 There is a song on repeat in my life. You know, there is power in a name. Let's talk about it today on Hope Today. I'm Amy Schaefer. I'm here with Tom Hollis. Tom, what do we have to talk about? Oh, we were gonna be talking about that. Let me ask you a question first. Are you tired of a superficial relationship with God? Do you long to experience His presence in a more profound and personal way? I'm sure you do. Well, Rabbi Kurt Schneider is with us today to help us dive into the ancient Hebrew scriptures. We're going to learn, Amy, some of those names of God and their symbolic and prophetic meaning. And it's gonna unlock a new dimension in our lives of what it really means to understand God's character, God's purposes. Amy, it's gonna be such a great conversation. Again, this book, To Know Him By Name, it's so powerful. There's so much in here. We're gonna dig in with Rabbi Schneider. Well, think about that. Like, I know you by name. And we've worked together for a decade now. I know kind of where you're gonna go in an interview or what you're gonna say. That's useful. Or what are some of your key scriptures or thoughts or what you and your wife are gonna do. You're gonna go biking. I know that for sure. But do we know God by name? Do we know Him? Do we know His thoughts, His attributes? What is He thinking about today? What is on His heart today? What is in His name? And honestly, how can we take these names of God and personally apply them to our life in our real everyday life? And that's the thing we're gonna talk to Rabbi Schneider about, that whole idea of the personal relationship with God, that is what is so key. And I just, it's something that I've talked about and I'm sure you as well, all my life I've heard about this is not religion. This is about relationship. And so relationship can only happen with a person, right? And so that's what's wonderful about learning the names of God. Well, God desires to have that personal relationship with each and every one of us. And one of the ways we can draw closer to Him is by understanding His many different names in the Bible. Our good friend, Rabbi Kurt Schneider is our next guest and he's written a new book called To Know Him By Name. He joins us now to share how we can discover who God truly is and how He desires to be for us. Rabbi Schneider, it's great to have you back on Hope today. I'm Amy and I'd rather my sister and the Lord, great to be with you. I love both your spirits and good to be in partnership together to bring God's glory and to bring His Word into the earth. Yeah, I think that one of the things that is, I really wanna leave people with as they digest this material in this book To Know Him By Name, discovering the Hebrew names and titles of God is a point, Tom, that you just mentioned. And that is, it sounds so basic, but if we really let it soak in, it can produce change. And that is that our God that we're in relationship with is a person. Now again, that sounds really elementary, but when you understand that God's a person, here's some of the things that can kind of shift your heart. A lot of times when people think about God and faith in God, it's mostly about what God can do for them. But when we realize that God is a person, that He has emotions, that He has likes and dislikes, that He's a person just like we are, it puts us in a place of not only looking to Him to bless us and meet our needs, which is great, we should do that. But also it helps us realize that because He's a person and could be affected by us, it puts a weight on us and onus on us to make sure that we're treating God correctly. For example, in the book of Ezekiel, the Lord said through the prophet, my people Israel have hurt me because of their adulterous ways. I mean, think about that, the Lord can be hurt. That's a mind blowing to me. When I read that, I thought, man, I've got to wake up. It's not only about me looking to the Lord to feel blessed or to feel His presence or to feel His peace. It's also about me recognizing that I can either bring Him pleasure or I can hurt Him. But switching gears now for a second, when we look into Scripture concerning the Hebrew names and titles of God, there's a difference between a title and a name. So that for example, in the book of Bear Sheet, which is the Hebrew word for Genesis, we read in the first verse there, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And that same chapter in Genesis goes on to say, the Lord is speaking in the first person and he says there, let us break man in our image. So I just want to take that apart for a second. When we read in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the Hebrew word there for God in the original in the Torah is Elohim. And Elohim is the plural of the Hebrew word El. El means God. But again, we don't just read El there, it's Elohim, it's the plural form of El. So why is God referring to himself in plurality? Well, when you add Eem onto the end of El, it does two things. Number one, it puts emphasis on the El. So the Lord is saying, I'm not just a God, I'm the God. But also again, it creates plurality and connect that with the fact that the Lord goes on to say, let us make man in our image. The point is, is that even though God is one, he's multi-dimensional and there's relationship within the Godhead. That's why the Lord said, let us make man in our image. That's why he's Elohim, God in plural form, one God, but multi-dimensional. Now, as a Jewish person, our most famous declaration is the Shema, here who Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. But when we speak about one there, Ahad, we're not talking about necessarily a singular unity because the Bible says that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two man and wife shall become one. It's the same Hebrew word, Ahad, that's used in the Shema. So God is multi-dimensional. The fact that he's one does not mean that there's not community of relationship