They run a series called Holy Spirit, agent of truth. So if you get out your Mt. Carmel Illinois Church worship guides, there’ll be some sermon notes in there. You want to check those out or you can get on your youversion Bible App. There’s sermon notes are available for you there as well. So pull out the paper or the tech version of your sermon notes. You can get those also online if you’d like to check those out. Get our bibles out this morning. Let’s open up to the book of John Chapter 15 John 15 you know, it was a worship Greg this morning, man. Those guys did a fantastic job. Thankful for our worship team, all the people who make that possible. Yeah. Thank you for the five of you that clapped for our worship team, the rest of you was just kidding. You’re busy turning to the book of John. I can’t do everything at the same time.
Tete Holy Spirit, agent of truth, hope you’ve been enjoying this series. God has been speaking to me. New things through this. And today as we talked about agent of truth that thought about what is an agent was an agent represents. And the definition of agent just means that representative who is authorized to act for or in the place of another, someone who speaks on another behalf. So if I’m an agent, really it’s not about me, it’s about someone else. I’ve thought of a sports agent come kind of a sports fan. And so when I thought about age, and I think about a sports agent, they represent athletes for negotiations, for the contracts, for their salaries, for endorsements, commercials, you know all that. An agent negotiates that all behind the scenes and, and the, I found the highest paid agent in 2018 I don’t know if you’re wanting to be a sports agent, but maybe this will inspire you if a, if you want to be successful in this area of the highest paid sports agent, 2018 Scott Boras who earned in commissions in one year, $105 million. And that’s for negotiating over one point $9 billion in contracts. So the purpose of the responsibility of the agent, if that number just totally threw you into tilt, we’ll bring it back together. The responsibility of the agent is to promote the athletes image, abilities, and career. So I wanted to zero in on the responsibility. The agent is to promote the, the, uh, the, um, what’s the word I’m looking for?
The appearance, if you will, of the athlete to promote them so that they, they can benefit their, their image, their reputation. They want, they want their athlete or their person, they want them to be in good standing because the more they promote their image, the more they benefit from it. So it’s like a cycle. I’ll promote you, you’ll benefit me, I’ll promote you. You’ll benefit me out of a relationship with you. I get benefited, but I’m going to keep promoting you and out of that relationship, I get bit of it. So this is what I thought about that the Holy Spirit is the agent of the heavenly father. He’s the age of, because his job is to promote the image of the father in heaven. Now, God, the father inhibits. So we’re going to look at it on father’s day as we talked about. Father’s Day is not the greatest thing in the world.
For some people it’s a challenging day for some because some either don’t know who their father is or they know who their father is and they don’t like them, or they’ve had a terrible experience, had been abused by her father. All kinds of different dynamics to go into play when we’re talking about father’s day. But I just want to make sure we look at today we’re going to look at who the heavenly father is, what he’s like. We’re going to promote him. A lot of times in sermons and messages, we’re talking about what we need to do, like how we need to live our lives, how we need to adjust. But today I want you to just put all that to side. Nothing today is about what you need to do. The goal of today is doing our best to promote the image of the heavenly father.
What is he like? Not Water we need to do, but what is he like, Oh, I’m my best, uh, agenda or goal today is to use the Bible to give an image of what the heavenly father’s like. Because I’ve found in my life, I know this was a case for me that too many times we gauge our image of the heavenly father based on our image of earthly fathers. Or we gauge the image of our heavenly father based on the image of ourselves. What we think about ourselves. We assume he thinks about us, how other people look at us. We assume that’s how he looks at, but I want to know what he’s like. He may know what God’s like. Anybody want to know what that’s like? So let’s, let’s look what it means. Maybe your perspective this morning of the heavenly father’s. He’s mean judgmental and impossible to please know.
