He is YAHWEH
So I was a bit bummed this morning in knowing that my campus family all started back to classes this morning and started the school year with the usual chapel service in the Earl C. 
Hargrove chapel and I wasn't there with everyone else. The first chapel of the year is always one of my favorites. It's almost electric the way you see, hear and feel the excitement everyone has to be back together as the LCU campus family -- ready to kick off another great, but challenging year. The first chapel is always filled with nervous freshman, rambunctious upper-classmen and professors who are wondering how their students returned so quickly. But there is no denying that there is a sense of excitement, anticipation and desire for what God is gonna do on, in and through the campus during the year.
I decided that since I couldn't be there to listen to the opening chapel sermon I would open up LCU podcasts on i-tunes and pick one to listen to. Well, I ended up downloading 8 or 9 from my favorite professors and chapel services from the last 3 semesters. The one I chose to listen to first was given by my missions prof, Rob Maupin (I may have to write a post just about him and Mike Nichols and the awesome missions program at LCU that has consumed my life for the last 4 years). He preached during our sermon series on who God is... He is YAHWEH. And it's one sermon I may end up listening to multiple times over the next few months.
Part of the point Rob tried to make is that God made Himself known to Moses (and to us) by making His name known. The name of YAHWEH (which was so sacred it wasn't spoken or written by the Hebrew people, but was used 6828 times in the Scripture... it's written in English as LORD). And a name allows us to interact with the essence of the thing that is named. The name of YAHWEH clearly identifies and allows us to relate to the one and true God. This God, known by the name of YAHWEH, wants to make a covenant, a friendship, a relationship with Israel, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, David and now us. In this relationship, we cannot find justice, we cannot know the law, we cannot have produce unless we know the root, the source, the law-giver, the judge... not without a name. And YAHWEH does that. He gives us a name to know Him by. We can know Him. He wants to meet us. He wants to talk to us. He is YAHWEH.
This idea of YAHWEH and God's name is a hard one to grasp. But it's natural. It's a hard one to believe. But it's one that draws one closer to Him. It's a hard one to accept. But it's one that is true. It's who God is. He is YAHWEH. And we can know Him by His name. May we know YAHWEH. May we know who He is. May we remember that HE IS YAHWEH!
Hargrove chapel and I wasn't there with everyone else. The first chapel of the year is always one of my favorites. It's almost electric the way you see, hear and feel the excitement everyone has to be back together as the LCU campus family -- ready to kick off another great, but challenging year. The first chapel is always filled with nervous freshman, rambunctious upper-classmen and professors who are wondering how their students returned so quickly. But there is no denying that there is a sense of excitement, anticipation and desire for what God is gonna do on, in and through the campus during the year.
I decided that since I couldn't be there to listen to the opening chapel sermon I would open up LCU podcasts on i-tunes and pick one to listen to. Well, I ended up downloading 8 or 9 from my favorite professors and chapel services from the last 3 semesters. The one I chose to listen to first was given by my missions prof, Rob Maupin (I may have to write a post just about him and Mike Nichols and the awesome missions program at LCU that has consumed my life for the last 4 years). He preached during our sermon series on who God is... He is YAHWEH. And it's one sermon I may end up listening to multiple times over the next few months.
Part of the point Rob tried to make is that God made Himself known to Moses (and to us) by making His name known. The name of YAHWEH (which was so sacred it wasn't spoken or written by the Hebrew people, but was used 6828 times in the Scripture... it's written in English as LORD). And a name allows us to interact with the essence of the thing that is named. The name of YAHWEH clearly identifies and allows us to relate to the one and true God. This God, known by the name of YAHWEH, wants to make a covenant, a friendship, a relationship with Israel, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, David and now us. In this relationship, we cannot find justice, we cannot know the law, we cannot have produce unless we know the root, the source, the law-giver, the judge... not without a name. And YAHWEH does that. He gives us a name to know Him by. We can know Him. He wants to meet us. He wants to talk to us. He is YAHWEH.
This idea of YAHWEH and God's name is a hard one to grasp. But it's natural. It's a hard one to believe. But it's one that draws one closer to Him. It's a hard one to accept. But it's one that is true. It's who God is. He is YAHWEH. And we can know Him by His name. May we know YAHWEH. May we know who He is. May we remember that HE IS YAHWEH!
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