GOD IS FAITHFUL-PART 1: DR MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 27TH MARCH, 2022.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: GOD IS FAITHFUL – PART 1
DATE: 27TH MARCH, 2022
TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 7:9
Let’s rise up together as we take our DECLARATION OF INCREASE in this Year of Increase:
Are you ready? Say with me:
I confess today that Jesus Christ is my LORD and Saviour. In Him I have life, His Abundant Life.
The Lord is my Light and Strength. As He is, so has He made me. By His Spirit I Increase in Word and in Wisdom. In Faith and in Favour.
The Lord has said: “In Blessing, I will bless you. In multiplying I will Multiply your Seed.”
So, I can boldly say: My God shall Increase me more and more. What I Place in God’s Hands grows into Overflow.
Though I begin small, my end shall Greatly Increase.
In this Year of Increase, I grow in Grace and in Strength. To be all that God wants me to be.
In Jesus’ Name – AMEN!
I am Speaking today on – GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Last week I spoke on – GOD IS ABLE. And you can read full Text of that Message on the Label of DMC or via this Link:
And the same God who is ABLE is also FAITHFUL.
Everybody say: GOD IS FAITHFUL!
Deuteronomy 7:9 (NKJV) and this is what it says:
Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the Faithful God who keeps Covenant and Mercy for a thousand Generations with those who love Him and keep His Commandments;
… know that the Lord your God, He is God, the “FAITHFUL GOD”.
Knowing Who God is, helps us to relate to Him better.
As in all relationships; the more you know a Person, the better you relate to him.
The more you know your Husband (or wife) the better you relate to him or her;
The more you know your Children (each one) the better you relate to them.
The more you know your Parents, the better you relate to them.
It’s in all relationships. Ignorance disturbs relationships!
So many People relate with God without Knowing God. Our relationship with God may be sincere, but may also come out of ignorance.
And one of the things we have to know on relating with God is that – HE IS FAITHFUL.
… Everybody say: GOD IS FAITHFUL – Amen!
Now, in Biblical Hebrew the word ‘Faith’ and ‘Faithful’ are related.
So when we operate in Faith, we operate based on the Faithfulness of God.
If you don’t understand the Faithfulness of God, you will not know how to deal in Faith.
… And I will touch a bit on that, next week.
DMC NOTES: So keep a date with DMC Media Crew for this Message!
Let’s look at our Bible Text again – Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the FAITHFUL GOD.
What does the word FAITHFUL mean?
The Hebrew word that is translated Faithful ‘Amon’ (or Aman) has a close relationship with the word that is also translated ‘AMEN.’ They come from the same root word. AMEN and FAITHFUL are the same.
So, when we say God is Faithful; we can also say God is Amen.
Amen means, it is so.
… And it shall be so, for ever – Amen.
GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Three (3) Words that are related to Faithful:
- First, when something is Faithful, it means – IT IS PERMANENT.
… It is Permanent – it does not Change!
So, when we say God is Faithful, we mean He is Permanent – He does not Change.
- Secondly, when we say something is Faithful, it means – IT IS ESTABLISHED.
… It is Firm and Secure; doesn’t move.
- And the third one is RELIABLE.
Something that can be trusted – That is what that word Faithful implies.
… It implies Permanence, Establishment and Reliability.
Now Faithfulness can be found both in God and in human beings – But we are focusing on God.
The word ‘Faithful’ in the Hebrew language is a Picture Language. So most of the words in Hebrew create images in your Mind.
One of the images that is created about something that is Faithful, is the Pillar on which a door swings.
… The Pillar on which a door swings!
Isn’t it interesting?
So God is Faithful – He is the Pillar on which the door swings.
Every door has a Pillar attached to it. A door moves, but the Pillar doesn’t move.
And the door by itself, cannot open unless it has a Pillar it is attached to.
So, if you bring this to our Knowledge of God, it means that every door that God opens; every opportunity that God gives you; every Miracle that God does for you is hooked up to a Pillar – His Faithfulness.
Without His Faithfulness, nothing can move in your Life
His is the Faithful God; He is the Constant and Permanent, Who makes things move in our lives.
