Cleansing The Temple

"And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not permit that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying to them, Is it not written, "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?"  but you have made it a den of thieves." Mark:11:15-17

When  Jesus and His Disciples came to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover   they entered the Temple of God the very center of Israel relationship with the Great God . Here in this place which was meant to be Holy  they find instead that many were capitalizing and merchandizing the people   for their own gain.
 Jesus is moved by the sight to confront and drive out those who were using God house for their own gain.

The zeal of God burned within Jesus and aggressively confront the merchandize and those who used their position to get where they wanted to go.

Placed Early in John's Gospel

When we look at what Jesus did here at the Temple it speaks to us about the very reason that our lord has come. If we turn to the Gospel of John's account  in John:2:13-22, we see , that unlike the other accounts it is placed at the very onset of Jesus' ministry rather  then at the end as is recorded in MK:11:15-17, Mtt:21:12-13; Lk:19:45-46.  Many have wondered if these accounts describe one or two different events.

Now some Biblical Scholars, view John's account ,  as John,  by way of a literary device,  that of placing the Cleansing of the Temple at the onset of his account  , as  providing us a glimpse  into the whole mission of our Lord. For John , it is not important when the event occurred but rather what it means to us.  That is John is telling us what Jesus'  whole ministry and mission was and and continues to be, that of Cleaning the Temple courts of our lives, restoring us by Grace into a right relationship with God.

 In the Outer Courts 

What did Jesus do? The Temple at Jerusalem was the focus of Israel's relationship with God. This relationship was being used by some for their own gain and in doing so  others were being kept out. They had turned religion into a business.

John tells us that this event occurs at the time of the Passover, the commemoration of the people of Israel being set free from bondage. A time when the people should have been reverently worshiping the Great God born out of a right  relationship with Him.

"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover" Jhn:2:13

Jesus finds in the courts of the Temple  men who were engaged in the buying and selling of sacrificial animals.  This religious "market place"  was found in the very outer courts of the temple  which were  the Court of the Gentiles the only place that Gentiles were permitted to pray at,  which was sectioned off by a barricade from the other courts   and the Court of Woman. These two groups were given only limited access to the Temple under this system.

These two courts  were the furthest away from the Sanctuary, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Gentiles and woman were not permitted to go any closer to the inner courts.
 
 " In the temple courts Jesus  found people selling cattle, sheep and doves"(14a)

Consider, what the effect having livestock penned up would have. Animals produce waist,  the smell of dung would be in the air. It would have created a rather offensive situation and would have diminished the sacntaty of the Temple and what it was intended to be and would keep others way because of the stench.
 
Jesus also witness men who had set up tables and were engaged in exchanging the legal  money for the Temple coinage that had no value outside of the courts. The rule was that only Temple Coins could be given in the Temple offering pots, the legal coins needed to be exchanged,  in the process there was deflated value, people would trade in valued currency for near worthless coins.

" and others sitting at tables exchanging money."(14b)

 The only ones who profited were the money changers and their religious host who authorized the exchange.

Driven Out Over Turned 

Jesus' reaction is one of righteous indignation and He acts upon it, He chases them and scatters their coins declaring that for the sake of profit they have distorted the relationship that They were to have with God.

 "So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ^(15-17)

 Jesus is not just being "theatrical"  but Jesus is  showing that a change is now to come. The whole system ,which was a distortion of the Covenant that God had made with Israel , which  was in place,  was to come to an end.
The religious establishment "abused" the system for their own good at the expenses of the very people,whom they were to be serving.

 Mark adds to the account giving us a better understand, he tells us that some where using the Temple as a shot cut to get where they wanted to go. If we walk in courts of the Temple it should be for the purpose of worship not our own advancement to "get where we want to go".

 "Jesus would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts". Mk:11:16

Jesus does not want anyone using Temple  as a short cut to get to where ever they want to go.

That selfish distortion of "performance"  based religion,   stank as did the dung of the animals penned up in the courts. That tells us that when we have this type of "religion" it stinks and keeps people away. Keeps them in the "outer courts", far from the Holy of Holies,  or worse keeps them out of the Church which is the Temple its self altogether,that is ,  our actions  can turn people off.  

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?"1Corinth:3:16

 Church the Temple

We are to be a Holy Temple , where no stench of  of dung and exchange   of money is found. We are to be walking in the Grace of God,  and that is,  the  same Grace that is shown to us should be shown others, that there is nothing keeping any from drawing near to the Holy of Holies.  They should not be kept away by "merchandising activity" that is selfishness,  in the Court of our hearts, they should see pure hearts transformed by God's place in out lives. 

