Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 8/5/15

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 8/5/15

Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

When you reach the age I am, 68, ninety doesn’t seem so old.  Some in this audience would say, “Ninety is just around the corner to me.”  Abraham was ninety-nine and The LORD appeared unto him.  He wanted Abraham to know that He was the Almighty God.

In our hearts we need to remind ourselves and let others remind us that God is a mighty God.  He is so mighty that He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  He took the very dust of the earth and formed man, He breathed into his nostrils and man became a living soul. 

This Almighty God spoke to Abraham and told him to walk before Him and be perfect.  To everyone here, the Word of God speaks and instructs us to walk before Him.  We are alive with a purpose.  It is not just be chance that you are alive tonight.  God has allowed you to be alive for a purpose: to walk before Him.

Be thou perfect:  people have various personalities.  Some want their clothes, their fishing tackle, and their sewing stuff in a certain order.  It is important that things are in order in our heart, in our soul, in our mind, and in our relationships between us and God and between us and one another.

Gen 17:2  And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

God, after telling Abraham what He wanted him to do, then said, “This is what I will do.”  He is a God that speaks to us and makes a covenant.  There are always two parts to a covenant.  The word comes from an animal being cut in two.  There are two parts.  That is the way that God is with you and with me.  God has a part that only He can do and He has a part that we must do as human beings.

Gen 17:3  And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

When God speaks to us we must have the conviction that “God is talking to me and I must pay attention.” 

Gen 17:4  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

God wants to make covenant with us according to His perfect plan for our life. 

Gen 17:5  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

We all have a given name.  My parents were Doris and Helise Kelly.  When I was born, they chose to name me Gary Bertram after my uncle Bert and with the family name Kelly.  When I got saved, God changed my name in the thought of taking me in as a part of His family. 

You need to be thankful for your mother and father.  If they are a good mother and father then you really need to be thankful. 

In the family of God when you get saved He changes your name and adds the family name, God.  That makes you really belong.  When one, from another congregation, comes into our congregation and we reach out our hand and shake theirs, we can tell, “You are a part of the family.  The Family of God.” 

The church is called the church of God because it was purchased by the blood of His Son.  It belongs to Him.  We are a part of the same family. 

We don’t look alike with the same color of hair and eyes.  You don’t all have ears that stick out like mine.  There is one thing for sure, when we meet God, He makes covenant with us and we are changed.

When there is no change in an individual’s life, they are just religious.  When their name doesn’t change then they are not a part of the family of God.  If their last name is God then there won’t be any cussing, shadiness, or evil thoughts in their life. 

If your last name is God then you will have an abhorrence to evil.  You will want to distance yourself from darkness.  Dirty books and dirty jokes are not funny at all; they will seem like a rattlesnake to you.  You will want to distance yourself from all of them.

Gen 17:6  And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The fruit of the Spirit is love: first you will love God.  You will not be hammered into reading the Bible.  You will want to know what His book says.  There are some things that I don’t want to hear over, but you take those cards that I get from my daughters and from my wife and I read them over and over. 

God wants to bless us with lots of fruit.  Cultivate love to God, cultivate love toward families, and cultivate love toward children.  Cultivate joy.  You can look at the dark side of everything but we might as well be happy.  We have a lot to be happy for.

We live in a world where people are always dropping bombs in your lap that will upset you.  We need to be always cultivating the peace of God between each other.

Longsuffering:  God has been so longsuffering toward us we need to be longsuffering toward others.

Gentleness:  Paul says, “I have worked with you as a nurse.”  No one likes a nurse that is mean and pushy and loud.  “I took care of you and nursed you like you were little children.”  He was compassionate.

Cultivate goodness, cultivate faith.  There is a gift of faith.  We need that gift.  We live in a time when faith is really under attack. Cultivate faith.  I am going to have faith in God.  God has never failed.  Someone had faith for our salvation.  They had faith in God. 

Cultivate meekness.  It is okay to be wrong.  It is okay to admit that you are wrong.  We are going to be mistaken.  We have all been in a position when our attitude was not right.  We don’t look down our nose at others when they apologize.

“God, cultivate temperance in my life that I will be a vessel of honor meet for the master’s use.”

God says, “I will make a covenant with you.”  God says, “I am going to do this; you must agree to do your part without pressure.”