The Image of God

By Scott Clampitt

If youre exhausted from going through life with all the ups and downs never knowing what to expect, The Image of God will set you free. There has never been a time in history in which global chaos has been so frightening. It doesnt have to be. Security in life is all about who you know and what you know.

In The Image of God you will learn: Who God is What you can expect in life Why bad things happen How to overcome tribulations How to walk as one with God

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477225431

Scott Clampitt

Scott Clampitt is an ordained minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University. Seeing how the love of God has been misrepresented in the world, he turned his focus from pursuing business to ministry. Born in Danville Indiana, and raised in Indianapolis, he now lives in Plainfield with his wife, Sue, and their two dogs. Visit Scott’s website @ www.scottclampitt.com, on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/scott.clampitt, or contact via mail at PO BOX 245, Plainfield, IN 46168.

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© 2012 by Scott Clampitt. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/09/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2419-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2420-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2543-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012910986

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Publication. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Visit Scott’s website @ www.scottclampitt.com

On Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/scott.clampitt

Or contact via mail at:

Scott Clampitt Ministries

PO BOX 245

Plainfield, IN 46168

THE IMAGE OF GOD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Prologue

I. The Love of God

Chapter 1    Faith in God’s Love

Chapter 2    The Prodigal Son

Chapter 3    70 Times 7

II. The Nature of God

Chapter 4    Knowing God’s Will

Chapter 5    Understanding Man’s Nature

Chapter 6    Drawing Near to God

III. The Covenant Word of God

Chapter 7    My Prodigal Journey

Chapter 8    The Old Covenant

Chapter 9    The New Covenant

IV. The Strength of God

Chapter 10    Fear Not

Chapter 11    In His Presence

Chapter 12    The Spoken Word

Endorsements

I have just finished reading The Image of God which I enjoyed from start to finish. I believe that Scott was able to teach us about who we are in Christ, and what is available to us as Christians as any of the finest book I’ve ever read. 

 I believe the biggest problem we have as Christians is that we have no idea of the power that is available to us in Christ. I would advise you read this book two or three times while taking notes. As you read this book allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten your spiritual eyes to the truths written in it. If you allow it, this book could strengthen your walk with the Lord.

—Pastor Lannie Stetcher

Destines to Win Family church

What a remarkable read! Fundamental truths, that brings freedom and closeness with Christ. I felt conviction as the Holy Spirit used Scott’s words to show areas of neglect in my walk with God. I saw stains on my own heart, and then I felt God using truth to heal and wipe those stains away as I read this book. Things so overlooked within the body of Christ. Thank you Scott, for putting your ear to His lips and writing the things He wanted said.

—Julie Nickell

Nickell Ministries

The Image of God is a very inspiring book that will help you to know God or to know Him better. It will teach the love of God, how much He loves you, and how important you really are to Him. It helps you to realize how important it is for us to get closer to God. It is a book you would want to read over again.

—Pastor Chuck Rogers Jr.

Living Hope Church

(Excerpt from the forward) In a world where absolutes are hard to be found, Scott Clampitt offers The Image of God, a refreshing look into the simplicity of God’s Word. Whoever reads this book should know that Scott Clampitt lives what he writes. I am thankful that someone is standing up for the absolutes in the midst of a Grey world.

—Bill Ballenger 

 Break the Grey Inc

Acknowledgments

First, I want to thank my very loving and always supportive wife, Sue Clampitt. You have been my biggest supporter in life, as well as my biggest critic. You’re always truthful and always awesome. You are also my best friend!

Thank you to my parents, Reverends Harlan and Sondra Clampitt, for following the call of God and for praying for me continually. I know I wasn’t the easiest child to bring up, but you stuck with speaking the Word and praying over me.

Thank you to my good friend and editor Troy Pochop. I appreciate all your support and efforts in helping me accomplish this on short notice. Your friendship has meant more than I can ever express.

Thank you to all my good friends and family who supplied me with priceless feedback and support: Jeff Brown, Josh Lawson, Nathan Jones, Jeff Clampitt, Janet Purdue, Brian Clampitt, June Taylor, Amber McClanahan, Chuck & Donna Rogers, Bill & Jodie Ballenger, Julie Nickell, Pastor Charles Rogers Jr, and Pastor Lannie Stetcher.

