How Close Is Your Relationship with God and Christ?

I got this email from him this week. He's been on the great South American adventure. He left in December, about 27th or 8th. He's coming back in March, so he's going to be down there. He went by himself. He says, I was swimming, hiking, and attempting to rock climb near Paratai. I think that's in Brazil somewhere near the ocean. When I slipped in the water and was attacked by a sea urchin, many barbs and quills were shot into my left hand, deeply into my right foot. Approximately about 10 were extracted from my foot, some being quite thick and nearly an inch long. Ouch! He said, thanks to my new Brazilian friend, Wagoner, for extracting many of the barbs, but some are embedded too deeply in my foot. Quite an experience as I had to swim and hike quite a distance down the mountain to another beach to catch the boat. Since this occurrence, I took a six-hour bus trip to Sao Paulo, and then another 11-hour bus trip to Florinopolis. He said, it's incredibly beautiful here, and hopefully my foot will recover soon. We'll most likely be checking into the hospital tomorrow just to be sure further infection doesn't occur. He also says, don't worry, I've done my research, and it's not very dangerous, and I've done all the remedies I found online. A sweet French girl helped me on the bus ride to Florinopolis, where I met up with about six other friends I met in Rio de Janeiro and Parity. I'm having a great time. This is just yet another bump in the road. Mother Nature likes to throw at you. Now, he had a... let's see, there's another email that he sent to an update since then. I wrote back to him and said something about it. Sounds like a novel or some documentary, The Attack of the Sea Urchin'. He says, ha ha, yes, it does have that ring to it. Well, from what I have gathered, it's not really uncommon. I asked him if this was a common thing, but mine was a bit more severe because of the size and number of quills I got into my foot. I went to the minor emergency place here in Florinopolis this morning and they extracted a few more of the quills. Most painful thing I can ever remember enduring. My Brazilian tour guide extracted on Wednesday about 20 from my hand and quite a few bigger ones from my foot. Some of those he picked out with his bare hands because we were up in the mountains. I had to hike back barefoot with all these quills in me. After that, he poked out with needles or dug in with tweezers for about four hours. The minor emergency place I went to followed the same technique. Basically, mine is doing it by hand. I think I should be good. Of course, no one speaks any English around here, but I did understand come back on Monday if there's a problem.

He said, I think it's already healing up pretty good. I've been soaking it in vinegar, spraying it with hydrogen peroxide and some sanitizing cream. Much of the swelling has gone down, so what's the latest that the Welch household take care of? Love you, Pops! This was in response. So I appreciate your prayers for Matt. Hopefully, he's certainly past all the worst, and hopefully infection won't be a problem for him. I'm glad he's having a good time.

I'd hate to see what happens if he's having a bad time.

Well, brethren, when our daughter Jamie was born nearly 30 years ago, I was obviously immensely exhilarated. I really didn't know quite what to think or do at the time, being a papa for the first time. I do remember reciting the Ten Commandments to her in the hospital. She was just a few hours old at the time. I thought we'd get her off to a good start right from the beginning. I remember being in the hospital with her, and I remember thinking how much I wanted to love her. But at the time, I realized that I didn't even really know her, and it was frustrating to me because I really felt a little bit of a void. I loved her as much, I think, as any young father can do, but something was missing. So I was frustrated about it in the first few days and weeks. Now, Jamie was an extremely colicky baby. Her stomach hurt for hours every evening and into the night. Barb and I both felt very sorry for her and for each other.

As we had to stay up with her, we took turns, staying up late into the night. It was awful to hear your daughter screaming like that. Her little stomach was tied up in knots, and we felt very sorry for her. So we took turns. We would rock her in the rocking chair. I would even sing to her, which maybe didn't do her any good, but I hoped it would. But we sang to her, and we read to her, and we tried to distract her as much as we could. Mainly, we just wanted her to know that we were there for her because there wasn't a whole lot we could do. We didn't want her feeling alone. We wanted her to know that she could always count on us. Now, in the process of time, the frustration I had about not being able to love her with the feeling that I wanted to went away. I can't say exactly when it went away, but it went away. I realized that I didn't have those strongest loving feelings right off the bat because I didn't really know her yet. I hadn't spent any time with her. It was just a baby. It was my baby. It was our baby. That was very, very special, but I had to get to know her to really begin to love her the way I wanted to.

