Improving Your Relationship with God and Jesus Christ

Brother, when our daughter, Jamie, was born nearly 30 years ago, I was obviously immensely exhilarated at the time. I really didn't know quite what to think or do. I do remember reciting the Ten Commandments to her in the hospital. She was only a few hours old at the time, but God has been such a part of my life that it seemed like the right thing to do. I remember thinking how much I wanted to love her at the time, but I realized that I really didn't even know her.

A newborn baby, a new father, she was brand new to me. She was a part of me, part of my wife. But I really didn't know her yet. I remember feeling a little bit frustrated about that in those first few days and weeks. Jamie was an extremely colicky baby. I think I've mentioned that here before. Her stomach hurt for hours every evening and into the night. Barb and I felt very, very sorry for her.

We took turns staying up with her at night so the other one could sleep. We felt it was important for someone to be with her at all times when she was suffering, to hold her, to talk to her, to sing to her.

She was subjected to my singing very early. But we didn't want her to feel alone. So she would know that we were there for her. We wanted her to never doubt that we would always be there for her. In the process of time, the frustration I had about not being able to love her with the feeling that I wanted to, that I wanted to have for her, you know, that went away after time.

I realized that I didn't have those strongest loving feelings for her in the very beginning because I just simply didn't know her well enough. I hadn't spent any time with her. Surely I loved her. I think as much as any young father could love his first newborn child. But I just didn't know her yet. I hadn't spent much time with her. It wasn't until we had many bonding experiences as father and daughter that I really knew and felt that I loved her strongly, that I loved her the way I wanted to love her, the trial of her little stomach all tied up in knots for six months drew me closer to her, watching her suffer and suffering along with her.

The many happy times we had together when she felt good, and during the day she did feel good and she was nearly always smiling, a very happy baby. And it drew me closer to her. The horsey back rides as she grew older, the tickling, the laughing. Everything we did together drew me closer to her. Simply put, to really love her I needed to spend time with her. I needed to develop a close relationship with her. I needed to go through some bonding experiences with her. The same thing was true with our son Matt. I grew to love him more and more as I really got to know him.

In a way, I think I loved him more from the very beginning just because I knew what it was like to love a child. So I was able to love him more right from the very beginning. And the more time I spent with him, of course, and I'm sorry for being emotional, but I think you're going to appreciate that our children mean a lot to us. There's nothing that we wouldn't do for our children. So you'll have to just bear with me if I'm a little emotional in this sermon, at least for the beginning. I'm sure I'll get it together. But my love for my son grew stronger, and it grew stronger as I got to know him better.

I spent hours playing sports with my son, hours and hours, and loved every minute of it. You know, I didn't just play sports, but reading to him and just lots of things that we spend with our children. My love for both my children continues to grow through the years. It was wonderful to be with them on the cruise. When my daughter was married, I highly recommend wedding cruises for any of you that might be able to pull that off.

If you can get your kids to agree to let you go on their honeymoon, I certainly recommend it to all of you. So you might want to start working on that now.

Planting seeds. But my love for both my children continues to grow, and it will continue to grow, I'm sure, throughout the years. The question I have for you today is, how close is your relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ? Do you love them with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind?

Do you love them with your might? Your relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ needs to be priority number one in your life in the year 2011. We're beginning a new calendar year. It wouldn't matter if it was the middle of the year. It really wouldn't matter. Now is the time to turn to God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind.

Are you resolved and determined to improve your relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ in the coming year? Would you like to feel your love grow for them? Have you given your relationship with God in Christ some concentrated thought? Have you spent a lot of bonding time with God lately? Let's talk today about improving our relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Let's talk about going in love for them. Let's talk about improving your relationship with your Heavenly Father and with your elder brother, Jesus Christ.

Time, just like it was in learning to love Jamie and Matt, is very, very important. If you're not spending enough time with God in a very personal way, then your relationship with God and Christ will indeed suffer. If there are other things more important to you than your relationship with God, then your relationship is going to suffer. If you're not putting God first in your life, in Jesus Christ, of course members of the God family, if you're not putting them first in your life, then you're making a big mistake.

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And shall have no other gods before me. God needs to be number one in all of our lives. If you devote more time and energy to your relationship with God, it will surely grow stronger and you will love God more. So I'd like to share with you—I think I have four principles or points today—in improving your relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ.