God is Faithful!
Without God’s Faithfulness, there will be no open doors, and there will be no Blessings.
Let’s look at the Phrase – GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Every Blessings we receive from God comes from His Faithfulness.
And so what do we mean when we say: GOD IS FAITHFUL?
- First, we mean that GOD DOES NOT CHANGE.
It may seems like an Ordinary Statement or Observation; but it is a very Powerful Statement that God does not Change.
Why does God not Change?
It is because God never grows and never improves!
Why do Human Beings Change?
It is because we grow and we improve
So what I said (for example) when I was six (6) years old; when I grow and I improve, I will not say the same thing.
If at six (6) years old I said – “When I grow up I will be a Carpenter.” I may say that when I six (6) years old. But when I grow up I will not be a Carpenter.
Why is it that I will not be what I said I would be? – Because I grew up!
I will say, when I was a child that’s what I thought.
Now I know better. I have gone to School, I have improved, I have known New things, I have become better.
So I am not going to be a Carpenter – I have become a Pastor!
What has Changed? – Growth and Improvement!
But God doesn’t grow! And God doesn’t improve.
So there is no Point in time when God would grow to a Point that He would Change something He said at another time.
What God said a Million Years ago, He will not grow a Million Years later and say:
“Oh, a Million Years ago, I was God but I was a Young God!” Now I have become an Older God; I Am Wiser and more Mature; so I cannot do what I said a Million Years ago because I have grown and I have improved.”
God doesn’t go through that – God is the same.
He doesn’t Change – What He said a Million Years ago, is still relevant today.
… Because God Does not Change.
For us as Human Beings, it is very difficult to imagine anything that does not Change because Change is the Constant of our experience.
But to God, not Changing is the Constant!
So what he said yesterday to your father, He will not Improve or outgrow it.
He will always do what He says – He would do because He doesn’t Change, He doesn’t grow and He doesn’t improve.
God doesn’t get better! The God we have now is not a better Version of the God Noah worshipped – He is the same God. The ungrowing, the unimproving God at all times.
… God does not Change!
And because He does not Change, He is Reliable – That’s why we can rely on Him.
To be Reliable is to be Trustworthy.
It mean I can Build on Him; I can Establish on Him; I can lay my Foundation in Him because He doesn’t Change.
You know, it is very interesting that when you consider our Earth; our Earth is a very, very, very Changing Earth – We know that the Earth moves very, very fast.
It is said that the Earth moves at the Speed of a thousand seven (1,700) kilometers per hour – Very fast!
… A thousand seven hundred – That is a very fast Speed.
And not only that; whilst it is doing that, it is moving at Twenty seven (27) kilometers Per Second around the Sun, to give us a year.
So for us to say – “Next Year it will be better” the Sun has to run at Twenty seven (27) kilometers Per Second to give you Next Year.
At this Space of a thousand seven (1,700) kilometers Per Hour (on its own axis) to Twenty seven (27) kilometers Per Second (around the Sun);
We consider the Earth Solid enough to build on it! We build Skyscrapers on it. Something that is moving at this pace;
And yet we find it difficult to build on God, Who doesn’t Change, Who doesn’t improve, Who doesn’t get better.
If you can build a house on this Earth, you have no excuse not to have a Foundation in God!
God is Faithful.
Why? – Because He is there! He is called the Ancient of Days. He doesn’t improve, He doesn’t get better.
If we live for another one Billion years, God would not be a different God. He will still be the same. From Eternity to Eternity, He is still the same – God is Faithful!
… But not only is God Faithful;
- GOD’S WORD IS FAITHFUL.
His Word is Faithful.
Numbers 23:19 says: God is not a Man, that He should lie, Nor a son of Man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
God is Faithful; and because of that, His Word is Faithful – Why? Because His Word carries His Worth.
Your word carries your worth; my word carries my worth. If I say “I will give you a hundred million dollars.” I Promise you I will give you a hundred million dollars next week about this time.
That word carries my worth! If I don’t have the hundred million dollars, then that word has no Power because that word is empty! I have no worth.