I spent a lot of time with her, and because she was colicky, I think that brought us closer together, too, because I saw her suffer, and that was tough. But these were bonding experiences, and the more time I spent with her, the more I began to love her.

The many happy times that we had together. She wasn't always colicky, but during the day, she had a lot of good times, and she was always smiling. When she felt good, she was really good. She was always smiling, and it was great. We did a lot of horseback rides as she got a little bit older. The tickling and the laughing and all those things that fathers do with her children, it drew me closer to her. Simply put, to really love her, I did need to spend time with her.

I needed to develop a close relationship with her. I needed to go through some bonding experiences with her. And so, the more bonding experiences we had, the more our love grew for each other. And the same thing was true with our son, Matt.

I think I may have loved Matt a little bit more from the very beginning, just because I knew what it was like, and I knew that our relationship would develop. So, it wasn't so frustrating with him when he was born. And I did, obviously, have a lot of bonding experiences with our son, Matt. My love for him grew stronger and stronger. And as I got to know him, I would read to him, read the book of my kids just about every night.

And I played a lot of sports with both of my children throughout their lives as they were at home. And all these bonding experiences and all the time that we spent together really drew us closer together. And I have a very close relationship with both my son and my daughter.

My wife does as well, but this is my sermon, so she can tell her story some other time. My love for both my children continues to grow, and we continue to have good bonding experiences. Being able to go on the cruise together, my daughter being married on the cruise ship, and then being able to spend five days with Matt and Jamie and the rest of the family. That's great! You know, those are wonderful bonding experiences. So we're close. We're a close family. And the question that I have for you today is, how close is your relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ?

How close is your relationship with God and with Christ? Do you love them with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind? Your relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ needs to be priority number one in the year 2011. Now, we're just a couple weeks into this new calendar year. Of course, it wouldn't really matter when it was. This would be so important for us to do, regardless of the timing. But since people like New Year's resolutions, make it a New Year's resolution. And we don't keep New Year's. I know that. I'm not exalting New Year's or the pagan ness of the New Year.

But I am just saying that it's not bad to make some resolutions. And one of them should be to draw closer to God this year, to develop a stronger relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. Would you like to feel your love grow for God and for Jesus Christ? Have you given your relationship with God and Christ some concentrated thought lately? Have you been thinking about your relationship with God?

Today, we're going to talk about how to improve your relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about learning to grow in love for them. We know that God first loved us, but we are to reciprocate, aren't we? We are to learn to love God as well. So we're going to talk about improving our relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. Time, just like it was in learning to love Jamie and Matt, is very, very important. If you aren't spending enough time with God in a personal way, then your relationship with God and Christ will suffer.

But if you devote more time and more energy to your relationship with God, it will surely grow stronger. So I would encourage you to spend a lot more time with God this year. Spend more time in prayer. Spend more time in studying the Word of God. Spend more time in fasting. We'll talk about all these points a bit as we go along.

But if you'll do that, if you spend more time with God, you will feel a much stronger connection with God. You'll feel closer to Him, and you'll know that He's there for you and you won't ever doubt it. Or at least you won't doubt it very much, because you'll know that God's there for you. So I want to give you four points on how to improve your relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. Now, the first principle is your love for God will grow stronger in relation to the amount of quality and quantity time that you spend with God. It really takes both. One is not enough. It takes quality and quantity time. And of course, these points will also apply to your family, to your children. Spend quality and quantity time with your children, with your family. Any relationship, if you want to develop a stronger relationship with people here in this congregation, then spend some more time with them. You know, call them on the phone. Just go out of your way to spend more time, because that relationship will grow stronger in relation to the amount of quality and quantity time that you spend. Let's go to Isaiah 55. In Isaiah 55, it says that if we seek God, then surely He will be there for us. And it says to seek God while He may be found. I can assure you that God can be found. God is there for you. He's there for you now.

