Posts tagged yahweh

We are the chosen people of the Yahweh, the God of Israel, who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. We are the children of God!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

We are the children of God. We are his chosen ones. We are the ones who have been washed in the blood of the lamb. We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. We are the sons of Abraham, adopted into the promises of Israel by faith in Christ. We are the sons of Abraham. I am one of them. And so are you.

We are the children of God. Heirs to the Kingdom. Sons and daughters, and not slaves. We are the redeemed. We are the saints. We are forgiven. We are whiter than snow.

We are the chosen people of the Yahweh, the God of Israel, who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. We are the children of God.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Hear Jesus lament when people will not turn and believe and be saved. Hear him lament as he goes to Jerusalem to die for a people who mock and kill him. Hear the sadness of Jesus for being rejected; hear the perpetual sadness by Yahweh, God the Father, that his people Israel continually turn away from him.

Hear the disappointment of the master who throws the wedding banquet that no one attends. The table is set. The invitations sent. And most strange: he wanted everyone to be there so badly, that he killed his own Son so that all could come.

Is that the actions of an unfair God? No. It is the actions of a God of love.

Lord, let us hear and believe, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And by the Holy Spirit may we speak the invitation to the banquet, in order that all who hear might come to your table. Thanks be to God. Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

in order to truly appreciate what Paul is saying we have to remember his context. Remember that he was a Jew. And the reason that this is so strange is that the Hebraic people; the Jews; the people of Israel; they were STRICT MONOTHEISTS. What does that mean? It means that THEY KNEW that there was only ONE GOD.

ONE GOD. That was it. Yahweh, their God, was VERY intent on them GETTING that.

And that ONE GOD was the ONLY ONE that was to be prayed to. He was the only one to be worshipped. He was the only one to be listened to. He was the only one to be feared. He was the only one to be loved. And the Old Testament was FULL of instances that showed the consequences of worshipping or bowing down to ANY OTHER man or thing.

There is only one God: the God of Israel.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

What does Jesus say? “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also.” The Gospel of John is FULL of this revelation language: that Jesus is here to make Yahweh known to his people; and to know HIM is to know Yahweh. To say that we know God without knowing Jesus is to NOT KNOW GOD AT ALL. And THESE are the people to whom, when they knock, the master answers the door and say, “I …do… not… know you.”

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son.”

Many times, I think, when looking at the Pharisees, or looking at the Jewish people of today, we can think to ourselves that they know God the Father, but just not Jesus Christ. That these Pharisees worshipped Yahweh, and just missed the boat when it came to Jesus. But that doesn’t line up with what Jesus says. “Anyone who has seen ME has seen the Father.” And if they do NOT see the Father in Christ, they do not see the Father at all! To know JESUS is to know Yahweh; is to know God; and without Jesus no one can know God!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor