Principles for Drawing Closer to God

Alright. Turn to Psalm 18, and we're gonna begin reading at verse one. I will love thee, o Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust. My buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised and so shall I be saved from mine enemies. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we do ask you Lord that your spirit would move tonight. We ask you Lord to lead in the message and the messages throughout the entire week. We come before you as humbly and We're We're going do We're to do everyone.

But Lord, we know that you're that. Capable of reaching each heart in dealing with each need. And Lord, we promise you that we will seek you and our hearts are open. And we pray, Father, that you would lead and give what we need and help us now tonight as we look in your word and use it for each one of us. In Christ's name, we pray.

Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Do you like the word my? Now, we learn to like the word my when we're little kids like my toy.

I used to like the word my toy, not his toy. There was a boy. It was a friend of mine named Joe Ruth. And Joe Ruth was free, and I was four and our parents were out at a religious conference and so I stayed at his house and his mother stayed and watched us and I was playing with one of his toys and it was a little clock And there was a little mouse, and a little music would play Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse went up the clock. And I don't know if you're familiar with that children's story.

But I was playing with his toy, and he wanted his toy, and I wanted his toy, and he wanted it. And we struggled a little bit, and he finally won and got his toy because he bit me in the forehead. And then when he bit me in the forehead, he said, my toy, and he took it. Now, there are things that we have that we really enjoy. I always enjoyed my baseball glove.

My toy. As I got older, my cell phone. My best friend. And then as I got older, I really liked my girlfriend. And now I like my wife.

Now there are many things that we enjoy in life that we appreciate that because when we pray together, I usually say, dear heavenly father, he usually prays our heavenly father. And then he goes, and my dear God. I used to say heavenly father and dear God, but I like he adds this phrase in there, my dear God. And I like the pronoun, my. And when I hear him pray, it challenges me because I just enjoy intimate with God that he would say, my dear God, not just dear God.

Now, in this passage, there is the scripture that David wrote or he referenced to God and it says, the Lord is my strength, my rock, my fortress, etcetera and the word my is in there nine times. Now, as we look at this, we need to understand that there are some people that seem to be closer to God than some of the rest of the people. There are some people that are experiencing God, and there are other people that might be saved, but they're not really close to God. Well, did you know that God wants a personal relationship with each person? He doesn't just like the preachers.

He doesn't just like the deacons. He doesn't just want to be close to certain people but not other people. God's not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And then beyond that, God says he runs to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. And he looks for people that are looking for relationship with him and there's not one person that has to be distant from God when God says, he came to the Earth to reconcile us to himself and so if you feel distant from God, I want to give you a message tonight that I feel the Lord has led us to look at that can take you from this spiritual plateau to this spiritual plateau and you can become closer to God and this is what this meeting is about, a reviving or a revival.

Now, as we look at this, these are things that help me and so I'm sharing them with you. Now, first, it's important to understand that God wants to be your personal God. Now, notice the pronoun, my God, my strength, my deliverer. Now, what I did in my bible one day is I circled all the mice in Psalm chapter eighteen one through three. They're in there nine times.

And I circled them because I needed to know that God was going to be my God, not just somebody else's God. Now, I have an evangelist father-in-law who's been preaching for fifty plus years and he is a great man of God and he is the kind of man that when he prays, God answers his prayer. I've seen him pray and I've seen him see answers to prayer that were dynamic. God used him to start a Bible College. God has used him to preach all over the country, all over the world, and there are people everywhere that have been affected by evangelist Ron Comfort and then, I come into the scene and I start preaching and I start trying to minister to people and I tell you what goes through the mind.

What goes through the mind is there's Ron Comfort and then there's Mike. And you know what I found one time? I was being crippled by insecurities. And what I learned is I don't have to be insecure. I can be totally secure in God.

And I learned that I don't even have to be like Ron Comfort. I can just be who I am, and the issue is not who I am. The issue is who God is. Everybody follow me? And so, I learned that God did not just wanna be Ron Comfort's strength but that he wanted to be my strength.

Now, are times when I was going through difficult times and I was overwhelmed with things and I had to have God be my strength, not just somebody else's strength. Now, I read stories about great men in the past like George Mueller, for instance. Now, for those of you who don't know who George Mueller is, I will tell you, but I was wondering, how many of you already know of the name George Mueller? Would you raise your hand? Okay.