If you will seek Him, you will find Him, and you'll develop a stronger relationship with Him. Let's begin reading in verse 1. Ho! That's what it says right in the Bible. Ho! Exclamation point. Everyone who thirsts come to the waters, and you who have no money, come. Buy and eat. Yes, come. Buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Buy wine. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. It's talking about priorities here. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. This is God talking. He's saying, incline your ear. Listen to what I have to say. And your soul shall live here, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you. So this is God promising to make an everlasting covenant with you personally. God will do this for anyone who desires to have a covenant with him. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David. Indeed, I have given him, as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. Surely, you will call a nation you do not know. And nations who do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Now, God's talking about a prophecy here as well, that David is going to be restored in his kingdom. During the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, David is going to be restored, and he is going to be ruling over Israel. Israel will have a wonderful leader at that time, a glorified leader under Jesus Christ, who of course is the king. But along with David, we will rule. We will be kings and priests, along with David in the kingdom of God.

So it is important to realize that God is in the process of glorifying each and every one of us as we turn to him. He wants a relationship with you. He wants an everlasting covenant with you.

Verse 6 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek the Eternal now while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. You know, God is near to each and every one of us. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon. God is very forgiving.

We can go to God and repent of our sins. We know we can know that God will accept us. We can go to him while he may be found. So brethren, please, if you've sinned against God, go to him. And all of us have, haven't we? Have we not all fallen short? We've all sinned and we continue to sin at times. So that's an opportunity to draw closer to God, to go and pour your heart out to him and ask him to forgive you for whatever sin you've committed. Believe that he will forgive you and that he will restore you. If you do that, you'll develop a stronger relationship with God and with Jesus Christ because Christ is right there at the right hand of God. He makes intercession for us when we sin. He understands how difficult it is being human because he was human. He was tempted at every point as we are, yet he was without sin. But he understands how difficult it is for you and for me. So he makes intercession for us. So go to God, go to Christ at his right hand, seek them while they may be found. In Jeremiah 29, God says, and ye shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart. See, God wants our whole heart. One of the reasons David is going to be over the tribes of Israel during the Millennial reign of Christ is because of his heart. He was wholehearted in serving God. The Scripture says he was a man after God's own heart, and it talks about his wholehearted nature. In Jeremiah 29, verse 10, Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 10, this is what God is saying, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. God is thinking the same thing about all of us. God loves each and every one of us here. He's thinking good of us, thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. God wants to give you a future. He wants you to have hope.

Verse 12, then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. This is a promise that God gives us. If you pray, God will listen.

And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart. God does want us to search for him with all of our heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord. Now, this is to a people. This is written, it's a prophetic, again, these are prophecies, written to Israel, who have turned against God. We know that the tribe of...

the first, the ten tribes were taken captive in Assyria. And then later on, the house of Judah was taken captive into Babylon. And so these were people of Israel who were being punished for their sins. That's why they were taken captive, because they had sinned against God, they had broken the covenant with God. But God is showing that He's very merciful, and that He will restore them. He says, verse 14 again, I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord. And I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. Because you have said the Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon. Therefore, thus says the Lord, concerning the King who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity, thus says the Lord of hosts, behold I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten. They are so bad. Now this was again a people who turned against God and would not keep His Sabbath. They wouldn't keep His holy days. They began to worship idols. They were breaking all of the commandments of God. They were taking His name in vain. They had other gods before Him. Every one of the commandments, they were breaking them all. They were lying and stealing and committing adultery. Verse 18, and I will pursue them with sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth to be a curse and an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them. Because they have not heeded my words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets. Remember, they even had the prophets killed or imprisoned. And they even had the Son of God killed because they refused to repent of their sins. They refused to listen to God. So I sent to you my prophets, the servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, neither would you heed, says the Lord. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel. Now, we know that God did restore a remnant to the land of Israel. Those in Babylon came out of Babylon during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. And God was with them, and God was restoring them and blessing them. We also know that these prophecies are often dual, and they talk about how modern-day Israel will be taken captive because of their sins. And then they will be restored later on during the reign of Christ. They'll come under David's rule, and they'll repent of their sins. But this is a message also to spiritual Israel today. God says, seek me while I may be found, and search for me with all of your heart. God wants each and every one of us to be seeking Him with all of our heart, our soul, our mind. God really does want us to develop a relationship with Him. He's there for us. He's inviting that relationship, but we have to do our part. Brethren, I would encourage you to give God the best of your time. Oftentimes, we don't give God the best of our time. We give God the sleepy time. You know, we get up in the morning, we're rushing to get off to work. Perhaps we've stayed up late because we watched TV or did something less important.

