God Our Father

We are going to praise God because we were all born, including Adam.  As we sang and as we heard from the communion message, we are all sons of God.  This has nothing to do with gender.  We are children of God and it’s not a matter of being a boy or girl.

In the book of Mathew 6:9, JESUS was telling us how to pray and He started the prayer with “Our Father who art in heaven”.  JESUS’ advice is to start prayer with “Our father”.

Who is the father?  God is big, powerful and someone we fear with supernatural power but when talk about a father it is different.  JESUS told us to be like children to enter the Kingdom of God.  A child in front of a father will say, “Daddy hold me, daddy carry me, daddy I want this”.  A father can be in the middle of a meeting and the child can come in without reason and the dad will pick up the child and make sure he is safe.

God wants us to treat him like a father taking care of his children.  Do we really behave like children of God or like teenagers?  To be a child is good.  When I was a child, if I stepped on something dirty, my dad would clean my feet. Children are fed and the parents look after their children 24/7.

God is sufficient. God is Everything.  God is man and woman at the same time.  For that reason God created a human being in His image.  What is the image of God?  God has existed for eternity.  Genesis 1:7, God created Adam and Eve and then later in chapter 2 He came down and using His hands touching the dust, He then made Adam’s body.  The eternal life met with the temporary life. 

God decided to come down and meet with us and decided to create something that He will call son.  Adam and Eve were created on the same day spiritually before God created Adam and Eve physically.

If you look at our prayer that Jesus gave us in Mat 6, many people who speak Aramaic will start with Abwoon  which is a blending of Abba (Father) and Woon meaning Womb (Mother) because God is mother and father at the same time. 

When God created Adam He breathed into that body.  Eve was inside Adam.  As Adam was taking care of all creation, he saw that God created male and female animals but not human because the human being was given everything they needed in them.  God saw that Adam was lonely and bored so God decided to go down to separate Eve from Adam so that there could be companionship.  Woman was separated from Man.

Adam was the first man to give birth, from his side God took out Eve.  Adam wasn’t born and reflected that divinity and eternity.  He didn’t have mother or father.  This is another part of the image of God on earth.  When Adam woke up, he saw Eve and he said, “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh”.  He knew that he was the image of God and therefore the self-sufficient and knew God had separated from him what was inside of him.  You can only be a child of God if you reflect God’s image in you.  Jesus taught us you must be born again.

On earth, mother and fathers will teach us principles.  E.g. this is not a Kiwi way, this behaviour is unacceptable but for other families, it will be acceptable.  Families will teach you how to behaviour and what is considered normal but this might not be considered normal to other families.  When you marry, the husband will come with his own education and the wife will also have her own education.  Now they stay together, there is a battle.  What one believes is not what the other believes.  Therefore, God says, if you want the right education, read the Word of God and that is the perfect way to live, not what your mum or dad taught you.

If I go from the Word of God, I go astray.  Therefore, God wants us to be self-sufficient with Him and not separate from Him.  The day He separated Eve from Adam, Adam could not give birth anymore, he had to go to Eve.  Even if Eve wanted a child, she can’t without Adam.  They had to complete each other.  When we are trying to complete each other, there is a danger because the devil will try to destroy. 

Leah and Rebekah, they are children of Ange, who can separate that?  No one can separate it even if Angela is sick in hospital, she will still be mother of those children.  Nothing can separate them.  When satan came to meet Eve, he lied to Eve and mislead her.  Why did he mislead her?  Because God gave a big responsibility to Eve to be the one to produce life.  God said to both Adam and Eve, “You have to multiply,” but he gave Eve the capacity to hold life in her. 

You can see a very small lady can hold a baby in womb.  The baby can move around but the lady will hold that heaviness.  God has given hips to women to hold baby.  It would be a disaster if men got pregnant because we are careless.  Men can be stupid.  I’ve seen men going to jail because they have put children in a washing machine or something stupid like that. 

God trusted a woman and gave the job of giving life to women.  Satan realised by Eve having the ability to give life, he will lose.  The devil didn’t want women to conceive only life, he wanted them to also conceive sin.  Satan brought temptation.  The church is also a picture of women.  The church starts to stray from God.  We start to walk a life that we used to think was not a part of Christian life and it becomes a character of and part of our lives because we have walked away from will of God.