Most people in here do. Now, George Mueller was the man a hundred years ago or so who was a great Christian, who was a great prayer warrior and George Mueller had over 50,000 hear this, 50,000 answers to prayer. And he wrote them down. And so you can get his prayer journal and you can read about 50,000 dated definite answers to prayer. How many would agree?

That's pretty amazing. Now, there are stories of George Mueller praying and God doing these wonderful things like one time he was praying for his orphanage kids and they didn't have any food and so he was praying. God supply the food but he didn't come and when they came to the evening supper time, all the kids are sitting at the table but there's no food and Mueller had faith. He said, kids, we're going to pray and we're going to thank God for the food. Now, the kids are looking around.

There's no food on the table. They're thinking, what has happened to mister Mueller? There's no food on the table and Mueller prayed. Lord, we thank you for the food that we're about to receive. In Jesus name, amen.

And all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door and Mueller went to open the door. True story and there was a man who was driving a bread truck and the bread truck happened to break down right by the orphanage door. So Mueller walked to the door, opened it, here's a man with a bread truck and he says, we just broke down out here and we have no way to take care of this bread and it's just gonna go bad. Could your boys use some bread? And Mueller said, yes, we just thank God for it.

Put it on the table and they put it on the table and they had their meal. Now, I read stories about George Mueller and his prayer life where one time, a great preacher named Charles Spurgeon said, that he'd been praying for a while that the Lord might give him a little bit extra money so he could redo his office. He was a great preacher and he found a check under his door and it was for the amount that he was praying for. So, he was making plans to fix up his office and it's like the holy spirit said, you don't need new furniture. You need to give that money to George Mueller for his orphanage And so he said, I began to argue with God, and he said, I said, God, George Mueller can pray that money in from somewhere else.

And then he knew that if he didn't do it, that he would be disobedient. So he reluctantly went, knocked on the door, George Mueller opened the door, and he handed him that check that God had just given him and George Mueller said, he had just gotten off his knees praying for the exact amount that was in that check. Those kind of thing happen all the time And Spurgeon went back to his office kinda little bit sad because he didn't get it off, but he knew that, hey, it's what God wanted. And then he unhappy because he didn't get the office, he goes back to his office, his old study, and he looks down on the ground and there's another envelope. He picks it up, and he opened it up, and there was a check for the exact amount that he just gave to George Mueller.

Now when I read these things, I think, here is Ron Comfort, here is George Mueller, but here is Mike. And I'm not trying to say that we should be arrogant and proud and say, well, you're not any better than me. But what I am saying is, I think a lot of us don't ever get close to God because we don't think that we can get close to God. And what the Bible teaches is that God is not a respecter of persons. And we can each be close to God if we would seek him.

Now, when we look at the people in the Bible, we see them as great men of the faith. I think of Exodus where it talks about Moses, and I think about Abraham in Genesis and all these great men of God. And one day, as I was looking in scriptures, I hope this helps, I learned that these people that we look to as great men of God were not always what they later became. And there was a time when they realized that they could be closer to God than they were, and they did it. And there's not a person in this room, including those of you that I admire, who have walked with God for a number of years, that could not become even close to God if we understand some principles that will help us.

And I wanna illustrate this, not everybody who became great men of God were always great men of God. And we're gonna look at four great men here, and I want to illustrate something. I think you'll catch on. Please look at Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three.

Now, in Exodus three, we find where God introduced himself to Moses and I want you to notice from God's perspective how God introduced himself and you're going to have to think a little bit right here but you'll get it. Alright. Now, Exodus chapter three, God appears to Moses and he says to Moses that I want to be your God but as he does it, notice how he introduces himself. In Exodus three and verse three, at verse four. When the Lord saw, we might as well back up and we'll we'll go ahead and read verse one.

Now, Moses kept the flock of Jethro's father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God even to Horeb and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush and he looked and behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed and Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight while the bush is not burned. Maybe you know the story and when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses and he said, here am I. Moses, I'm talking to you. That's why he said his name twice and he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place when thou standest his holy ground.

Now, notice how he introduces himself to Moses in verse six. He says, moreover, I am the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, and the God of who? Jacob. But notice that he doesn't say and I'm the God of Moses. He didn't say I am the God of Moses.

Now, how many of you would say that you think that Moses and God were pretty close to each other? Would you raise your hand? But at this point, God doesn't think they're that close. Now, probably Moses was saved but God doesn't think they're that close because God doesn't say, I am your God. He says, I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob but he's not his God yet.