 Our lives should proclaim that Jesus has entered the courts of our lives and cleansed the Temple of our hearts,  that we are washed clean and have experienced the forgiveness that He has for any and all.

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."Matt:26:28

Jesus' sacrifice sets us free to walk in forgiveness. We can live under the New Covenant , that New relationship that is for all people not just Israel, this New Covenant is for people all nations. There is no receding courts that limit any from coming near , no boundary  that admits only a few  select ones. But God has opened the way through Jesus, and His death on the Cross none need stand afar off.

   "And as Jesus taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" Mk:11:17

 Jesus was in so many word "truing over the tables of the covenant"  , so that none be limited of prevented from knowing the great God but come to Him.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, "Eph:2:13-15

 Jesus did this by His perfect sacrifice  and His following resurrection. Jesus speaks of this in response to the religious leaders inquire as to by what authority He acted in the Temple . Jesus has authority  to bring any and all near to stand within His courts of His Temple of His church and worship, to have the money changers of our natures driven out , forgiven washed clean by His blood.

"The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken"  Jhn:2:18-22

Jesus' resurrection is the evidence that He has come to cleanse the Temple court of our lives and dispose of  an abused system of religion, and restore us to a proper relationship with the Great God bringing  any and all near to Him that we might be a Cleansed Temple in which the Lord God is worshiped and honored now and forever. Amen.

 Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
2101 Old National Pike.

Washington, Pennsylvania.   www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard  on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM  in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com

The Great God

"I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me."Isaiah:46:9b

 Some years ago J.B.Phillips a well known Canon of the Anglican Church, author & Bible translator wrote a short but very powerful work entitled

 “Your God is Too Small”  in it Rev. Phillips  presents the argument that,  the “god” most worship is diminished & small.

How Great is our God?

Yet,  the Bible presents a far different view of God.  It presents a God who is unequaled, & indescribable, a God whose greatness is beyond anything we can even begin to imagine. A God who is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient God who is , Eternal, with life inherent, without limitations, a God that is ruled by no power, rule, or compulsion, a God who is God alone, None before Him, None beside Him, None after Him. 

 Rev. Phillips book speaks to us all,  that we tend to allow circumstances and situations to eclipse the God Who is more than able to deliver us from any and all challenges, but the idea of God being diminished by way of a "theology" is a different matter. 

Yet a god, who is basically a “glorified human being”,  is being preached. This diminishing of the God of Scripture is happening in some pulpits even up to this very hour . Not as Jesus is glorified in His Resurrection, but one that diminishes His deity  while augmenting His humanity, when this occurs there will be a form of legalism that develops to compensate either. 

For If Jesus is not fully both deity and humanity , then that leaves a need to be filled,  and is left up to the  of the individual to preform up to some stranded, or do something, or not do something or  to knowing, or have some sort of experience to demonstrate  their faith in Jesus.

Forms of Legalism 

Understand , that the legalistic person has only has two options; either to over evaluate their performance which manifest itself as self righteousness, or to undervalue their performance which manifest itself as self condemnation.

 Either way  , legalism is the root , but if we can see that Jesus is who Scripture presents him  as  then we can rest in Him; we do not need to "add" anything, only but accept and to say "yes"  to the salvation offered so freely to us by Grace through Jesus Christ.

There are generally five types of legalism, which are additions to the Grace of God which some believe  need to be added to accomplish salvation;

Ergonomical-Grace- That is Works coupled with Grace produces salvation.

Ascetic-Grace-That is Self  Denial coupled with Grace produces salvation.

Esoteric-Grace-That is Secret Knowledge coupled with Grace produces salvation. 

Sacerdotal-Grace- That is Participation in a Sacred function coupled with Grace produces salvation.

Ecstatical-Grace- That is , having an Experience coupled with Grace produces salvation.

All forms of legalism arise from a distorted view of our Lord Jesus Christ , either His deity is diminished or His humanity  is augmented. The result is the same!

A message that actually augments and exult humanity to God’s level and diminishes God to humanities level, to the point where God needs us . 

This is a message that is being put forth by some in certain circles of  Christianity.  Many are hearing this message, yet,  not realizing what  "theology" truly is behind it and supporting it   , or where this "theology" came from.

New Thought

 Where did this "theology" arise from? It is impossible to give a full explanation and history , but basically,  it emerges out of what was called the "New Thought" movement ,  that was found in the New England States here in America. It arrived here,  from European cult "societies" that embraced "magic" and other "mind expanding practices".  