The first point is your love for God will grow stronger in direct relation to the amount of quality and quantity time that you spend with God. Your love for God is going to grow stronger in relation to the amount of quality and quantity time. Quality is not enough. Quality is not enough. It takes both. Quality and quantity time with God our Father and Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 55, it talks about seeking God while He may be found. Well, I assure you, He may be found right now. With all of us here today, every last one of us can find God in a greater way if we will just turn to Him and seek Him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind.

I have no doubt that God is with all of us here in the United Church of God. He is with anyone who turns to Him in righteousness and in love. Isaiah 55, verse 1, Ho! How do you like that? Ho! 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. Obviously, we're talking figuratively here. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me, here and your soul shall live, and 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 shall 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. God is in the process of glorifying His people. As we turn to Him in love and with His Spirit, we are becoming more and more like Christ. We are being glorified in that sense as we draw closer to Jesus Christ, as we become more like Him.

And when Christ returns at that last trumpet, those who are in Christ will indeed be glorified and will become like Him in spirit. Verse 6, Seek the eternal while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man His thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on Him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.

God is a very loving and merciful God. He will forgive us. We do need to go before God and ask for forgiveness. We need to be willing to admit when we have sinned. We need to seek repentance. We need to return to God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. Seek Him while He may be found. Now in Jeremiah 29, it says we should search for God with all of our heart.

We should be on a mission, brethren, to draw closer to God, to search for Him with all of our hearts. Jeremiah 29, verse 10, For thus says the Lord, after seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place, to Israel. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. God allowed them to be taken into captivity because of their sins.

They were reaping what they had sown, but nevertheless, God shows His heart. God allowed them to suffer because they had turned against God, they had turned from Him. They were not faithful and obedient. So God had to correct them. He had to test and try them. So they went into captivity in Babylon. So even as they are there, He says, or even before they had gone, He had it in His heart. He says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, their thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Now I believe that whatever wrongs have been done in the United Church of God by the Council or others, Administration, I believe that God will forgive as we turn to God and ask for forgiveness. I believe that God does want us to turn to Him with all of our heart. I'm sure we haven't been blameless as a church, as a people, as a Council. We've said as much. Mr. McNeely said as much in his presentation.

So, I believe that God is with us as we turn to Him and want to obey Him and look to Him.

Whatever sins or mistakes or judgment errors we've made, that God will forgive us as we seek to be forgiven. Again, it says in verse 12, "...then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart." You know, my wife and I were talking about how we all need to repent of whatever it is we've done to help bring about this condition that we're in today.

Within the body of Christ, you know, it's a shameful thing that's happened. So, wherever we've gossiped, wherever we've slandered or accused, whatever we've done to contribute to any of this is something that we all need to repent of. Verse 14, "...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, the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten.

They are so bad. I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. God says He's going to allow those to suffer who are not turning to Him, who have not repented, because He will bring them to repentance, one way or the other. And of course, He said, if you seek Me and find Me, He says, you shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all of your heart. That's what all of us need to be doing now.

We need to be searching for God with all of our heart, asking Him to give us wisdom and to see what it is that we have done to contribute to such a sad state of affairs. Brethren, we need to give God the best of our time as well. Don't just give God your sleepy time.

After you've watched TV for several hours in the evening, after coming home from a hard day's work, is that really the kind of sacrifice that God wants from you? You need to find some time, some quality time to spend with God and with Jesus Christ. Pray your hearts out to God, but don't neglect Him. Work isn't more important than God.

Your entertainment isn't more important than God. Your family isn't even more important than God is. God is number one. He is your number one family. So give Him some quality time. Go to Him in prayer. Study the Word of God also. Be diligent in your prayer and in your study of God's Word. You might want to consider a concept of tithing your time to God directly. Tithing your time is 2.4 hours a day.

This is just something to think about. That would be 2.4 hours a day. If you would tithe your time directly in prayer and study the Word of God, I'm sure some of you may be spending that much time with God daily as it is, but I would think that probably a lot of us aren't. And I'm not setting any...you don't have to...there's nothing biblical that says you have to spend 2.4 hours in prayer and Bible study every day.

That's not the point I'm making. I'm just saying that maybe 10 minutes a day isn't enough. Maybe just a few minutes isn't enough. Maybe we need more quality time and more quantity time with God. If we really want to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind, then we have to show Him that He is a priority in our lives.