Now, he no doubt was a believer in Jehovah. His mother taught him. And no doubt, he would be what we might call a same person. But there's some point here, okay? He and God at this point were not close.

But Moses had to decide that he was going to make God his God not just Abraham, Isaac's, and Jacob's God. Now, turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 12 and in Genesis chapter 12, I want you to see when God appeared into Abraham. Now, we think of Abraham as being a great man of God, the nation of Israel's father and what a great man of God but you know there was a time when Abraham wasn't as close as close to God as he later became. Now, I'm not trying to just give us a feel good message but I'm telling you, I know where some people are. You feel saved, you know you're going to heaven, but you feel like you've got not grown as a Christian and you don't know as much as another Christian or you're not as good as another Christian or you're not as dedicated as another Christian And you think in your mind, I could never be a giant in the faith.

You're wrong. You can grow in the faith and you know, anybody who ever becomes a great man of God or great woman of God had to start pursuing God in a greater measure than they were originally pursuing him. And as soon as we get serious that we can have a relationship with God and we it because we see why we want it, then things begin to change in our life. Now, want you to see this in verse one of chapter 12. Now, the Lord appeared unto Abraham.

Get thee out of my thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee, make thy name great, and thou shall be a blessing. I'll bless them that bless thee, curse them that curseth thee, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham departed how? As the Lord had spoken.

Now, look up here if you don't mind. When we think of God introducing himself, we think how God said, I am the God and I don't mean to be blasphemous. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but right here, he's not saying that. Why? Because he and Abraham haven't gotten connected yet.

But did Abraham become a great man of God later? Yeah. You follow me? Now, here he became more than what he was and you know what we want from this week of meetings? That everyone of us would become more than what we are.

Now, then we have Abraham had a son and his name was Isaac. Now, was Isaac going be a great man of God just because Abraham was a great man of God? No. He had to make decisions and I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 26. Now, God appears to Abraham and he says to Abraham, I'm your dad's God but I wanna be yours too.

And it's like somebody saying, I'm George Mueller's God, but I wanna be your God too, Mike Pelletier. I'm pastor Polar's God, but I wanna be just as much, just as much close to you, Mackenzie. I wanna be just as much close to you, Dan. I wanna be just as much close to you, Steve, and I wanna be just as much close to you as anybody else, Ian, and there's not a person that I am not wanting to be close to. Now notice how God appears to Isaac in verse 24 of chapter 26.

The Lord appeared unto him, Isaac, the same night and he says, I am the God of Abraham, thy father but notice he didn't say, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why? Because he had not got connected with God yet but then God said, fear not for I am with thee and will bless thee and multiply thy seed from my servant Abraham's sake and he builded there an altar and he, Isaac, called upon the name of the Lord and Isaac made a decision that somebody here tonight might need to make to make God their God, not just somebody else's God. Alright. Now, turn in your Bibles to chapter 28 and then Isaac had a son.

His name was Jacob and notice how God introduced himself. That's what I want you to see. Notice verse 13 and behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of who? Abraham. Abraham, my father but notice the next conjunction and the God of who?

Isaac. Now, do you get it now? Now, God saying from my perspective, I'm not just Abraham's God. I'm equally Isaac's God and then he's saying and I equally want to be your God, Jacob and I am not a respective persons And God, if he was standing here tonight, he would say, I am not a respective person. There's not one person in this room that I could not be close to and do not want to be close to.

And so you can have as much of a relationship with God as you want and God said, I'll do all these great things as well in your life, Jacob and notice verse 20 and Jacob bowed a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on just like he did with my dad, just like he did with my grandpa, Abraham. Verse 21, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be, what's that next word? My God. My God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and then he made an altar and made a sacrifice to God. Now, what I'm simply showing us is we need to understand that if we're at this spiritual plateau, there's no reason why we couldn't go to this spiritual plateau and we can be as close to God as anybody else on the Earth And I know there are times we feel like, well, not me.

Now, I'm not saying that we should respect some great man of God. I still respect George Mueller. I still think that George Mueller walked with God in ways that maybe I never will. That's just in my head. But when I look at my Bible, I can see I, my pelletier, can be as close to God as George Mueller was close to God.