Adam and Eve stayed in the garden for a time but left when God put them aside.  Jesus came as a second Adam miraculously as well.  For God to produce a new woman, Jesus was pierced on the same side as the rib that was taken from Adam to create Eve.  This reflected the notion of God removing a rib from Adam and creating Eve.  By being pierced, the curtain ripped and a new woman was seen (the church) and through Christ, we have salvation.

The church treats God as God rather than our father so we don’t come close to Him and we don’t have time to come near Him.  I used to call my father sheriff because he had no jokes and if he sees you playing around, he will have a look and if you see him, you knew you would be punished.  We had rules and we weren’t allowed to do some things.

When I was around 8 years old, he asked for a cotton ball but he called it a name that I hadn’t heard of before and I had no right to ask what he meant.  If I came back without it, it will be punishment.  I couldn’t even check a dictionary.  Sometimes human beings can treat us harshly and let us down but God is telling us, you have to be born again, “You have learnt a lot of rules from your parents, you have been disappointed, come to Me and I will be your father and your mother, I will take care of you”.

Life has seasons as we all know.  In summer we wear light clothing but in winter you see people preparing for cold with warmer clothing.  Today the church doesn’t look at the seasons, we are just as we are. For example, if we have a nice top for summer, we wear it for winter because others like the top.  When the seasons are changing, we need to change and not stay in the same place just because others said we look cool.

Last year’s spring is different to this year’s spring.  Never put your trust 100% in other people but only trust in God our heavenly father.  If you put your trust in someone who is next to you like Adam put his trust in Eve, you will be misled.  How many times have you fallen into traps because you didn’t want to disappoint someone?  How many times did you sin because you didn’t want others to think you were different? 

Pride can make you become a fallen angel.  Arrogance can make you become someone who is not a child of God.  Sins come like a suggestion and you have the capacity to say no.  According to the education of God our father, you have to say no.

When Leah is at home she feels free but she won’t feel free at my place.  Leah can walk freely into Ange’s room but she won’t come into my house and go freely into my room.  Why do we limit ourselves to not access rooms of Gods Kingdom and all the corners of God’s Kingdom?   We try to reject God and consider more our friends.  Leah will have secrets she won’t tell her mum but she can tell her friends.  Friends with friends will mislead each other and do wrong things.

In 1 Cor 4:15 it says that you can have 10,000 of guardians but you don’t have many fathers.  My biological father is my guardian.  The people who surround us are just guardians and they can teach us but they are not our fathers.  We can go to church and listen to the pastor and read books, these people are guardians but not fathers.  Jesus reminded us in Mat 5, call no one your father but the one in heaven.

When there is a danger or challenge, children will go to their father but today we prefer to make our guardians our fathers and put our fathers aside.  We need to pray and ask God for direction.  If you are a child of God, you are not a boy or girl, you are self-sufficient with God because God completes you.  If you look at our blood, there is not feminine or manly blood.  A man can take a women’s blood and it won’t harm (provided they have the same blood type).  Women are not weak, in front of God, that is not true.

In the Kingdom of God we won’t have men or women in heaven.  We live like angels.  Why to make yourself look weak or think you don’t deserve because of your gender.  We need to move with God.  When you pray remember to call God your father.  Anything you wanted from your father, get it. Even when our fathers are wrong, they continue to be our fathers.  They can have rules which can be tough, they can have mistakes but they continue to be our fathers.

God our father has never made mistakes, He is sinless.  One time my father smacked my face because I didn’t notice a lady walking past and he thought I looked badly at the lady.  When he realised that I didn’t do wrong, he said sorry.  God will never punish you but encourage you not to sin.  Imagine if God could punish you like our court system, maybe every day you will be in jail and the list will be a long list of crimes.  From birth to now, how many mistakes have you made?

God of Time

By Odon Bulamba

God of Time – Focusing on Leah & Rachel

Ephesians 5: 16

Making the most of all opportunity because the days are evil.  Redeeming the time because the days are evil.  Today I want to share with you a little bit about God’s time and I will link it with what we started last time and today I will talk about the wives of Jacob.  First, I will talk about God’s time.  Before anything else existed, God brought into existence time because without time, nothing exists.

