When Dorothy and I were living in Lubbock, Texas back in '83, '84, '85 and '86, it was a little different experience for Dorothy because she had never lived in Texas before. And, in fact, before she moved to Texas she had never seen an adobe building and didn't know what a tortilla was (laughter)!
But when we moved to Texas and moved to Lubbock, it was a little different experience because Lubbock is a very religious town. I think it's one of the highest rates of churches per population of any place in the country. And so it wasn't long after we had moved in that there was a knock on our door and it was one of the neighbors. We hadn't met them yet and she introduced herself. And we didn't know why she was there other than to be friendly, but after the initial "Hello. How are you?" she asked us if we knew the Lord. And we assured her that we did. And "Have you given yourself to the Lord?"
And so when you ask questions, you ask back, "Well, what do you mean "giving yourself to the Lord"? Or what do you mean, 'knowing the Lord'?" Sometimes the answers that come back are a little bit fuzzy. In other words, they sometimes have a hard time communicating exactly what they mean when they say "Do you know the Lord?" or "Do you love the Lord?"
And it occurred to me that in a similar way, we've heard through the years and particularly the last couple or three years that we need to have a close personal relationship with God. But if we have to fill out a form that said "What does that mean—'a close personal relationship with God'?" It's a nice sounding phrase and we should have a close personal relationship with God, but if you had to define what that meant actually, specifically, then maybe we could be fuzzy too. What do we really mean by that phrase? And hopefully we wouldn't come up with a fuzzy answer, but it occurred to me that maybe that's something we should talk about today. And so I want to ask the question:
A close personal relationship with God—what does it mean?
What do we really have to do to have a close personal relationship
with God and Jesus Christ?
Now obviously there are many more reasons than we can cover in a sermon today, but I'm going to give you a few that hopefully will prod us all to think about "Are we as close to God and Christ as we should be?" Especially as the end gets closer and closer, we want to have that very close, that very personal relationship with God because we're going to need it. I think all of us are going to be tested in ways we cannot imagine right now. In the last year, all of us have been tested in ways we couldn't imagine the year before that or two years before that. But I believe we're going to be tested in ways that, as I said, we just can't comprehend or imagine now, but God will allow it to prove us, to test us, to teach us lessons. But the way we get through it all is to have a close personal relationship with God our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior.
So the First Point I think that's just foundational if we're going to have a relationship with God that would be pleasing to Him is that:
We have to recognize God as our spiritual Father.
Now that sounds trite, I know, but I want to put the emphasis on Father. Because sometimes we look at God, yes, as Creator of the Universe, or we look at God as the One who designed everything and the One who keeps it all in motion by His power, but in many cases, we don't look at God or look to God as a personal Father who is spiritual. Not a physical father, but a spiritual Father.
Notice 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 6. 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 6 tells us something very fundamental right at the core of what we believe. 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 6, Paul is saying to the Church in Corinth and to us today:
1 Corinthians 8:6. But to us there is but one God [He says.], the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (KJV)
And so we are told that we have a Father that provided all things, that created all things, that designed all things.
And the Greek word for Father is Strong's 3962. It's the Greek word—we've heard it before—pater. (And we've heard the Catholics refer to the Pope as pater. They shouldn't but they do.) But when you look up the meaning of that Greek word, it's very interesting because there's a literal meaning, which means a literal father, but there's a metaphorical meaning, a figurative meaning, that is the following:
The figurative meaning or the metaphorical meaning for father is the author of a family or society of people animated by the same spirit as himself.
I'll say it again:
… the author of a family or the author of a society of people animated by the same spirit as himself.
That couldn't be more true! Another meaning for the word pater is:
… one who has infused his own spirit into others …
The body of Jesus Christ
… one who has infused his own spirit into others, who actuates and governs their minds …
That couldn't be more true because we have God's holy spirit in us and that spirit should govern and actuate our minds. And God is forming a family in which everyone has the same spirit. And so when Paul says, "there is one God, the Father," it means exactly that—the Creator of a Family that has the same spirit!
Now many people have a hard time; many people in God's Church have a hard time relating to God as their Father. And the reason is that many people in God's Church—we being the weak of the world—many people have had horrible examples by their physical fathers. In some cases, their physical fathers sexually abused them. In some cases, they emotionally and physically abused them. In other cases, they neglected them and were missing in action. And so people come into God's Church and they're told by reading the Scriptures that they should look to God as their Father and they have a hard time with that. They struggle with that because they don't know what that means; because they've never seen it in action. They've never seen it happen.
Now God tells us that we learn about the spiritual by observing the physical. And, therefore, we can learn about God as a spiritual Father by observing how an ideal father or a godly physical father should operate. That principle is found in Romans 1 and in verse 20—about learning about the spiritual by observing the physical. Romans 1 and verse 20, I'll read it out of the NIV because it's much more clear I think and more understandable. Romans 1 verse 20 out of the NIV:
Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities— (NIV)
We're talking about the qualities of our spiritual Father.
Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—[He goes on to say what they are.] his eternal power and divine nature— (NIV)
Eternal power and divine nature—not human nature but divine nature and an eternal power that we can hardly comprehend!
Romans 1:20b. God's invisible qualities … have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, (NIV)
Meaning on the physical level!
Now in the past we've drawn analogies of God's power or comparisons of God's power by looking at the universe and its size and its power and all that has gone into the design of the universe. And so we understand a little bit about God's might and glory.
But here we're talking about the concept of God as a Father—spiritual Father. And so if we apply Romans 1:20, then if we look at how a human father should behave—and many of you have had human fathers that have set wonderful examples—but if we look at the example a human father should exhibit, then we might learn more about how God views us and how we should view God. Let's analyze that relationship between a godly physical father and his children.