We, in the year 2017, can walk with God like they did in the day of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this is exciting, is what I'm saying. And we need to circle the minds at least in our heart, if not literally with our pen. Now, the first thing that I wanna show us tonight is that God wants a relationship with you and he doesn't I'm not saying it like some television preacher just says, you know, God loves you and God wants to make you rich. I'm not saying that.

I'm saying everything the Bible says about Jehovah God and his interest in our lives is absolutely true for everyone of us, not just some of us. But we can make a difference. We can make a decision. Tonight, I'm going show you that will help us to get more connected to God no matter where we are in our Christian life and that's what revival is. When our relationship with God comes to life again and that's what these meetings are all about.

Now, we've seen that God wants to be your God. Now, the second thing I want to look at is the power of God. Now, look at all the great things that God bless for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Think of the great things God did for Moses. Now, I remember years ago thinking, well, if I had some big dramatic thing happen in my life like Moses, then maybe I'd be a great man of God.

Now, I remember thinking, alright, God, you appeared to Moses and there was a burning bush. He's in the middle of nowhere. He's in the desert and all of a sudden, he sees this bush on fire and I said, God, no wonder Moses served you. You did that big miracle for Moses and if I had some big miracle like that, maybe I get connected to God. But you know what I realized one time?

There was only one burning bush in all the history of mankind. But there were many people that were close to God like Moses through the history of mankind. Do you follow me? And I don't think it's their dramatic event. It's what they about God.

When Moses saw the power of God and he saw that bush burn but not burn up and then he heard the voice of God. I think he was impressed with the power of God. Hey, listen. I think that when Moses began his journey with God, you remember, he was scared. Do you remember that?

And he said, you got the wrong guy. I can't speak. And some of you are doing the same thing. I can't speak. Well, Moses said, I can't speak.

God, you've got the wrong guy. I can never do anything for God. I'm just Moses and God said, no, I want you. That's why I called your name twice. And then he said, well, you get my brother.

God said, Moses, I will help you to do what I want you to do and he says, let me show you. Take your rod, drop it on the ground, and he did and it turned into a what? Snake. Snake. And Moses was afraid and so God said, okay, now, pick it back up and he picked it back up and it turned back into what?

And Moses goes, and God said, now, you can trust me and Moses still wasn't sure he could trust God. He was kind of repressed. Here's the burning bush but it doesn't burn up. God turned this rod into a snake. And then it didn't hurt me.

And then I picked it back up and it turned back into rod. Whoo. God is pretty powerful. But he's still not sure that he's ready to dive in. And so God says, take your hand, stick it in your coat.

He stuck it in his coat and pulled back covered with leprosy. He was afraid and then he says, put it back in and it turned back into the baby's skin without any leprosy and here's what I'm getting at. Moses saw the power of God and then he knew he wanted that God. Now here's what we need to see in this meeting. We need to see the power of God, and we'll want that God.

You wanna know something? Whatever we are excited about on this earth is not all that exciting. I heard somebody not long ago talk about I was sitting in the car today, as a matter of fact. And as I'm driving in the car with this individual who had to take me to the Chevy dealership, he's got this football game on and they're talking about the football event. Now, I like football, like to watch football, but here's what's going on.

They're going, and he's running down the 10 line and he's on the five. He's on the three. Oh, he does. Touch down. He got out.

Touch down. You know what it boils down to? Seven points in a game that everybody's gonna forget next week. Now, let me tell you what was exciting this week when Dan accepted Jesus and Mackenzie made sure of her salvation. An eternal life in heaven instead of eternal damnation in hell.

That's exciting. And let me tell you what is exciting. When we see God divinely intervene and do some supernatural things. Alright. Now, let's look at Psalms chapter 18 and we'll see all the great things that God wants to do.

Psalms chapter 18. Now, you and I can have as much of a relationship with God as we want but we won't want that until we understand how great God is. The power of God. Alright, Psalms chapter 18 and verse one. I will love thee, oh Lord, my strength.

Now, how many of you could use a little strength in your life? Okay, then he goes on. The Lord David says, is my rock. Speaking of stability, my fortress, that means a wall of protection from an enemy. My deliverer, is there anybody you could use some deliverance in your life?

And then he says, my God and God can do anything. So, that covers everything and then he says, my strength again because we know we really need it and then in whom I will trust, my buckler, that is a shield that protects you from a sword and the horn of my salvation. Now, I got saved. I'm going to heaven and not to hell. That's something everybody needs.