Some people have that image of the heavenly father. They see this, this big dude sitting on a throne, a little bit of a scowl ready to zap you. If you get out of line and say this, he’s got that going on. Like did you think about sending? If you just think about, think about dare you, come on, think about it. Look at her again. You look at her again. I’ll hit you with something or this is how some people think about God. They have this image that, oh, oh, because I didn’t read my devotional this morning. That’s why I got the flat tire. Yeah, I knew it. I knew I should have read through that devotional this morning and there it is. That’s the way it is. God, God got me. He’s getting me back. I knew I shouldn’t have seen. I knew it shouldn’t have done that last night, so now this is what’s happening and I knew I should have been doing that, but now you don’t have the sickness I, you’ll God’s, God’s got me in this.
Oh, that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, God’s teaching me that they’ve got this image of the father that this is what he does. He waits for us to screw up and then he gets vengeance on us. He gets us back. He’s a back getter. He’s a get backer, but I hope to dispel a little bit. When was on the earth. He was a representative of the father. If you will know what the father’s like. Look at the life of Jesus. Philip asked Jesus this question one time. He said, Jesus, show us the father. Show us the heavenly father will believe you if you just show us the father. And Jesus said, Oh, Peter, oh, Phillip stopped looking up. Look at me. You’ve seen me. You’ve seen the father. Everything that I do I do because of the father’s. Speaks it through me. Everything that I say I’ve heard from him.
Everything I do, it’s the father in me that’s doing the works. I am the representative of the father. So when you want to know what, what the father’s like, oh we gotta do is look at Jesus. So now Jesus ascended into heaven. He left us the Holy Spirit. Look in John 15 verse 26 we’re going to find another holy spirit. The agent of the father. It says this in verse 26, but when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father, the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the father, he will testify of me. Let’s pray. Father, I just thank you that today you be glorified. Holy Spirit. I pray that you be the agent of truth for us. That you will show us what the father is like. You will teach us what the father’s like. I pray for every lie about the father to be exposed today.
Every false perception to be flipped upside down today. That we will see clearly what our heavenly father is like. I give you all the praise for it. In Jesus’ name. Everybody say a big amen this morning, uh, in verse 26, Jesus was talking, he says, but when the helper comes, every say, helper, helper, this word helper is word pair of Plato’s. It means to call alongside one who helps obviously, but through consoling, encouraging advising, an intercessor, a comforter, all these words could be used for the Holy Spirit. So you said, Jesus said when the helper comes. But here’s another definition I found about the holy spirit that might speak directly into what we’re talking about today. It’s a spokesperson or representative of someone else’s policy purpose or cause a spokesperson or representative for someone else’s policy purpose or cause. So the Holy Spirit came not for his own cause, not for his own purpose, to be a spokesperson or a representative for heaven.
He came to tell us what heaven was like. He came to tell us what the father’s like. He came to tell us what Jesus is like. He came to tell us what’s on the heart of heaven for us. He has a spokesperson for them. He’s a representative. He’s an agent. Holy Spirit’s in agent for heaven. He’s not undercover agent. Maybe he’s undercover at this Mt. Carmel Illinois Church. He’s inside of us. He’s an undercover agent. So now notice what it says though, who I sent to you from the father, the spirit of truth. Here’s what we know about the Holy Spirit as a representative, as an agent. He is an agent of truth. This is the truth. Not many truths. Not like, well, that’s your truth, not my truth, and I’m okay with this. Whether you’re watching online or right here listening to this. It’s okay if you have differing world, you know, people will say this, there is no absolute truth.
That’s your truth, but that’s not my truth. Here’s what I do know is there is 100% absolute truth. We just don’t know it yet. I don’t know it all yet. I, I’ve got partial, but I don’t know at all. And so if you have a different view of maybe you’re watching this, you’re like, hey, tell, I don’t believe in that God stuff I don’t believe in. I just believe we through evolution that we develop with that. That’s cool. That’s okay to believe that. I’m just saying that someday we’re going to know whether God created us, whether there is a god or whether we evolve. We’re going to know there is an absolute truth. We just may not know it yet. Does that make sense? So there is absolute truth. There’s just lack of knowledge of absolute truth. There’s lack of awareness of it. So we just got to understand what God wants us to do in this and figure out what does that look like for us.