I know the Scripture says we are to pray without ceasing. It's actually talking about a prayerful attitude as we go about our day. Throughout the day, 24 hours a day, we'd have a prayerful attitude toward God and a prayerful heart. Spend quality and quantity time with God. I'm sure you've all heard the song, Cats in the Cradle? The Father in the song didn't have time for His Son.

If you remember, we'll get together then, Son. You'll know we'll have a good time then. And then later on, the Son didn't have time for His Father. Remember that? We'll get together then, Dad. You know we'll have a good time then. It seemed like Ben never came. There never was a good time. We have to make a good time. We have to make it a priority. You have to make it a priority to spend time with God, to spend time with your family as well. We live in a society that's basically awash with entertainment.

Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. And I've got caught up in this myself. You know, it's easy to do. There's so many things out there that will entertain you.

All kinds of electronic devices that will entertain you for hours and hours on end.

TV sets, games of all different, video games of all different kinds.

Lots of books to read. You know, there's just tons and tons of choices to make. Entertainment out there. Don't neglect God. You know, don't neglect God while you entertain yourself. That's not a healthy principle at all.

Put God first. Spend time with God in fasting. Mr. Mann said, now is a good time to fast. I agree, it is a good time to fast. Always is a good time to fast. I mean, there's never a bad time to fast. It's not easy to do, but it is a powerful tool. I assure you, the United Church of God believes strongly in fasting. The Scriptures talk a lot about fasting. They talk a lot about the power of fasting. We need to be fasting as Christ disciples. Proper fasting leads to greater humility.

We all need to be humble at these times. In Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2, it talks about humility.

It talks about the kind of person that God will look to, the kind of person that we all want to be.

Isaiah 66, verse 1, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of my rest? God is supreme. He rules over all.

He should have our allegiance. He should have our worship.

For all those things my hand is made and all those things exist, says the Lord. But on this one, will I look? Of all things that are out there in the whole universe, the one thing that God looks to first and foremost is He who is poor and of a contrite spirit, one who trembles at my word, a humble man who trembles, a humble woman who trembles at God's word, who puts him first. In 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 5, it instructs us to submit to God, to resist Satan the devil. Excellent advice for all of us.

Verse Peter 5, verse 5, Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders.

So He is talking to younger people, young adults, teenagers, children. You younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another. Now, there would be a time when an adult would be submissive to a child. If the child's right, then you need to submit to the child. You need to do the right thing. So if you're being stubborn in your rightness, when you realize that really the child's the one who's right, then switch gears and do the right thing. Apologize to your child. I've had to do that before. No, we need to be big enough to do these things. When we're wrong, we're wrong. Be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. You know, if we will turn to God now in humility, I have no doubt that God will bless us as a people. And that's what we need to do. We need to get on with it.

You know, we can't look back and be woe is me about the things that are happening right now.

We have to look to God, put Him first, and move forward. Not dwell in what's already happening or happened, but move forward. You know, that's the kind of attitude and approach we have to have. Not that we want to leave anyone behind, as Mr. McNeely said, we want everyone to be reconciled. I'd love nothing more than to have all of us back here together in this room. There's a few seats empty today, some because they've decided not to attend with us. I love all of them. I would like to see all of us back together again, but I certainly have no ill will toward any of them.

I consider them my brothers, my sisters in Christ, and they're welcome back here anytime. And if ever they come to visit, please treat them with respect. I've told them that you're welcome back here anytime. And if they just come for one Sabbath in six months, that's quite all right. That's fine. We need to act. We need to be Christians. It isn't an act. It's something we are. You know, that's what we need to be. So I would encourage all of you to be Christians, to be Christians about all of this. Strive to love God the Father in Christ with all of your heart, soul, and mind. In Deuteronomy 13, verse 3, here it says, You shall not hearken in the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. Speaking of a false prophet or someone who speaks lies. For the Lord your God proves you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul. God is testing us to see the kind of love that we have for Him. We do need to remain faithful to the truth of God.

We must not compromise with God's truth. We must stand up for that which is right and good.

And as a people, I hope and pray that we will do that together. If ever we need to, as a people, we will do it together. We will stand together.

We will make ourselves known. We will stand in the gap if necessary.

In John 13, verse 35, it talks about the kind of love that we should have as Christ's disciples.

John 13. John 13, verse 35.

