I'm looking forward to what the Lord has for us. I'm going ask brother Mike to come on up. The children's church can be dismissed. So, if you're in children's church this morning, you can follow miss Doris out this door over here for our children's church. So, come on down right over here.

So, wonderful. Brother Mike. Let's take our Bibles. Let's stand together. They did a good job, didn't they?

They'll be singing again this week, I'm pretty sure. And we have some other special music planned as well. Hope it'll be a blessing to you. So let's take our Bibles and let's turn to Philippians chapter three, and if you are willing and able, if you're not able, don't feel bad. If your knee's hurt, don't feel bad.

But I like to stand out of respect for God's Word when we read it, But don't do that if it's just would wear you out and, make you hurt and everything. You just stay seated. It's fine. But, I'll I just do that out of respect for the Lord if you're able. Alright.

I'd like you to turn to Philippians chapter three, and I want to begin reading in Philippians chapter three earlier in verse one, and then we'll work our way through the passage. Alright, Philippians chapter three and we're going to begin reading at verse one. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision.

Now the Concession is a group of people that were very religious and they would try to say that if you're going to get to heaven, you've got to do everything right. You gotta obey every law, and you've gotta keep the Sabbath, and you've gotta earn your way. But it was false doctrine because the Bible says we're not saved by our works. We're saved by forgiveness that we get from Jesus through faith. But then he goes on in verse three, where we are the circumcision, the Jews, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Most of the Jews were trusting, they get to heaven by their works but he was saying, no. We are the Jews that trust Jesus Christ to save us from our sin. And then in verse four, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. See, apostle Paul was basically saying these people think they're going to get to heaven because they're obeying the Bible.

They're keeping the law but they don't realize they haven't kept all the law. And if you commit one crime, you're a criminal. If you commit one sin, you're a sinner. And all the good things you might try to do to get rid of the bad things you do will never work. Only the blood of Jesus will make us clean.

And so, he said, if anyone could brag on their good deeds, I could. I'm a Pharisee. I do all this right. I keep the law. But he said, I don't brag on that.

My hope is Jesus as my only hope is heaven. And if there's anybody here and you're a little confused and you think the way to get to heaven is if you'll change your ways, if you'll go to church more, if you'll obey the Bible, that's good, but that will not get you to heaven. You are a sinner. I'm a sinner. We're all sinners, but there's a way to get to heaven and the only way is the blood of Jesus.

You wash dirt off your hands with soap and water. You wash dirt off your clothes with laundry soap. You wash dirt off dishes with dish soap and you wash the sins away with the blood of Jesus. First John one seven, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. So if anybody get to heaven by their deeds, he's saying I would, but I can't and neither can you.

My hope is Jesus. Now here's a question before we even get into the sermon. What are you hoping to take you to heaven? What are you hoping will get you in? If you were to die a year from now, is there anything you would do between now and a year from now that would give you a better chance of going to heaven than you already have?

Well, that would be what you're trusting to get you to heaven. And if you're trusting anything but Jesus, you'll see it's the wrong thing. But Jesus can save you and each of us. So here's what he's saying. I don't get to heaven by my deeds.

I get to heaven by Jesus, by Christ. But then he goes on in verse seven, but what things were gain to me, my good deeds, those I count lost for Christ. So I left all my hope and my own good deeds realizing that was not good enough and I put my only hope in Jesus Christ to save my soul. Yea, doubtless, I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffer the loss of all things and do count them but worthless or dung that I may win Christ. So I'm looking at Christ to save me.

And folks, I know this is a long introduction, but you need to look to Jesus Christ to save you. Do you know that you're going to heaven? If you don't, you can. And by the end of the sermon, I hope you'll understand how. But if you don't know you're going to heaven and you want to know how to go to heaven, you can.

And I'll try to explain it for you today. And maybe before you even leave here, you can ask the Lord to take you to heaven when you die. And you know what? He will. So we'll talk about that.

But then we go on and he says in verse nine, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. So what are you hoping for? Your own righteousness? That won't do it. You need Christ's righteousness.