Holy Spirit will tell us the truth or reality. Actuality from solid, solid and binding, not perceived truth, but reality knows what the spirit of truth does. Who proceeds from the father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the means to go out from means that he leaves from there. So the father check this out. They’ll have the heavenly father sins, the Holy Spirit out. He proceeds from the father. So everything that comes from the Holy Spirit, this is what we need to know about this. Everything that comes from the Holy Spirit comes from the father. That’s the connection. Everything we get from the Holy Spirit is the originator of it or the, the initial point of it is coming from the father. It’s proceeding from the father. So when the Holy Spirit speaks to us about the father is he’s giving us the truth because it’s coming straight from the father like, okay, what does, here’s what I think.
It’s so valuable. I think when we properly understand the father will have a different relationship with the father. I’m still growing in this, I’m still growing in this, but, but maybe you didn’t have a great relationship with the father or maybe you don’t. Maybe you got a different perspective of the father, but today we’re going to address what I believe the Bible says, what the father’s like, and I found seven God of statements that describe what he is like. Again, it’s not about you and I, it’s not about what you have to do today. I’m just wanting to describe him and what that means to you in relationship with him. So seven God of saving. It’s like God of this God of that to describe him. Let’s look at the first one. Are you ready? Seven God of statements of truth about the heavenly father.
What is he liked? The first one, he’s the god of the living, the god of the living. Matthew 22 verse 32 says, this is Jesus talking, I am the God of Abraham, the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the god of the dead, but of the living talking about the god, the heavenly father. He says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say I was the god of Abraham. He says, I am the God of Abraham. When Jesus is saying this, this is 1700 years after Abraham was already dead, and he says, I am the God of Abraham because I’m the god of the living, not the god of the debt. I’m not seeing. God is not in the I was business. He’s in I am business. He said, I am.
I’m the god of the living. The word living, the word dead there means dead body like a corpse means lifeless, useless or ineffective. The word living means to be alive full of life, to live again or resurrection life, so he’s the God that’s full of life. When things seem life less, if you’ve got a situation that seems lifeless, he’s the god of life. He’s the God that’s full of life. He’s always thinking life. He’s always thinking new. He’s the god of the living, not the god of the debt. I’m not the god of the ineffective. He says, I’m the god of the effective. I’m the god of living. I’m the God. He said, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saying, I made a covenant of promise with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He says, I will fulfill that covenant. I am a living covenant. I’m not dead.
People may die, but I don’t dye my promises. Don’t die. I’m the god of the living. And they also said it’s resurrection life. So things that may seem dead to us are not dead to him. What does it mean? Resurrection Life. It means that even if we think something is dead, God says, I’m the god of the living. I can bring it back to life. What does that speak to me and you about him being the God of the living? That means it’s never too late. Even if you think it’s too far gone, Chad, I, I’m too far gone. I’m too far gone. I, I messed up where my marriage is too far gone or my kids are too far gone. He says, I’m the God of Resurrection Life, even if it’s dead. Martha came to him when Jesus showed up at Lazarus grave and, and she said, Yo Jesus, if you would’ve been here earlier, Lazarus wouldn’t have died.
He says, Martha, what’s up? I’m the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though they were dead, yet shall they live? He says, I’m the god of the living death. Where is your victory? Where is your sting? He said, it’s lost. Death has lost all power cause I’m the god of the living. That’s what he’s telling you. If you believe in me, even a few die now, if you have a faith or life in Jesus Christ, even if my body falls dead in this earth, says to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, I am still going to live because Jesus is the god of the living. So what the heavenly father, he’s telling us about this. He’s the God of Resurrection Life. If you think your situation’s too late this morning, no today that he’s the god of the living. If you think it’s too far gone, he’s the god of Olivia’s.