And so we don't get off on the right start. You know, we're rushing to get to work. We don't really pray and study like we should in the morning because we haven't committed ourselves to doing so. And so we go out, we go through the day without the kind of help that we could have. If we pray and study in the morning, then God is more apt to be with us, to strengthen us, to guide us, to lead us throughout the day. And when we come home, sometimes we're tired and we plop down in front of a TV set and we just vegetate. And we don't really give God the best of our time. We wait until time to go to bed and we get down on our knees for a few minutes and a little sleepy time prayer and off to sleep. I would encourage you to give God the best of your time. So that means you're going to have to learn to discipline yourself. Go to bed early. If you're a morning person especially, you have to go to bed early. So you can get up early. Go to bed early, get up early, give God the best of your time. When you're awake, you can pray more faithfully, you can pray more fervently, you can study the Bible and retain more of it. Now some people are night people and if you have a sharp mind at night, that's great. Now that's not me. I'm not... I'm a morning person.

I need to try to go to bed early. I operate the best when I go to bed early and I get up early. But if you're a night person, then that's fine. You do it the way you need to do it. But give God the best of your time and don't just give him some sleepy time.

You might even think about tithing your time directly to God. Have you ever thought of that concept? That would be about, what, 2.4 hours per day? If you tithe your time, you got 24 hours in a day. 2.4 hours. Pray, study the Bible, spend about 2.5 hours a day. Now that may be difficult for some of you, but perhaps not so much for others. I know some of you have children and you think, how can I find 2.5 hours a day to devote to God? Well, when they're napping and, you know, there may be... there may be things you can do to spend more time than you are. And I'm not saying you have to spend 2.5 hours a day directly with God. But if you can, why not do it? It's probably a lot better use of your time than what you're going to find yourself doing other ones. So, I would encourage you to spend a lot of time with God.

We know the Scriptures talk about how we are to go through life, and we are to basically dedicate our whole lives to God. Now, the 2.5 hours would be more directly. I know the Scripture says we are to pray without ceasing. Now, that's something that we should always have that kind of an attitude, a prayerful attitude, throughout our day. And it's important not to allow the world to distract us. You know, the world will distract you. I guarantee it. The world has its ways of distracting us. Today's entertainment is, it seems, overwhelming. There's so much entertainment out there in various forms and ways. So, you have to prioritize your time, and you have to spend your time more wisely in the future. So, spend quality and quantity time with God and with Jesus Christ. Probably you've heard of the song, Cats in the Cradle. You know, we've sung that song probably at times. The father in the song didn't have time for his son, if you'll remember in the beginning.

We'll get together then, son. You know we'll have a good time then. You know, Cats in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon and all that. We'll get together then, son. You know we'll have a good time then. Well, it seemed like then never came. You know, there was never a good time to get together with his son. And then his son grew up, and the dad wanted to spend time with his son. And then he would say, we'll get together then, dad. You know we'll have a good time then. But then never came. It never came for either of them because they didn't make it a priority. And if you treat God that way, you'll never have time with him. We'll get together then, God. You know we'll have a good time then. You know, I feel so much better when I've studied the Bible and prayed than when I've neglected to. I feel much closer to God. I just feel so much better. And I'll bet you're the same way. If you neglect time with God, you'll pay a price for it. And if you spend time with God, then you'll also pay a price, a good price. It'll be something wonderful. You'll get to know God a lot better. And you'll feel closer to God. You'll have more love for God. You'll just feel much closer to God. And then we'll come. You know, if you make that time, if you plan your time, then it will come. We do need to be redeeming the time. In Ephesians 5, it talks about the importance of redeeming the time. And the Apostle Paul talked about this in Ephesians 5, verse 15.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not be drunk with wine, and which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. You know, that'll make you feel better, too. I like to sing hymns to God. I'll do it in the car sometimes. And it's just... it draws you closer to God. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Redeem the time because the days are evil. If we're not careful, we can waste our time on evil pursuits, or at least neutral pursuits instead of godly pursuits. So I want you to dedicate yourself more fully to God this year. Dedicate your time to God. Spend more time with God in prayer.