It comes by the blood of Jesus, which is of the law, the law righteousness by doing the obeying the Bible, but that which is through the faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, not by works, but by faith. And that's how we get clean. Now, we look at our next thought. Then verse 10, that I may know him and the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. But I wanna emphasize that little phrase that I may know him.

And that's what I wanna talk about. Long introduction. Let's hope the sermon's short. But let's pray. Okay?

Our heavenly father, we do thank you for this time together. And we pray dear father for your holy spirit to lead and to move and to change us all, each one of us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you.

And you can be seated. Now, the apostle Paul said in verse 10 that what he desired more than anything was that he would know God. Now, if you think about that knowing God, there are different stages to knowing God. There are different levels of knowing God. There are some people that we would say seem to know God very closely, and then there are some people that don't know anything about God.

They're kinda godless. Now, you can go to the jungles of Africa, and there are people there that know there is a God because of creation, but they don't know Jesus. And then you can look at some people who've been saved a long time and they kinda seem like Moses and they almost seem like Abraham. And you feel like, you know, they're way up here and I'm down here. And we know we're not where we used to be, but we know we're not where we would like to be.

And so what I wanna do is talk to us this morning about this thing of knowing God. And I want you to consider, do you know him or do you just know about him? Do you know him intimately or do you know him personally? And the bible says that we are to grow in grace, but get this, and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior. So, we're to grow in our relationship with Jesus and we're just getting started on a revival meeting and we're all at different spiritual levels and I just want to talk to us today about knowing God.

Okay? Now, the first thing that I'm going to talk about is the possibility of knowing God. Now, there's some people that I would like to know. I personally would like to know some athletes. I'm never going to get to meet those professional athletes.

I would actually like to know D. L. Moody, but I don't expect that's gonna happen until I get to heaven. And there are certain people that you might want to know, you teenagers or you young adult men that are single would like to know a beautiful lady. Forget it.

You're ugly and your mom dresses you funny. It will never happen. I'm only kidding. Now, we have people that we might want to know, but we cannot ever get to know. And the question is, can a person really know God?

Can you know God? Now, some people don't think that it's possible to really know God, but the Bible, I'm just telling us in the beginning, says it is very possible for us each to know God. There are terms in the Bible about knowing God. And Paul said, I want to know God. There are people in the Bible that it said that they walked with God, Enoch.

They were called the friend of God, Abraham. David said, he is my God, my rock, my fortress. Not just his God, his rock or their God, but he used that pronoun, mine. Now, it's very possible that one day you could use that same pronoun. If you feel far from God, that's not what God wants.

He wants you to know that you are close to God. And there's a possibility for you to to have this relationship. There's talk of the Bible about a man being a man of God, seeing God, coming to God. In Revelation, it says that you can sup with God and he with you. Now, something with God and he with us is the idea of eating supper together, having fellowship with each other just like you would with somebody that you love and enjoy being with.

And the Bible talks about knowing knowing God, not just knowing about God. Now, in the Bible, it talks about how when Solomon made the temple, he was praying and trying to dedicate it to God. In second Chronicles six and verse 18, he said, but I but will God in very deed dwell in this house? And he said the heavens cannot contain him, and he went on to say the heavens of heavens cannot contain him. And how much less this house that I have builded?

And so what he's saying is, is it really even possible that God would dwell in this temple? Now, how many of you knew that the temple had the Ark of the Covenant and that Jesus or God was literally to dwell in that place? Well, he was. And when he asked, is it possible for God to actually dwell in this temple? In short time, in chapter seven, the Shekinah glory of God appeared.

And he actually filled that entire temple with smoke, with fire. And you know what? When everybody saw that smoke and fire, you know what they knew? His presence came. He's here.

And the bible has many different times that that happened. There was Moses in the burning bush, and he knew God was there. There was the cloud and the fire that came down when Israel needed someone to guide them in the wilderness, and his presence is here. In the middle of the night, they will maybe wake up and they maybe be afraid because of where they were and what they were going through and they look and they see that pillar of fire. They go, he's with us.