within himself. God is love, and in order for love to be able to be love, it has to love somebody. And so the son has always been in the bosom of the father. Yeshua of Nazareth has always been in the bosom of we say in Hebrew, Yudhe Vavhe, that's God's covenant name, which Jewish people will not say because we feel it's too sacred, but most submitted language scholars believe that God's memorial name that he revealed to Moses in Exodus three and Exodus six, composed of the four Hebrew letters, Yudhe Vavhe, is pronounced a breathy yon wet. And so the Lord, and I'm gonna wrap this up in a second and give you guys a chance here, but in Exodus three and Exodus six, the Lord comes to Moshe to Moses and says, Moses, your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, knew me as El Shaddai, which is God Almighty. But by my name, the Lord said Yahweh, which is about 7,000 times in the Hebrew Bible, the Lord said, they did not know me. This is my memorial name forever. Yeah, wow, there is so much just in that and what you shared there. I love it from the first chapter of the Bible, the personal nature of God. But let me ask you about Yahweh because you say in the book that most of our English translations will say the Lord, we'll translate that the Lord, which is good in and of itself, but inadequate to express the meaning of the personality and personhood of God. Could you unpack that for us? Well, I think you're right. I mean, I think that's the main thing. I think that God is a person and the Lord not only reveals His name as Yudhe Vavhe as Yahweh, but then we have places where we find what He likes and what He doesn't like. What is nature is? So for example, Moses said to the Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, Moses, you can't see the fullness of my glory and live, but go in the cleft of the rock and call upon my name and I'll make all my goodness pass before you. So Moses, Moshe goes in the cleft of the rock, he calls on the name Yahweh, Yahweh God. And as he's calling, Tom, Amy, on the Lord by name, it says, the Lord passed by him and proclaimed His name to Moses and then revealed to Moses who He was. He said, I am Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, full of loving kindness, mercy and truth. Yet I will by no means leave the guilty go unpunished. So Yahweh is a person and He reveals who He is. He says, I am compassionate. And it's interesting that the Hebrew word for a compassionate is Rahum and it actually carries the idea of a mother nursing her infant. And so compassionate is a feminine word. So even though God is, we refer to him as a he, he also is a she, God is composed of both the feminine and the masculine. And I love the fact that the first thing the Lord does in revealing His nature to man is reveal Himself in the tender language of a mom, a little mom, a mom taking care of her infant child. He's a person and the more we become sensitive to who He is as a person, the more we're gonna be able to relate to Him and be sensitive to Him so that we can truly experience what it means have intimacy with our Creator. That is so good. Rabbi, when you were studying for this book to know Him by name, to dive in, to dig in and to study the names of God, which name really resonated with you? Which name did you take and you just took it and you applied it to your life? And how did you do that? Well, thank you. Really good question to me. I would say right now, because I think, you know, seasons shift, but right now my main joy in the Hebrew covenant names of God, it's Yahweh Rofecha, Yahweh Rofecha taken from the book of Exodus. It means the Lord your healer. And Yahweh revealed this name as Yahweh Rofecha when the children of Israel were getting sick because they were drinking poisoned waters from a place called Marah. And the Lord called, Moses called upon the Lord and the Lord told Moses to put a Hissa branch in those polluted waters that was making his children sick. And when Moses put the Hissa branch in the water, the Lord cleansed the water, healed his people and then said, I am the Lord that healeth thee. I am Yahweh Rofecha or Yahweh Rafa. And so for me, Amy, to answer your question, I've been battling a skin issue. And I'm so thankful to know that my God is a healer and that by nature he's a healer. I mean, even look at the human body, human body has the capacity to heal itself. I mean, you get an infection, your body creates antibodies, but even beyond the natural, God is a supernatural God that will release healing into our bodies. And he wants us to look to him to be the source of our healing. So that right now is one that really I take to heart. And of course, Yeshua Jesus, who is the image of the Father, who embodied the Father, right? Yeshua said, if you've seen me, you've seen Yahweh, you've seen the Father. And what did he do? He went about healing people of every cup of sickness and every cup of infirmity and disease. Well, we are talking with Rabbi Kurt Schneider. He's written the book to know him by name discover the power and promises revealed in the Hebrew names and titles of God. You haven't divided up into some different categories. And the one I wanted to jump into now are the Hebrew names of Messiah. Could you just unpack that for us? You have several of them listed here. Mashiach is the anointed one. Could you just sort of unpack a couple of those for us? What we've heard them before in many cases, what are the significance in relationship for us? Great point. So Mashiach, as you mentioned, means the anointed one. Yeshua, we say in Hebrew, Yeshua Ha, means the Shia, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, Yeshua the anointed one. So in Greek, the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word Mashiach is Christ. So the traditional English way of referring to Jesus to Yeshua is Jesus Christ. But I know that most of our listeners today know that Christ is not Yeshua or Jesus' last