And that's what God will do for everyone. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then he says, my high tower. That basically means, while I'm being attacked down here, he takes me up to a high tower out from the battle and it also means when the floods of life come our way, he takes us up above all those attacks and all those problems and he takes us to a place that's safe. Now, when you look at all the great things that God wants to do for you, it's wonderful.

Now, I look at my life and I can remember times when I needed this. God is my rock, and I had to make him my God and my rock, not just somebody else's. Now, give you a couple illustrations just to show that God is there and when we do this, we have to be very very careful that you don't take it the wrong way like I'm bragging. I'm not bragging on my pillar tier. I'm illustrating that we need a relationship with God.

Now, God is not a genie that we rub in a bottle and when we rub it, then God has to give us everything we want. That's not God but God does divinely intervene. Now, it says here that God is my strength. Now, when I was a little boy, six years old, there was a time when I needed strength. My dad put a 12 gate shotgun in his mouth, pulled the trigger, and he blew off the back of his head.

Now, you can tell me I'm a weak person but I needed some help. And my mother said, this is not the time to get bitter at God. This is the time that we need God. And so we got through that because we went to God not ran from God and somebody says, oh, you made up this little thing called God to get through your problem. Good for you.

I did not make God up. God made me. Amen. Then, we went to God though and we claimed the promises. We found the truths there and so, I remember missing my dad and I went to my father, my my pastor, and I said, I miss my dad and he said, I know what you need, buddy and he took me into his room and he opened up his Bible in the office there and he showed me the Bible verses.

God is the father to the fatherless and the protector of the widow And you know what? God loves all little kids but there's a special place in his heart for you because you don't have a dad. And I hung on to that. And it was my strength. And it was real strength.

And I did just fine. Now, what situation are you in that you need relationship with God and you need to be able to know something about God that's true that you can get strength from. Now, it says here that God is my deliverer. There are many times I needed deliverance. I thought about George Mueller but then I think about some of my needs.

I can remember one time when I had a huge financial need and I shared some of these with those of you who known me for a long time but some have not heard this. I can remember when I was doing a ministry and I needed a large sum of money. I needed $50,148. And at the time, I was bringing in about $2,400 a month. So I was short that month $47,600 Now, you know what went through my mind?

All the stories about George Mueller. All the stories about God providing for his orphanage and so, you know, I got on my knees and I said, God, George Mueller needed $7,000,000 and you gave him $7,000,000 a hundred years ago. I just need $50,148 by the end of the month and I said, you did it for George Mueller. You can do it for me. This is not a want.

This is a need and so I began to pray and I tried to pray like George Mueller. I tried to be George Mueller and then the devil reminded me of something. You're not George Mueller. So, I quit praying and I got discouraged. I thought, who do you think you are?

God's not going to do that for you. You're just Mike and so, you know what? I got discouraged and I quit praying. Then, I thought, what am I going to do? I've gotta have this.

This isn't a want. This is a need and it's like the holy spirit reminded me of something. Mike, it never was George Mueller. It was George Mueller's God. And so I got back on my knees and I prayed for one hour.

I said, Lord, this this is not a want, this is a need and this is not George Mueller. It was George Mueller's God and you can do this and Lord, you can do it today as much as you can do it tomorrow and so, if you don't want this, then, I'm fine with it. Whatever you want but if I don't have it by the time I go to bed tonight and peel my head, I'm going to get up tomorrow and I'm going to call all 187 churches that are involved in this activity and shut it down and I'll tell em it must not be God's plan. It must have been my idea and eat crow and shut it down before we have financial problems and you know what happened? I prayed for one hour.

By the end of the night, Lord, if I don't have it, I'll shut it down and that night, a friend came to me who had never been in my home and he came over for supper. He lived an hour and a half away and he says, when he comes in the door, by the way, do you know so and so? I said, yes. I met him last night. He said, he called me up this morning and asked if I was going to be seeing you anytime soon because he knew we were friends.

He said, yes, I'm going to his house tonight. He'd never been at my house. He lived an hour and a half away. He says, well, good. I want to donate something to what he's doing with those area wide meetings.

Stop by my office, if you will, before you go. He stopped by, gave him a sealed envelope, and I thought, I wonder what it is. And I thought, could it be 5,000? Could it be 50,000? No.