But if Somebody else, like some of those crazy guys with a lot of money (I don’t even want to mention their names). Those crazy guys who owns so much money – Hundreds of billions!
If one of them (as crazy as they are) tells you “I will give you a hundred million dollars next week by this time.” That word carries their worth. Do they have the worth to support the word? – Yes!
All that will be left will be whether they are Willing. Not whether they can, but whether they are Faithful.
So when God says to you – “I will Bless you.” His Word carries His Worth!
So you have to define whether He has the Worth – Whether He has the currency of. Blessing.
If He has the ability to Bless then His Word (that He will Bless you) is Faithful – It’s as Faithful as His Personality.
So God is Faithful; His Word is Faithful. His Word is Reliable.
He never Changes – So His Word doesn’t Change and He honours His Word.
“… Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He Spoken, and will He not make it good?”
He does not just Honour His Word selectively, He honours His Word fully.
Now when it comes to that (may be next week, we will deal a little more about that). You know, many times People say – ‘But I have believed God and it didn’t happen.’
Because we believe God selectively – We don’t believe God as God; we believe something that sounds nice to us.
So we can go through the Bible, picking nice Verses and not Picking the whole Counsel of God.
And think that if we can clearly pick the Word of God, then good thing is going to happen to us.
That’s not how it happens! God watches over His Word (the entirely of His Word) to Perform it. He is Faithful, His Word is Faithful.
So, when you say ‘I believe in God’ you have to know that there is something about God which does not Change.
… And it is that which does not Change that He uses to open doors for you – His Word is Faithful!
So first, God is Faithful.
Everybody say: GOD IS FAITHFUL.
God’s Word is Faithful.
Everybody say: GOD’S WORD IS FAITHFUL.
- GOD’S WAYS ARE FAITHFUL.
His Ways are Faithful.
Psalms 18:30 says – As for God, His Way is Perfect; The word of the Lord is Proven; He is a Shield to all who trust in Him.
His Ways are Perfect; His Ways are Consistent with Who He is.
The God of the Bible is not a capricious God – That means He is not Freakful, He’s not Temperamental, He is not given to Unstable Actions. He is not a confused God Who does things by heart. His Ways are Perfect!
We were just Singing that – “There is nothing that God cannot do; What He cannot do doesn’t exist.”
There is truth in that!
“But although God can do all things; He cannot do all things” – It seems like a contradiction!
God can do all things; but He cannot do all things – because He cannot do anything that is inconsistent with Who He is – He cannot!
He cannot under any circumstance (even if He tries) He can’t because His Personality would Prevent Him from doing what is against Himself.
So God cannot lie – He cannot!
If He says something which you think is a lie, the moment He says it, it would be true.
When Abraham said: “I have no Child” – That is the current truth. Until God says: “You are the father of many Nations.”
The moment God says that, one of them must be a liar – Either Abraham is a liar, or God is a liar.
Once God had Spoken it, it ceases to be a lie. It is the truth – God cannot lie. He cannot!
If you are dead Lazarus, and He says: ‘Come forth!’ – One has to be a lie (and it can’t be God).
So death had to be a lie and God has to be true.
God can NOT lie! God can NOT fail. God can NOT break His Covenant because all of these would be acting against His Faithfulness.
SO GOD’S WAYS ARE FAITHFUL – What does that mean? His Ways are Consistent.
That is why Job; in the time of his greatest affliction, where every experience is contrary to what he expected, he still knew that God’s Ways are Faithful.
So he said: “I can’t explain what is going on, but I know God’s Ways are Faithful – I know my Redeemer lives; He will Stand at the Last Day.”
… That is the Consistency with His Nature.
Job could then say: “Even if He strikes me,I will trust Him.”
Why? – Because he has come to trust that God is Faithful, His Word is Faithful and His Ways are Faithful.
God not capricious – He doesn’t get up one morning and do just something. No! Everything He does is in consistence with Who He is.
That’s why we can trust Him – The Unchanging God; The Faithful God. He does not lie. What He says He will do!