These cult "socialites" also taught and sought direction from "spirits"   and contact with the dead.  It is notable that, some in Christian circles who embrace this "theology",  have claimed to have conversed with departed "saints" receiving direction from them.  

The "New Thought" movement  taught   that all humanity is part of the "divine" . There is ,however, a difference in the Biblical Teaching that we are "in Christ" due to His acts of Salvation on our behalf  . This  belief of  "Pantheism" meaning "all is god".  

As being "god",  humanity could learn to utilize the resident power housed in the creation. That is, if you want something just say it and and it will be yours....just like "magic", this is being taught to some Christians. 

They heap guilt upon those who might be sick or have limited resources. This mind set that  of,   how much one has or has not ,is not a Biblical barometer to a persons spiritual condition,or a measure of God's pleasure or displeasure, yet,   some of the greatest Christians who ever lived  have been sick and poor, yet their lives still are impacting us today.

This "theology" during the early part  of the twentieth century was embraced by some well known Christians ministers , and it has found lodgement and merger with the Christian message and is perpetuated still. 

 It in particular found embrace by those who wanted to see a display of "power" . Those who teach according to this line will often talk of "power" and scoff at those who do not.

 For a greater and fuller explanation of this "theology"  I would encourage our readers to read two books,  both by Mr. Hank Hanegraff  "Counterfeit Revival" and "Christianity in Crisis".

 God is Great and Awesome

 This "theology"  teaches that God lives on a planet of which the Earth is only a materiel copy .   Scripture tells us that God fills the Heavens and Earth that nether can contain Him.  Yet,  the diminished deity that is being preached by some   is not the Great God of the scripture!  
This "theology"  says that God learns.  If that would be true , that means there are things that God does not know, yet the Bible tells us that God knows everything.
The God that speaks from the Bible tells us that He encompasses  all that there is ever to know. 

The Prophet Nehemiah in his prayer address God as  "The Lord,The God of Heaven,The Great and Awesome God" Neh:1:5  . 

 Isaiah wrote of God and  speaks of  a God without limitations   with out equal with out peers.  A God Who is above and  beyond the comprehension of the minds of all humanity.  

 "Before him all the nations are as nothing;They are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. With whom,then will you compare Him? Isa:40:17-18

 God Caught Off Guard?

There are some,  even from the pulpit,  that are declaring that God, this limitless God,   was somehow  "caught off guard", at the very beginning of creation when our first parents chose the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" ,  that God was only able to recover His plan on a "technicality". 

One  pastor declared that God is a failure,   that God was caught off guard in the garden of Eden.  That Adam, who some are teaching , was an exacted duplicate of God Himself,  equal to God in every way,  able to rule all things as a god ,  and the events that ensued , they all were  unprepared for . 

The god of this "theology" was  nearly out flanked by an adversary who is his equal in every way. This  amounts to nothing  but the pagan teaching of   dualism,  where there are two opposite, yet equal powers , resident in creation which are locked forever in cosmic battle  that ether might finally  win.

This is not the teaching of the Holy Bible.   Isa: 45:5-10- tells us that God is in  complete control of all thing, all time and eternity,there is none who can out flank or   Him or defeat Him.

 "God declares the end from the beginning" Isa:46:10 . He is in full control of all time and eternity. The God of Bible can not be out witted or defeated. His will ultimately is done even in the face of random chance and of free will that He has bestowed.

God Rules

Yet ,it is proclaimed brashly that God can do nothing with out us that God needs humanity to complete his purpose.  That He is somehow "needy" . 

Though it is so that God has chosen not to be without us,  that does not means that God "needs" us , rather He wants us. 

Dan: 4:34-35- God Rules over all, none which  can hinder the God of the Bible 

Job: 25:2- Dominion & awe belong to God

Ps: 47:7- God is King over all the Earth

You Are "god"

There are some  who are influenced by the New Thought Movement,   who are preaching that we are "little gods" , this idea, of godhood has crept into the some pulpits . 
 Not through adoption provided by the Cross and  Resurrection of Jesus but by virtue,  as they learn,  by faith,   to utilize the same power that God "learned to use", and they can learn to direct its power and have anything that they want just by speaking it. 

Where then does this idea come from?....... It is the same old deception that was from the very beginning. That same spirit cited above. This spirit that seeks expression though any willing conduit .

“You’ll be like God”Gen:3:4  .

The same old deception from the eternity past now being  foisted off on humanity and in some places and it is being done in the name of Jesus.

He is God Alone

There is a voice that speaks even from the ancient times, a voice of lust and jealousy who wanted to to be God . One that wanted power and sought to take it.