Now examine in your minds or picture in your minds a father—a human father—but one who is filled with God's spirit and behaves as a father should in God's eyes. How would a little kid, a little child, view that father?
It's been said before that fathers, and mothers too for that matter, are "like God to their children," because little babies—we have a little one in the back of the room now that's just totally dependent on mom and dad. And they're not quite aware enough yet, but in reality they would die if mom and dad weren't there just about every minute of every day.
And the fact is that parents are like God to their children. As they grow up and they begin to communicate and talk around a year or so and they begin to walk and then they become aware of who this big person is that's around us all the time and mom who feeds me and all of that, they begin to look to their physical parents as gods in that sense. I'm not saying they're consciously thinking that. But they look to them the way we should look to God our Father. He provides everything we need—loving and kind and gentle, nurturing and when we're in distress or trouble come right to our aid. And when that little kid in the back of the room starts crying, action takes place to get the little kiddo out of its stress or distress.
I was driving down the road the other day in town and there was a little girl in a pink dress. And she was looking up at her dad with this just loving look on her face. And he was talking to her and she just had this little look beside her and she was looking up to him in awe and in total belief, trusting in him totally, listening to every word he said. And you see that in the relationship between parents and children and the fathers and their little girls and little boys.
So let's ask the question: Does a little child want to spend time with his or her physical father? Of course, they do! They constantly want the parents around and if the parents aren't around, they go get the parents. "Will you play with me?" And start talking because they want that communication between their father or mother and themselves. And that's an example that we can learn from.
Does a little child want to talk to his or her physical father? Well, of course. How many times has the little child said, "Dad, could you tell me a story?" or "Mommy, could you tell me a story?" And I can remember that with our son Britt. Often, every night, "Tell me a story. Tell me a story." Communicate! "What about this? Why do birds fly? Why can bees just hover and just stay there?" The questions are endless! There's interaction and communication.
And so if we see that young children are that way toward their physical parents—and in this case we're talking about a father analogous to God our spiritual Father—they want fulltime communication, fulltime involvement, fulltime interaction between themselves and their parents. They can't get enough of it. And there's a lesson there for us.
That if God is like in the sense we see physical fathers and mothers just loving and caring and would sacrifice their lives for their children, how much more a spiritual Father would do that for us? And, in fact, already has sacrificed His Son for us! And physical parents would give their lives for their kids. Even if their kids are thirty or forty years old, they would give their lives for their children.
Well if God is spirit and God is infinitely more loving than we are, how much more would He do that for His spiritual children? Even though we're physical, we're children in the spirit in the sense we have the link of God's holy spirit. So all of us should be closer and should grow closer to God our spiritual Father than we've ever been to our physical fathers.
And for those of you who have had a physical father that maybe didn't set the best example or that ignored you or abused you, you need to flush that out of your mind and understand that that's not the way it's supposed to be. That's not the way it is in heaven and that is not the way God views you as an individual. He is our spiritual perfect Father.
And as we go forward, we need to get the concept of God as a Father in our minds because we're going to need protection. We're going to need encouragement. We're going to need to be uplifted. We're going to need to be taught. And we need to look at God as a Father who just scoots us along, pats us on the fanny, and encourages us as we go through life rather than look at God through the eyes of maybe someone who has not had the best father as a human father and not seen the best example. We need to look at the ideal physical father and multiple that by infinity and then we'll get an idea of how God looks on us and how we—as that little kid on the sidewalk looking up at his father—should look at our spiritual Father.
So the First Point is that:
We've got to start recognizing God as our spiritual Father because that means we have a close relationship with Him.
It's different when you look at God as our Creator or you look at God as a sustainer of all that is or a Designer. But when you look at God as your Father, then things begin to change. And we begin to be able to have a relationship with God as a Father not as a distant Controller of the universe, but as our Father. So the first way we can have more of a personal relationship with God is to view Him as a spiritual Father continually.
The Second Point we must realize to have this close personal relationship is that:
We have to realize that God knows everything about us.
Sometimes we play games with God in the sense that we think we can hide things from God. Or if we don't go somewhere in our mind that God somehow doesn't know, which is laughable when you think about it.
Let's go to Psalm 139 and we're going to read the first four verses. David understood that God knew everything about him. And David committed some horrible sins, and yet he understood God knew every thought he ever had, every action he ever took. Psalm 139 beginning in verse 1, David says;
Psalm 139:1. O Lord, [you have] searched me, (KJV)
And God does. God searches our mind, searches our thoughts, searches our actions.
Psalm 139:1b. [you have] searched me, and known me. (KJV)
God knows us far better than we know our own children because God knows the heart and we don't always know. We can look at our little kids sometimes and you can actually see the wheels turning in the little kid's head. You know exactly what they're thinking. And that's kind of fun. As you're parents, you know them pretty well, but we still don't know the heart always. And, of course, as they get older and more mature and more complicated, we don't know the heart of our brothers or sisters, but God knows our heart in ways we can't even imagine.
Verse 2:
Psalm 139:2. [You know] my downsitting and [my] uprising, [you understand] my thought afar off. (KJV)
David is saying, "You're in a different realm. You're in a spiritual world. And that's far distant from me as a human being, but You understand my thoughts and thought processes" and stuff that just explodes into our brain sometimes. A thought will come in from out in left field. We don't know where it came from, but it's there. God understands that and He knows that.
Verse 3:
Psalm 139:3. [You've compassed] my path (KJV)
Meaning: You understand where I'm walking.