Thank you to my friends in ministry:

Bill Ballenger 

 Break the Grey 

 Inc. http://www.breakthegrey.com

Julie Nickell, 

 Nickell Ministries 

http://www.julienickell.com

Pastor Charles Rogers Jr.

Living Hope Church

Plainfield, IN

Pastor Lannie Stetcher

Destined To Win Family Church

Martinsville, IN

I especially thank the Lord Jesus who has been the most patient with me. He has calmly waited through all my procrastinating, doubts, and hesitations. He never gives up and He always encourages. Through all of my hard headedness, I’ve found He has more staying power than I ever realized. He never leaves nor forsakes!

Foreword

In a world where absolutes are hard to be found, Scott Clampitt offers The Image of God, a refreshing look into the simplicity of God’s Word. For over the 20 years that I have known Scott, he has always been a man that would stare religion in the face and say exactly what needed to be said. I can remember working together in the construction field in 1991. This was just after my release from prison, we were both young in our walk with the Lord and we knew just enough to be dangerous.

There were many times when we were supposed to be working that we would spend hours talking about God’s love for humanity, and how tired we were of what religion was doing to destroy that love. So now after years of seeking the truth, Scott Clampitt has found exactly what he was looking for.

Whoever reads this book should know that Scott Clampitt lives what he writes. I am thankful that someone is standing up for the absolutes in the midst of a Grey world.

—Bill Ballenger 

 Break the Grey Inc.

Preface

When the Lord taught me that the fear of the Lord does not mean we are literally to live in fear of God, it completely revolutionized the way I thought towards God. The more I get to know God, the more I realize the image of God is much different than what I thought.

Prologue

Someone asked me, "Why did you write this book The Image of God"? After the 2008 housing bubble burst, you couldn’t help but notice the widespread fear and panic that began causing a ripple effect throughout the entire world. This was not the specific event that triggered a wake-up call within me, but this is when I began to pick up on the uncertainty people had towards God. In conversations that I had with other Christian believers I noticed the fear in their words and in their voice.

As the weeks went by, I noticed that things only got progressively worse. Instead of confidence in God’s Word, I saw the look of despair on the faces of far too many Christian people. It wasn’t until a few months later that I had my own health related fight with fear. It was at this point that I sought the Lord for answers. I knew that fear and uncertainty was not to have a place within me, so I fought against it with everything that was in me. It was that experience, which I will discuss later, that really propelled my digging into this study more so than ever before.

To give a little background of myself, I was brought up in church most of my life. The knowledge I had of God’s love always led me to believe I had an advantage over my friends who were not saved. After all, knowledge is power. I’ve had my share of struggles like everyone else, but the difference between me and my friends was I had noticeable hope within myself, which seemed to be lacking in my unbelieving friends.

It seemed to be an unfair advantage in that I was raised to believe, and many of them were not. Part of that could be that I was miraculously healed at age six, which also aided to my early belief. As I got older, I realized there were many people who became believers later in life, people who had no background with God at all. This threw my feeling of having an unfair advantage out the window, but still it continued to bother me.

It bothered me that I had a sense of hope while others appeared to be without it. One day I realized that hopelessness was not only among unbelievers but it was among believers as well. I too had fallen prey to it. It was like I woke up from a spiritual slumber and I became conscious of what was going on.

I asked the Lord, Why is everyone so afraid? What is happening? He answered My people do not know Me. I replied, Of course they know you. How else could they be saved? He answered back, I’m not talking about being saved, they do not know Me. I want you to tell them about Me. That prompted me to dig into God’s Word and find out what God meant by knowing Him.

Now, before anyone gets upset about my conversation with God, don’t. This is a vision God gave me to share for encouragement. I’m not talking about some new revelation that no one else has ever had. It’s difficult to trust in something you are unsure of. Therefore getting to know God is a never ending process, and if we are ever going to get to a place that we trust more in God, then we have to get to know Him better.

As a result of finding out what God meant by knowing Him, I have learned so much more than I have ever known about God. I have gotten so much from this study that I feel like I am the prime benefactor of it, as if it was tailored by God just for me. To keep it to myself would be selfish when I know there is such a need for it among all people, believers and nonbelievers alike.

The world is becoming a very scary place right now, but it doesn’t have to be. For too long many of us have ignored the 800 pound gorilla in the room, hoping that it doesn’t notice us and will leave us alone. Successful living is all about who you know and what you know. Knowledge becomes power once we figure out that we are not subject to the 800 pound gorilla.