Now, when they knew that he was with them, that changed everything. When they knew that he was there, their fears went, their needs were gone. When he knew that his presence was there, their need, every need was met. And there was something about the presence of God, and that's what we need. Now sometimes people say, well, if you wanna make God up so that it is a crutch to take you through your life, you can make God up if you want, if that helps you.

My dad died when I was little. You can tell me I'm weak, but I needed help. And my help and my strength was God. And we did just fine. And then as I went through life, I'd have other things happen and I would go to God and I still do.

And somebody could say, well, you made up God. I wanna tell you something. I didn't make up God. God made me. Amen.

And it is very possible that you can have a relationship with God. In acts chapter two, we talked about in Sunday school, the fire came. And when they saw the fire and they heard the mighty rushing wind, his presence is here. And the bible says that we are the temple of God if we have received him. Some have not yet.

But my my simple point is God says, will be with them. I will dwell in them. I will be their God. I will do it. And you need this.

You need to know God. And the thing that you need more than anything is to know God. The only way I made it through life and my only way I made it to my father's death, the only way I've made it through financial problems, the only way I've made it through other issues. My wife is sick right now. She can't travel anymore, but we're fine.

Why? God. And the only way that I know that I have eternal life in heaven when I die is not my good deeds. I know Jesus Christ as my savior who is God. And you need to know God.

Do you know him? I mean, know him. I'm not scolding you if you don't, but I am telling you can. You know, in the Garden Of Eden, Adam and Eve had daily fellowship with God. How many think when something's really nice or beautiful garden, have you ever looked at something and said, man, that looks like the Garden of Eden.

Or when you think about the Garden of Eden, you think about how wonderful it must have been. And somebody might say, that's if it's real. I'm telling you it's real. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and he did create Adam and he did put him in the garden and it was beautiful. And then sin came to mess everything up.

So that's why you've got pain. That's why you've got death. God doesn't like death. I take no pleasure in the death until it dieth. And one day the bible says God is going to destroy death, bring it back to Garden of Eden Eden status.

But in the meantime, until then, you need the joy Adam and Eve had walking in the Garden of Eden and living in the garden. And regardless of death of my father, financial problems, and regardless of my wife's sickness, regardless of other things, I've I'm not perfect, but when I'm with God, I'm happy. You need it. These things I write unto you that my joy might remain in you, that your joy might be full. Does full joy sound pretty good?

These are things you get. And how? He said, abide in me and I in you. That oneness with Jesus who is God. And I also know that when I die, then I'm gonna go to heaven.

Not because I'm good, but the Bible says this what you need to hear. He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. And that is basically saying whoever knows Jesus, not just knows about him. Whoever knows him as their personal savior, not just hears that he's saved, but knows him personally, will have eternal life.

And he says, these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. Not hope, not maybe, but definitely. So my question is, do you know you're gonna go to heaven? Do you hope you're going to heaven? Or do you know you're gonna go to heaven?

If you don't know it, you can know it. And the way that you can know it, and the way you can have it is when you know Jesus, not just know about Jesus. He died on the cross. You've got to know Jesus as your personal savior. Now, as we're talking about this, knowing God, Keith says that I may know him.

The first thing I wanna talk about, I don't know everything I'm gonna say, but the first thing I wanted to say to you and to me and to all of us, it's possible. You may think not me, You may think him, and never would I. I'm 16 years old. We talked about that. Who am I?

You're important to God. That's who you are. Here you are a visitor. Who am I? I don't even go to church here.

Doesn't matter. You can know God. And who are you? Well, I've been saved a long time, but I just feel distance from God. You don't have to stay distant from God.

You can know him. And here the apostle Paul is saying that I may know him, not just know about him. Now, the first thing is the possibility you can all know you're gonna go to heaven. Each one of you can. I can.

We all can. We also can know God personally to where we have joy in life and everything else that comes with knowing God. Don't miss out. Don't miss it because you can know him. Now, the second thing that I wanna talk about is the stages of knowing God.