name. It's just the Greek form of Mashiach. So it's Jesus, the anointed one. And the reason the New Testament's written in Greek is because it was the most common language of the world at the time and the purpose of the creators at the news of his salvation which spread throughout the entire world. And so the language that would create the greatest impact and breakthrough to carry the good news of Messiah to the world was Greek. And so we say Christ, but the Hebrew originally was Mashiach. One of the Hebrew names of the Lord that I also like is the branch. Yeshua is referred to as the branch in scripture and messianic prophecy. And when you think of the branch, Yeshua speaks of himself being the life of the father that's been given to the world. And as we abide in him, we receive his life. And so it's a flow. It's a flow of divine order. Everything is emanating from the father, from the creator. And the father makes himself available to those of us that he's created in his own image, Jew and Gentile alike through his branch which goes into the earth who's Yeshua. In Judaism, in Orthodox Judaism, especially in what we call the Hasidic movement, which is when you see the black hats and the long black coats and you see those beautiful pictures of Orthodox Jews in Israel, most of those are coming from Hasidic sects. And one of the things about Hasidism is that they believe that you can relate to God just by talking to him and being emotionally and they tried to make God accessible to everybody. And one of the things in their teaching, and I'm not saying this is my belief system, I'm just helping our viewers to understand is they believe in something that's called the Sephirot which are 10 emanations they believe that come from the Godhead. So according to Hasidic Judaism, men connect to God by tying into the Sephirot. The Sephirot are like a transformer. Like you can't tie into the full power so you tie into the Sephirot. But we don't speak about Sephirot. We speak of Yeshua, that Yeshua is the one that made it possible for us to approach and have a relationship with the all-powerful Father. And Yeshua is referred to in Hebrew as the Sarshalon, the Prince of Peace. And that's so powerful because God is peace. That is wonderful and so good. You know, in the time we have left, maybe you could help someone out there who's watching who's kind of got a stained glass view of Jesus or a God that's in a book somewhere, impersonal. What would you say to encourage that person right now? Maybe they're hearing some of this for the first time. What would you say to that person to encourage them to dig deeper and to know God as he is? Well, the first thing I would share is, you know, just open your heart. If you're seeking right now, but just don't know. Just open up your heart and say, God, if you're real, would you please show me yourself? And if Yeshua, if Jesus is really the way to you, please reveal that to me. I want to believe you. I want to follow you, but I just don't know. I ask you, Father God, I ask you God to give me understanding, give me revelation and reveal yourself to me. So the first thing I would encourage a person that's seeking sincerely to do is just to open your heart and pray and keep praying. Don't just ask one time. Continue to pray every day because it's obvious that there's a God. Everybody deep down inside, whether they even realize it or not, at the deepest level, they know there's a God because God makes it evident to humanity. Deep in our heart, we have a conscience. And then secondly, when we look into the world, those of us that have been gifted with the ability to see with their eyes, we see the reality of God, a sky that goes on forever, the beauty of His creation. All these things are manifestations of who He is. So everybody deep inside knows, but we have to open up our heart and say to our Creator, Father God, would you please have mercy on me and show me yourself? And I would encourage people to get this book because I think it's written in a non-religious way. I don't think it's going to turn anybody off. And I think people will be able to respect what they read and glean from it. The book is to know Him by name, discover the power and promises revealed in the Hebrew names and titles of God. Rabbi Kirchner, thank you for the richness. Thank you for the depth of everything that you've shared today. It's been fantastic. Pah, Mamie, I love you both. A pleasure to do interviews with you guys because you guys really have the heart of the Lord and I bless you guys. Thank you very much for having me today. Thank you so much. Powerful conversation. Well, now it's time to check in with Sidney and see what's taking place on this week's edition of The Glory Hour. Hey Hope Today family, are you ready to march into all your call to be, especially when it comes to authenticity? You know, when it comes to our spiritual journey, we want to be our true authentic selves and that's why I am super excited for my conversation I had for this episode of The Glory Hour that you don't want to miss that you're dropping this Wednesday, 3 p.m. on Cornerstone Telstra Network's YouTube channel, also on Spotify. Had a conversation with my mentor, somebody who means the world to me, Pastor Deon Edmonds. She is a teaching pastor at Macedonia Church of Pittsburgh and here's just a little taste of what she had to say. How can I be vulnerable with you if I can't be vulnerable with my maker? And so there's always gonna be this level of pretense, if you will, with other people if I'm not first and foremost vulnerable with him. So it's my vulnerability with him that it's in that quiet place with him as I'm vulnerable with him where he begins to peel back the layers and he takes off the mask and he gives me permission to be myself and to know that in being my authentic self I'm still fully seen by him and I'm still fully loved by him and I'm still fully known by him and that's not predicated