In Ecclesiastes, it says that there is a time for everything, even creation.  God had time for creating.  In Genesis, it says that there is a time for the spirit to move upon the water.  On the first day, He created from morning to evening and all was based on the time.  Maybe at 6am, God started to plan what He will do today and God was creating one item after another.  There was no time for distraction, or wasting time and He forgot completely about His Godliness and put time first.

What is God teaching me about time?  What does God want me to learn about Him working from morning to evening and then take a break.  God doesn’t feel tired but He stopped in the evening and continued in the morning.  God’s time doesn’t stop and moves on until the end.  Time moves forward.  We can change the time on the clock but time keeps moves forward. 

You can’t stall God’s time and try to use it tomorrow.  We can postpone appointments with our friend but for God, when time passes, you can’t catch up, it passes forever.  What Ange sung last Sunday won’t be the same as this Sunday even if she uses the same voice and the same songs, it won’t be the same, it will be different circumstances.

Jesus our saviour thanked God for the time God gave to Him, “I have completed my work in the time frame”. 

When I was conceived, I was nothing and as time passed I was developing in my mum’s womb and then I was a baby and as time moved forward, I became a child and today I am an adult.  I can’t stop growing old even if I go to a doctor to change my face or change my date of birth on my passport, I can’t change the time.

We have to be wise with our time because these days are not good days.  What do you do with your time?  Six days God created and then He left it.  On the second day He created something different and on third day and so on.  We were created in God’s image.  What do we create each day that is different from yesterday?

God created trees, oh they are not good by themselves, I need birds.  He adds on what He did yesterday to produce more and all look beautiful.  Fish in the water, be there.  Beautiful.  I need someone here to take care of everything.  Whatever God created at that time and today His creation continues to produce food and fresh air for us.  He didn’t create it to disappear after two days.  His good deeds are continuous.

When you do good deeds yesterday, that is enough.  I moved the chairs last week so someone else can do it next week and we try to limit what we do because we are selfish.  Someone told me they go to work because they need money not because they love their job or to support others.  How do you invest in your time?  We have all learnt that time is money.  Time is precious.

What you do with your time is an investment in Kingdom of God.  How do you use it?  When time passes, you can’t bring it back. 

Laban, the father-in-law of Jacob, had two daughters.  Leah, the first born wasn’t married yet and Laban looked at the time and realised Leah was growing old, time won’t let her go back to being young.  When Jacob arrived, Laban maybe thought, now is the opportunity for someone to marry in my family.  Maybe they were distracted or no one was there to marry Leah but now Jacob is there to marry Rachel and not Leah.  “God what can I do to help my daughter?”

We don’t know how often Leah was crying to God to find a husband.  We don’t know how often she was grieving because she wanted her own family and she was counting the years passing.  You can see how time is flying.  It’s only ten minutes but it turns into an hour.  If you don’t plant seeds in that 10 minutes, you will see that hour gone. 

Laban thought if I tell Jacob what I want to do, Jacob may turn Leah away so I will have to give Jacob his wife during the night.  God has split time into two: day and night.  Do we really need darkness?  No, when we wake up, we need light. Why did God create darkness? Why did God sacrifice half the time to be darkness?  Why didn’t He make 20 hours of daylight so we could do what we want to do and only 4 hours for night.  There is a reason for that. 

Laban came at night time, “Jacob, your wife is here”.  Jacob had worked 7 years for Rachel.  Jacob started with one minute, then one week, one month and then one year and then for 7 years he was a slave because he loved Rachel.  What type of love is that?  Working so hard without salary for that person.  For 7 days, God worked so hard for his love and your love (7th day he rested) to teach humanity that working is very important and working walks in parallel with time.

Jacob didn’t remember the importance of time.  He didn’t tell Laban to wait until the morning, it’s late maybe bring my wife early in the morning.  Because Jacob had no mention of time, he believed it is fine.  Do you know what happens during the night when you sleep?  You can’t control your body, your mind shuts down and your eyes are closed and you dream.  You can be in your house but be in the US in your dream.  A time of confusion, a horrible time.  You don’t want anyone to touch you and wake you up.  Your body doesn’t want to function during that time.