Now, first, the possibility. Number two, the stages of knowing God. Now, you might be in one stage right now but in short time, even today, you can go to the next stage and then, you can grow in your knowledge of God. As he says, growing grace in the knowledge and personally knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing about him and knowing him, you can grow in that thing. Now, men of God who became great men of God were not always what they used to be.

They they came into something better. Now Moses was a shepherd, but Moses became the man of God. Abraham was an idol worshiper, but Abraham become the father of the nation of Israel. And you may not be somebody that even is born again yet on your way to heaven, but five years from now, you could actually be serving the God of heaven and experiencing the God of heaven in a way that you never thought you would. And life would beget it, full of joy.

I had a girl I talked to this last week. She's a girl. She's 42. But I still think of her as a girl because the first time I met her, she was 16. She's dealing with drugs.

And on Monday, she said to me, this is the worst thing ever. I said, what? It's only Monday. I got a whole week to go. I said to her, well, I'm happy it's Monday.

I'm happy on Tuesday. I'm happy on Wednesday. I'm happy on Thursday. I'm happy on Friday. I'm happy on Saturday.

I'm happy on Sunday. What's going on? And she's saying, life's terrible. You know why? Because she doesn't know God.

She knows cocaine, but she doesn't know God. And the only thing that's going to change her misery is if she comes to know God. I'm And gonna tell you this, the only thing that's gonna change her misery, if you have it, is if you come to know God. These things I write unto you that my joy might remain in you, that your joy might be full. Now, there are stages to knowing God, and I'm going to go into them now.

Now, number one would be knowing about God. Stage number two would be knowing God personally as your savior. And then stage number three is where we all wanna get and that's where we know God intimately and hopefully the week of meetings will help us all grow in that. But stage number one, knowing about God. If I were to go into a jungle in some foreign country and I wondered, do they know anything about God?

I thought, well, what would I preach to them? And I thought, well, I think I'll start where the Bible starts. Genesis one one, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, before somebody can ever get to know Jesus as their personal savior and before they can ever get to heaven and before they can ever get close to God and enjoy the spirit of God and the relationship with God, they have to know there is a God. Okay?

Now let me ask you a question. How convinced are you that there is a God? When I was a little boy, if anybody ever came to me and said, what's the most important thing you've learned in your life? I'd say I've learned that God is real. When I was a little boy, tragedy struck in my life as I've already alluded to it, my father died.

I was six years old. And I can remember thinking my whole world just fell apart, and then I can remember when it was done, my mom came to me and she kinda told us the bad news that it was not going to change. She said to me, Mike, this is not the time to get bitter at God. This is the time that we need God. And then as we continued in our trial, we just kept going back to God.

I miss my dad, and my pastor told me God is the father of the fatherless and the protector of the widow. He said, I love all little children, but I got a special place in my heart for you because you don't have a dad. Well, I hung on to that. And as I continued growing up, I would begin to pray father to the fatherless, and I've seen God do things, provide for me, I know there is a God. I've seen what he's done, but I am saying the reason that I would go to Genesis because if I went to jungle and they needed to know there was a God, I just say look at creation.

The Bible says the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Even his eternal power and Godheads so that they're without excuse. It doesn't matter where you're at. There's no speech, no language where the voice is not heard. You can be in your backyard and you can hear the creation around you say there's a God.

Look. Look at a tree. Where'd it come from? Look at a bird. Listen to its music.

You can listen to some beautiful music, but you'll never hear any more beautiful music than you'll hear from a bird. Am I right? Hey, how about eating orange candy? Anybody ever have orange flavored candy? How many ever had an orange?

An orange just like, and it's so much sweeter and so much better than even orange candy. And so what I'm saying is, if you go into a jungle and you wanna try to help people know there's a God, you tell them, look at the trees, look at the bird, look at the sky, look at the mountains, look at the grass, look at this. Look, I can move one finger, two fingers, five fingers. And how's that happen? There's electric impulse from the brain that goes through there to make one move to if I cut my skin, it'll heal right up.

