Newsletter

GOD OUR FATHER

If you are born again, God is your Father.

(Matthew 5:9) “they shall be called the children of God.”

(John 1:12) “As many as received Him, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God.”

(Romans 8:14) “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

(Romans 8:16) “we are the children of God.”

(2 Corinthians 6:18) “ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

(Galatians 3:26) “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

(Galatians 4:7) “thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

(1 John 3:1) “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”

It is interesting to note that the term Father is used only seven times in the Old Testament in reference to God.  It is used in the New Testament almost three hundred times.

If people use the Old Testament as their reference in an attempt to get acquainted with God, as their Father, they will have a misguided understanding of Him.  In the Old Testament, we have a revelation of the true nature of man.  In the New Testament we are give a revelation of the true nature of God.

In the Old Testament, we see a picture of God which is explained through man’s experiences or five senses.  In the New Testament, we see God revealing Himself by demonstrating His character and ability while living in an earthly body.

The Old Testament reveals man, with a sinful nature, attempting to live a life that is accepted by God. The New Testament reveals man learning, by renewing his mind, to live with a divine nature.

Many people only have a sense (see-hear-smell-taste-feel) knowledge revelation of God. Therefore, what they know about Him is locked in the box of their experience or someone else’s experience.   To them, God is a God of flexibility.  One of their favorite says is:  “You just never know what God is going to do.”  This proves that they don’t know what God said He will do.

Consequently, they have a picture of a God who may put their child in a serious automobile wreck in order to get their attention.  They think that God may choose for their child to be born as a cripple to bring glory to Him. 

Kill, steal, and destroy is not the character of God our Father!     They have the WRONG god in mind!  (2 Corinthians 4:4) “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

(1 John 3:8) “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

He didn’t come to display His endorsement or cooperation with the workings of the devil.  He came to put an end to the devil’s works. Everywhere He went He was actively involved in putting an end to the misery and hurt that the devil was manifesting on human beings. 

Jesus was a perfect revelation of the character of God.

(Hebrews 1:1-3) “God…..Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” 

In the Greek, the express image means that the Son was an exact copy of the person of God.

(John 14:9) “he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”

(John 14:10) “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.”

Jesus in answer to the request, of Philip, “show us the Father,” told him that all He was doing in His ministry was God revealing Himself.  He spoke the word of God and God through the word did the works.

(John 10:10) “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

In this verse, Jesus makes it clear that the operation of the thief, to steal, to kill, and to destroy, does not relate to God’s purpose for people.  It is our Father’s desire for us to experience life more abundantly. Any experience that does not equate with life more abundantly has no part in God’s plan for us.

(John 10:30) “I and my Father are one.”                                       

(John 10:38) “believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”

(John 9:4) “I must work the works of Him that sent Me.”

To understand more clearly the character of God our Father, follow Jesus through the four Gospels and look more carefully at His revealing God to those to whom He ministered. (1 John 4:8) “God is love.” That verse does not say God has love.  It says, God is love.  On the pages of the four Gospels, you see love ministering to people.  The picture of the manifestation of God through the body of Jesus ministering to people is much different from the picture religion has given.  Religion shows a picture of an angry God who is always trying to find fault with others in order to pass judgment and order some terrible thing to come upon them in an attempt to teach them a lesson.  And He refuses to listen to His children when they have done something wrong.

(Luke 4:18) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

(Acts 10:38) “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.”

(James 1:17) “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father.”

(Matthew 7:9-11) “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?”