Interview with a Messianic Rabbi

This interview was during the sermon time with Rabbi Jay Ledbetter, an elder at Messianic Congregation Roeh Israel in Denver and a Messianic Church planter in Colorado Springs.

Please click on the title above to listen to the answers to the questions posed below:

1.

In the reading from Josh 24, Joshua is chastising the nation for following the "gods" of the lands they have sojourned in from the gods beyond the Euphrates, to the gods of Egypt, or the gods of Canaan, or the Amorites. 

From the 1st Commandment to the Great Commandment, the Shemah Israel, the command of God is to worship the one, true God, who has revealed His name to Israel, through Moses.

Tell us just a bit about the Hebrew concept of the Name of God and the interplay between the words we see in Holy Scripture, even here in Joshua 24.

15 time the word elohim -7 times referring to our God, the other 8 are plural referring to the other gods of their history.  Likewise, 15 times the Name of God is named here, translated Jehovah, or Yehovah,  What is the Hebrew perspective on the names in Scripture and how is the Name of God treated today?  

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2.

In the Psalm we are told to recount "the mysteries of ancient times."

... "the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD." 

The reason for doing such a Sunday worship in cooperation and for our joy in sharing the service together is for us to glean from this 'ancient path' - the path that the People of God

have walked for millennia. 

This looking back necessarily leads us to our Hebrew roots and the fact that, as Paul tells us in Romans, we are 'grafted into' the vine of Israel.  How can we as a community of Gentile believers, honor and learn from our brethren of Jewish heritage? Today is like sticking our toe into the pool, but is there more to our identification with Israel through this Jewish Messiah, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah?

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3.

The reason we are doing this today is that we did this a couple weeks back and found a great deal of joy and anointing in the doing it together!  From your perspective, what was the "learning" or "joyful surprise" as you encountered the Anglican liturgy and usage of the passages from Isaiah 6, what we refer to as the "Sanctus" and the "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD."?  And what do they mean in the worship of Israel?

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4.

finally, tell us the meanings of your traditional worship garments.  As Anglicans we have our own priestly garments and we will be using all of them today, in addition to the Talit I recently brought back from Israel.  How do I properly use this and honor its history among the Jewish people?