My eye is the greatest camera known to man. If I go into a dark room, my eyes, pupil will go and I don't even feel it. I walk out in the light and it shrinks. My ear is an amazing thing. It can hear so many things and my brain and the body itself is an amazing thing.

Now, if I were to go into the jungle and I wanted people to know Jesus as their personal savior, they would have to start with there is a God. Now listen, for you to have your relationship with God, you gotta start with that. There is a God. Now with all the bad things that happen in life, here's what the devil will say. There's no God.

If there's a God, why would this happen? I'm telling you, bad things happen. It's not because God's not real, it's because sin is real too. Now it's not your sin maybe, it wasn't my sin, but Adam and Eve's sin that was brought in by the devil brought death and sickness. And you know what you need to do?

Don't get mad at God, get mad at the devil. Is he the one who brought in all the pain? And this is not the time to get mad at God, this is the time you need God. So anyway, there is a God. Now, if you want to grow, start where the Bible starts.

Go outside and look at the sky, see how beautiful it is, and then ask yourself, is there God or was this an explosion? Look at a flower and say, why is it so pretty if there was an explosion? Smell it. Why does it smell so nice? Why does my body work so well?

There is a God. And if you wanna grow, you start where the Bible starts, there is a God. Now the second thing I would do if I were to go into the jungles, I would say the Bible is his book. So this book is from God. And you know what most of people will do?

I was in Liberia, Africa. And in Liberia, Africa, I had a man come up to me and he said, brother Pelletier, something very bad happened today. I said, well, what is it brother? He said, I met a man. And he said, he didn't believe in God.

I'm going, that happens every day of my life in The United States. But you know what they do in Liberia? They see that there is a God just by looking around at the things that are around them. Now if you are wondering, if you feel like, well, maybe there's not because this is and that is and those things and all these events happen and besides they teach us that we evolved and there was an explosion. Look around and you know no way there is a God.

And then if you can settle the bible is his book, which I could give you evidence that would make your head spin, which I'm not going to be able to in this sermon. If you would get that the bible is his book, then you could read about that God. You know what the bible says? God is love. God is love.

God so loved the world, not so hated the world. Why wouldn't you want that? You would find God is holy. You know what that means? He's incapable of doing wrong.

It would read he is El Shaddai, which means almighty or provider. Jehovah Jireh, the provider. And you would read that he is mercy and you would read that he is love and that he is love for you and that he is what you need. But you can do the same thing as they could do in the jungles. If you would just look around, watch one finger, two fingers, three fingers, five fingers, my face, it is covering up a lot of blood vessels, which is covering up a skeletal system, which has also got joints.

How did this happen? If a plane threw over the top of of clear water and dropped out a bunch of bricks and wood and mortar and you came out with Missouri Avenue Baptist Church. That would be pretty amazing, but it didn't happen. There was a designer behind this and there's a divine this divine designer behind you and each of us. So you've got to to get to where you get to a relationship with God.

I don't want to spend too much time on this. You gotta know there is a God. And you've gotta know the Bible is is his book. Why? Because I'm gonna tell you from this book, the way for having eternal life.

Alright. Now, stage two, knowing God personally as your savior. Now, when I was a little boy, I was sitting underneath a tree in the back yard and I wondered am I going to heaven or I going to hell? Am I going to heaven? Am I going to hell?

And I had heard that all it takes is one sin and a man is going to hell. One crime makes a man a crime, a criminal. One sin makes a man a sinner and sinners go to hell. The wicked shall be turned into hell. But then, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish in hell, but have everlasting life.

People were all going to hell because we're all sinners. But God doesn't want that. So he made a way for us each and every one of us to go to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. So when I was in there, I was wondering, am I going to heaven? Am I going to hell?

Am I going to heaven? Am I going to hell? I thought, well, I'm probably going to hell. What do you think about you? If you're thinking, well, I'm probably going to heaven.

Why? I'm not being mean. I'm not scolding you, but but why? Well, I've never murdered anybody. I've never told too many lies.