Second one. Let’s look at this. He’s the God of grace. If I know he’s the god of living in, it’s never too late that he’s can resurrect anything that he’s always wanting to bring life to me, life, my situations, my thoughts, resurrection I need to know is the god of grace who amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found was blind, but now I see he’s the god of grace. What does it mean here in row? In first Peter Chapter fibers, Tim, but may the God of all grace who called us to easy, eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After you suffered a while, perfect. Establish, strengthen, and settle you. He’s the God of grace. That word grace means favor, kindness, goodwill given freely whether it’s deserved or not. We need to know this about our heavenly father.
He’s the God of grace. In other words, he has favor and goodwill towards you whether we deserve it or not. He’s the God of grace. I’m coming to you. He says, whether you come to me or not, I’m coming to you, God, because I’m a god of grace. Grace is unmerited favor. It’s undeserving. It’s like you get these thoughts. God, I just don’t deserve it. I don’t even deserve to praise God this morning. I don’t even deserve to sing a bid so bad. I’ve had those thoughts. I know. Hey, he’s the god of grace. He’s a god of grace. Religion has a hard time with grace. Religion has a hard time with grace because religion wants you to earn it. Religion is like the old fashioned way. Some of you, I’m going to date myself on that commercial reference. You know, I’m talking about we to do things, earn money the old fashioned way, they uh, on it.
Some people want their salvation the old fashioned way. They want to own it. In other words, they want to be a good little boy and girl and as long as they’re good, God loves them. Yes, they do. Your good boy. Yes you are Jesus. They queue. Thank you, father. Yes, I’ve been good. I read my Bible today. Yes, I did. Oh, you’re such a good little boy. We laugh, but I’m telling you, that’s how some people see the father and so he’s telling you I’m a god of grace. I’ve already decided. He says, by grace, are you saved through faith? It’s not of yourselves. It’s a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. He’s a god of grace. So if you’ve screwed up royally, we need to be thankful that he’s a god of grace, that he gives me what I don’t deserve.
Whew. Thank you lord for your grace. Thank you for your amazing grace on our life. Come on, let’s give him praise for his grace. He’s a god of grace, God of grace. It’s a story of the product. We’ll son the protocol stuff. Son took everything from the father and and wasted all of his money. Inheritance on rights. Riotous living. The Bible says, and then he, he says, I got to go back to my father and you would think earthly definition, but the have the earthly father in our mind, sometimes earthly if be setting there in his room and just waiting for that boy to come crawling back to him and say, I’m so sorry that I’m so I’m so, yeah, you’re sorry. All right. Took all my inheritance and wasted. I hope you felt better. How all those women have you enjoyed yourself? Run with the pigs now, where are you at now?
Where most would think that’s how God is and they view the heavenly father, but what is the picture of the prodigal son then when he was still a far off, here comes the father. Come here, boy. Come here, put a robe on him, put a ring on him. He loved him and embraced him. Why? Because we got a god of grace. Woo. Change your perspective. That’s the way God is. Well, I don’t deserve. I know he did also. He still loves us are though deserve. I know it’s the God of grace. We got to destroy a lot of pride to receive the God of grace because we want to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and God says, no, no, you’re never going to get it. You’re never going to be enough. I came to you because you can never come to me. So just receive it, God of grace, and we can preach all day on that one, but let me just move on.
I’ll get through this app where sin abounds. The Bible says grace does much more abound. So you’re watching this or listening this, you like Chad, you just don’t understand how bad I am. I mean, I’m an awful center. I mean by blind. I’m like top 10 center. I’m telling you. I’m like, yeah, but whatever. Paul said, I’m the cheapest of all the sinners, but he wrote about the grace of God where Sin Abounds grace much more abounds. He’s a god of grace. Let’s look at the next one. Third one. I put three and four together. It’s one scripture in Romans 15 verse five he’s the God of patience and comfort. Now may the God of patience and comfort grants you to be likeminded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. Let’s look at the first one there. The God of patients. We need to know that our heavenly father’s, he got of patience.