Jacob received Leah during that time.  Time is very important.  Even the oxygen you are breathing, what do you do with it?  When you try to pull in the breath, it is a work.  What does it produce?  Sometimes you pull it in because of anger.  When you are walking it is a work, you must make an effort and after walking you have to produce something.  When I leave here, I must walk around the Base and God asks me, “Is it beautiful what you planned today?”  Then what?  How does this help your family and those coming after you?  How does what you are doing help others.  God gave all to help us, why can’t we help others.

Laban gave Leah to Jacob to help.  When I can’t produce something I have to find another way.  If I can’t preach, why not pray for those who preach to preach. Rachel couldn’t give birth so gave Jacob to her servant to produce offspring. If I can’t pray, why not support those with the gift to support them with my prayers.  However, we very often think, because I can’t preach, that is not my job to read the Bible, others can read it for me and bring message on Sunday.  My job is to watch tv and whatever pleases me.

God’s time can’t be changed.  I can’t wear the same clothes I wore as a child.  The clothes can be the same for 50 years but children will change their appearance.  If you will never be the same again, why do you try to make yourself to be the same.  My job is tv and you make yourself stuck there and you don’t want to move.

You promised God when you were saved to work for Jesus.  Add flesh to giving your life to Jesus, He needs to see your actions and your faith.  This is a dangerous time.  My phone distracts me, it is a danger.  You can spend hours on it.  Spiritually, you forget God.  When I watch a tv series, it is a danger and I can forget about God’s time.  When food is there, we can adore it more than God, I love it, it tastes so good.  How often have you said in front of others that you love God?

Time is more important and Leah understood time was precious and she took more servants to produce more children for her husband because the time that was given to us is the time to produce for God.  Jesus came down to produce something.  He came for a job and when He had finished that was when He left.  We are here to produce for God and not for ourselves. When I work I produce my money for myself.  Even offering to God at church can be a problem for some people.

God gave us everything for our own use but when it’s time to create for others, we think 20x.  The time God has given us is limited. Keith Green had a time.  God gave him the talent.  That time has finished.  What we are doing now produces something and although people enjoy it today, it will not be the same tomorrow because God will say it is finished.   Then we can cry like Jesus, my father why have you forsaken me?  This is your time to produce for God, today. 

Love Letter From God to You

 

 

My Child,

You may not know me,
but I know everything about you.
Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.
Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways.
Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.
Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image.
Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.
Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring.
Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived.
Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation.
Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake,
for all your days are written in my book.
Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth
and where you would live.
Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb.
Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born.
Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented
by those who don't know me.
John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry,
but am the complete expression of love.
1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.
1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child
and I am your Father.
1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.
Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father.
Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.
James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.
Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless
as the sand on the seashore.
Psalm 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you.
Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession.
Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you
with all my heart and all my soul.
Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things.
Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart,
you will find me.
Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you
the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires.
Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you
than you could possibly imagine.
Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you
in all your troubles.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted,
I am close to you.
Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb,
I have carried you close to my heart.
Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away
every tear from your eyes.
Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain
you have suffered on this earth.
Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you
even as I love my son, Jesus.
John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.
John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being.
Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you,
not against you.
Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression
of my love for you.
1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved
that I might gain your love.
Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus,
you receive me.
1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you
from my love again.
Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party
heaven has ever seen.
Luke 15:7

I have always been Father,
and will always be Father.
Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…
Will you be my child?
John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you.
Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your DadAlmighty God

Father's Love Letter used by permission Father Heart Communications © 1999-2013 www.FathersLoveLetter.com

Almighty God

Almighty God 2013 By Terry Cowland

God works for the good

By Colleen Podmore

Introduction: The last few weeks I’ve been listening to teaching by Chuck Missler on Radio Rhema. He has been teaching through the book of Romans.

Today I would like to try and summarise some of that, to remind us of how great our salvation is. How much God has done for us, is doing for us and will do for us, if we don’t give up. I hope you will be encouraged as I have been. The writer of Hebrews says, ‘We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation’ Hebrews 2;1,3

Salvation: One of the first points chuck Missler makes is about the term ‘salvation’. It’s vague and the meaning has been lost. For example saved from what? People today do not have any concept of God, let alone a judgement day. In this sense salvation means nothing. You can be saved from the rain, saved from embarrassment. What do names like Salvation Army mean nowadays? Just nice people doing good works.

Justification: We can break salvation down into more specific terms. A much more specific term is justification, it’s a legal term. To justify means according to the dictionary: vindication, to prove the justice of, to excuse.

