HOW DO I KNOW GOD? AND WHOS IS GOD TO ME?: PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 30TH JULY, 2023.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE WITH PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER, INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: HOW DO I KNOW GOD? AND WHO IS GOD TO ME?.
DATE: 30TH JULY 2023
BIBLE TEXT: EXODUS 14:30-32 AND EXODUS 15:1-2
Let us rise up together as we make our “DECLARATION OF GATHERING” in this “YEAR OF GATHERING”.
Are you ready? Say with me:
I Proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The Lord is the Shepherd of my Soul, my Shelter by Day, my Light by Night.
In His Name, we Plough our fields, by His Spirit we gather the Harvest, in His Light we seek and find.
In this Year of Gathering, the Lord of the Harvest has commanded: Launch Out into the Deep. At His Words, we cast our Nets, we gather in Souls and Substance for God’s Kingdom.
The Lord is our Reward; in this Season I received God’s Portion set aside for me: Full Measure, Pressed down, Shaking together and running over.
Nothing is Lost and Nothing is wasted in Jesus Name – Amen!
Today I am going to share briefly on, “GATHERING”.
We are going to read Exodus 14:30-31 through to Exodus 15:1-2 (NKJV);
14:30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
14:31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.
15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord,
For He has triumphed Gloriously!
The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!
15:2 The Lord is my Strength and Song, And He has become my Salvation; He is my God, and I will Praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
… Just to bring your attention to something I said last week, before I go into my Teaching for today.
Last week (you remember) when I was teaching from Mark 16:25-18, and I explained that the reason Jesus said “these Signs shall follow them that believe”. The context is that after Jesus resurrected from the dead, some People saw Him and they went to report to His Disciples.
But the Disciples did not believe, because they had not seen Him. And because they had not seen Him they didn’t believe. And later on Jesus showed Himself to them and then they believed. And Jesus said, that’s not how it is supposed to be – You are supposed to believe before you see; and not see before you believe.
You would remembered I said Last week that, in the Christian Life we believe before we see – We don’t see before we believe.
With that in Mind, we want to look at something from the Passage we’ve just read today.
Exodus 14:31 says, Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the People feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His Servant Moses.
… Israel Saw, Feared and Believed!
That’s what Israel did: they saw, they feared and believed – That’s how the People of Israel relate with God.
They see something then they tremble and said, woow! – That’s Powerful. And then, they believe God.
But in Christianity that’s not how we go about it – We don’t see before we believe. We believe before we see.
When Jesus appeared to Thomas, the latter saw Jesus and said, Oh my Lord, my God. Jesus said, Thomas, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
One of the reasons why God had a lot of stuggles with the Children of Israel was because they functioned by “Seeing is Believing.” And so when they were hungry they couldn’t believe God would give them food – They would complain and complain and then God gave them Manna.
They saw the Manna and then believed, “Oh now, God will feed us.”
They were thirsty, they couldn’t believe God would give them water. They had to see water from the rock before they believe.
They always had to wait to see before believing.
But in the Christian Life, we do the opposite – We believe before we see.
Now that is always difficult because we live in a world that has mastered the adage “Seeing is Believing – if you want me to believe show it to me”. That is how we are Naturally.
But Spiritually, that is not how we are supposed to be!
Spiritually we don’t wait to see before we believe; we believe first and then we see.
The Christian Life is not about seeing things to believe – It is about believing things to see them.
So, if you want God to do something for you and you want to see it; you’ll have to first believe it.
HOW DO WE BELIEVE?
We believe God’s Word, which comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.
So God says something – Although we haven’t seen it, we believe it. And because we believe it we see it! But in the Natural world, we see it and we say, “now I believe!” In God’s Word we believe and we see.
Israel’s struggle with God is that they live in a Culture that says: “I have to see it before I believe it. And Jesus struggled with His Disciples on that because they were Jews too. They operated the same Principles – If they haven’t seen it they can’t believe it.
Everybody can still say they won’t believe it because they have to see it first. But Jesus says, that is not how it is supposed to be – You have to believe it first.
Everybody say – Believe first before you see. Believe first before you see. I believe therefore, I see!
That’s the Christian Life – We believe then we see.