Everybody say patience. Woo. He may need patients in your life. The reason sometimes we assume God is not the god of patients because we’re not very patient. We assume the father’s like us. I’m not broad brushstroke. Some of you are probably better than me, but, but sometimes we, we take our characteristics and we super impose those over on to the father and we say this is how he feels and we’re not God, but he says he’s the god of patients. Here’s what patients means. It’s a Greek word that means to stay under, to literally hold up under something. It means endurance, constancy or cheerful expectations. The God of patients. What does it mean to us? By definition, it means that he’s going to stay with us through difficult times. He’s going to support us so that we will not be crushed by the weight of our circumstances.
He’s a god of patients. He’s gonna stay with you. He’s going to stay with you. He’s not going to give up on you. He’s not going to quit. He’s going to stay. He’s going to endure. You may give him all kinds of, you may give up on yourself, but he’s never gonna give up on you. The Bible tells us that if we become faithless, he remains faith fall. I’m thankful he’s the god of patients. He’s needed all kinds of patients with this oh boy, right here because it took me a long time. It still takes me a long time to get some things he wants me to get and I think he still loves me. Yeah. Cause he’s patient with me sometimes. I believe he’s your, uh, he’s got to look at Jesus. Boy, he’s slow, but he’s coming around. He’s slow, but he’s coming around.
He’s patient with me. Things I should get, like that may take me a while. I want you to know he’s the god of patience. When you’re not patient with yourself, he’s patient with you. When you quit and you give up on yourself, he’s still with you. He’s patient with you. He’s constant. He’s also, it says here, the God of Comfort, the God of comfort. Second Corinthians one three says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Come on, paint a picture of the heavenly father. He’s a father of mercy. That means he has an awareness and a sympathy for your suffering. He knows what’s going on with you and he’s the god of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation at word. Comfort means to be encouraged or consoled, comforts us in all of our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
He’s the God of all comfort in all our tribulation, in all our tribulation, in all our tribulation it and say he’s the God of all comfort taking us out of all tribulation. He says, I’m the God of comfort in the middle of your tribulation. That even when you’re in the middle of what does it tell me about him. He says, chat. If you’re in it, I’m in it. If you’re going through something, I’m going through something. I’m going to come for two in all tribulation. I’m not, I’m not comforted when I don’t have tribulation. He says, yeah, I’m going to comfort you. Right Smack Dab in the middle of it. That’s the God we serve. He’s a god of comfort is I get in there with Ya. Roll up my sleeves. Hey, come on. We’re going to make it through this. We’re going to come out on the other side and why does he do that? He comforts us in our tribulation so that we can in turn comfort others in the same situation with the same comfort we have received. Sometimes some reasons why I’m in something. It’s because he wants to come in at with me, bring me out because he’s going to bring someone across my path that’s in the same thing I just came out of and he says, what I just gave you, I want you to give it to them.
Why am I yelling? I don’t know. I’m just excited. Anybody thankful that God is the God of comfort? He comforts us. He comforts us in tribulation. We got to see him as the comforter. Some
of your big strong dudes, you need to see him as the god of comfort. You need to see him as the god of mercy. Sometimes we have a false perception of our heavenly father based on the perception of our earthly father. So maybe you’d had a father, some you didn’t ever have a father that would come for two in difficult time. They’d say, suck it up, buttercup. Suffered silence, get over it. I got all right, but you never had a heavenly father. You know some of the, some of the weight. As I was preparing this and and looking over what he’s like, I said, God, I feel the weight of being a father with a responsibility of showing my kids what the heavenly father’s like. And I’m like, oh, I’m miserable. Failure.
So many things I fall short because I want them to know what the heavenly father is like and he’s not like me. He’s so much better than me. He’s faithful, he’s genuine, he’s kind, he’s loving you want and love to heavenly father. He is amazing. I’m not amazing, but he’s amazing. So when you see that we understand that this is who he is, we got to embrace him. He’s the comforter. We need to go to him in times of trouble, not run away from him. And just because we didn’t get a picture of it on earth, it doesn’t mean he can’t be that for you.
