supplies so that kids who start school this week have

the resources that they need to be successful. Most recently, we partnered with

Convoy of Hope once again and this time in disaster relief efforts relating to the

fires in Maui. We took a spontaneous offering a couple of weeks ago.

Pastor Brandon already spilled the beans and was supposed to be like my moment to

share. So a lot of you have already heard this spare with me,

but we gave over twenty five thousand dollars in a single spontaneous offering through Partner.

What Partner has been able to do is incredible, and we have even

bigger dreams for Partner. Our ministries want to reach their demographic of people in

greater ways. They have big dreams and big plans our We want to up

our giving to each and every ministry and continue missionary and continue adding missionaries to

our monthly support so that God can reach people all across the world. We

want to see more kids sponsored through Compassion and fed through Convoy of Hope and

released from sex trafficking through Atlas Free. We want to give away three hundred

Thanksgiving meals year. We want to launch a Seattle campus in this next year.

We need to expand our Kids ministry, which is bursting at the steams,

especially in the service and we want to add balcony seating to this auditorium

space so that we can fit more people. We want to add classroom space

to this building, to expand this building to have classroom space so that we

can develop venture you and disciple more people through classes. We have big dreams

for partner. But these dreams only happen when each of us does our part.

And this is a really big and when each of us does our part

and God does his, because God is in the habit of giving us impossible

dreams, impossible dreams that we cannot accomplish on our own we need each other

for, but dreams that we especially need Him for. It's this beautiful dichotomy

that we live in as believers, this faith and works, that as we

do our part, that as we do the work that we can do,

as we serve, as we give, as we do what we have in

our hand to do, that we trust and depend on God to do his

part. God will do his part if we do when we do our part,

and they combine together to form this beautiful ability to reach outside of the

church walls, into communities and neighborhoods and across the entire globe and it's a

tension. Rights, it's at tension though, like I have to do my

part and God has to do his part. And we see this tension in

God's people where we're going to pick up and scripture this morning in second Kings,

verse three, You guys can go ahead and turn there, and I'm

going to pray. Would you join me? God, I thank you so

much for the privilege of delivering your word. God. I thank you that

your word never returns empty, so it always plants a seed in our heart

to do the work that it accomplishes that it sets out to accomplish. And

so God, I pray, would you speak to us through your word this

morning? God? Would it bear fruit in our lives? Would our ears

be tuned to hear it? God? Would we just be ready God,

to receive and to act on what your word stirs in us and challenges in

us this morning? In Jesus name, Amen, We're going to go through

over twenty verses this morning. So I am going to do you the favor

of summarizing the first few, if you don't mind. At the beginning of

the chapter, we see the nation of Israel, God's people separated into a

northern kingdom and a southern kingdom, and this northern kingdom is in what I

am calling a precarious predicament. They're in a transition of leadership. So they're

former king King Ahab, who was terrible, like truly a terrible person,

terrible human, terrible king did evil. And his wife you might have heard

her name before she was even worse. Her name was Jezebel, So Ahab

and Jezebel had been ruling before Awful. He dies, thank goodness, and

his son takes on the throne, his son Joram. The Bible says that

Joram also did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so he's bad too,

but it also is clear to say, but not as bad as his

parents. So he's bad, but he's not as bad, and that should

somehow in still zero confidence in this leader of the people of God. Anyway,

Joram ascends the throne. And it's at this transition of leadership that one

of the countries that they had taken over, Moab, decided, you know

what, that king's dead. I don't want to pay the taxes that we

owe anymore, and so Moab owed Israel one hundred thousand sheep and the wool

of one hundred thousand rams and just decided, no, we don't want to

pay it. We're just not gonna do it anymore. And this Joram took

as exactly what it was, which was an affront to an undermining of his

new authority. And he also realized without this tax payment, like the nation

of Israel is going to be in a pretty bad spot. We rely on

these sheep and these rams. And so he decides, you know what I'm

gonna do as king, We are going to war with Moabs. So he

gathers up all of his army and he heads down south. He makes a

stop at the southern kingdom of Israel, which is Judah, and he goes

to the king of Judah, Jehosaphat, and he's like, hey, will

you join me in war against Moab? Josephat's like, yeah, we're allies,

you know, we're one people of God. Why not? So he

joins in and they put their minds together and they're like, all right,

so this is what we're going to do. We are gonna travel south around

the Dead Sea. I don't have a map, maybe I'll have one for

next service, but we're going to travel south around the bottom of the Dead

Sea till we get to like the southern part of Moab, because they're pretty

weak on their southern borders. They don't have a lot of infrastructure there,

and so then we can attack them. And on the way, if we're

going south, we can pick up Edam, which is another country that they

had conquered. So they're like, all right, now it's three kings against

one nation, this trifecta. We are for sure going to win. But

how many of you know that even the best of man's plans can fail then

fail pretty miserably. We're gonna pick up. In verse nine, it says,

so the King of Israel, the King of Judah, and the King

of Edom set out. After they had traveled their indirect route for seven days.