By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

Brother Netz, this is the litmus test of whether we're truly Christians. It's not so much that we observe the Sabbath, although that is a test commandment. We are to keep God's Sabbath day holy.

And all of God's commandments we are to keep as God would have us to keep them. They are holy and just and good. They're righteous commandments. But we will be known by the kind of love that we have for each other. You know, if you keep the Sabbath faithfully and diligently, but you don't love your neighbor, then you bring a reproach upon the Church of God and upon Jesus Christ.

So love needs to be first and foremost in how we conduct ourselves. God is love, and we need to reflect that love. So whatever we say from this lectern, all those of you who speak, it needs to be said in love, and we need to set that example in all that we do. Secondly, remember the covenant you have made with God at baptism. The second principle here in our relationship with God and improving our relationship is to remember the covenant you have made with God at baptism.

And if you haven't yet made that covenant, then I would encourage you to make that covenant.

Step forward in faith. Trust God that He's there for you and that He will never leave you, He'll never forsake you, and whatever you lack, He will provide, because we all lack and God does provide.

Remember the covenant that you have made with God at baptism. Entering into a covenant with God is all important in developing a close relationship with God. The Abrahamic covenant, the old covenant, and the new covenant are all based on having a relationship with God, every one of them. Notice in Leviticus 26, and we won't go to too many scriptures here, but you could check them out. The Abrahamic covenant, the relationship that God had with Abraham, with the old covenant and the new covenant, it's all based on a relationship with God.

Leviticus 26, verse 12. God says, I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. God was there walking among them. I will walk among you, be your God, and you shall be my people.

God wanted that relationship with the children of Israel. In Jeremiah chapter 7, again we see this relationship that God desires with his people.

Jeremiah chapter 7.

Verses 23 and 24. Jeremiah 7, verses 23 and 24.

23, Jeremiah 7. 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.

But they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts.

And they went backward and not forward. Now that was the sad, the true story of the children of Israel. They were not a faithful people as a general rule. There were times of faithfulness under certain good kings, times of good leadership. But most of the time, they were just really not a very good example.

They really did not draw close to God, and so they suffered for that.

The New Covenant speaks of writing God's laws in our hearts and in our minds, living by every word of God, and drawing near to God, and He will draw near to us. That's the kind of relationship that we need to have with God today.

Look at the lives of the great men and women of God in the Bible. Analyze their relationships with God.

God personally chose Noah. Remember, the world was very evil at the time of Noah, but Noah was different. Noah walked with God. Noah had a relationship with God. He was different. He loved God with all of his heart, all of his soul, and all of his mind.

And God saved His people through Noah. Remember that when you see a rainbow. Let it be a reminder of the relationship that God had with Noah. He promised Noah that he would never destroy the earth by a flood. He had a relationship with Noah. Noah walked with him. God personally chose Abraham to be the father of the faithful. Abraham believed God, willing to sacrifice His own son.

He believed God, and he was a friend of God. Scriptures talk about the relationship that God had with Abraham. That's the type of relationship we need to seek. In many ways, Abraham didn't have all the distractions that we have today. In some ways, it was a simpler world to live in. In some ways, I believe it's harder today. We who are living in the last times, it's more difficult. We have so many distractions that lead us away from God if we follow that lead.

So Abraham also walked with God. Jesus Christ sprang from Abraham's loins as a seed of Abraham, through whom God would save the world. Promises today we enjoy because of Abraham and his faithfulness. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. That's Genesis 26.5.

Joseph, well actually Jacob first, wrestled with God. Remember Jacob, who became known as Israel. He wrestled with God. He had a relationship with God. He tithed. He had a relationship with God.

Joseph dreamed of God, and he drew close to God in prison. God again saved his people through Joseph.

Moses yielded to God, and God allowed God to lead him. Moses yielded and submitted to God, and God worked through Moses. God saved his people through Moses. That's right. Each and every one of us here today, he's chosen you, and if not for the elect's sake, no one would be saved alive in the last days. God is continuing to save this world because of a relationship that he has with his people. That's how important your relationship is with God.

God has personally chosen you. You are here for a reason, and if not for the elect's sake, no one would be saved alive in the last days. In John 6.44, it talks about how God calls us to Jesus Christ. He reveals the Savior to us. Most people on earth don't believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Messiah. You do believe that. I believe that with all my heart. In John 6.44, Christ says, "...no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." God is calling you to Jesus Christ, to the true Jesus Christ, the real Jesus Christ, your Messiah, your Savior. Verse 45, it is written in the prophets, "...and they shall all be taught by God.

Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me." You have been taught by the Father. You have come to Christ because the Father has drawn you.

In chapter 15 of John 6, John 15, verse 16, "...you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit." Now, this is Christ talking to all of His disciples. He's talking to us today.

"...you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you.

These things I command you, that you love one another." God has chosen you. You are to bear fruit. Let God teach and guide you this year.

Listen to God. Listen to Christ. Don't let the sound of the world and Satan the devil drown out God's efforts to talk to you. If you ever feel like you're drowning, like you barely have your head above water, then look to God and experience His deliverance in so many ways. You know, God will never leave you. He will never forsake you. God is the God who delivers. A third principle in our relationship and improving our relationship with God in Christ is to certainly obey God in Christ. Be submissive. Be submissive. Deuteronomy 11, verse 13.

Deuteronomy 11, verse 13. And it shall come to pass if you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all of your heart and with all of your soul. To serve Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, if you will hearken diligently unto my commandments. I believe in keeping God's commandments. I know you do too. In Joshua 22, verse 5, Joshua 22, verse 5, the instruction is to take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Christ is the same. This was the one who became Christ, who was giving this instruction to Joshua. He says, take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charge you to love the Lord your God and to walk in all of His ways and to keep His commandments and to cleave unto Him and to serve Him with all of your heart and with all of your soul. So keep God's commandments. In Psalm 119, verse 97, how love I your law it is ever with me. A man after God's own heart, David, says, how love I your law it is ever with me. This should be our song. It should be our prayer.

It should be what we say to God every day. How love I your law it is ever with me. It guides and directs me. It gives me wisdom and understanding when I keep your commandments.

In John chapter 15, verse 9. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Of course, that's what Jesus Christ did for his friends. He laid down his life.

You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you. And again, we get to the scripture we read a little bit ago. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. He calls us friends. That's the kind of relationship that we all need to have with God. Abraham was a friend of God. We are friends of God and of Jesus Christ. Those who keep his commandments are his friends. I want to always be a friend of Christ. I never want to turn against God's law and his commandments. I've heard Mr. Luker say the same thing. I believe that is something he truly believes in his heart. Psalm 31 verse 23. Psalm 31 verse 23.

O love the Lord all you his saints, love the Lord, for the Lord preserves the faithful, and he fully repays the proud person. Love the Lord all you his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful. He fully repays the proud person. In other words, it doesn't go well for those who are proud. Satan became proud. Satan resisted God himself. He exalted himself against God. In James 1, let's go there, it talks about how we are to be a doer of God's law. Not a hearer only, but a doer of the laws, the commandments of God. God expects us to put these laws into practice in our lives. We show our faithfulness and our allegiance to God by keeping his commandments.

James 1 verse 23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, he goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, God's law is a law of liberty. It is not an old slave law, as I heard some people call it.

Back in 1995, in the early months, which was highly offensive to me, it is a law of liberty.

He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, and I'm afraid there has been a lot of sin in that regard. In the last several months, a few years, and longer, I mean it has always happened, I suppose, because the tongue is a deceitful, wicked thing. James 3 talks about it. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. So, brethren, be a doer and not a hearer only. Do good works. Offer to help, to give of yourself and his service. I appreciate those who serve, and all of you serve to one degree or another. There's not a single person here that doesn't serve in some capacity.

If you want to serve more, then all you have to do is come and talk to me.

Because, trust me, I can find something else for you to do. You've always heard me say that.

You know, I love to give people opportunity to serve. Now, you can find ways to serve on your own. You don't need me to tell you what to do, because a lot of you, you just pitch in and do things. You help where it's needed. You have initiative. That's a good thing.

So, the third point again, brethren, the third point again was to obey God and obey Jesus Christ. Keep the laws of God. Number four, another last point in our relationship with God and Christ, is to believe God and Christ, to believe them, to have faith in them, to have faith in God's plan of salvation, revealed through Jesus Christ. We have to have faith. We have to walk in faith.

Gideon was able to do a great deal because God was with him.

There was a large army at one point. God brought it down.

I think we brought ourselves down because of our own doing. In this case, mistakes made on both sides, human frailties, we've made mistakes.

