Wednesday Evening Service, 1/12/05

Songs

• O Lord, You're Beautiful
• Jesus, Lover Of My Soul
• I Love You, Lord

Message: Our Relationship With God

Pastor Thomas

If some young man likes some young girl, there are various opportunities to show that affection. What are some of the ways for a man and a womon to show their affection?

• Embrace or touch
• Kiss
• Write or read poetry
• Give flowers
• Hold hands
• Walk together
• Talk to each other
• Do things for each other
• Show kindnesses
• Tell each other "I love you."

If you're ashamed of that other person, maybe he's not so good looking, what then? Like maybe he's kind of nerdy looking, but his names happens to be Bill Gates. If, when you're by yourself, you act one way, but when you're in public, you act another way, is that a healthy relationship? God spoke to me last night. He said, "I want you to talk to my people about their relationship with me." Too many people have a relationship in church that is okay, but out in town they don't want anyone to know they're walking hand-in-hand with their God.

It is time to put away the things that we would fear others think and feel. You don't have to wear giant lapel-pins and sport bumper stickers saying, "Praise The Lord." Just have Christ in your life. What could you do in public to show your affection for your God?

I was in a restaurant and this guy came in the door. He had on a PTL hat and a PTL lapel pin, and was carrying his Giant Print Evangelist-Edition Bible. As soon as he got in, he looked around and saw somebody he recognized waaay over at the other end of the restaurant. He smiled and waved and boomed out in a voice that carried to every corner of the building, "JOE! WELL, PRAISE THE LORD, JOE!" Whoever "Joe" was, he looked very embarassed as he slouched down in his chair and tried to suddenly become invisible.

Don't be like that guy. I'm talking about relating the power in your life; the Holy Ghost in your life. The people in a restaurant should sense Christ in you as you're walking in. Not because you wearing a lapel pin and shout out "Praise The Lord!" But because they sense his presence in your life. What can you do to show your love for Christ in public?

• Engage in friendly conversation
• Know and love all your brothers and sisters
• Take pride in your dress and appearance
• Uplift Christ in yoru conversation
• Be courteous and helpful
• Pray at every meal, but not to be seen of men
• Avoid accusations, backbiting, and gossip

The Holy Ghost thinketh no evil. Even if by your silence you allow the gossip to continue, you're just as guilty as those who actively engage in it.

How many of you know somebody who loves NASCAR? They talk about it all the time, don't they? Even in a totally unrelated conversation, they can't resist making the occasional comment about their beloved NASCAR. You should be like that. In every single conversation that you get into, you should be able to talk about Christ. I do it all the time. If the other guy wants to talk about NASCAR, there's one race that I want to win. If it's fishing, I'm glad that Jesus caught me.

God expects us to be open and honest about our relationship with him, not ashamed to talk about it.

What about your private life? What can you do to develop an intimate relationship with God?

• Write and revisit Bible studies
• Talk to God honestly
• Give thanks for the day
• Relate the daily news to the Bible, as cause and effect
• Fast and pray

Those of you who are married should have an intimate relationship with your wife. There's a physicalness going on, isn't there? When I was in Haiti, I asked one of the pastors why they have so many kids running around the place. He looked at me and said, "Pastor, we don't have any electricity here." Point taken. When there's nothing else to occupy your time, you tend to develop that intimacy with one another. But if there's always something else to do, that intimacy won't happen. An intimate relationship won't be centered around the TV set. It won't happen with the radio blaring. It won't happen while other people are competing for your attention.

You need to have a relationship like that with God, if there is going to be any power at all in your life. You remember the five love languages?

1. Touch
2. Private Time
3. Gifts
4. Acts of Service
5. Words of Affirmation

Touch is one of the languages of love. God is not in the flesh, yet you need to learn how to embrace him. You need to learn how to receive his embrace. As Pastor Davis used to say, "You need to learn to make love to God." (Say WHAT?) I'm talking about learning to have a personal and intimate relationship with your God.

What are you doing in your life to produce fruit? I remember watching a documentary about pruning trees. They trimmed back this apple tree until it was nothing but the main trunk and a couple branches. Then they let it grow for a year and trimmed it back again. You've got to be able to say to God, "Whatever there is in my life that you've got to prune, do it." A wild tree doesn't produce good fruit. The apple tree in Bruce's front yard produces a lot of apples, but they're not very good, are they? Eat just a few of them and you'll get a whale of a stomachache. An apple orchard takes a lot of pruning and shaping to consistently produce the best apples. God wants to mold and shape us. And that doesn't come from sitting in service or in Bible studies. It comes from an intimate relationship with your God. The fruit shows up in Bible studies. It shows up in the people you bring to sit in service with you. It shows up in the conversations you have with the visitors. But it comes from that intimate relationship with just you and God.

I have some homework for you tonight. Invest in some private time with God. Remember the first time you reached out your hand in love? You were timid, afraid that the other might pull away. You were ready with an excuse in case that other person suddenly said, "What are you doing?" "Oh, I was just getting a piece of lint off your sleeve, there." God is willing to take your hand. That's what he went to Calvary for. That's why he suffered and died for you.

We need to get rid of our "membership." Don't go to Christian Fellowship; go to Christ. Hold his hand in public. Do things together.

When you fall in love with somebody, how many other pictures do you carry in your wallet? Chantalle, how many pictures did your husband have in his wallet when you first met? A lot? But he threw them all out, except yours, didn't he? Oh, you made sure! You don't maintain an intimate relationship with God and keep the world in your pocket.

When I was in the Navy, I carried this old trunk around with me all over the world. Everywhere I went, I took pictures. A lot of times I just threw the film in the trunk, intending to get to it later. After I got married, Pam and Mrs. Davis (my mother-in-law) were cleaning house and found this old trunk with a bunch of undeveloped film in it, and they decided to get it all developed. Now, during the first four years I carried that trunk around, I wasn't saved. Soon they were looking at pictures of Ed Thomas with young ladies of Hong Kong, ladies of Korea, ladies of Saipan, ladies of Taiwan. I heard about that for a long time.

It doesn't matter what's in your past. Just don't carry that baggage around with you. Clear out your old trunk and spend the time you need to have a powerful, personal relationship with God.

God said that he's fed up with a church with no spiritual power, no spiritual depth. What are you going to do about it? When couples have problems and come to me for counseling, I tell them that they need to do their first works over. They need to fall in love again. Go home and spend some private time with God tonight. Think about how to develop and strengthen an intimate relationship with your God. Think about how you will show that relationship in everything that you do.