They had no water for the army or the animals with them. Unfortunately,

in their planning, the King's overlooked one key logistic. They would be

traveling an indirect route that took longer through the desert, and they would not

have access to water. So they're almost there. They're truly in the valley

just below Moab, and they are seven days now without water, and there's

no hope of water in stite. I was curious because seven days without water

feels like a lot like I feel like if I go like twenty four hours,

I'm in a really Actually I don't know if I've ever gone twenty four

hours, but I'm in a really bad spot. So how long can a

person go without water? Studies actually say that you can only go three days

without water, and they're at sevens I'm still I'm confused by that. But

they are seven days without water in a really bad spot. So they're definitely

killed by dehydration if they try to turn around and go back to eat them

for because they're not going to last that long. And they're also definitely killed

if they continue on to Moab and try to fight the Moabites in this weekend

condition. They are desperate. This situation is dire. They are in need

of help or they would die. But the problem is that no human effort

can conjure up water. We can't create water, so they were in need

of a miracle. Verse ten says then the king of Israel, God will

love his response. Oh no, the Lord has summoned these three kings only

to hand them over to Moab. I'm sorry, but I didn't read back

there where the Lord summoned these three kings. I'm pretty sure that was the

work of King Joram assembling these three kings. But how quick we are to

blame God? Right, how quick we are. We're like, oh,

this is the problem I'm facing, this is my need. Oh, I

can figure this out. We make our plan, we set about to accomplish

our plan, all the while not seeking God in the midst of our planning,

or inviting us to inviting him to even come with us. And then

Ish hits the fan, and we're like, God, why have you brought

me out into this desert to die? Why have you assembled me to be

given into the hands of Moab? And God's like, I didn't anyway?

Verse eleven. So Joran is blaming God, sucumbing to his pity party.

Jehosaphat said, isn't there a prophet of the Lord here? Let's inquire of

the Lord through him. One of the servants of the King of Israel answered,

Elisha, son of Shefat, who used to pour water on Elijah's hands,

is here. Jehosaphat affirmed, the word of the Lord is with him.

So the King of Israel, and Josaphat and the King of Edam went

to him seven days without water, and they're finally desperate enough to consider God,

and in their desperation they go to the prophet Elisha for a word.

I love these next verses and I'm going to read them to you exactly how

I feel like they are stated. So I'm not an actor, but here's

my best shot. Verse thirteen, however, Elisha said to King Joram of

Israel, what do we have in common? Go to the prophets of your

father and your mother. But the King of Israel applied no, because the

Lord has summoned these three kings to hand them over to Moab. Elisha responded,

sense it all that rage and that tension by the life of the Lord

of armies before whom I stand. If I did not have respect for King

Jehoshaphat of Judah, I would not look at you. I would not take

notice of you. Get out the way like he's like be gone, like

he's like I'm done with you. You don't serve God. You are an

evil king. You are so evil, in fact, you have turned all

of Israel to follow this God of your family bail So go ask him,

Go ask him what you should do. Not only is he telling King Joram

off in this situation, which is awesome, he's literally saying, like the

god that jorms that Jim and his family have chosen to follow bail was supposedly

the god of rain. So he's like, what do you need me for?

You follow this god who's supposed to be able to give you what you

need. If he's the god of rain and you need water, shouldn't he

be able to provide for you? And how true is it that when we

have chosen things other than God, when we have gone about our own paths,

and when and when we when, when it all falls apart, we

recognize these things that we put in place of God, they're just they're just

not going to hold. They're just not strong enough. They're not actually going

to bail me out. And we recognize, no, we need God.

Well. Luckily for all of them, Elisha had a higher regard for King

Josephat, who was actually a godly king, and he agreed to seek God

on their behalf. Now, but now as we move into verse fifteen,

I want to point out something I really this this this chapter of scripture is

so it's so awesome, But I want to point out something that Elisha does.

So I acted that out for you. Hopefully you could see Elisha's pretty

irritated with King Joram. Just the sight of him is like, get him

away from me. But Elisha also recognizes that that happening is in his spirit.