Could it be 5,000? And I tried to not get my hopes up too much and then I went in the bathroom and I ripped that paper open and I looked at that check and out fell a check for $50,000. Now, the way it worked, I prayed between eight and 09:00 for one hour 10:00, he looked over his finances and saw he had an extra $50.00. Isn't that a pretty good problem to have? Then, he prayed and said, what do I do with that?

And it's like God said, why don't you give it to those area wives that brother Pelletier is doing and he calls a friend of mine, how do you come into my house and he said, stop by my office and he gets it to me before I go to bed that night and he lives an hour and a half away. I say that has to be God. Amen. Amen. And what I'm saying is, it's not George Mueller.

It never was George Mueller. It was George Mueller's God. It's not Mike Pelletier. It's not pastor Polar. It's not brother Dan.

It's not brother Ian. It's not any of you men. It's you are men and women that walk with God but it's really God who is the God of us all. Now, another time when I saw God do this and I just like to share this again. I sometimes pray, Lord, how much do I share?

But I'm telling you, I have learned that God is not God was. And that he's not a respected persons. I remember one time I was getting ready to go to Haiti. How many guys remember one time you helped me with my trip to Haiti one time after the earthquake? Well, I was on my way to Haiti and I didn't have the money for this particular trip.

It was gonna cost $850 and so we prayed about it. My wife thought, well, let's put it on our home equity loan and just pay it off and so we did. So we put on my home equity loan. We don't normally do this but we felt God wanted us to do it and we trusted God to take care of it. So, anyway, we got close to the trip a week before the meeting and I didn't have any money to pay down that credit card and so, we prayed Lord.

We know this was your will and we trust you to pay for it and a teenager came up after the meeting and he shook my hand. He says, brother Mike, you've been a blessing and I pulled back a $50 bill, a teenager. I said, praise God. I'll use it for my mission trip. So, if you like my preaching, Mike, I expect a $50 bill, okay?

Now, then, after that, another one came up, shook my hand, I pulled back another 50. Another person shook my hand, I pulled back $100 bill and then another person gave me a personal check for $500 and when it was done, I had $7.50 of the $8.50 the night before I went to Haiti. God did it again and so I'm in the airport and I'm actually thanking God. God, you did it again. You're amazing.

You did it again. I needed $8.50. Gave me $7.50 and I could take care of the other 100 when I get home. And all of sudden, in the airport, while I'm thinking that, I heard somebody say, man of God, in the airport. Miami Airport.

Man of God Now, I'm thinking, I'm a preacher but why would a man be looking for me? And I and I hear him and gets a little closer. Man of God, man of God. And so as it gets closer, realizing I'm a preacher, I kind of sheepishly turned around. I didn't want to go, here I am.

So, I kinda sheepishly turn around and I go, and he sees me and the guy went, man of God and he walks up and he shook my hand. He said, for you and turned and walked away and I look in my hand. There was honestly a $100 bill. That happened. And do you know there's a little background to it and the background is, I met this fellow probably forty five minutes to an hour before and I talked to him for probably about two minutes.

I said, sir, you wouldn't happen to be from Haiti, would you? He said, no. I'm from, I think he said Nigeria and I said, oh, I thought maybe you were from Haiti. He said, why do you ask? And I said, well, I'm going to Haiti.

Why are you going? For ministry, that's all I said and the man said, God bless you, brother. So, evidently, he was a Christian and then he went his way and went my way and an hour, forty five minutes or so later, he says, I ought to give that preacher $100 bill for his trip. Now, man of God, how do you think first of all, he began to think about giving me $100 He didn't even know what he needed. And how do you think he found me in Miami Airport?

That is God bringing all around. Everybody follow me? Amen. Now, what I'm saying is, God is not a respecter person and it's not about money. It's not about Mike.

It's about God is there and there are some of us that are on this level spiritually and I'm not saying I am up here and you're down there but I'm saying, I am growing and I'm understanding that God is alive today and he wants to be my God as much as Ron comforts God, okay? Do you follow me? Now, do you feel close to God or do you feel like you're distant from God? You can have as much of a relationship with God as anybody else and there are some of you single ladies that need some strength. My mother raised five children by herself and my mother, though we're not perfect, she did a pretty good job and that all five of her children ended up in full time Christian service.

All five of her children are serving the Lord. Now, that doesn't mean that mom was perfect but mom did something right. And I'm telling you, the key to that thing was, she didn't run from God. She believed God and she took us to God and that's what you need. You need to go to God for your strength.