In Colossians chapter 4, it also talks about the importance of utilizing our time. Colossians chapter 4 verses 5 and 6. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. You might think about how you can serve people more this year. What can you do to actually help someone in their lives? I had an occasion to go to a homeless shelter this week, and it's really pretty sad to go downtown and see literally dozens and dozens and dozens of people that are homeless. They have a little bag, they shuffle from one place to the next. They have a day place where they can go, then they have to go to a place at night where they can sleep. And then they have to leave at seven o'clock in the morning and go to a place where they can hang out. That's the world we live in. It's a sad world. We do need the return of Christ. There may be something that you can do to better your family's situation, to better someone else in the world. Doing something good, spending your time doing something worthwhile and valuable, instead of something selfishly. Oftentimes, we spend a lot of our time in selfish pursuits. We really do need to analyze how we spend our time and be careful that we're not wasting our time.

Verse 6, Colossians 4, verse 6, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with sought, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Walk in wisdom and redeem the time. If you get off to a good start in the morning through fervent prayer, praying for one another, praying for everybody in this room, praying for the Church of God, praying for the unity of the Church of God, praying for the strength of God's people, that is a good way to start your day. Spending time with God and studying His Word is a good way to start your day.

Spending time with God and fasting is a good way to spend your time. Now, we can't do that every day, but fasting is something that we should do as regularly as we possibly can. As regularly as we can muster within ourselves. It's not easy to fast, but there is power in fasting. There's spiritual power in fasting.

Some things only happen through diligent prayer and fasting, and the more we are willing to dedicate ourselves in fasting, no telling how strong we could become spiritually and how strong we could become as a group if we would dedicate ourselves more faithfully to God.

Proper fasting leads to greater humility, and don't we need that? Don't we all need greater humility? In Isaiah 66, it talks about the kind of person that God looks to. Isaiah 66, verse 1. Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me, and where is the place of my rest? Of course, this is God speaking to mankind. Where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord. But on this one will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and he who trembles at my word. You know, one that really wants to keep God's commandments, keep his laws, please him, follow him, obey him. This is to the one whom God will look, someone who is poor and of a contrite spirit. In 1 Peter 5, verse 5, it talks about the importance of submitting to God. 1 Peter 5. We all need to submit to God. If everyone would submit to God, we certainly wouldn't have all the problems that we face individually and also in the church.

If everyone would submit to God and live by every word of God and follow the clear scriptures, on how to conduct our lives and how to live our lives, then we wouldn't have all the problems that we face. 1 Peter 5, verse 5, Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but God gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. And due time means at God's time. You just have to be patient and wait it out and wait on God. And God will exalt us in due time if we truly humble ourselves before him. 2 Peter 5, verse 6, Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. God cares for every one of us. He says, Be sober and be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory, by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. We will be settled if we will turn to God and humble ourselves before him, if we'll resist Satan. Satan is the author of confusion. The confusion that we have in the church now is because Satan has got a foothold.

If every single one of us would repent of our own sins, our individual sins, and I'm talking from the very top of the church leadership, if we would all seek God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and repent of what we've done to bring about this sad condition within the church of God, then God would heal us. And God would restore us, but it has to start with you. It has to start with me. And frankly, it's not the brethren who have gotten us into this mess. It is our leadership, and it is our leadership that has to repent.

And we need to pray for our leadership, pray that they will repent, pray that they will see their own sins, and that they will humble themselves before God.

Because God will clear this up in time. God is not the author of confusion. And if we just stay steadfast to God and continue to seek Him and seek repentance and ask for forgiveness and repentance, then God will continue to guide us and direct us.

