We have insistently ministered to the importance of knowing the Word of God in order to know God Himself.

If you, here in Brazil, ask a person on the street if they believe in God or believe that God exists, their likely answer, as well as the answer of almost all Brazilian people, will be YES.

But simply believing that God exists is not enough, because believing that God exists, even demons believe.

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.

BUT WHICH GOD DOES MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE EXISTS?

The answer should be: THE ONLY TRUE GOD THAT EXISTS IS THE GOD OF THE BIBLE.

Perhaps you are saying: “This is obvious”.

But that's not quite the case, because many people are getting involved in doctrines and fables, CREATING THEIR OWN GOD, which is a distant god, who accepts failures, weaknesses, disobediences, who accepts any sacrifice, who is blind and cannot see the truth of hearts, which must always bless, which loves and blesses unconditionally, regardless of man's fidelity, and which accepts any excuse to justify sin.

I say again: THE ONLY TRUE GOD IS THE ONE FOUND IN THE BIBLE and He is:

• A JEALOUS GOD WHO SEES FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS WORD:

Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.

Deuteronomy 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Joshua 24:19 Joshua said to the people, You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.

HAVE YOU BEEN JEALOUS IN FULFILLING GOD'S WORD?

• A GOD THAT DEMANDS THE BEST OF US FOR HIM:

Genesis 4:3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering — fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham! Here I am, he replied. 2 Then God said, Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.

HAVE YOU GIVEN YOUR BEST TO GOD AND NOT THE LEFTOVERS OF YOUR TIME AND YOUR LIFE?

• A GOD THAT REQUIRES OUR FIDELITY AND DOES NOT ACCEPT EXCUSES:

Genesis 3:12 The man said, The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it. 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. 16 To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 17 To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it, Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

HAVE YOU BEEN FAITHFUL AND IN YOUR FAILURES INSTEAD OF APOLOGYING, HAVE YOU REPENTED AND ASKED FORGIVENESS AND NO LONGER PRACTICES THE MISTAKE?

• A GOD THAT REQUIRES US TO LOVE HIM ABOVE ANYTHING:

Matthew 10:37 Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commands.

1 John 5:2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.

HAVE YOU LOVED GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS, INCLUDING ABOVE YOUR FATHER, MOTHER AND CHILDREN AND SHOWING THAT LOVE TO HIM?

• A GOD WHO WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIM:

Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding — 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lordand find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Romans 1:28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips.

Jeremiah 9:23 This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.

Psalm 1:2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

HAVE YOU READ THE ENTIRE BIBLE? DO YOU MEDITATE IN THE WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY?

BELIEVE IN THE ONLY TRUE GOD, WHO IS THE GOD OF THE BIBLE!

The Lord bless you and keep you.

Pastor Val Martins