If you want to see Signs and Wonders, you don’t go looking for Signs and Wonders – You believe what God says and then you’ll see the Signs and Wonders.
You don’t go chasing for Miracles – You believe the Word of God and then you’ll the Miracles. If you go looking you’ll never find.
… In Christianity we believe and then we see – Alright?
So, that’s the thing I want you to just Pay attention to.
But let’s go to what I want to teach from today – which would be from Exodus 15:1-2.
There are Two (2) Main Points I want to teach on today, before we pray;
- HOW DO I KNOW GOD.
In what way do we know God?
Now Moses, after the children of Israel had come out of the Red Sea and the Egyptians had been destroyed, raised a Song.
And in the Song He talks about, “My father’s God” and He talks about, “My God”.
How do we know God?
I. We Know God through our fathers.
That’s what Moses is talking about “my father’s God”.
I know Him because He is the God of my fathers – I have heard of Him in the Past.
Why did Moses talk about “my father’s God?”.
If you know your Bible very well – I teach the Bible, so you must know the Bible.
When God appeared to Moses on Mount Horeb (the Burning Bush) He said to Moses, “I am the God of your fathers. I Am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
What is God saying?
He is saying: Moses, I am the God that your father’s believed in. I am the God of your fathers; I am the God you’ve been hearing about in the Past.
Now, why did God say to Moses, “I am the God of your fathers?” It is because Moses did not have a Personal Relationship with God.
Why so? Because (you remember) when Moses was born, as a baby he was taken out from the Camp of Israel and was taken to the Egyptians’ Quarters. And he lived with Pharaoh’s family.
So the gods he knew were “The gods of the Egyptians” – He has grown a Hebrew but he didn’t know God.
God appeared to Him and said Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob – The God of your fathers.
When Moses was singing he said – He is my father’s God, I will exalt Him.
II. But that’s not all; he talks about “My God” – I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed Gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! And he says, He is my God, and I will Praise Him; He is my God, I know Him Presently and Personally.
We know God in two (2) Levels: The God of our fathers – The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And then, “My God”.
The reason I am saying this is because, sometimes in our effort to be Spiritual, we become babies in Christ. And a lot of Spirituality is actually Babyism and Immaturity.
These days, you hear even Christians talk about the God of their Pastors. And they think, if they say things like that, they are showing Spiritual Maturity. But actually, it is showing Spiritual Immaturity.
Because the reason why you talk about your father’s God is because you don’t know God for yourself.
When you know God for yourself, you don’t just talk about “My father’s God”; you talk about “My God”.
So Moses said, there was a time He was my father’s God; but now He is my God.
And these days, it is becoming Popular- People talk about Otabil’s God, Oyedepo’s God, Adeboye’s God and some Man and Woman of God’s God!
If you say that, then it means you don’t know God for yourself. Because when you come to know God for yourself, you don’t talk about God in relation to your father; you talk about Him because, “He is my God!”
When Jesus taught us the Lord’s Prayer, He did not say, the God of Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said, when you Pray say, “Our Father” – Not “My Pastor’s god”, “My Church’s god”; “god of a Mountain, home or shrine”. But my God!
Two (2) Levels of knowing Him – The God of my fathers and my God.
Of the two (2), the Superior one is “My God” – The God of my fathers, because I didn’t know Him but now I have come to know Him.
The reason why Moses used the two (2) is because right from the Burning Bush experience we hear “the God of my fathers.” But after he crossed the Red Sea; He says, He is not just the God of my fathers, He is my God.
And if you Study your Bible carefully, you will find out that from that time onwards, in the Nation of Israel, the Phrase “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” began to fade away; and He became the God of Israel (the God of the People).
They didn’t know Him because Abraham said so; they knew Him because they have come to find Him.
And as you read the Bible, you’ll find that Phrase fades away from the Language of Israel. Because now, they have a Personal encounter with God.
When you have a Personal encounter with God, you don’t serve Him through somebody; you serve Him for yourself.
Most times you know, in the Christian world habits are formed. And habits are formed because we hear things on Radio, we see things on Television.
We hear People say, so, so and so is god, this is the god of this Altar (and that is the latest I’ve been hearing).
And I hear Christians say, “I connect to the Altar.”