on what I've done or haven't done. That is based on his finished work of the cross. I'm so excited for this conversation. It literally just transformed, uplifted my spirit and took me to new places that I had to even ponder and sit on when it comes to my faith and being all God has called me to be. So please can't wait to join you, join me and that we can go on this journey together with Pastor Dionne Edmonds talking about authenticity, talking about vulnerability and talking about letting God do the deep, deep work within so that we can be all God's called you to be. So I'll see you on the glory hour. Love ya. I feel like we just went to Hebrew school today talking about, you know, to know him by name. I mean, what a great question. You know, do you know him by name? I was recently at a pastors conference and he had the best illustration. I thought, I'm just gonna share it with you because we love you so much. He had a fishbowl on the pulpit and these cute, gorgeous little fish were swimming around and while he was talking, he just grabbed one of the fish out and he just set it on the table and we're all like, I mean, the fish is flopping, and he just kinda kept it on the table and then it kinda laid down and we can't focus on anything he is saying because we're just like, put the fish back in the water. We're just like, save the fish. Finally he grabbed the fish, threw it back in the water. The fish started swimming around and he said, I saved the fish. And we're all like, oh, thank God. And he said, the problem is, is that you're more concerned about the fish dying than you are about your neighbor, your coworker, your friend, and so I thought, maybe we need to take time today. Today's a great day. Talking about, do we know God by name? Like, do I know him? Do I really know him? It's a great time to stop and say, how are you with your relationship with God? You know, the gospel is the greatest story ever told. The gospel is the greatest love story ever told. It's a story of redemption. It's a story of salvation. It's, we were separated from God. Our sin separated us from a loving father. And he said, I've got a solution for this. I'm gonna rescue back my man. I'm gonna rescue back my woman and I'm gonna do that through my son, Jesus Christ. And all we have to do today is believe in the Son and then we become children of God. I wanna read you one scripture and then I wanna pray together. In John 1, 11 through 13, it says, even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him, but to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him, to save them. And all those who believe this, they're reborn. You're reborn. It's so easy, not by a physical rebirth, but they were born of God. That's all you have to do today. You just have to believe. You just have to receive. You just have to ask and it's not on your works or what you do, but it's all on what Jesus, the Messiah did for us. And Rabbi Schneider asked a question in this book. He says, what is our response to know him by name? Like what's our response? Our response is that he is my Lord and he is my master. Can you say that about our God today, Yalbe, the God who saves, the God who sees you, the God who calls you by name, the God who is your shepherd, the God who is all light, the God of creation. He wants to save you today. So let's stop everything and let's make it right with God. Will you pray this prayer after me? Will you just say, dear heavenly father, I need you. I know I need you. I need your love. I need your forgiveness. I need your acceptance. God, I need you in my life. Lord, I wanna be a child of God. I wanna be your child. I wanna know that I know that you are my Lord and my master. So God, right now I ask you to come into my heart, forgive me of my sins and make me born of God. And I thank you today that I receive and I believe when I pray in Jesus' name, amen. And if you prayed that prayer, I want you to give us a call at 888-665-4483. We wanna help you with those next steps in your journey and your walk with God. That is so good. And I love that verse because it says as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. It's not about whether you went to church enough or you prayed enough or you read the Bible enough or you did good works enough. Those are all important, very, very important and we should be about them. But it's, have you received him? Have you received him? Cause that's how you become a child of God. It's by his grace, by faith in his grace that things change. Things change forever in us. We're not the same. We're a new creature in Christ when we come to him. Do you wanna be a new creature today? Reach out to him. Reach out and he will change your life. Discover what God's word has to say about healing and deliverance. Bestselling author John Eckhart makes topical Bible study easy with his new book, scriptures for faith, deliverance and healing. This handy reference is for those who wanna have a greater understanding of healing and deliverance to incorporate God's word into their prayers. Eckhart also includes targeted commentary to highlight key scriptures and life application. His spirit-filled perspective will enhance your time in God's word and encourages the spiritual disciplines of memorization and meditation. Request scriptures for faith, deliverance and healing as our thank you gift when you support Cornerstone Television this month. Request your copy today. If you want to strengthen the ministry of CTVN, share your best gift by visiting us online at ctvn.org slash donate or call us at 888-665-4483. Thank you for your partnership. Hope happens here. On Tomorrow's Hope Today, learn how to deepen your connection with God and your spouse. Author Nina Rosner shares true stories and thought-provoking questions that will help you apply biblical wisdom to the most important relationship in your life. Don't miss Tomorrow's Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.