Elishah recognizes that there is this anger burning inside of him, albeit a

righteous anger, but he recognizes, you know, like that he that his

blood is boiling and that he needs to do something to compose himself before he

enters into the presence of God to seek him for a word. And so

what does Elisha do? It says in verse fifteen that Elisha called for a

musician to help settle his spirit. Elisha needed worship to clear his head.

Elisha needed to worship. Worship made him calmer. Worship made his spirit more

composed. Worship made him more sensitive to the voice of God. Why do

we start all of our services at venture with worship? Why do churches all

across the world start their services with worship? Because worship brings us into ali

I meant with God and increases our sensitivity to hear God's voice. The other

thing that I love about Elishah calling for a musician is that, like,

these kings are standing here and like this is a pretty urgent matter. Their

people are dying of dehydration, and every moment that goes by as a moment

that they're getting more and more thirsty or more and more dehydrated. So there

is an urgency here. And yet Elisha doesn't rush. He does not rush

for a word from God. He's not like, oh, the circumstances around

me are urgent, therefore I need to like hound God for this answer.

He's like, no, I'm gonna pause here and I'm gonna worship, and

I'm gonna get myself right, and I'm gonna get my heart right, and

I'm gonna make sure that my ears are sensitive to the voice of God.

It takes unhurried time in worship, in the presence of God to hear what

God is trying to speak to you. And can I say that this is

why our Wednesday night worship nights are so important. This is why you should

be at every single one, and you should make time in your calendar and

you should not miss because here on a Sunday morning, this time is limited.

We have an eleven thirty service. I mean I have a clear wrap

up time, right, David has a wrap up time with his worship.

But on Wednesday nights there is unhurried time worshiping in the presence of God to

hear what he is trying to speak to you. Verse fifteen continues on that

while the musician played, the Lord's hand came on Elisha, and then he

said, this is what the Lord says. Make this valley full of ditches.

For the Lord says, you will not see wind or rain, but

the valley will be filled with water, and you will drink. You and

your cattle and your animals. This is so easy in the Lord's sight that

he will also hand Moab over to you. Elishah receives a word from the

Lord for the kings, make this valley full of ditches. They got a

word. They got a word, definitely not the word that they wanted,

because remember they're seeking the Lord on behalf of their armies who are dying of

dehydration. Have you ever been hydrated or maybe on the verge of dehydration my

quick web MD search don't just don't do it if you're actually sick, but

if you're researching, you know, for a message. Toy, fine,

My quick WebMD research tells me that the symptoms of dehydration are extreme thirst,

tiredness, dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, muscle weakness, and if the dehydration

is severe enough, organ failure. Can you imagine being one of these kings

and you've just received this word from the Lord, make this valley full of

ditches, and you have to go back to all three of your armies and

relay that message. Like, I know that you're tired, I know that

you're sick, and that you're thirsty, exhausted, really hot, dehydrated,

But what the Lord wants us to do is to dig ditches. Who's with

me? Crickets? In fact, I think it'd be like hands raised.

I have some questions. Pick me. Here's my question. No, No,

we're not just digging one hole deep enough to reach water. Nope,

we are filling this valley with ditches, which means it's going to take all

of us and quite a bit of time. Yes, I am aware that

digging ditches is hard work, that it makes you sweaty, and that being

sweaty makes you thirsty, and that being thirsty is your problem to begin with,

M. Yes, I'm aware. I yes, I am also aware

that there is no clouds in the sky anywhere, and there's also no wind.

You're right, No, so we don't really have hope of rain actually

coming. I there's no evidence that rain's going to arrive. You're right.

Yes, I am standing on the same ground you are. Yes, this

valley it's pretty dry. It's cracked all around us, full of rocks.

No, it does not look like there has been water here, maybe ever,

or at least in a very long time, who knows, who knows

how long it's been since water has been here. Yeah, please please just

go grab your shovels, I mean your sword. Please grab your sword,

please grab your shield, or just get on your hands and and start digging.

Just please just dig where dig make the valley full of ditches. These

instructions are crazy, Like do you see how crazy this would seem? To

tell an army in this condition to do this? It makes no logical sense,

It makes no physical sense. It makes no sense because God's word to

dig ditches was about obedience. God's word to dig ditches was about obedience,

and often obedience doesn't make sense when We're desperate for God to come through in

our situation. There isn't time to wait for it. All to make sense,

delayed obedience is disobedience, and in this case, delayed obedience meant death.

God called his people then, and he calls his people now to dig

ditches out of obedience. Were called to obedience regardless of our circumstances. Obedience

that requires hard work, Obedience in times of physical struggle in our bodies.

Obedience when everything around us or even inside of us is dry or dead.