I've never been too corrupt and gross in my sin. What do you mean too gross? Too corrupt? The biggest hurdle to you getting to heaven is your self reliance. Now here's what the bible teaches.

Ephesians two eight and nine, for by grace are you saved through faith. And it says not of yourself, it's not something you do to earn your way to heaven, it is the gift of God and it says not of works lest any man should boast. So get this, it's a gift, you don't earn it. And then it spells it out so you can't miss it. Not of works.

Now the apostle Paul, as I already brought up, he said, if anybody would get to heaven by their good deeds, I'm not bragging, but people will say Paul would get there. A Pharisee of the Pharisees and in their mind, this guy was as good as it gets. But Paul said all that is is waste, dung. It won't help me and it won't help you, it won't help them, won't help anyone. The Bible teaches all of us have sinned.

One sin makes us a sinner, Romans three twenty three. Then it says that the wages of our sin is death. For the wages of sin is death. Romans six twenty three. Now it doesn't say the wages of sins.

I'm not beating you. I'm trying to help you to see this. It's not we sin a little bit, we sin a little bit, we sin a little bit more than we're bad enough we're gonna go to hell unless we get help. No. One sin makes us a sinner and sinners go to hell.

That's how holy God is. But God's heart is not for you to go to hell, it's for you to go to heaven. So God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Jesus, who is God, to come to the earth and you've heard it. But watch, you've heard it, but have you heard it? Now what I mean is you know about him dying on the cross, but have you in your heart decided for me?

I need this, he'll save me and taken that next step where you made him your personal savior, your personal savior. Now, as I was in Liberia, I keep thinking about that. I was in there last year and we had a medical clinic and we gave the gospel and we gave the gospel and we gave the gospel to thousands of different people. And in that week, probably 600 made profession of faith. And you know what my sermon was?

Basically this, your medicine will take care of your physical need, but the blood of Jesus will take care of your spiritual need. You wash dirt off your hands with soap and water, and the Bible says first John one seven, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Have you ever told a lie? What's that make you? A liar.

Have you ever lusted? What's that make you? An adulterer. If you lust in your heart, you're committing adultery in your heart, Jesus said. And Jesus is not a liar.

You ever get mad at somebody and hate them? Jesus said you're a murderer. If you hate a man in your heart, you're a murderer. Guilty of lies, Mike Pelletier. Guilty of spiritual adultery, Mike Pelletier.

Adultery of the heart. Guilty. Guilty of disobeying my mom and dad. Guilty of stealing. I took things when I was a kid that didn't belong to me.

Guilty on all 10 points of the 10 commandments. And if I committed one, I'd be on my way to hell without coming to know Jesus personally. But the day came when I accepted him as my personal savior. Now you might not understand it all, but I will say this. You can know there is a God by creation in the bible.

Number two, you can know him as your personal savior and you can go to heaven when you die. I'm asking you, do you know you're gonna go to heaven? And I will say this, if you don't know you're going to heaven, you probably aren't. But we want you to, and we'll talk to you about it at the invitation if you'd be willing, but it's through Jesus. Now the last thing I wanna talk about is stage number three, and that's knowing God personally, knowing God about God, knowing God personally.

And then number three in closing, knowing God intimately. Now here was what I think the apostle Paul is saying in verse 10, that I may know him, that means intimately, intimately, Where me and God are tight. Now I met a person one time and I witnessed to him and I said, do you know you're going to heaven? Here's what this person said. Yeah.

Me and God are tight. Now, he said, I don't go to church. Now, don't worry about that. That is nothing to do with you being close to God. It does because the Bible says, if you will follow him, forsake not the gathering yourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much the more as you see the day approaching.

So, yes, part of walking with God is being at church, but that's not my emphasis here. He was saying, I'm tight with God but he never went to church. He never read his Bible. Once in a while, he'd out in the woods and he would look at what God made and it made him have a fuzzy feeling. He said, yeah, me and God are tight.