 Speaking of a king that sought undue honor, but, not just to the human instrumentality , but to the spirit that move him.  A spirit who wanted to be exulted himself above the very God of Heaven.

"How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!You said in your heart,“I will ascend to the heavens;I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,to the depths of the pit." Isa:14:12-15

When any take on the idea that they are or can be God they will be in the end  brought down .  Ezekiel address the king of Tyre, but through this prophecy the Prophet spoke to that spirit that want for power found expression through this King.This spirit look upon its own appearance, an appearance that the God of Heaven created , and believed in vanity that  it could assert its self above the Great God. This vain thought brought this spirit down to destruction and it will do so to any who attempt to take what belongs only to God. Ezk:28:1-19

God's Glory belongs only to God for e alone is God.

 "You Alone are God" Isa:37:16

"No God Before Me" Isa:43:10 

 "No Other God but Me", "Isa:44:6

 “The One”

 

This is the God Who has came in the Pearson of Jesus Christ who is revealed perfectly completely in the very Son of God. The very One Who brought in to being all things that determines the out come history, the One Who is like no other.

 All The Fullness in Jesus of God is met in Jesus, Cols:2:9.

  
God, the Word,  Who created and then joined that creation in  the  Incarnation Jhn:1:1,14

Jesus  from eternity past is God, with the Father and in glory  and is one with Him and the Holy Spirit .Jhn:17:1-6,20-21 .  

There is but One God Who has revealed Himself and offers us to come to know Him and live for eternity in eternal  fellowship. This God has reached out to us He is great than we can ever know,  In Jesus we meet our the Great God Who is above all things.  

Through Jesus God has blessed us to be coheirs as children of God sharing in all the blessing that are our Lord's . Rom:8:17, 1Jhn:3:2.

This is not just some  materialism for the here and now , things which will fade away,  as gold and silver, titles, or mansions and estates , but ever lasting blessing found in and by our Lord Jesus ,Who of all humanity,  is God. Amen

Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
2101 Old National Pike.

Washington, Pennsylvania.   www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard  on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM  in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com

Who is God?

"I AM the LORD and there is NO other;  apart from Me there is no God” (Isa: 45:5)

On Mount Sinai, as Moses knelt before the burning bush he asked God for His name, that , is,  “who are you?”, God’s reply “ I AM WHO I AM”, (Ex:3:14-15) you will tell them “I AM has sent you”.  

We can, and do, understand this as a description of God’s eternal existence, yet this name of God speaks even more to the human need for God and His place in all  of our lives.   He is saying in effect “ I AM everything that you need Me to be” , whatever the need of humanity, God meets that need for us,  just as He did for Israel in their journey  from slavery to the wanderings in the Wilderness, to their establishment  in Canaan.

Does What He Is

God’s nature and character are seen in what He does and what He does is who He is.  The names of God, that is, who He is, represents needs that He meets for humanity, not just meeting material needs, He is everything we need. He just does not have everything He is everything. (Ps: 23, Phlp: 4:6, 19)
 

The Eight Compound Names of God

 Yahwah Yireh (Gen 22:14) "The Lord will provide "
Yahwah Rapha (Exodus 15:26) "The Lord our Healer"
Yahwah Nissi (Exdos 17:15) "The Lord our Banner"
YahwahShalom (Judges 6:24) "The Lord our Peace"
Yahwah Rraah (Psalms 23:1) "The Lord our Shepherd"
Yahwah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6) "The Lord our Righteousness"
Yahwah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) "The Lord is Present” 
Yahwah Sabaoth (Isaiah 47:4) "The Lord of Host"

These names of God teach us much about our Creator, that He is everything that we need Him to be, and they are useful to our understanding of Him.  But above them we see in Jesus all of them fulfilled for us. 

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name” Phip: 2:9

This tells us , that Jesus fulfills all humanities’ needs, and it is, in Jesus,  that we meet our God. That is and by Jesus Who is the Great "I AM" is perfectly revealed to any who will look to Him.

Idols of Self Dependency

God frees us from the slavery of the idols of self dependency, and brings us to His very  Self, where He alone can truly meet all of  our needs.For all an idols is, is humanities attempt to meet their needs apart from the means God has provided in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is who we all  are in search of , humanity spends it's existence looking for the fulfillment that it longs for,  yet can never have apart from a relationship with God.

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk  without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread,and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. “Isa: 55:1-2

Humanity, moves through this life looking for ways to create a meaningful existence,  they are looking in vain.  God is, yet, for the most part in the minds and lives of some  is a distant or foreign to their  thought. 