Where did they ever find that? – We don’t connect to any Altar! You come to connect to Jesus.
What kind of Altar are you connecting to? And they think it is Profound, Spiritually to say, “I sow to the Altar, I connect to the Altar.”
No! You connect to Jesus Christ – He is the Center of our Faith.
Christianity is not “Otabilism” – Christianity is about Christ. He is the Center. So don’t remove Him from the Center. Keep Him at the Center of your Faith.
When you see a “Baby Christian”, his or her Faith is based on Somebody.
If you are Young in Church, you say, “Pastor says it, I believe it is done!”
But you grow beyond that to the Point where you’ll say, “God says it, I believe it is done!
From that time, you are not just on the Faith of the fathers, you’ve come to know God for yourself.
So that’s the first thing we Note in Moses’ Song and what it means.
- WHO IS GOD TO ME?
Moses talks about Three (3) Ways of having Personal Relationship with God:
- He says first, “God is my Strength”.
The word “Strength” means – The One Who Protects me; the One Who keeps me. He is my Rock, He is my Fortress. He is the One I depend on.
“God is my Strength” – He is my God, my Strength, my Protector. He is the One Who keeps me from evil.
Moses is saying all of these with the background of what had just happened Overnight – The Egyptians have been swallowed up by the Red Sea and he sees them scattered.
So, he says, God is my Protection, He is my Strength! We have no Army; and these People came against us. But the Lord us my Strength.
Listen! If you are going to know God! you have to know Him as your Strength. He is your Protector – He keeps you from every enemy attacks and assualts. That’s what the thing!
II. Second thing He say, “The Lord is my Song”.
He is the One I Praise, the One I Celebrate.
Many times, when Great Things happen to us, we want to give somebody the Praise; we want to give somebody the Credit; we want to say, “but for this Person or that Person, it would not be done.”
Moses said, God is the One I Celebrate – He is my Song, He is the Song on my lips.
When something happens to me I sing about the Lord, I sing about His Goodness.
It is always important to know whom to give the Credit of your Miracle to.
Even if I Pray for you, the Credit goes to God. The One you sound about is not me!
You don’t compose a Song and say, “we worship you Otabil (Man of God); we Praise you Otabil.’
No! You sing of the Lord; you sing of His Beauty and His Goodness. He may use somebody, but that’s all He did – He used the Person.
But the Power is of the Lord. And our Song must always be of the Lord.
… The Lord is my Strength; the Lord is my Song!
III. And the third thing Moses said, “The Lord had become my Salvation.”
The One Who makes me do well, the One Who makes me Prosper, the One Who treats me well – That is what the Word ‘Salvation’ is.
You know, many times when we think about Salvation, we think about sin (Salvation from sin). And that is an inclusive Part of Salvation.
The word ‘Salvation’ simply means, to be delivered – You are in something and God pulls you out of the thing. He saves you from it.
So, if you are in sin; He pulls you out.
But sins is not the only thing we fall into.
- Sometimes you fall Sick and He pulls you out of the Sickness – He is your Salvation!
- Sometimes you are broke and He pulls you out of Penury – He is your Salvation!
- Sometimes you are confused and He pulls you out of Confusion – He is your Salvation!
The Lord is my Salvation, He is the One Who makes my Life well, He is the One Who makes things go well for me.
He is not just the One Who saved me from sin, but He delivers me from everything.
And why did Moses say that? Because he saw the great Deliverance of the Lord. And he says, God has done Wonderful things for me.
An Army came against us with Chariots and Horsemen and we had nowhere to run to; but the Lord pulled us out of trouble.
“The Lord is my Strength, the Lord is my Song and He is my Salvation.” And He did all of these things because He is my God. I knew Him first as my father’s God. But now, this expression I know that the same God Who was with the fathers is also with me. The God Who delivered the fathers is the same God who has delivered me.
So, He is not just my father’s God, He is my God – My Strength, my Song and my Salvation.
And that is how God wants us to know Him.
I believe that you know God, and you can also say, “my God”. My father’s God has become my God: and He has become my Strength, my Song and my Salvation.
You would sing a New Song; you would experience the Salvation of the Lord and the Lord would be your Strength- Amen.