So we really do want your prayers. We do want you to fast between now and the time that we have our conference, that we might all see our own sins. I'm sure we're going to be talking about that at the conference. What have we done to contribute to the problem? What have we, those of us in the United Church of God, what have we done to contribute to this problem? If we look at ourselves first, that's the starting point. We have to repent of our sins. And if we do that, then we have nothing to fear because God will be with us. He will not forsake us. He will not leave us. So I do ask that you would pray fervently for the Church, for the people of God, for all of us to repent of our sins. Anyone who's had a part in any of the confusion by allowing Satan to work in their lives, may we all repent. We need to strive to love God and Christ with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind. In Deuteronomy 13 in the Old Testament, it shows that God is in the process of proving His people. God has always been in the process of proving His people because we have a wonderful God who loves us and He has a plan for us. That's probably what we'll be talking about next time, is your eternal destiny. That's what I gave in Tulsa today. I'm behind because I missed a sermon there, so I'm giving a different sermon. I'm giving a sermon here that I gave last time in Tulsa. The next time we'll talk about our destiny, our eternal destiny, because I want us to go forward. I want us to look to God and to look to Jesus Christ for the answers. We need to get our minds focused on what's really important.

In Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 13, verse 3, God says, "...you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him." We have to be on guard that we don't believe lies. We do need to follow others as they follow Christ because God is in the process of proving each and every one of us. Whether we love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and also with all of our might. In John 13, and we sang about this earlier in a hymn, we are known by the love that we have for each other. We are Christ's disciples if we have love one for another. If we don't have love, then we're not Christ's disciples. We're not exemplifying his love. We're a poor example. It's something that we need to repent of. In John 13, verse 35, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. I think we've been lacking in love in the Church of God. I think that we need to repent. All of us individually need to repent and learn to love each other more. I believe there's been too much mistrust of others, too much suspicion, too much accusation on every side in this whole issue. We all need to repent of these things. Love others for it is by your love that you are known as Christ's disciples. The first point, brethren, in drawing closer to God is to spend quality and quantity time with God.

A second principle is to remember the covenant that you have made with God at baptism. Remember the covenant that you have made with God at baptism. Many of you are baptized. Some of you are in the process and will be baptized before long. Some of you are younger and haven't really thought that much about baptism. But if you have been baptized, you need to remember the covenant that you made with God at baptism. In entering a covenant with God, we need to realize that it is all important that we keep that covenant. We have entered into a covenant at baptism. We need to keep that covenant. God is all important, and we need to give Him, as I said already, the best of our time. And when we make a covenant with God, it's important to realize that it is a relationship with Him.

We've entered into a relationship with God. The Abrahamic covenant, the Old Covenant, and the New Covenant are all based on having a relationship with God. God says, I will be your God, and you will be my people. Leviticus 26, verse 12. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. God was calling a chosen people at this time the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Israel. And He said, I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright. He says, but if you do not obey me and do not observe all of these commandments, and if you despise my statutes, or if your soul abhors my judgment so that you do not perform all my commandments, but break my covenant, I also will do this to you. Now, this is one of the blessing and cursing chapters, and it goes on to say what will happen to those who break this covenant with God. When we break this covenant with God, we do bring curses upon ourselves. Now, God is extremely merciful, and He does not deal with us according to our many sins. Otherwise, we would be just a kind of a spot out there, just a dirty spot. But that's not how God deals with us. He does allow us, though, to pay a price for our sins. Be sure our sins will find us out. God wants to be your God. He wants you to be His son or daughter. In Jeremiah chapter 7, it again speaks of this relationship, Jeremiah chapter 7. And we find this true throughout the Bible. Jeremiah chapter 7, verses 23 and 24. Jeremiah 7, 23.

But this is what I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. Yet they did not obey or incline their ears, but followed the councils and the dictates of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. They went backward and not forward. We are to go forward as God's people today, as God's spiritual Israel. We don't need to go backwards, but it seems like sometimes we do go backwards. We need to go forward. Look at the lives of the great men and women of God. Study the Bible. Study the lives of the relationships that God had with Abraham. Well, first, what about Noah? God had a close relationship with Noah. Noah walked with God.