Psalm 139:3b. and [You understand] my lying down, and [You are] acquainted with all my ways. (KJV)
"My weaknesses, my faults, my sins, my heritage, my background, my approach, You're acquainted with all that. You know where I'm coming from. You know me better than I know myself." And He does!
Verse 4:
Psalm 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O [Eternal you know] it altogether. (KJV)
God knows the thoughts that precede the words. He knows the emotions that are behind the words or deeds far better than we know. Sometimes we will lash out with an emotion and we don't even think. It just comes out. It shouldn't be, but sometimes we do that. God knows it's coming before it gets there because He knows our innermost being.
Look at chapter 56 and verse 8. Again David knew; David understood that God knew everything about him. Psalm 56 and verse 8. When we're in trouble, when we're in distress, when we shed tears, it's comforting to read this Scripture. Psalm 56 verse 8, David says:
Psalm 56:8. [You tell] my wanderings: (KJV)
On the track and off the track; on the path and off the path! He says:
Psalm 56:8b. [You] put my tears into [a] bottle: are they not in [your] book? (KJV)
Now this is a metaphorical way of saying, "You're aware of every tear I shed. Every tear that has ever run down my cheeks or welled up in my eyes, You know and You remember them," because he's saying metaphorically speaking, "these tears are still in Your bottle," meaning in Your mind and in your memory and "in Your book." And so God knows everything about us.
And so that changes our relationship as we look to our Father. There are no secrets. There are no secrets. We might try to hide something, but it's futile. God knows. Now Christ knew also.
Look at Matthew chapter 10 and we're going to read verses 29-31. Matthew chapter 10, I think Harold Lee read this when he was out visiting us a while back. It's a very familiar Scripture. We know it by heart. Matthew 10 beginning in verse 29, Christ is trying to get across a personal Father. He says:
Matthew 10:29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? (KJV)
He's saying, "They're not worth very much in the world's view." But He says:
Matthew 10:29b. and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father [being aware of it]. (KJV)
And He said, "These little animals, these birds, in the world's view are not worth much." But He says, "I'm here to tell you that if one dies, God knows."
And I believe that. Because I believe part of the work—this is my personal feeling—part of the working of God's spirit is connecting all living things. And when one dies, God knows.
Verse 30:
Matthew 20:30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (KJV)
I believe that also. And I believe the reason is that God knows the code. God designed the code for the numbers of hairs on our head. God designed the code for the way our body is shaped. God designed the code for the way our brain and limbs and nervous system are designed. We call it DNA. But God designed it and He knows it. And mankind has gotten to the point that they can numerically figure it out—at least on a physical level. But the fact is I believe God does know every hair on our head. And God does know our strengths and our weaknesses. And God knows everything about us.
Now how personal is that? We talk about God being a personal Father. How personal is a Father that knows every cell, every hair, every facet of your eyes and ears, how personal can that be? It's as personal as it gets. And so it's another reinforcement of the fact that God should be a personal God to us and that He knows everything about us. Everything about us! Far more than a physical father because, after all, didn't He create us?
And so the Second Point is:
We have to realize that there are no secrets with God. He knows everything! Good and bad.
That leads us to the Third Point. We're developing a picture of God the Father so that we can have a close relationship with Him.
And in the Second Point if we know that's there's no secrets, God knows everything about us, we can relax a little bit because we don't have to be uptight because there's no sense in hiding anything from God. We'll get to that later.
Point Number Three:
If we're going to have a close personal relationship with God, He has to be at the forefront of our minds at all times.
God should be on our mind constantly every minute of every day!
And quite often that doesn't happen because in years past, I'll have to tell you. I said my prayers in the morning, went out to work, did my work and got involved in my physical work, and frankly, God wasn't there very much. Then I'd come home and study and got a little more involved with God, say an evening prayer and then repeat it. And during the day too often God wasn't involved in my mind and in my work.
And all too often God wasn't involved in my relationships with other people. It only took twenty-five years or so in the Church to get that. And some of us are slower learners than others and some of us have thicker heads than others. And God knows that too.
But the fact is that God should be in our minds, on our minds constantly every day. Let's go to Romans 12 and verse 12. When I first read this Scripture years ago, I couldn't figure out what it meant. And now it's very clear what it means, very clear. Romans 12 and verse 12, Paul tells the Church in Rome and us today; he says:
Romans 12:12. Rejoicing in hope; (KJV)
We need to rejoice in hope no matter how dark things appear sometimes.
Romans 12:12b. patient in tribulation; (KJV)
When people are attacking, people are condemning and so on. But notice what he says:
Romans 12:12 cont. continuing instant in prayer; (KJV)
Now what does he mean by that?
The word instant is Strong's 4342 and it means something very simple in context or concept. It means "to be steadfastly attentive" to something. Steadfastly, that means without wavering; attentive, meaning having your focus on something. And we're saying that if we are having steadfast and focus on God we will be in a prayerful instant attitude, instant communication with God the Father.
Another meaning is "to give unremitting care to a thing." Unremitting means you don't turn your back on it. It is constant care to a thing; meaning constant care to God through prayer, constantly attentive to God through prayer. That's what it means to be "instant in prayer.
And what I'm saying is God should be the center of our life every minute of every day!
I heard a man once tell me; he says, "I've got rules for the Church that I obey; and then I have rules for my business that I obey." Meaning I've got two lives. Now that tells me that God might be in one of them, but probably isn't in the other one.
And what God wants is to be the center of our life in everything that we do. When we wake up, when we eat, when we communicate, when we work, when we go to bed at night, when we study, when we pray, when we fast, God wants to be and should be at the center of all of that.