My mission has never been to convince people that they were wrong and I was right. If people do not want to believe then that is their business and it is between them and God. I’m not one to push my beliefs on others. My mission is to deliver the Word and then believe in God enough to trust He knows how to reveal it to a person’s heart.

Who Is God?

Do we know who God is? As believers, we’d like to think that we do. We claim that God is good. We claim that the world needs Jesus, yet we often times lack the evidence that God even exists in our own lives, let alone that He is good. We struggle with the same things that the world struggles with such as anger, bitterness, wrath, hatred, etc. My dear friends, the whole world is watching us, but they are not convinced.

Do you want to know why? It is because we say one thing, yet we do quite the opposite. We even pray for one thing and the opposite happens. Half the time, we don’t even know what to pray for. Then when we and those watching do not see the goodness of God, we have to scramble to find some kind of deep theological reason to explain why God did not perform His Word. This creates several problems, starting with those unbelievers who are watching us. They see nothing while our own confidence in God becomes shaken. This should not be happening.

What do you suppose would have happened if Elijah would have called fire down from heaven and it not had fallen? If Elijah had called down fire from heaven and it had not fallen, there is a good chance that Israel would have continued to follow Baal instead of Jehovah. But what made Elijah so confident? Why did God answer Elijah? I contend that it is because Elijah knew who God was. Elijah knew God and what to expect from Him. Let’s back up and read this event in 1 Kings 18:22-39.

²² Then Elijah said to them, I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. ²³ Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. ²⁴ Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God! And all the people agreed.

²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood. ²⁶ So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, O Baal, answer us! But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made. ²⁷ About noontime Elijah began mocking them. You’ll have to shout louder, he scoffed, for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened! ²⁸ So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. ²⁹ They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, and no response.

³⁰ Then Elijah called to the people, Come over here! They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. ³¹ He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, ³² and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons. ³³ He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.

³⁴ After they had done this, he said, Do the same thing again! And when they were finished, he said, Now do it a third time! So they did as he said, ³⁵ and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.

³⁶ At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. ³⁷ O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.

³⁸ Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! ³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!

—1 Kings 18:22-39

You may say, "That’s all well and good for Elijah because He was a prophet." But how much better do we have it seeing that the Spirit of God dwells within us? Our spirits are reborn unto God, whereas no one in the Old Testament was. Also I want to go back and put some emphasis on verses 36-37 ". . . Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God and that You have brought them back to Yourself."

There are two points I want to make here. First, all Elijah was doing is what God had commanded him. Elijah wasn’t going all willy-nilly and asking God for something he wasn’t sure about. Elijah and God were on the same page. Second, Elijah knew the reason God wanted it done was to bring the people of Israel back to Him. Not only did Elijah know what God wanted him to do, but he also knew what the purpose was for doing it. Elijah had an understanding of God’s will.

Imagine the faith Elijah had to have to carry through with this command. Elijah had so much faith, that he even mocked the prophets of Baal while they danced around, cut themselves, and cried out for Baal to answer them. This is the very definition of confidence that God will perform His Word. Do you think Elijah had a back-up plan just in case God didn’t show up? I don’t think anyone carrying on the way Elijah did could have had any doubt whatsoever. If Elijah had doubted, (A) God would not have showed up, and (B) Elijah would have most definitely faced death.

Lack of Knowledge

So, why is it that Elijah did not have any doubt? It is because Elijah knew God. We all want to have enough confidence in God’s Word that it accomplishes what He said it would do. Why doesn’t it always work for us? Hosea 4:6 says that "God’s people perish because of a lack of knowledge." Hebrews 6:18 tells us "it is impossible for God to lie" while Hebrews 11:6 tells us "it is impossible to please God without faith. Romans 3:4 says let God be true and every man a liar." The liar Paul is referring to are those who were called by God who have proven to be unfaithful. Being unfaithful means we haven’t done our homework.

Just because some have been unfaithful to God, it does not mean God is not true. This tells us, if God’s Word is not working then there must be something we have missed along the way. To put it very bluntly, we have been unfaithful. Ouch! Ouch indeed. Dare we go further? Yes Lord, burn the chaff from our hearts and draw us closer to you. Unfaithful is not a guilt ridden word. It simply means we have not done our part as Elijah had done his. So let’s fix it!

For the most part we have not been intentionally unfaithful to God. We have just been uninformed. To add insult to injury, as a result of being uninformed, we have