And it was through Noah that God saved his people. Remember, all the sins were rapping upon the earth. It says every thought of their heart was evil continually. So God was sorry that he had made man. And look at the mess that they had created on the earth. So he saw Noah, that Noah was different. Noah had a relationship with God. He walked with God. He sought God with all of his heart, his soul, his might. And so God saved his people through Noah. And whenever we see a rainbow, we need to remember the covenant that God made, that he would not destroy the earth anymore by a flood. It was because of Noah and the relationship that God had with Noah. God personally chose Abraham to be the father of the faithful. God... or Abraham was a man that was even willing to sacrifice his own son. He was certainly a type of the father who was willing to sacrifice his son. And of course, Isaac was a type of Christ who was willing to lay down and be sacrificed. Jesus Christ, of course, sprang from Abraham's loins as the seed of Abraham, through whom God would save the world. God is saving the world because of relationships. Jacob wrestled with God. Jacob, who became known as Israel, wrestled with God. He prevailed with God. He didn't want to let go of God. He sought God. He sought God's blessings. We need to be tenacious like Israel was tenacious. Joseph dreamed of God, and he drew close to God even in prison. God again saved his people through Joseph. You remember how he was exalted in Egypt. God had a relationship with Joseph. You study the Bible. Study the men of God, the women of God, and the relationships that they've had with God. There is great strength in having a close relationship with God. Moses yielded to God, and God led the people of Israel through Moses. Moses was to, in a sense, be as God to the people. You know, God would talk to Moses, then Moses would talk to the people. And Moses told them how to live, and the Ten Commandments were given through Moses.

God saved his people through Moses. Now, in the New Testament, it talks about how God has personally chosen each and every one of us to be firstfruits now. In the Scripture in Matthew 24, it says that it is for the elect's sake. If not for the elect's sake, no one would be saved alive in the future. It's because of our relationship with God. It's because of a relationship that we are developing with God now. God loves the elect. He loves his people. And if not for the elect, then no one would be saved alive. It's going to get a lot worse on the earth before it gets better. And we have to realize that, and we have to start preparing ourselves, if we haven't already, for what is inevitably to come. Now, we don't know when Christ is returning, but it may be that some of us in this room will be alive at Christ's return.

Now is the time for all of us to draw close to God. We don't know how long we're going to live, either. So we need to take every day as an opportunity to live. As an opportunity to draw closer to God. In John 6, 44, it does speak of how God is calling people now. We have not chosen God, but he has chosen us. And that's a tremendous blessing that boggles our minds, I know. God isn't calling most people today. He's calling a very small number in reality. Very few people know God the way you know God. You have a relationship with Him that's unique on the earth. So don't minimize your relationship with God. You have more understanding.

God's counting on you. He's expecting more of you. John 6, verse 44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up at the last day. So there is a connection that's made.

No one can come to Christ unless the Father who sent Christ draws him.

And I will raise him up at the last day. He's saying there's a relationship here. You can count on me. I will raise you up at the last day. I will resurrect you at my return.

You will be resurrected to life. If you will respond to the call that God is giving, God is calling us. If we are called, chosen, and faithful, then we will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. If we are alive at that time, if not, we'll come out of the graves. A split second before those who are alive and are changed. So we have much to look forward to. There is a relationship that we are developing with God and with Christ. Verse 45 says, it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. That's also a relationship, isn't it? You develop a relationship with your teacher. Your teacher teaches you. If you have a good teacher, you learn a lot. You feel close to that teacher. We have a great teacher.

Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

In chapter 15, verse 16 of the book of John, John chapter 15 verse 16, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you. We need to have faith in God that He will hear our prayers, that He will intervene for us and for others as we unselfishly go to God and pray for one another. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit. Again, that's talking about a relationship. We bear fruit because we're close to God. We bear fruit because Christ lives in us.

That's why we bear fruit. That's how we bear fruit. If God isn't living with us, then we're not bearing fruit. Galatians 2, 20 says, Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. We need to cultivate our relationship with Jesus Christ and allow Him to live in us.

So let God teach and guide you this year. Listen to God and listen to Christ as never before. Don't let the sound of the world and don't let Satan drown out God's efforts to talk to you. The world makes a lot of sound, loud sounds that try to drown out God's voice.

Sometimes I'm sure we feel like we're drowning.

Sometimes we feel like we barely have our head above water.

Look to God and experience His deliverance this year. Know that God is there for you. You're not going to drown. You're not going to perish. But you will flourish as God lives in you. So produce fruit worthy of a servant of Jesus Christ.

So the second point, second point again, was to remember the covenant that you made at baptism. You made a covenant with God to humble yourself before Him, to surrender yourself to Him, to become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

You've dedicated your life to God. This should be the most important thing in your life. Let's go on to a third principle, and that is to obey God and Christ. Obey God and Christ. There are so many scriptures that we could go to that talk about obedience.