Because when we look at a child, what is the center of the child's universe? Mom and Dad! Mom and Dad are the center of a child's universe. A child can't do anything without Mom and Dad—can't eat, can't go to the bathroom till they get up to a certain age, can't change their clothes, can't go anywhere without Mom and Dad. And so we should view God our spiritual Father in that same light. We can't do anything without Him. If we try to do something on our own, it's going to stink and fall apart.
I remember years ago traveling around the country like I did working in sales and marketing. I would do training meetings with dealers all over the country. I've been in all fifty states traveling, doing training meetings back in the seventies. And I would blow a meeting sometimes. It would hit me like a gong on the top of the head that "Well, okay. What do you expect? Was God involved in that? Did you pray about it? Did you ask God to help you? Did you ask God to be involved? Well, no, I didn't. Well, then why did you fail?" Well, the answer's obvious. God wasn't involved. It was up to me and me only.
And if it's up to a human being and a human being only, we are going to fail. We're going to fail as the Pacific Church of God. We're going to fail as individuals if we don't make God the center of our lives. He should be at that center just like Mom and Dad are the center of a little child's life.
So during an average day we can ask ourselves, how much time do we spend thinking about God during an average day? Oh, yeah we do when we pray. Maybe when we study, but what about the rest of the day? When we're driving down the street, when we're in a supermarket, when we are at work, how much is God involved in those activities? He should be involved in all of them.
How long and how often do we talk with God? Well, we get a five minute prayer in the morning and a five minute prayer in the evening and God is not on our mind the rest of the day. What does that say about how we view God? Can we have a close personal relationship with somebody we talk to maybe five or ten minutes a day? And even at that, it's a routine, a rote prayer! Go through the same motions every time. Can't do that!
How long and how often do we study His Word? And put our mind into God's Word to try to learn how to live our lives? Too many people study God's Word to know something so they can impress other people with what they know. We need to study God's Word to learn how to live our lives, how to solve our problems, how to deal with other people, how to be better parents, how to be better mates, how to be better friends. We study to learn that and how to be closer to our spiritual Father.
All we do should be related to Him—His Laws particularly. His Laws should govern everything we do. Look at Psalm 1 and the first two verses. God's Law should govern every facet of what we do because it is the framework and the foundation that should guide us in our daily activities. It's the path that we walk down. Psalm 1 verse 1:
Psalm 1:1. Blessed is the man that [walks] not in the counsel of the ungodly, (KJV)
Meaning: walking in the path of righteousness or of God.
Middle of verse 1:
Psalm 1:1b. nor [stands] in the way of sinners, (KJV)
If God's Law motivates us, we're not going to company with sinners.
Psalm 1:1 cont. nor [sits] in the seat of the scornful. (KJV)
The word scornful means wicked or ungodly.
Verse 2:
Psalm 1:2. But his delight [What should be our delight?] is in the law of the Lord; and in his law [does] he meditate (KJV)
What? Occasionally? Once every two or three weeks?
Psalm 1:2b. day and night. (KJV)
That means our minds should be on God's Law every minute of every day. It should govern our communication. It should govern our words. It should govern our thoughts, our interactions with other people. It should govern the television shows we watch, the books that we read, how we behave in traffic, how we behave in a long line and we're getting impatient. God's Law should govern all of that.
Also, when I say "Everything we should do should be related to God," it should be related to His mind. Our minds should be in sync with His mind. We won't turn there; we know the Scripture by heart; we've talked about it so many times. Philippians 2 and verse 5:
Philippians 2:5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (KJV)
It says, "Let this mind be in you," not around you, but "in you." In other words, that mind of Christ is part of your mind and how we think and how we treat other people. And how we—as Stuart was talking about—how we treat our enemies! Do we love our enemies? Do we do good to those that hate us? Do we ask blessing on those who spitefully use us? Do we really do that? And really mean it? Or do we just go through the motions?
We have to have the mind of Jesus Christ and if we have Christ's mind in us and the Father's mind in us because They are one! Remember? Then that mind will motivate everything we do. And we will be communicating with God on a spiritual level, a mental level, an emotional level and that will govern everything that we do. We won't get jealous. We won't get envious. We won't get upset. We won't have enemies and fight. We won't have to have our own way because that's not the mind of Christ.
And so we need to understand that if God's Laws and His mind are part of us, we will be thinking like Him continually. And so that's what we want. When we say we want a close personal relationship with God, we mean we want the very mind of God and Jesus Christ in us and then we behave like They would behave if They were walking in our shoes. We need to get to that point. We're not there by a long way, but we need to get there.
Point Number Three was having God in our mind at all times.
Point Number Four is:
We need to be able to talk to God about anything and everything.
We need to talk to Him about anything and everything. And let me ask the question: Can you or can I talk to God about anything? Anything? Or do we censor what we say to Him? Because we're embarrassed; we don't want to go there in our mind and admit we thought those thoughts or performed those deeds. Are we afraid to admit to God we think some of the things we think or we say some of the things we say? Or are we embarrassed?
Or do we just want to ignore it thinking that God's going to ignore it? If it doesn't come in my mind and I don't talk to God about it, then maybe God will forget about it. And I don't have to repent of it. And I don't have to acknowledge it. And I don't have to deal with it! And we can't do that because we're just sharing a part of our life with God.
And we can't do that because we established earlier that God knows everything anyway. Right? God knows every evil thing that has ever come out of us or been in our minds. He knows that already?
It's like when the little kid, the hand goes in the cookie jar. The parents, they're watching him from a distance. It doesn't do any good for the kid to lie about it. "Oh, I wasn't there. I wasn't even near the cookie jar!" Well, what does that get you? And Daddy knows.