Obedience when there is no evidence that it's going to work out. Obedience when

there aren't even the right resources at our disposal to obey. When God speaks,

our job is to obey. But why digging ditches, like, why

did God choose this act of obedience? Why this act of obedience. God's

word to dig ditches was about creating space that God would fill with his provision.

God's word to dig ditchus was about obedience, And God's word to dig

ditchus was about preparation, preparation, digging di with them, making space for

the miracle provision of God. God could have flooded them with all of the

water in the world he could have sent a torrent of water that would have

just rushed past them, and if there was not spaces to catch the water,

it would have just passed them by and remained unusable. Can I tell

you that as I prayed and as I read this scripture, I believe that

we are in revival. I believe that God wants to send a torrent of

his water rushing through and he needs places and people who are creating space for

his presence and his provision to dwell, to dwell inside of them, to

dwell in our communities, to dwell wherever he goes. He is asking us

to prepare and make space. They create the space. The water from God

would come and fill as much space as they created. So the measure of

water available to these thirsty men was directly related to how faithful they were to

obey and dig ditches. I believe the water would have come no matter what,

but how much they got to receive was dependent on their ability to dig

ditches. The more ditches and the bigger ditches, the more water, Even

though it was hard and unpleasant work. The more they did, the more

blessing they would receive. You dig ditches in obedience to prepare for what God

is going to do. Society teaches us to prepare for the worst, right

to always be prepared worst case scenario. But one of the blessings of serving

God is that God shows us that we can prepare for the best the best.

Let me reread verse eighteen. And this is a simple matter in the

sight of the Lord. He will also deliver the moabites into your hand,

God says, providing water for your dehydration to people meeting that need that you

have answering that request, it's too easy. You wouldn't bring me nearly enough

glory to just do that. It's such a small thing that I won't just

rehydrate you. I am going to give you the complete victory that you seek.

The goodness of God for his people tends towards extravagance Ephesians three twenty.

He will do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. His goodness goes to

the extremes, and not the extreme negative, the extreme of I'm not just

gonna do this the minimal for you. I'm not just gonna answer this for

you in the small way that you are asking. I want to bless you.

I want to surprise you. I want to shock you with what I

can pour out the people of God. I don't know how the army did

it, but they dug the ditches in obedience or prepare, and then they

waited on what God would do. And the problem is that sometimes these ditches

just feels like I feel like holes, don't they We obey, we create

the space, and then they sit empty. Where is God? Why isn't

this ditch filled? I did what I was asked to do, and I

want you to look at me, because I don't know what happens for you

in that situation, but I know what happens for me. And my expectation

of God is severely dampened when I feel like I've done the work He's asked

me to do and I'm sitting there staring at an empty ditch. I know

in this room that there are people staring at empty ditches. You long for

a spouse, you long for a child. You have been obedient to do

the work on yourself, to get doctor's opinions, to take a medication.

You have dug really deep ditches and they are sitting empty. You have dug

the ditches of raising your kids to know the Lord, and yet they have

wandered and they are breaking your heart. You've dug the ditches and it's sitting

empty. And I wish, I wish with everything in me that I could

give you a formula that answers this question on how to fill this ditch that

you have sitting before you empty, But I can't. There is no formula

because the truth of his is we don't get to decide. We don't get

to decide when God fills the ditch. We don't get to choose when the

ditches get filled by God. And that can be frustrating and downright wearying.

But we can trust that God won't leave them empty. We don't get to

choose when, but He won't leave them empty. First Corinthians fifteen fifty eight

says, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding

in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is

not in vain. Obeying God is never in vain. Making space for him

to fill is never in vain. The hard work is never for nothing.

So we remain steadfast, we remain immovable. We trust God's word to us

personally, and we trust God's word. In this we dig in and we

trust God's word. In this, we're over and over. He shows that

he comes through, that he is faithful, that he's never late. Second

Kings three twenty says about the time for the grain offering. The next morning,

water suddenly came from the direction of Edom and filled the land. God

sent the torrent. It filled the ditches with life saving water. And as

the sun rises, the enemy looks over the valley that they're in and sees

the sun reflecting in all of these pools of water, and to them it

looks like pools of blood. And they go, oh, these kings have

already killed each other. And so they go down to the camp, not

prepared for battle at all, and God gives the Moabites into their hand,

not just life saving water, not just provision, but complete victory, just

like God promised. I believe there's too many people waiting on God's provision and

victory, waiting on God to show his faithfulness. But we are not showing

any faith. Remember the dichotomy. We do our part, God does his.