What He did in the Past, He would do for you today – Amen.
What He did for the fathers in the Past, He is doing for us today – Amen.
If you read it in the Bible, it would happen to you today – Amen!
The New Stories of God are not the Stories of the fathers – It is the God Who is at work in our lives today and doing Wonderful things in our lives. So we can sing New Songs to Him and Testify of Him afresh.
Let’s get up on our feet as we Pray!
We are going to focus our Prayers on these Three (3) Concepts – And we are going to Pray accordingly about them.
I am going to lead you to make a Declaration and then based on that, we are going to Pray.
DECLARATIONS AND PRAYERS.
- Say with me: The God of the Bible is my God. What He said in His Word in times Past, He says to me today;
In the Name of Jesus, I declare that all the Promises of God to me are Yes and Amen!
How many of you believe that the God of the Bible is your God? – The DMC FAMILY MEMBERS!
The God you read about in relation to Noah and Abraham and Isaac, and all the Miracles there; He is not just their God, He is also your God – If you truly believe and claim all His Promises for yourself and family.
- If He says you are Healed, receive Healing!
- If He says you will Prosper, receive Prosperity!
- If He says you are Delivered, receive Deliverance!
Whatever He said in time Past, He is saying it to you now – His Promises are Yes and Amen.
When Moses was singing this Song He said God gave him a very Glorious Victory; and He says, the Lord has triumphed Gloriously. Not just Triumphed but He Triumphed in a way that that is amazing.
Why? He says, the Horses and the Riders, He had thrown into the sea!
They came to the sea it was locked; the People were crying to Moses. Moses was crying to God. God said, Moses what do you have in your hand? Moses said, I have just a stick I got from Mount Horeb.
God said, Stretch it upon the waters. He did, and the water Parted. They walked through it – They walked on Dry Ground.
And as they were walking on Dry Ground, they heard the Chariots and the Horseman of Egypt coming behind them. And they said, we are donwfall!
But they went out of the water and the water closed behind them. And in the morning they saw all their Enemies they had feared.
For four hundred and thirty (430) years, they had feared these People. And all of a sudden they saw those People who had tormented them lying on the Seashore.
And Moses said, “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed Gloriously! The Horse and its Rider He has thrown into the sea!”
May God give you such a Testimony – Amen.
- Say with me: The God of the Bible is my God; what He did for the People in the Bible He is doing for me today.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, I celebrate God’s Glorious Victory in my Life.
How many of you believe that there is going to be a Glorious Victory? The DMC FAMILY MEMBERS!
I declare that whatsoever and whoever had been Pursuing you, you will see then again no more, in Jesus’ Name – Amen.
- Say with me: The God of the Bible is my God. We will Complete every Good works He is doing in me and for me.
In the Name of Jesus, I receive the Perfection of God’s work in my Life.
Whatever God begins in your Life, He will Complete it. Once He starts, He will end it. He is the Alpha and Omega. There will be a Perfect, a Beautiful and a Glorious end to your Story.
… Now begin to Pray about it.
I don’t know where you are in your Life or even as you read now on the Label of DMC, but we have Prayed to God. And He is a Hearing, Doing and Seeing God.
We haven’t Prayed in vain – God will show up for His People and so we receive His Visitation!
CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father, You are such a Good God. We have read about You in the Bible:
We read about how Noah trusted You and You delivered him from the Flood.
We read about how Abraham was Called out of nowhere to a Land that You showed him. And at an impossible Age, You gave him and his wife (Sarah) a Child.
We read about how David faced Goliath – An Impossible Task and defeated that Giant.
We read about Esther in a lonely Land; who became a Queen of that Land – A Slave becoming a Queen in a Foreign Land. And how you used her to deliver her People.
We read about that!
You are the God of the Bible, You are our God too. And what You did for each one of them, You are going to do for each one of us.
And so Lord, we receive the Miracle of the Bible – We believe what we have heard and we receive it Lord! Signs and Wonders following.
We believe that You will cause us to Triumph Gloriously and give us a New Song to sing; and let our lives be beautiful.
In the coming Month of August, let us receive Abundance upon Abundance.
We trust You Lord!
In Jesus’ Mighty Name we Pray – Amen and Amen!
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