And our spiritual Daddy knows. And so, therefore, we should be able to talk to Him about anything, particularly the things we're embarrassed about in ourselves, the things we don't like in ourselves, the evil deeds we have done, the evil thoughts we've had the minute we have them. We need to go to God and say, "I thought this. Would you please remove it from my mind forever? I am sorry." Or "I did this. Somebody said something and I felt this boiling emotion come up in me and I said things. I don't even remember what I said I was so angry, but please remove that from me. I don't want to be that way because I know you and Christ are not that way. And so give me a make-over! Change me so that I don't do that again."
Look at Hebrews 4 and verse 13. There are no secrets with God. Hebrews 4 and verse 13, this says something that's so obvious, but sometimes we don’t' want to admit it. Hebrews 4 and verse 13:
Hebrews 4:13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: (KJV)
That He doesn't see. He sees all creatures. That means He sees worms. He sees birds. He sees bacteria. He sees human beings. But notice:
Hebrews 4:13b. but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (KJV)
Or we have a relationship with. We are naked before God! Absolutely naked! We're just all—when they say "Let it all hang out," well, it does with us to God. It's just all hanging out there. And God knows. And we should, because of that, be able to talk to Him about those things.
Those of you who have raised children, you see when you potty train your little kids, they're in all their glory sitting on that pot and you're standing right there helping them along. And they're not hiding anything. They're not embarrassed about anything. And they squeeze and grunt and all of that. And finally kuwish something happens. And hey! You clap and everything's good!
God designed it all. So why are we ashamed of it? And so, everything is open to God. So if we've goofed up or we're joyful or whatever, why can't we go to God and talk to Him about it? We should. We absolutely should!
Let's go to Matthew chapter 6 and we're going to read verses 6 through 8. We're talking about God being a personal close God to us. And this Scripture is very meaningful in that context because if we know God really cares about us, then we will know that we can go to Him and talk to Him about anything! Matthew 6 verse 6:
Matthew 6:6. But [you], when [you pray], enter into [your] closet, and when [you've] shut [the] door, pray to [your] Father which is in secret; [that your] Father which [sees] in secret shall reward [you] openly. (KJV)
That tells us when we go to pray God is aware of it. When you kneel down, He is absolutely there and He is aware of it. Verse 7:
Matthew 6:7. But when [you] pray, [don't] use vain repetitions, (KJV)
And we do! I gave a sermon on prayer years ago and mentioned that. We do; we tend to open it in the same words. I've heard people in God's Church when they are asked to give a blessing, they give the same blessing every time—same words, same introduction. And God says, "Don't do that. Make it personal to Me. I want you to talk to Me. I don't want you just to repeat something out of rote!"
Matthew 6:7. But when [you] pray, [don't] use vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (KJV)
God wants it sincere and from the heart. Not just something you kind of repeat every day. He says verse 8—this is important now:
Matthew 6:8. Be not [you] therefore like them: (KJV)
Why? Notice this!
Matthew 6:8b. for your Father [knows] what things [you] have need of, before [you] ask him. (KJV)
Now if He was not a personal Father, how could this happen? If He wasn't a personal Father that knew in advance what we needed, then how could God be a personal Father if He knew in advance? He obviously is a personal Father because He knows even before the words come out of your mouth. He still wants us to make an appeal to Him. He still wants us to go over our problems with Him and beseech Him for things.
Like on the way over, Dorothy and I were praying in the car out loud that we'd get the water on here. And I know many of you did the same thing that were aware of it. That God would get the water on so we could come and gather and fellowship and all of that.
God knew before the prayer was ever issued that we needed water. He knows that. He knows that they didn't pay their bill or whatever the reason is. He knew that before today ever started. And He knew we were going to have this problem.
And so what God does is watch us to see what our reaction is. Are we going to curse the water department? Or the Masonic Hall? Or are we going to get down humbly before God and say, "God, we need a miracle here. We need some help. People need water. We got a little baby. We've got some older folks here. We need to go to the bathroom. And so, help us!" And so God knows.
But my point is: if He was not a personal caring Father, why would He say this? So that means that He is so involved in our lives that He knows what we need, before even we know what we need. And so, if that's the case, then we can look to Him for everything. We can communicate and talk to Him about anything and everything. And since we're naked before God, as we read in the Scriptures, we can freely talk to Him about anything. Even things we're embarrassed, we don't want anybody to know, but we can go to God and should go to God and talk to Him and, therefore, bring us closer in a personal relationship with Him.
The Fifth Point is that:
If we're going to have a closer relationship with God, a personal relationship with God, we obviously need to be in harmony with God.
We won't turn there—Amos 3 verse 3:
Amos 3:3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (KJV)
You can't walk with God unless you agree with God. You can't walk with God unless you're walking down the same path. You can't walk with God unless you're in harmony with Him. And that means we need to seek His will and have an open mind that our will might not be His will.
Now we can come into conflict as members of God's Church because you get two people that have a different idea about a subject. It might be—let's just take an example; we'll be talking about this after services—of where we go for the Feast. And somebody is just absolutely convinced that it's got to be here. And somebody is just equally convinced it's got to be over here. And so they go—what? Head-to-head! And both of them might never stop to realize that God doesn't want it in either place and He might want it over here.
And so we have to be sensitive to the fact and have an open mind that our will might not necessarily be God's will. And in my experience that is more often the case than not because we're human. We're not perfect. And so if we want to be in harmony with God, we need to pray that our will is whatever God's will wants, wherever God's will is.
And using the Feast as an example, if we want to be over here, but God puts His name over here, then we better do a quick change and get over here where God wants His name as opposed to where we might.
So let's understand that because remember what Christ said? And we won't turn there—Luke 22. Right before He was taken and He was asking God to remove this cup from Him, what did He say?
Luke 22:42b. not my will, but [Yours], be done. (KJV)
And talk about a human will wanting to avoid the horror that He was going to go through and yet He was saying, "I don't want My will."
And that's one of the things that I've learned in forty-five years in God's Church is that my will means nothing! My will will fail if it's not in harmony with God's will. We've got to do what God wants. We have to always seek to be obedient children.
If children want to be in happiness and have a close family, they must be obedient to their parents. They must follow their parents' will because the parents see things that the child doesn't. The child wants the cookie. The child wants dozens of cookies. The child wants cookies every day. And the parents' will is, "No, that isn't going to happen because it's not good for you." Now the parent sees a view that the child doesn't see. The parent has a perspective that the child doesn't. The parent has experience that the child doesn't.
And we're like little kids to God. And God has a world view and a perspective that we do not have. And so therefore, we need to be in harmony with Him and be obedient to Him. Look at 1 John 5 and verse 3. The apostle John just hits the nail on the head in 1, 2 and 3 John time after time after time. He hits the nail on the head. And this is one of those. Very plain, very clear, 1 John 5 and verse 3, with the heading that we have to seek to be obedient children, He says:
I John 5:3. For this is the love of God, (KJV)
This is what God loves! And this also personifies God's love!
John 5:3b. that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (KJV)
The little child thinks that because they can't have two dozen cookies in a day that that's a grievous command and his parents are being unfair. But we're being told here that God when He says no to us, "I don't want you to do that," it's not because He hates us or doesn't like us. He wants the best for us even though we don't agree, even though we don't understand because we're human. We view the world through soda straws. That's all we see is through two tiny little soda straws and God sees the whole world as it is. And then we whine and complain because God doesn't do what we want Him to do.
So we always need to seek to be obedient kids to our Daddy, to our Father. We never want to be at cross purposes with God. If we have our agenda and we're going to go out and do it our way, I guarantee what's going to happen is we're going to be out here swinging in the wind and God's going to be over here. And we're going to be way apart from God. And we're out here doing our own thing, doing our agenda, thinking we're pleasing God, thinking we're doing God's will when God's will is actually way over here. We never want to be at cross purposes with God's will. That's why we have to have an open mind that maybe my desires, maybe my thoughts, maybe my will is not God's will.
Look at Hebrews chapter 10. We're going to read verses 30 and 31. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 30 and 31. We don't want to be in this position. We don't want to find ourselves in this position. Hebrews 10 verse 30:
Hebrews 10:30. For we know him that [has] said, Vengeance [belongs to] me, (KJV)
That's God prerogative, not ours.
Hebrews 10:30b. I will recompense, [says] the [Eternal]. (KJV)
That's why we return evil with good because God will take the vengeance, not us.
Hebrews 10:30 cont. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (KJV)
He will do that. Verse 31 though is the key.
Hebrews 10:31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (KJV)
Meaning we've done something wrong. We've gone off on our own. God hasn't been involved. We don't have the mind of God in this agenda we have over here. And we're out there all alone by ourselves and all of a sudden we look around and there's nobody around us. And God's people are way over here. Or God and Christ are way over here. It's a fearful thing to be in that position. And we don't want to be in that position.
That's why we individually and as the Pacific Church of God, we want to do God's will, not ours! And sometimes as little kids, you don't always know what God's will is. Like I said, He pats us on the fanny and takes us down the path and we follow. And maybe after the fact we understand and say, "Oh. Okay, now I get it! Now I understand where He was taking us." But sometimes in the process we don't, but we follow His lead and we follow His blessings and follow His direction.
So therefore, we should do nothing to disappoint God. Nothing to disappoint Him!
A good child wants to make His parents happy with him. There's nothing greater to a little kid when the parents love what they've done. "Oh, you've done a good job! Oh, you made this wonderful grade! Oh, you hit the ball just right!" Or whatever it might be. When we have our parents approval, as little kids, life is good. We're happy.
And so we want to have God's approval. And the way we do that is to think like He thinks and to act like He acts. Therefore, we won't be at cross purposes and we will do nothing to disappoint Him. And therefore, we will be in harmony with Him. And if we're in harmony with God, it brings us closer to God. And if we're closer to God, we will have joy and happiness. If we're far away from God, we're out in the mud and the muck and we are not happy.
So let's understand this Fifth Point that we've got to be in harmony with God if we want a close personal relationship with He and Jesus Christ.
Sixth Point—we're going to have seven. We have two to go.
If we want to have a close personal relationship with God, we have to have absolute trust in Him.
Absolute trust! And we're going to need this as we go forward because I am firmly convinced God will get us each to the point that we have to have total trust in Him, total faith in Him, or we follow the way of the world, or we follow ourselves. So God's going to put us in that position.
David understood that. Look at Psalm 37 and verse 40. David says:
Psalm 37:40. And the Lord shall help them, (KJV)
We're going to need that help.
Psalm 37:40b. the Lord shall deliver them: (KJV)
We're going to need that deliverance.
Middle of Psalm 37 verse 40:
Psalm 37:40 cont. he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, [Why?] because they trust in him. (KJV)
They have absolute faith and absolute trust. A little kid trusts his parents with anything.
I can remember Britt one time on a platform that was about seven or eight feet high on a farm. And I was down below and he was up on the platform and he looked at me with this glint in his eye. And he took a run across the platform and just dived into empty space. And he had a grin on his face the whole time because he knew that his Daddy was going to catch him. I wasn't so sure (laughter)! But he was absolutely positive. Didn't have a fear in the world!