That's not close to God. Now, what would you say about you and God? Are you tight? I think the good way of describing the intimacy would be like a marriage where I am my wife and I, the closest relationship of any relationship I have on Earth. She's what they call my soulmate.

Have you ever heard that term? Now, a soul has a mind and a body, a mind and emotions, and a will. Now, I have gotten connected to my wife where I think like she thinks. She thinks the way I think is insane, but she knows how I think. Okay?

I like things she likes. She likes some things I like. And then our will is affected by our relationship. I do things to try to help her. She does things to try to help me, and she would be my completer.

But you know what? Technically, I don't need and she doesn't need to have me. Now one day I said to her, you know, I just don't know what I do without you. And she said, you know, if I didn't always have you, I'd I'd still be fine. I said, I said, no.

You would not be fine. I do a lot for you. She says, you do a lot for me, and I do love you, and I'm so glad. But if I didn't have you, technically, I'd be fine. And I says, no, you have to need me because God said you have to.

Okay? And but then she went on and she said, I know I need you. God gave you to me and you're so good to me and you helped me so much and I wouldn't wanna not have you. But she did say this, technically, I'd be fine as long as I have God. And you know what?

My mom raised five kids by herself, and she did great. And now she's 86, and she's very, very happy. Why? She has God. And I was fine.

I had God. And the Bible says that we're complete in him. Now there are some people that are not even saved. There are some people that are saved, and then there are some that are saved but have never gotten to the next stage where they're actually close to God. They never talk to him.

They never think about him. And just like my wife is always on my mind, God is always on my mind. Now I'm out of time. So as I mentioned, I didn't know everything I was gonna say, but my relationship with God is so amazing. I'm not perfect, but it's wonderful.

I get to spend time with my friends. I get to spend time with my wife. But the thing that completes me and builds me and helps me more than anything is I get to spend time with God. There's nothing like going in the woods and praying. There's nothing like getting in the bible, walking with God, and getting connected to God.

There's nothing like it. Seeing God work. The bible says he'll supply our needs. Now I don't use God. I serve God, but I can remember not long ago, I needed some money.

I didn't have any income. And then all of a sudden, somebody calls up and says, our church took an offering for you, and it was enough to pay for my bills for the whole month. That was last month. There was a time when I needed a larger sum of money and I remember praying and that day, I got a phone call that night, and I had the exact amount to the penny that I had prayed. Now I'm nobody, but I sure have enjoyed knowing God, and I'm learning and I'm getting closer.

I can remember being in a group of 200 teenagers, and I said, dear God, it's raining so loudly nobody can hear the rain. Because of the rain, I raised my hand and I said, God, stop the rain. And I did that in front of 200 teenagers. I thought, what have you just done? God's not gonna stop the rain.

And now all these teens are going to think there's nothing to God. And honestly, within five seconds, it came to a complete stop. These guys went out and accepted Jesus. A year or two later, I was there, and a guy came up and he said, do you remember when you prayed and God stopped the rain? I said, how could I forget?

He said, I was one of those young men, he said, when I saw God stop the rain, I knew there was something to God. And I'm telling you, there's something to God. And I'm telling you, what you need more than anything is intimacy and closeness with God. Now, how do you develop that intimate relationship with God? You have to spend time with him.

Be in church, but on your own, spend time with him. For me to have a relationship with my wife, I had to end up breaking up with all the other girls I used to like. And since the day I started with her, I've never dated another person. Why? You have to end your relationship with sin if you're going to have a relationship with him.

And there's so much to it that we're out of time, but I'm just simply saying this. Do you feel like you're intimately close to God, complete in him? You're okay because you've got God. If you do not feel that you are okay in life, you can get there. But you've got to find God.

And do you know that you're on your way to heaven? If you don't, you can know. But you've got to let us help you accept Jesus as your personal savior. Let's bow our heads. Now with our heads bowed and our eyes closed this morning, I wonder how many of you could say as the pianist comes and gets ready to play a stanza of just as I am without one plea, I wonder who here today would say, brother Mike, I may not be everything that I should be.