But to excuse from what? First we have to go back to the beginning and get the big picture.

God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin said to Adam, ‘Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on that day you will die’ Genesis 2:17.

God’s dilemma – if he is holy and righteous, how can he forgive sin and yet maintain his law. If he says, ‘Oh well, never mind’. He violates his own standards of justice – and we also have this strong sense of justice – if someone breaks the law they must be punished (unless it’s us of course). This is both a consequence and deterrence to breaking the law.

And Adam did die on that day. He died spiritually and was separated from relationship with God and eventually he died physically. And sin entered the world through one man and passed to all men (Romans 5:12).

Of course we know full well how God resolved the dilemma – it is the gospel of Jesus Christ – the Good news – ‘that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures... 1Cor 15:3,4

When we come to Christ, by faith, we are justified freely by what Christ did.

This occurred in the past for us –it happened once when we believed that Jesus died for our sins, that He took our place and received our punishment on the cross, so that we can go free. God justifies his pardon through the substitute of the life of Christ.

Today we will pray for people who haven’t made that step of faith, who maybe don’t really understand the gospel – pray that we or someone may be able to explain, people who don’t believe there is a God –pray their eyes will be opened to the wonders of Creation. Don’t just pray for salvation, break it down into steps, Christmas is coming ask God to open people’s eyes to the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of a Saviour.

A good analogy is to imagine you are in a court of law, you have been found guilty of a crime. You have broken the law – should you be allowed to go free without punishment – No!

But imagine if the judge comes down from the bench, takes of his robe and all his glory and pulls out his cheque book and writes out a cheque which actually takes every last cent that he has and hands it over and says to you, ‘You are free to go, I have paid the penalty for your crime’. The cashier takes the cheque, takes your debt and stamps it – Paid in full! Declared Righteous!

‘This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus, God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood”. (Romans 3:22-25).

But wait, there is more.....wouldn’t it be great if we got saved and then went to heaven?

Sanctification: We are saved from the penalty of sin, because Jesus died in our place.

So here we are, just accepted Christ, our passport is stamped, it’s our get out of hell free card, truly we are saved from judgement for our sins.

We are saved from the penalty of sin, past tense and we are also saved from the power of sin – present tense. We have our passport stamped but we still sin, but now it is a choice. And how do we escape the ‘power’ of sin?

This is where baptism comes into the equation. Baptism is often just associated with the act of being baptized but baptism also means ‘to identify with’. We are ‘baptized’ with Christ when we believe. We identify with Him in His death, burial and resurrection.

Paul says: ‘Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” Romans 6:3-4

We are saved from the power of sin because we have died to sin. I don’t know how God does it but somehow we have freedom from the power of sin. There are many terms to describe this supernatural transformation - we are ‘born again’, ‘raised to life’ ‘given new hearts’, ‘set free’. This is not just wishful thinking or the power of positive thinking – it is a new life, the old has gone, the new has come. Who the Son sets free will be free indeed! Amen.

Paul says ‘We are to count ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 6:11) this is a moment by moment reckoning and this is our daily struggle to desire to be holy, to put to death the misdeeds of the body. We have the power to overcome, to choose what is right.

Today we will pray for people who have succumbed to temptation and gone back to indulging the sinful nature, becoming ensnared again. Pray for repentance, godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2Cor 7:10). We have to pray for them that they will know it’s possible to overcome the power of sin, pray that they will desire righteousness, desire truth, desire God’s discipline, refresh their hearts, restore the fear of the Lord, turn away from the deeds of the flesh which so easily ensnare us. The two natures live together which one will we feed? The flesh or the Spirit?

Glorification: Hallelujah, salvation – saved from the penalty of sin which is justification saved from the power of sin, also called sanctification and saved from the presence of sin, known as glorification, a future event.

There is much more to our great salvation, we haven’t touched on the role of the Holy Spirit, the privilege of being Sons and heirs of God, our security in Christ, but hopefully this short revision will help us to pray earnestly today for men, those in the church, those in our families, our colleagues and friends.

Finally, let us draw strength and hope from these verses in Romans 8:28. Memorize them and use them every day.

“And we know That in all things God works for the good Of those who love him Who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28) NIV

Every day, God brings situations that ask the question –‘Do you trust me?”