And that's where God comes in with us. If we're following Him, if we're in harmony with Him, then we can go forward and not be afraid of what men do to us or what Satan could throw in our way.
Look at chapter 56 and verse 3 real quickly. David was afraid. Remember he ran from Saul and was hunted and chased. And after his sins, God told him that "Warfare's not going to cease from you." And he had all kinds of problems. Psalm 56 verse 3, he says:
Psalm 56:3. What time I am afraid, I will trust in [You]. (KJV)
And it gets rid of the fear. Look at verse 11.
Psalm 56:11. In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what [men] can do [to] me. (KJV)
We're going to get there—if we're not there already. We're going to get there.
So David understood. Paul understood that also. And look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9. Paul understood that. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 9, Paul says:
2 Corinthians 1:9. But we had [a] sentence of death in ourselves, (KJV)
And we do. We all have the death penalty hanging over us if not for God's grace.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 9:
2 Corinthians 1:9. But we had [a death sentence upon] ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, (KJV)
And we need to come to that point that we don't trust ourselves.
2 Corinthians 1:9b. but in God which [raises us from] the dead: (KJV)
So there comes a time—if it hasn't already, it will come—there comes a time in very difficult situations when we can't do anymore. We can't solve the problem. We don't have the power. We don't have the authority. And we just have to turn matters over to our Father and trust in Him and rely on Him to take care of us. And that's going to happen, I believe, more and more. We just have to get to the point that we trust in God—absolute trust in Him! No matter how bleak the future looks, no matter what kind of problem we're in, we just trust in Him.
Now the Seventh Last Point:
And this probably the vital point in context with understanding God as our spiritual Father is:
We have to truly understand His love for us.
Because we have imperfect love, we look at God with that set of lenses. We can't imagine God having perfect love for human beings like ourselves. But He does! Look at 1 John 4 and were going to read verse 8 and then jump to verse 16. We have to understand this deeply. It isn't—and I've said it before—it isn't that God has love as one of His characteristics. It is the fact that He is love. That is who He is! 1 John 4 and verse 8:
I John 4:8. He that [loves] not [doesn't know] God; for God is love. (KJV)
Then he says it twice in this letter—verse 16:
I John 4:16. And we have known and believed the love that God [has] to us. God is love; and he that [dwells] in love [dwells] in God, and God in him. (KJV)
And, as I said, it took me twenty-five to thirty years in the Church to start to get that! Because in the early years of the Church, we stressed obedience; we stressed authority. We stressed ruling with a rod of iron. And we didn't understand the love of God.
And, as I said before, some of you have had abusive fathers, unloving fathers, uncaring fathers, but you see that is not the reality with God. He is warm and gentle and loving and kind the way a perfect physical father should be times infinity.
Look at Matthew 11 verses 29 and 30. Look at how Christ is and look at what Christ says. Matthew 11 verses 29 and 30, Christ says:
Matthew 11:29. Take my yoke upon you, (KJV)
Now you've seen a yoke around a pair of oxen. And a yoke can be a pretty heavy thing to a human being, but to a big ox, it's probably not so much. But Christ says:
Matthew 11:29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; (KJV)
Meaning: learn about Me. He says because:
Matthew 11:29b. I am meek and lowly in heart: (KJV)
"I'm not here to smash your toes. I'm not here to bring the guillotine down when you step out of line." He says:
Matthew 11:29 cont. you see that I am humble and lowly in heart and [you] shall find rest unto your [lives]. (KJV)
He says:
Matthew 11:30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (KJV)
When we understand God's love for us and know that you have a loving Father and a Savior who gave His life for us and He wants to succeed and He wants us to make it, that is a light yoke. It is not a burden. It is a blessing!
Look at Christ's example in Luke 13 and verse 34. This is the way Christ views us and views human beings. And here He is looking at Jerusalem, a group of people that He has not called yet, but look at the love that He has for Jerusalem. Luke 13 verse 34, He says:
Luke 13:34. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which [kill] the prophets, and [stone] them that are sent unto [you]; (KJV)
And that were going to kill Him and were ready to do so.
Luke 13:34b. how often would I have gathered [your] children together, as a hen [does] gather her brood under her wings, and [you] would not! (KJV)
We learn spiritual things from the physical things. And you see a little hen—we have partridges and other little birds running around our neighborhood. When you see those little hens sometimes, they're just about that big. And boy, when Mom stops they all gather around. And Mom puts her wings down and they all snuggle up under the feet. And that's the way Christ said, "I want to do that to you! I want to be that way to you!" And we need to understand that.
And yet some preach a harsh God that's just ready to smash people the minute they step out of line. That is not the true God! It is not.
Look at God's spirit in action. Let's go real quick to Genesis chapter 50. And we're going to come into the tail end of the story with Joseph and his brothers. Genesis 50, we're going to begin in verse 15. And you remember they sold him into slavery. They put him down in a pit. They had no mercy, no compassion, no love. They hated him because he had the coat of many colors! He was his dad's favorite. They just hated him. Genesis 50 verse 15:
Genesis 50:15. And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, [and] they said, [Joseph is going to] hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. (KJV)
The father's gone. He's out of the way. Now they're thinking, "Uh oh. He wouldn't do it because Dad's still here. But now that Dad's gone, he's going to let us have it!"
Verse 16:
Genesis 50:16. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, [Your] father did command before he died, saying, 17) So shall [you] say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray [you] now, the trespass of [your brothers], and their sin; for they did evil [unto you]: and now, we pray, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of [your] father. And Joseph wept when they [spoke] unto him. (KJV)
He could have lorded it over them. He could have punished them. He could have put them in prison. But he didn't! This is God's spirit in action because we know Joseph had God's spirit.