But if we repent and if we look to God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, then God will restore us.

Believe God and Christ and have faith in God's plan of salvation through Christ.

If you have done anything to offend God or to offend others, then by all means repent.

Say you're sorry, mean it. Seek repentance for your sins. In Joel chapter 2, we are to turn to God with all of our heart in repentance. Joel, right after the book of Hosea.

I can find a Hosea. Here it is. Joel chapter 2.

This is a call to repentance, as the heading says in my Bible. It says, Now therefore, says the Lord, turn to me with all of your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, surrender your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and he is merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. And he relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him? Verse 15, Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes, let the bridegroom go out from the chamber and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priest who ministered to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, let them say, Spare your people, O eternal, and do not give your heritage to reproach. Let's all seek God in repentance this week, brethren, as this small congregation here in Tulsa, that we might stay together, that we might be unified, that we might be a beacon and a light. In 1 Samuel 12, verse 20, Samuel instructed the people. He told them to fear not. Let's go back to 1 Samuel 12. We need not fear these difficult times. God is in charge. God loves His people. God will never leave us. God will never forsake us.

I have no doubt that God is with us today and will continue with us as we seek to please Him.

1 Samuel 12, verse 20. 1 Samuel 12, verse 20.

Then Samuel said to the people, Do not fear. He says, You have done all this wickedness, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all of your heart.

We all need to repent of whatever wickedness we have done to contribute to this sad state of affairs within the church of God today. For the Lord will not forsake His people.

He says, Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. We need to pray for those amongst us. We need to pray for those who have decided not to be amongst us. We need to pray for God's direction and blessing and guidance in their lives. That God would bring us all to repentance. He says that I will teach you the good and the right way. That's what I'm supposed to do as the shepherd here. I'm supposed to teach you the good and the right way. I want to be able to do that. I can if you leave. I want to be able to do that for all of you here today. I take my job seriously. This is the job I've been given. I believe it's a calling. So yes, I beseech all of you to stick with us.

Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all of your heart, for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away both you and your King.

Now, we all have to repent.

Know that God isn't to blame in any of this. No, God is not to blame.

God is perfect. God is righteous. He is not to blame.

We are to blame. The problem is with God's people.

It's not with God. It's not with His truth. It's not with His commandments. In James 4, it gives us instruction when we're tempted. And we're all tempted, brethren. None of us are blameless. We've all sinned. We all stand before God naked in that sense.

We are to be clothed with humility as we seek forgiveness for our sins. In James 4, verse 17, Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

If we know to do good and do not do it, it is sin.

I could not ethically leave at this point. I cannot leave over the things that I've seen.

I don't get it. It doesn't make sense to me.

I have to do good as I see it, as I believe it's here.

To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

If I were to leave now, to me it would be sin.

In 1 Samuel 12, verse 24, Again it says, Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all of your heart.

Brethren, don't you want to serve God in truth with all of your heart?

That is my desire. That is what I want.

For consider how great things he has done for you. I mean, I am so grateful to God for my life.

For all that he has done for me.

He took a young 18-year-old boy out of the country, out of the woods, and showed him his truth.

And I have seen marvelous things in this world. I have traveled many places. I have been able to go to many fee sites around the world. I have a loving wife, two loving children.

I have had good health. I mean, I have got so many things to be grateful for. We all do.

We have so much to be grateful for. So much to be thankful for.

Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all of your heart.

For consider how great things he has done for you.

Brethren, will you develop a closer relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ this coming year?

Will we allow things to deter you from drawing closer to God?

Will you learn to love God stronger, more deeply?

Will you spend some quality time with God this week?

Even yet today, in prayer, studying his words, seeking his commandments?

Brethren, seek him with all of your heart, all of your soul and mind, and surely you will find God in Christ, for they are never far from you.

The more time I spent with Jamie and Matt as they were growing, the more my love for them grew. I mean, my love is strong for my children. Very strong.

Spend time with God in Christ and your love will be strong for God and for Jesus Christ.

Much stronger even than a human love, because the Spirit of God will stir up good works within you like you've never seen before. But you have to do this.

You know, it's not easy being a Christian. It's a difficult world in which we live.

We allow ourselves to be distracted. I've allowed myself to be distracted so much that I'm ashamed of it. I'm ashamed. I want to turn to God with all of my heart, with all of my soul, with all of my mind.