He’s the God of all comfort. Maybe you’ve never had a dad who came up and said, come mirrors, come. Come here. So I’m so proud of become your daughter. I’m so proud of you. I love you all, man. You’re doing the best you can. I present some of you have never heard those words from your father, but how much you say he’s the God of all comfort. That if you never heard it from here, you can hear it from here. He’s the God of all comfort. He wants to tell you this morning, he wants you to see him. Has that, that he comes to comfort you. He says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. He’s the God of all comfort who? That’s cool. The next one. He’s, he’s the god of Hope, God of hope. Romans 1513
now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The word hope means to look forward with confidence and expectation to the future. Why do we need hope for a situation? Usually we need hope. If the present is not very good, we want something. We got to have hope for the things that are going to change. He’s the god of hope. What does that mean for me is he is never looking at where I have been. He’s always looking at where I’m going to go. He always looks at me with hope. He always looks at me with expectation. He’s the god of hope for me. He’s not sarcastic. He’s not looking at me going, well, I’ll tell you what. You’ve given me. No reason to believe that you’re ever going to change.
I’ve been watching you your whole life and you’ve been this way your whole life. Seed from there to there every time and time and time and time and time again. So I’m telling you, that’s why you’re going to be no, he’s the god of hope. He’s saying, today’s a day. Chad’s going to turn it around. I believe today’s a day he’s going to get better. He’s the god of hope for you. He’s always looking forward for you. He’s dragging us out of our past, into our future. We want to Waller sometimes. I’m so miserable, I don’t deserve it. A business wave, oh, I’m always going to be God says, no, you’re not. You can do better. No, I won’t. Yes, you get below.
I hear this argument arguments, strong word with this discussion with, with Lucas the other day on the tee ball field,
it’s got into tea bowl this year. I could do a whole lot about the tea bowl experience for all of my kids are, they’re all very similar. This is just the current one, but so, so we’re there and, and he’s out in the field and you know how it is when when the guy hit a ball is just like a flock. Everybody hurts to the ball. There was nobody plays any positions, you know, they’re running from the outfield or run running from everywhere. Everybody’s out for the ball and he was sitting there in his position, I believe he’s at third base at this time and someone hits it and it goes pets. I said, go get it Lucas, and he runs over that. Well, there’s like five of them already on top of the ball, but he comes back. I told you I’m never going to get it.
So they hit the ball again and again. It goes a little closer to him. This time Eddie runs over, somebody beats him the ball and said, see, I’m never going to get, but see, God is the god of hope that says next time it’s my seeing that in our life we make mistakes and things go wrong and we get just kept telling herself, I’m never gonna amount to anything. It’s never going to work. My marriage has never going to change. It’s never going to get better. I’m never going to get it. I’m never going to get through this. I’m never going to get over this. It’s going to stay with me. He’s the god of hope and he wants you to be filled with all hope in believing, because if you don’t believe, we can’t have hope, if you don’t believe it’s going to be different, have Lucas never believes he’s going to get the ball. He’ll never have hope to get the ball. If you’ll never believe that things are going to change, you can’t have hope because hope comes from believing. I believe it’s going to change. I believe God’s going to come through. I believe it’s gonna make it. I believe it got so now I have hope. He’s the god of hope because he believes in you.
He believes in you more than you believe in yourself. Let’s look at the last, last two. I’m, we’ll put them together.
One verse, the God of Love and God of peace. Second Corinthians 1311 finally, brethren, farewell, become complete, be of good comfort, be of one mind. Live in peace and the god of love and peace will be with you. First One god of love. We need to know this about our heavenly father. He’s the god of love. What kind of love, this word love. There is the Greek word [inaudible] which means the highest form of love. The God kind of love, universal unconditional love regardless of circumstances goes beyond emotions to the extent of seeking the best for others. This is the love that God has for you. Unconditional love, always looking out for your best Mt. Carmel Illinois Church. This is the love that he thinks about you all the time. It’s unconditional, how he loves you. Here’s what it looks. It says in first John Four eight he does not.