And we know, that in all things, God works together for good, to those who love God and have been called according to his purpose!

Our God is a Jealous God

By Colleen Podmore


We sing the song, ‘Our God is an Awesome God. He reigns from heaven above. With wisdom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God’ pg 54


And it’s true; Our God is an awesome God! Not only is He Yahweh, a personal God, He is El Shaddai, Lord Almighty. He is El Elyon, the Most High God. He is Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is El Olam, the Eternal God.


He is Yeshua, Jesus, a God who saves. He is Hamashiach, Messiah, the Anointed One. He came to earth to save people from their sins and to reveal the Father. John 3:16 says: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’.


Our God is an awesome God! He is also a servant king. He came to earth not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. He came to suffer as we suffer, to identify with us and to deal with the root cause of our sufferings which is the sinful nature and to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness.


Our God is an awesome God. He is also the Spirit of Truth and of Life, a Counsellor and a Comforter. He is Holy. He is the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding. The Spirit of Counsel and power and knowledge!


Our God is an awesome God!!


Tonight I would like to speak about another of God’s attributes and that is Our God is a Jealous God!


Exodus 34:14

‘Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God’


This verse really reiterates the second commandment – Exodus 20:4


‘You shall not make for yourself an idol...for I, the LORD your God am a jealous God...


Does it surprise you that God is a jealous God?


There are many references to God’s jealousy


Dt 4:24 ‘a consuming fire, a jealous God’


Dt 32:16,21, ‘They made Him jealous’


Josh 24:19, ‘He is a jealous God’


Psalm 78:58, ‘They aroused His jealousy’


God’s jealousy is also connected with judgement. For example:


1Kings 14:22 talks about how the actions of Israel ‘stirred up Gods jealous anger’


Paul asks the question in 1Cor 10:22, ‘Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy?’


And in James 4:5 it says, ‘the Spirit envies intensely’ or jealously’


Well by now you might be confused because isn’t jealousy a sin? How can God therefore be jealous?


Let’s look up some verses - Romans 13:13. 1Cor 3:3, 2Cor 12:20, Gal 5:20


Yes jealousy is a sin so how do we explain God’s jealousy? Does God sin?


Well, we know that there is no sin in God. He is sinless. I thought of two reasons to explain this apparent contradiction. You may be able to think of more.


Firstly, we’ll turn to 2Cor 11:2 which may help us understand,


Paul says, ‘I am jealous with a godly jealousy’


So there is a difference between God’s jealousy and our human jealousy.


Secondly, I was thinking it might have more to do with the character of God verses our character. When we are jealous, because of our sinful nature all sorts of other ugly sins are aroused: hatred, revenge, maybe murder, strife etc.


But when God is jealous because He cannot sin, His jealousy is completely different as His character is Holy he cannot be lead into further sin. But I love the fact that our God is a jealous God. Imagine if He wasn’t and didn’t care whether we worshipped Him or some other idol?


Let’s have a look at the dictionaries definition of jealousy, this is human jealousy: envious, suspicious, apprehensively watchful, zealously careful and compare that to Godly jealousy


Godly jealousy is an expectation of exclusive right to possess and to claim our love and allegiance. God’s jealousy demands our exclusive devotion to Himself! He can only do that because He is God.


We will never be able to claim exclusive devotion from another human being in the way that God can, because we are not God.


Our God is a Jealous God – Hallelujah – he will not share us with anyone or anything. God demands our exclusive 100% devotion.


The final question that I would like us to think about is this, ‘Is there any indication in the new testament that Jesus is also jealous? Did he show jealousy when He walked on earth?’


• Another way of translating the Hebrew word which mean jealous, is to use a similar word which is zealous.


In John 2:17, it says of Jesus, ‘zeal for your house will consume me’ quoting Ps 69:9. Jesus was intensely jealous for the Name and temple of God.


• Jesus made His desire for the exclusive devotion of His disciples clear.


(Read) In Matt 10:34-37, ‘…anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.’


Exclusive devotion – Our God is a jealous God – He wants and deserves our 100% devotion to Himself.


Let us follow Him Jesus, with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength (Matt22:37), for our God is an awesome God!


Amen

Testimony to the Greatness of God (mp3)

By Geoff Winter