Harvester Reformational Church Cape Town sermons
Imitate God
Preached by Apostle Aje Pelser, Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town

Anchor Scripture:
Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Eph 5:3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
Eph 5:4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

Ways to become imitators of God
1. Walk in love like Jesus. His love is sacrificial in nature. Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
Eph 5:26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

2. Remove uncleanness by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Rom 6:22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Mat 3:12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

3. Thanksgiving releases more of God’s nature than murmuring and complaining. It is the same energy in opposite directions.
Php 2:14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,
Php 2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
1Ti 2:1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
1Ti 2:2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

4. Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises
Imitate those who have begotten you in the Gospel
1Co 4:15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
1Co 4:16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
1Co 4:17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.

Apostle Paul made it clear that the God of peace is revealed when his disciples continued to do the things that they learned and saw in his life:
Php 4:9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Look how Abraham went through a time of wandering and God blessed him nonetheless:
Heb 6:12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The Certainty of God’s Promise
Heb 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
Heb 6:14 saying, “SURELY BLESSING I WILL BLESS YOU, AND MULTIPLYING I WILL MULTIPLY YOU.”
Heb 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus I pray that you will show me Your ways so that I can also walk in love and be ready to give myself as a living sacrifice daily. Holy Spirit clean out my spirit soul and body with Your fire and reveal God’s nature in and through me to others, it is not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord!
Sorry for my murmuring and complaining and replace it with thanksgiving in my life. I thank you for all you are doing on my behalf.
Help me to acknowledge the people in my life that you have sent to me to show me how to imitate Christ. I know they aren’t perfect but help me see Christ within the hope of glory and to thank and honour those who pray for me to become an imitator of God with them. Thank you that I have the faith DNA of Abraham who endured until he obtained the promises from You Lord.
I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.