Look at verse 18:
Genesis 50:18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and said, Behold, [we're your] servants. 19) And Joseph said unto them, (KJV)
Notice God's spirit in action.
Genesis 50:19b. Don't be afraid: for am I in the place of God? 20) But as for you, [you] thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save [many] people alive. 21) Now (KJV)
Verse 21, this is the key—the attitude! This is God's attitude, Christ's attitude and should be our attitude.
Genesis 50:21. Now therefore [don't be afraid]: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and [spoke] kindly unto them. (KJV)
And God does that with us! And that is God's attitude toward us. He forgives and He wants to take care of us. We're the little ones. We're little kids to God. We have people here in their eighties. And they're still little kids to God. And that's the way God treats us. This is the way that God is with us!
And part of our understanding the love of God is to show that same love to our brothers and sisters. If Joseph could do that to his brothers who sent him into prison showing forth the love of God, what should we do to our brothers and sisters? And we know—and we won't turn there—John 13 and 1 John, the talk of a new commandment: "That you love your brothers as much as I have loved you." We understand that. And Christ said, in many cases, He said that when He had little children about Him, He says, "If any of you give a cup of water to one of these little ones as one of My disciples, you will not lose your reward." He said that in Matthew 10. "If you do something kind to a little one—and frankly, we're all little ones—if you give them a drink of water when they're thirsty because you have the love of Me inside you, then you will not lose your reward."
Look at Matthew 18 verse 6. Matthew 18 and verse 6 and then we'll jump to verse 10. Christ starts off and He says:
Matthew 18:6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones (KJV)
And that Greek word can mean younger in age, but it also can mean lower in rank, lower in influence or lower in stature. It's not talking just about age and little kids.
He said:
Matthew 18:6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it [was] better for him that a millstone were hanged [around] his neck, and he [was] drowned in the depth of the sea. (KJV)
Verse 10:
Matthew 18:10. Take heed that [you] despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels (KJV)
So if they have angels in heaven, they must be important to God! God must care about them if they have angels looking over them.
Matthew 18:10b. That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 11) For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. (KJV)
He says:
Matthew 18:12. How [do you] think? if a man [has a] hundred sheep, and one [goes] astray, [doesn't] he leave the ninety and nine, and [go] to the mountains, and [seek the one] which [has] gone astray? 13) And if [he finds] it, [He says, truly] I say unto you, he [rejoices] more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which [didn't go] astray. (KJV)
Verse 14:
Matthew 18:14. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of the [least of] these little ones [shall] perish. (KJV)
God doesn't want anyone of us to perish! It's a personal God that cares about us personally.
And we know then—we won't turn there, but getting back to 1 John chapter 3. What did John say? How do we perceive the love of God? Because He laid down His life for us, what should we do? Lay down our lives for the Brethren. That's 1 John 3 and verse 17. And we understand we need to live our lives that way—to lay down our lives for the Brethren. So let's make sure we get it. Like I said it took me far too long to get it. Let's make sure we get it.
In loving our Father and in loving our neighbors, our brothers and sisters as ourselves and if we do that, then we are in harmony with God. Then we have the mind of God and we are like God and Jesus Christ because that's the way They are. They don't want anybody to perish! They don't want anybody to fail! And so let's make sure that we understand the true love of God.
He is not this ogre. He is not this one that takes some kind of perverse pleasure in seeing slip and fall and fail or be in pain. He doesn't want that.
Look at a loving godly physical Father. You don't want to see your kids in pain. You will do anything to remove pain from your children. God wants that for us.
Now sometimes we have to go through pain to learn certain life lessons because unfortunately pain sometimes is the most effective teacher for us. It shouldn't be that way. We should be able to read the Word and obey the Word without having to suffer the pain, but sometimes we put our hand on the hot stove and we pay the penalty for it.
So what have we seen so far?
We've seen that in order to have a close personal relationship with God we have to recognize God as our spiritual Father, with the emphasis on the word Father.
Not a distant God, not too busy to see us or hear us or have anything to do with us because we've seen He knows every hair on our head. He knows what we need before we ask. So He's not distant. And we have to get rid of in our mind that somehow He's distant and is too busy to worry about the likes of us.
And we need to realize and if we do realize that He knows everything about us, then God becomes more personal to us.
And if we have God at the forefront of our mind all during the day and all during the night, we wake up at the middle of the night and we think about God and we talk to God and we ask God for help or thank Him for the day or whatever. Just talking while we're drowsy, then we have our mind on Him at all times. And let's understand that we can talk to Him about anything.
And that our goal should be to be in harmony with Him and His ways and His Laws and His mind.
And then we need to have absolute trust in Him—absolute trust in Him! Because we cannot do it on our own; we will not be successful on our own.
And finally, we need to understand His love for us.
Let's close with one final Scripture in 1 Peter 5 and we're going to read verses 6 and 7. Humility is at the heart of it. If we have a humble mind and humble ourselves toward God and realize that He is superior in every way to us and all we would need to do is seek His way and seek His will and seek His mind, life will go much easier for us and we will have close unity and harmony with our Father. 1 Peter 5 verse 6:
1 Peter 5:6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: (KJV)
But notice verse 7!
1 Peter 5:7. Casting all your care upon him; [Why?] [because] he [cares] for you. (KJV)
As a loving, kind, gentle personal Father! So let's learn these lessons because we're going to need them as we go forward that God is a loving, kind, personal Father to all of us!
Transcribed by kb February 16, 2010.