I may not be acting like I should be, but I do know if I were to die today, and you might, I do know that if I were to die today that I would definitely go to heaven, and I have a bible reason why I know that I'm going to go to heaven. If you would say you know that you're gonna go to heaven when you die, you're sure of it, not just you feel like it, but you know it. And you've got a bible reason why you know you're gonna go to heaven. Would you lift up your hand if you're sure? If not, don't be a liar, but don't be embarrassed if you don't know you're gonna go to heaven.

Alright? Alright. Thank you. Thank you. You can put your hands down.

Thank you for your honesty. There were many that raised their hand. There were many that could not raise your hand, and thank you for being honest. Now if you could not raise your hand, listen, you can know you're gonna go to heaven. You don't have to hope it.

It's clearly written in the Bible. You may know that you have eternal life. And I'm gonna ask us to consider that. Now I'm gonna ask the pianist to play softly, And as she's softly playing just as I am, is there anybody here who would say, brother Mike, I want to go to heaven. Now think think.

I want to go to heaven, but I don't know I'm going to go to heaven. And if you would say, brother Mike, I want to go to heaven, but I don't know that I'm going to heaven and I want help. Would you be kind enough just to lift up your hand? I'll see it and you can put it right back down and I'll include you in a prayer. Won't say your name.

I'll just pray for you. God bless you there. Is there another? I wanna go to heaven, but I don't know I'm going there. And if you can know, I want to know.

Pray for me. We won't force you to do anything you don't wanna do. We'll just pray for you. There's another on my right half of the auditorium. Thank you.

You can put your hand down. That's two. Is there another? Do you listen. Do you know that you're going to go to heaven?

Do you know you're going to go to heaven? If you don't know, you probably aren't. Two have raised their hand. Is there a third? I don't know I'm going to heaven, but I want to.

Would you pray for me? Just lift up the hand. Anybody else along with these? Alright. In a moment, we'll pray for you.

And then I wanna ask this. Is there anyone who would say, brother Mike, that I know I'm going to heaven, but I don't feel close to God like I need to? And pray for me that I would get an intimate close relationship with God. If that's you, would you say I feel distant from God, but I wanna know him intimately? Would you just lift up a hand and say just pray for me that I grow closer and intimate with God?

God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you here. God bless you there. God bless you here.

Anybody else along with these six, seven, eight? God bless you there. I'm I know him as savior, but I'm not close to him and I wanna be. Alright. Let's all, stand to our feet.

Now as we stand to our feet, I'm gonna ask the pianist to hold off for just a moment. And with our heads bowed, let's pray. But before I pray, I do wanna ask something. There were two of you that said, I don't know I'm gonna go to heaven, but I want to. Now with their heads bowed, you don't have to do this.

We don't force. We invite, but we sure like to help you because you've got to be sure you're gonna go to heaven. You've gotta get help. There were two of you that raised your hand with no one looking but me. Would you two mind lift your head, look at me?

I'd like to help you for ten seconds where you're standing. Just lift your head and look at me if you're comfortable with that. Alright. Not sure you're gonna go to heaven, but you'd like to be sure? And not sure and you'd like to be sure?

Now here's my question. With people that are trained who could take a Bible in ten minutes and maybe might take fifteen and show you how to go to heaven, would you be comfortable letting a lady take a Bible if you went to the back or let a man, if you went to the back, open it and show you how to go to heaven? Would you be comfortable with that? If so, then as the pianist plays, you two slip out and go toward the back or you can go right now, pastors at the back to meet you. There you go.

Good. Good. Brother Drew, in case they need help, you wanna go and do you need a lady personal worker, brother? That'd be good. Brother, do.

It's okay. We've got another one. So that would be great if you were able to go to the back and help. Good. And I do wanna invite you as we've talked about knowing God intimately to pray about that at least where you're standing and invite you if you wanna, you come.

And we're gonna sing the stanza just as I am. And as we sing, if you wanna come and pray, Lord, I need to know you intimately. I'll invite you to come. Just as I am.