He who does not love does not know God for God is love. We know this, we’ve said this, but you got to know in your heart this morning, God doesn’t have love. God is love. He is love. He don’t know anything else but to love. He doesn’t know how to operate except by love. He just loves you. How does he love you? Look what he did in verse nine in this, the love of God was manifested towards us. That God has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him in. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a perpetuation propitiation for our sins. That word propitiation just means to extinguish or in the guilt of it. Here’s how much he loves us. He loves us so much that he sent his only son to die for our sins. Not that we loved him. The Bible says, but that he loved
us. How many people do you love unconditionally that don’t love you?
I might think that process through a little differently. I might being God want to know how many people are actually going to receive my son before I send him to die,
but he said, no, I’m going to give him in faith because I love them. Love. I’d experienced one time with God and I was seeking after God and wanting God to do something in my life. Want him go to change with this has just been a few years ago and God spoke to my heart and he said, Chet, I can’t make you believe I love you as some point. You just got to believe it. I was wanting to feel it.
I was wanting to feel loved.
You’ve got to believe it. I love you. I’m sold on you. I’m committed to you.
I’m all in for you unconditionally. Whether you love me or not, I’ve already decided I love you. He’s the god of love. He loves you. You got to receive it. He operates out of love. His motivations towards you are love. He’s not a manipulator. Some of you’ve been taken advantage of in different places, so you wonder and you don’t trust people because you’re not sure if they’re coming at you from the right angle, but I’m telling you everything God does for you is out of love for you. Trust him. Why is he telling you not to go into that relationship? Why is he telling you not to go into that situation? Why is he telling you to stay out of that scene? Because he loves you some because he’s mad at you. He loves you. He wants the best for you. Nobody loves you as much as God. Your heavenly father is straight up crazy about you. He’s not mad about you and Matt in a bad way. He’s mad in a good way. He’s madly in love with you. He’s the god of love. Let’s look at the last one.
Peace. God of peace.
The word peace there in the Greek means a state, a state of being not a feeling, a relationship or an attitude. The opposite of war, disturbance or hostility.
Check this out about the heavenly father. This is what we need to know about him.
He is the god of peace. So he is a in a state of being the opposite
of war or hostility. That’s the state he exists in. He’s in God of peace. So what does that tell me? That tells me that he’s not hostile towards me. He’s not hostile towards you. He’s not angry at you. He’s not angry about sin. Let me give you some scripture for this. Ephesians chapter two. Jesus, for he himself is our peace
who has made both one and broken down the middle wall of separation. What’s that middle wall of separation between God and man that sin because he’s broken down that wall having abolished in his flesh, the imitator. Listen to this man. He’s the god of peace. That is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in himself Jesus, one new man from the two, thus making peace and that he might reconcile. Check this out. Reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death. Are you hearing me putting to death the imitate between God and man. Jesus died on the cross and put to death the inequity and he came and preached peace to you who are far off and to those who are near for through him. Jesus. We both have access by one spirit to the father. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s the god of peace. There is no Inma t between us and the father anymore. How does that, how does that translate to many times people have this ideology about the father. They think because of sin. God is reacting and bringing judgment. I remember when the floods came and Katrina in New Orleans. I remember how many people talking about, it’s the judgment of God for the sin of that city. The sin. God’s judging them.
Get what they deserve. I’m telling you, God’s not gonna put up with that he’s a righteous God and sins gotta be dealt with. I’m here to tell you, according to Ephesians, sin has already been dealt with.
Yeah,
God’s not reacting to sin anymore. If God gets angry because of sin today than the blood of Jesus was not enough. Have a reason we got to get this because he’s got a piece. He’s not mad at the world. He’s not mad at the United States. Well, if they don’t straighten up, I’ll tell you what. Judgements come to the United States. No, no, no. It’s no stop
has come to the United States.