He keeps Covenant to a thousand Generations; even to those who break His Covenant.
He made a Covenant to David; David’s son (Solomon) broke the Covenant. But God said, if you are Unfaithful, it will not affect Me – I will remain Faithful.
Even when you are not there to supervise the Covenant, God would always be there to keep His Covenant – He keeps His Covenant both to the Living and to the dead.
You know, the Marriage Covenant is “Till death do us Part” because we are Humans.
But our Covenant with God doesn’t end with death because God never dies.
And if one Party to the Covenant dies, the Other Party (the Unchanging One) would Supervise that Covenant and see to it that it becomes a Reality.
He is Faithful in all His Ways! – That’s the God we serve; That’s the God we worship, That’s the God we believe in.
… And that is why we can build our Faith on Him.
We sang that Song:
“On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand;
All other Ground is sinking Sand.”
Including the ones we build Skyscrapers on! Because one day there will be an Earthquake and we will realise – “Oh, the Earth is not as Stable as we thought it was.”
And we have invested so much on Presumption that the Earth is Faithful. But the Earth is not Faithful.
There’s only One Faithful – And He is God Jehovah God Almighty!
And so the Bible says: Those who build on Him would not be put to shame. Those who Trust Him, would not be put to Shame.
Having Faith in the Faithful God allows you to receive from the Faithfulness of God.
We would talk about that Next Week – Watch Out for this Coverage on the Label of DMC Media Team Platform for this Message.
Because that is Faith and Faithfulness connect.
Our Faith is not in ourselves; our Faith is not even in our Prayer. You can’t say: “As for this thing, I have Prayed and God will hear.”
God doesn’t answer your Prayer because of the Intensity of your Prayer. Because much of your Prayer as intensed as it is, may even be ‘Off Course’.
You may be Praying amiss – You are Praying sincerely, but it’s all blank. With Fasting behind it (laughs)!
If you Presume that God hears your Prayer because you denied yourself food, you are crazy!
God doesn’t answer your Prayer because you didn’t eat; He answers your Prayer because He is Faithful.
Our Faith therefore, is not in us, but in God – Who He is.
It is not in – How many times I Pray, how many times I Fast; how much Prayer I Prayed, how intensed my Prayer – That are all Good! But that is not the basis on which God answers our Prayers.
If His Faithfulness is not there, no door will swing!
When we ask Him to open a door, He doesn’t do it because of us – He does it because HE IS.
Believe you me, no matter what you ask me to do, if I can’t do it, I can’t do it! You can kneel in front of me – Pastor help me! Roll on the floor, cry, Fast, do whatever.
But I will say: “I can’t do anything about it.”
You can travel from to Burkina Faso and back! It will Change nothing because I can’t do it!
But if I can do it, you don’t even need to roll on the floor; I would do it for you!
Somebody say: GOD IS FAITHFUL; HIS WORD IS FAITHFUL; HIS WAYS ARE FAITHFUL!”
Thank you so much for staying all through to read.
To read other Messages on the Coverage of DMC MediaCrew so far this Year and beyond; kindly visit our Website: http://discoverymediacrew.com.
Follow us on Twitter: @discoverymediac
Send a Friend Request on Facebook to DMC MediaCrew.
Like our FB Page: Discovery Media
Join us on WhatsApp:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EdKxR6tDsMzBmHLWrPubhH
Follow Us on Instagram: Discoverymediacrew
Watch and Follow Us on YouTube: Discovery Media Crew
For Enquiries, email Us on: info@discoverymediacrew.com
And I can assure you that you will be glad you did as it will avail you first hand access to comprehensive reports on the various Messages of Pastor E.A Adeboye and other Men of God!
It is outrightly wrong and a sin we frowned at it for anyone to consciously remove the original source of the work that does not emanate for him or her!
Discovery Media Crew … Reaching out to the World through the Power of the Gospel!!!
COMPILATIONS BY:
MOSES DURODOLA, TITILAYOMI AJAYI AND TOPE BABALOLA
© DISCOVERY MEDIA CREW (DMC) 2022
Recent Comments