It's a both. And you want to heal a relationship or a marriage

that's gone bad, you have to forgive even before they ask for forgiveness,

even before they do one thing that shows you that they deserve your forgiveness.

You forgive because Christ forgave you makes no sense. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous

that God would ask that of us. But what are you doing when you

obey? You're digging a ditch. You say, I want my kids to

serve Jesus. I want them to follow him. I want them to push

aside culture and love Jesus. Open up your Bible in your home, share

God's word with your kids. Don't don't wait for Pastor Kayley or Pastor Johnny

to do it. Pray with your kids, Show your kids that you love

Jesus beyond just Sunday mornings. That's digging ditches. You want your wayward child

to come back to Jesus. Can I challenge you invest in the next generation.

It doesn't matter how old your wayward child is, how young or how

old. Invest in the next generation. Serve in kids, Serve as a

youth leader. Seed into other kids the way you want your child to be

seeded into. That's digging a ditch. You want to overcome addiction or sin

in your life. The Bible says, confess it, start attending celebrate recovery,

which we offer here on Monday nights. Get involved in a cr step

study. With each added layer of accountability, you are digging a ditch.

If you need God to intervene in your finances and yet you're not tithing.

Can I tell you your finances live under a curse? God gives us a

ridiculous, ridiculous to man principle to obey that if you give him your first

and best ten percent, that he will bless the rest by the supernatural power

of God. Ninety percent with his blessing goes farther than one hundred percent without

it. It doesn't make logical sense, But what are you doing when you

choose to tithe and obey? You're digging a ditch. If you need God

to intervene in your finances and you do tithe. The ridiculous obedience here is

often the ditch you need to dig is digging deeper into generosity, giving above

and beyond or serving above and beyond, trusting that you can never outgive God.

Every time you lay down your pride and you come up front for prayer

at the end of the service, you're digging a ditch, you're saying,

God, I'm preparing space for you to move. God doesn't just want to

send the water. He doesn't just want to send the provision. That's too

simple. He wants to give you complete victory. But he is asking you

to dig the ditches, to obey and to prepare. So I want to

ask you this morning, what ditches is God asking you to dig? If

when you think of it, it doesn't make sense, even if it's going

to require hard work from you, even if it might be a physical struggle,

even if you might not feel like you have the resources or the tools

to do it, even if there is no evidence right now that it will

work out. What ditches? Does God want you to be obedient to dig

now, to prepare space for his provision. I also want to pause here

because I felt, and as I was praying, that there's people here who

are like Nicole. I'm not digging ditches. I am in a ditch,

like I am in a deep pit, and I have no way out I

need to I'm working on digging myself out of this pit. Actually, So

instead of digging ditches for God to fill, I'm just trying to get out

and I want to say that the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus is that

we were in a pit. We were in a place that we had no

hope of ever getting out of. We were in a hole, and instead

of tossing us a shovel or asking us to use our hands, God sent

his son Jesus to come down to Earth to join us in our pit,

to die a death on the cross, be buried, and be resurrected so

that we could rise out of that pit. And that that's the hope for

you this morning, is that you are not stuck in that pit. Jesus

has made a way out for you. I'm going to ask you to bow

your heads and close your eyes this morning if you sense that God is asking

you to take some ridiculous steps of obedience, to dig some ditches that don't

necessarily make sense right now, but I'll make way for God to provide in

miraculous ways and bring victory in your life. Would you just raise your hand.

And if you are one of those people who are in the ditch trying

to dig your way out and you need Jesus to come in and rescue you,

would you raise your hands so I know who I'm praying for, Jesus.

All across this room. You see the hands God, You see the

things that were up against God. You know you know the ditch that we're

in, how deep it feels to us, how we feel like we have

no power to even get out. And so Jesus, I pray that right

now, God, as your people raise their hands saying that's me. I

need help, I need out. Would you meet them, God, would

you meet them where they are? Would you show them the truth of your

love for them? God? Would you show them your power God? As

they lift their head and look to you, Lord, I pray draw them

out of that pit. Draw people out of that pit this morning. And

for those of us who are in this valley and feel challenged by you to

obey, to prepare, to make space for you to move. God,

we want to see you move. We long to see you move in our

church, in our family and our communities. God, we are desperate.

We need you. God. I pray that you would show people God the

ditches that they need to dig. God, would you call it to the

surface. I pray that fear or doubt or even frustration, that God would

call me to do such a thing. Lord, God, that all of

that would go to the wayside, And Lord, that you would just soften

hearts. God, to hear, to hear the voice of the Lord,

to hear your voice speaking. We want to obey God. We want to

make space because we want to see you move. Jesus name Na