Now. If they don’t choose God, then they get the fruit of whatever they choose to, but it’s not on God’s hand. God’s releasing. He says, I come and I preached peace to you who are far off. I said, peace to you is who he preached. He’s already paid the penalty for sin. He’s not judging sin. Sin has already been judged. If my sin that I commit now causes God to react, then as I said before, the blood of Jesus didn’t pay for my sin, but God’s not looking at my sin anymore. He’s looking at the mercy seat and he sees the blood of Jesus said, I am sorry I can’t see anything. The blood of Jesus has already covered his head. He’s the god of peace.
You need to receive that. Are you saying I can live however I want? Well, you can if you want, but you’re going to get the fruit of however you live. All I’m saying is God is offering peace to you. He’s offering you wholeness. He’s offering salvation to you. He’s offering love to you. He’s offering all this to us and all we got to do is receive it, but too many times people see the father as somebody angry and ready to snap at somebody. Do you think about sending, I saw your thoughts. Listen, don’t you dare raise your hands and worship. I saw what you were thinking about that. That’s so what you looked at on Instagram. You looked at that and then you’re going to come in and try and sing songs to me, you better not even think about it. You think I’m playing. These are real thoughts that people deal with.
So they stay in this beaten down state of I’m just no good. I’m worthless piece of trash. I just don’t deserve it. So we stay there and it’s never god. God already knows where we are. He knows how low we are. He’s not surprised. That’s why he’s the God of grace. And he came down to us and he says, I want to bring you up into righteousness, but all you have to do is come to me.
He preaches piece. But we’ve got to be careful because we have this stereotype in our mind what the heavenly father’s life. And some people struggle to receive him as as this because they just think they don’t deserve. They want the harsh. They think they want. You know, when I hear people that say,
you just need to be harder on saying, I’ll tell you those Mt. Carmel Illinois Church people, they, they better use. Don’t be so soft on that you need to preach about the center.
When I hear people like that, but my experience is those people don’t have the fruit of a loving relationship with a father in their life. They’re wanting something for others that they don’t have for themselves. And so what I’m saying is that this is the God I, I just give seven. He’s so much more than these seven seven but he’s, I want you to note this morning, he’s the god of the living not of the dead, so it’s not too late. It’s not too late this morning.
He’s the god of the living. He’s the God of grace. He’s already decided what he thinks about you. He’s already all in for you. He’s already come to you. He’s the god of patients. He will never give up on you. He’s the God of comfort. Whatever you’re in, he’s in it with you. I don’t know which of these seven you need to redefine, but I believe this has, God was speaking to this, this to me, he said, I want people to know what I’m like. He said, too many people staying away from me when they should be running towards me. They’re scared of me and he says, because they don’t know me. If they just knew me, they would come running to me because I’m the god of love. Come you all want to give you a big hug and Kansas. You’re like, no, that’s not the father. I tell you what, the father, he’s stern. He’s distanced. Keep it. No. That’s the way you see father, the way you see fathers, not necessarily how he is. Just because that’s how you interact with your earthly father doesn’t mean that’s how he is. He may be all [inaudible], Gushi, gimme all be wanting to give you kids give me or give me like a, we don’t do that.
We’re men.
That’s great. That’s cool. I’m not saying you change, but I’m just saying how you see him determines how we see ourselves. Cause when I don’t see him rightly then I can’t see myself rightly because the father in me is going to give me a picture of what he wants me to be. So
[inaudible]
thanks so much for watching with us. We love our Mt. Carmel Illinois Church online family and we invite you to connect with us. We have a few different ways you can do that on our website@theroads.church as well as on social media. You can text to give by texting the amount, space roads to four five, seven, seven, seven and we’d love to pray for any needs you might have. So send us a message and let us know how we can partner with you in bringing the light and love of Jesus to your world.