Deuteronomy 11, verse 13, it says, And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently, unto my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. If ye will hearken diligently to these commandments, then God will be with you, God will bless you, God will restore you. God will do all that you would ever want Him to do.

If ye will just hearken diligently to His commandments, and love Him, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. In Joshua 22, verse 5, Here it says, But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of God, charge you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all of His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him. That's talking about a relationship, to cleave. When we hug someone, we cleave to them. That's a relationship. Cleave to Him and serve Him with all of your heart and with all of your soul.

In Psalm 119, verse 97, it says, How love I your law, it is ever with me. David said that. How love I your law, it is ever with me. We should have the same kind of relationship with God. Jesus Christ calls us friends, and He says, Those who keep His commandments are His friends.

If you'll keep His commandments, that's in John 15. Verses 9 through 17. I'm not going to take the time to read that to you, but Jesus Christ calls us friends, and we keep His commandments because we are His friend.

In James 1, verses 20 through to 25, it talks about how we are to be doers of the law, not just hearers only, but doers, doing good works.

We should offer to help others. We should give of ourselves in service to others. This is our calling. When we help others, we help God, don't we? Matthew 25 says that if you give a drink to someone who needs it, you've given it to Jesus Christ. You've given a cup of water, a small thing, a simple thing. Praying for others, sending a card, we do it as if it were Christ.

So the third point was to obey God and obey Christ, be doers of the law.

The fourth and last point is to believe God in Christ and have faith in God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Believe, have faith. If you've done anything to offend God, then go to Him and let Him know you're sorry. Mean it. Seek repentance for your sins. In Joel 2, it says, turn you even to Me with all of your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning. There is a time to get emotional about your calling, to get down to your heart, to get down on your knees and pray that God will cleanse you. Psalm 51 would be a wonderful psalm to be studying between now and the conference. We all need to repent like David repented in Psalm 51.

We need to realize that God isn't to blame for anything, and we need to be careful that we don't lose our faith in difficult times. That's when we need to look to God with even greater faith, knowing that He won't leave us, He won't forsake us, and that He will deliver us.

So we need to stop ignoring God when we're tempted to sin. That's what we tend to do. We ignore God when we're tempted to sin. We push God away from us. You know, we don't want God near us then, do we? Not if we're not if we're bent on doing evil. If we've decided that we're going to do something wrong or we're being tempted and we push God aside, then we will follow through on what it is we're thinking of. Instead, if we'll get down on our knees and pray that God will strengthen us so that we won't do the thing that we're tempted to do, then God will give us strength and we will be overcomers. And it's to the overcomers that will be granted to sit on the throne, not to those who give in and refuse to obey and listen to God. So believe God and have faith in God's plan of salvation through Christ. Brethren, will you develop a closer relationship with God? You know, it's up to you. It's not something I can do for you. It's not something you can do for me. It's an individual responsibility that you have. Will you develop a closer relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ? Will you learn to love God and Christ more strongly, more deeply this year? If you'll seek them with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your might, you will draw closer to God. When my daughter was born, I began to seek her with all my heart. I wanted to love her. I wanted to have that strong, deep love for her that I knew a father should have. So I began to seek her with all my heart, spend time with her. That's what we all need to do, brethren. We all need to do that with our Father and with Jesus Christ. If we'll do that, we'll draw close to this hardness that we have.

You know, there's a hardness in all of us. It needs to be broken down.

Now, we all put up walls. You know, we all put up walls between God and between each other. These walls need to be broken down. If we'll seek each other and we'll seek God with all of our heart, then these walls will be broken down. We will be pleasing to God. We will become a church without spot or without wrinkle, but it has to start with each and every one of us. We have to take responsibility for ourselves.

Learning to love my son and daughter has been a wonderful thing for me. It's helped me to see God's love more fully. I know that if I can love my children the way I do, how much more does God love us? God who's perfect. You know, I'm far from perfect, but I know that I would gladly sacrifice myself for my kids. I know that. I take 100 quills in my foot, in my hand, in my heart for my kids. It's just something that we do as parents. We love our children. And God loves us a whole lot more than we love our own children. So let's try to break down the barriers toward God and toward each other. Let's draw closer together as a family. Let's do those things that are pleasing to God.