He is not the focus of their lives, that is unless God Himself reaches out of eternity and  gets our attentions and introduces Himself to us, that is  He tells us Who He is

  “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,  not even one.”  “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”“Their feet are swift to shed blood;ruin and misery mark their ways,and the way of peace they do not know.”“There is no fear of God before their eyes" Rm:3:10-18,    

" The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human  judgments," 1Crth:2:10-15

God, speaking to us out of eternity and through the pages of the Holy Scriptures “I AM the  LORD and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God” (Isa: 45:5-11)

  

Declaring His Glory

 He tells us that,  He is  the One who brought all things in to being, that it is He who design the life of humanity ,that He  has a prior claim to direct us, to move us through life to have our lives for His purposes. 

He is the Creator and as such the universe will reflect who He is, we see a universe that  is full of power and intricacies , of great design , order, law, of vastness. The universe  in which we  inhabit  requires a God such as is described in the Scriptures in order to  have been brought in to being, a lesser god could not of produced the Cosmos , we   can see Him in every part of the creation. (Rom: 1:19-20,) 

 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,their words to the ends of the world." Ps: 19:1-6

God has given humanity minds and self awareness; He has even encoded within us a   sense of right and wrong. He has made choice a part of His purpose for us, this choice   creates the necessity of random occurs which follows the choices that we make. At times the  results are positive, and at times it produces chaos or are harmful, yet God is ultimately in control.  

His “prevenient will” , that is what God wants to occur will, in the end overrides the choices and random actions of the world and persons. A world that is filled with the random occurrences is the best arena of  instruction, that is, in order  for a life to be real , it needs to be random, this is the only way  our choices can be truly ours as we are confronted with any given situation in life. (Isa: 46:8-11, Jos: 24:14-15, Det: 30:19, Eccl: 7:14, 9:11-12)

 Guides Us

 He is the one Who meets our needs  for moral guidance and speaks  it forth that we might understand  how to live in relationship to Him as Creator  and with others, that we might know right from wrong truth from error (Isa: 45:19)

"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Gal:5:18

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. 
And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile or indifferent to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so" Rm:8:1-7

This God that is revealed through the pages of the Bible is beyond the words of any  language to express. This God is from eternity past, He is uncreated spirit and all that is,  and it’s continuance is by His will and providence (Jhn:1:1, Jhn:4:24, Heb:1:3,10-11, Cols:1:17)

 God Is Love

God is the very essences of Love, that is all He does is focused on the ultimate and eternal best good all. His very nature is that of outgoing concern for the welfare of others   and this motivates His every interaction with humanity. 

Love is not regulated by some "law" or "set of rules" or a "power" outside of God which compels Him , if this were true, then  God would not be God. Yet out of Love He has chosen to have us and would not be God without us.

  

This love is not a mere “emotion” it is what He is, “God is Love”, and God is not  governed by any force or “need” God is free,  nothing rules God , He is supreme He is  sovereign. (1Jhn:4:16, 19, Jhn: 3:16, 1Tim:6:15-16)

 I AM

This God who is “I AM”, this God who’s nature is above and beyond the understanding  of humanity shows Himself in to us in glimpses  that we can not readily comprehend.

 God is a being of such perfect inter-physic integrity, such oneness yet distinctiveness,  we  can’t grasp it, He is Father, He Son and He is Holy Spirit,  this is more than just an   “arrangement” of co-equal beings that share a common  essence  and purpose  and   have found it in their best interest to co-operate , this is the One True God .  He is the Trinity, how this can be is, again, above the mind of human beings to fully grasp.

The great God who has reached out of eternity and showed us Himself through the

 Person of Jesus Christ has met our need to know Him, through His eternal Son. 

Through  Jesus we learn everything we need to know about who God is, He shows us Himself in  His Son (Jhn: 14:1-11, Jhn: 17:1-26)

As well, it is through God Himself indwelling in our lives through the Holy Spirit, unites  us with Him in a unique and very personal way, this may be the greatest proof of His  existence, yet to the most elusive to the natural mind but to the mind filled with the Spirit  the most “tangible” evidence is seen as the fruit of His presences surfaces in the life of a Christian as the very attributes of the Person of Jesus Christ are manifested in their lives. (Jhn: 14:16, Gal: 5:19, 2Crth:3:17)

When we come to see the Great God all of our Idols of self dependency can  be cast down. We can look to Him who loves us and is and always will be with us

God is God, there is no other, He is “I AM”, He is everything that we need Him to be. Amen.

Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
2101 Old National Pike.

Washington, Pennsylvania.   www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard  on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM  in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com