Now, you that are new Christians, God wants to be your God as much as me. I've been a Christian for many years. You that are new Christians, God wants to be your God as much as my God and I'm saying that there's not a person here. There's a man here and you might feel like you're a second class Christian and you're never going to be a great great giant of the faith. You could be more than what you are and do you know that there are people in this room, honestly, we need men of God.

We need men. That will become men of God, not just sit in a pew but become deep, deep men of God and you know what? You've had some great men of God here and you have some great men of God here but I'm not being unkind but some of these men are over 80 years old now. And I was telling some people that I really love being around old Christians. Now, Al, you're not old.

You're only 80. Most do it. But I love being around older Christians, alright? You're not old but I bet you're getting close to 80, brother. 68.

Not you. I was talking. You're young. You're like my age. No, but you're about 80 and brother, you're about 90, you told me and I love being around men of God but I tell you what we need.

We need some men of God that are younger, that will become great men of God and great deacons and great servants of God. Amen? Amen. And there are some of you that don't ever feel like you'll ever become anymore than what you are. Abraham did.

Isaac did, Jacob did, but it had to start with the time when they decided, I want this. I want to walk with God, and I want God to be my God. Not where we brag, but we know that God is my God, not just somebody else's God. I've seen God do amazing things, and there's so many more stories that I could tell you, but I don't want to just waste our time. Let's look at how we make God my God.

Let's look at how we make God our personal God. Now, let's turn back to Psalm chapter 18 and in Psalm chapter 18, we'll see two words that will help us to grow spiritually. Alright, Psalm chapter 18. Been saved one day, been saved two never felt close to God like you would like to. Here's a tangible way that you can grow in your relationship with God.

Alright? There are two words that come up three times in the Bible in Psalms eighteen one through three. They're the words in the King James version. They're the words I will and there are other versions that have it almost three times but the idea is in every one of them. Now, first, I notice verse one, it says, I will what?

Love thee. Now, look at verse two. In the middle of verse two, it says, I will what? Trust. Trust.

And then look at verse three, the two words are there, I will call. So, I will love thee, I will trust, and I will call. Now, the first words, I will. Alright, everybody. If you will get this and then, I'll quit for tonight.

Okay? You say, okay. Well, listen. I but seriously, if you'd be closer to God than you are right now, would you wanna be? Yes.

And if we struggle and we seek to get deeper to God, closer to God, we think, well, I can't be. Well, yes, you can be. And we talked about last night, without holiness, no man will see the Lord. Do we have to have holiness? Yes.

Can I be right with God and in sin at the same time? Right with God not right with God. No. And so you cannot be in fellowship with God and be a great man of God or a great woman of God who enjoys fellowship with God has the dynamic, dramatic intervention of God in your life when you're choosing on purpose to live in sin. That's why we get rid of sin.

We love God. We hate what hurts him and because we want our fellowship with God more than we want our sin. I think having the power of God would be a whole lot better than having a can of beer. Wouldn't you think? Amen.

I think having peace with God would be a whole lot better than letting off a swear word and make you feel better or let a person have it. I'd rather just have my peace with God. Now, there are lots of reasons why we want it but I'm telling you one reason we want a relationship with God tonight. Our strength, our deliverer, our God, and yes, we need to turn from sin but then, we need to take this step. In my Bible, I circled all the minds in verse one to three.

The Lord is my strength, my rock, my fortress, not just his, my buckler, not just his, my salvation, not just someone else's, and my high tower, and that blessed me. And then, you could see in my Bible, McKenzie, you can see it. I underline the two words, I will. Psalm eighteen one and it's in verse two and in verse three. Now, I will is a decision that we make.

It's a what? It's a. Decisions. Decision. Alright, let's all say that.

It's a what? It's a. Decision. Decision. And what is that decision that we will make?

There are three things that we say, I will do. I don't care what happens. I'm going to do this and this how we make God my God and this will help us. Alright, first of all, in verse one, I will love thee. I will love me.

Love thee. Now, when it says I will love thee, it's anything and everything that involves loving God. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my what? Because we love him. If we love him, we serve him.

He says, Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He say it unto him, feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.

How many are familiar with that passage? Say, if you love me, serve me. If you love me, keep my commandments just because you love me. And we can say, others may not love God but I will. Others may not go to church but I will.

I don't care what happens. Others may not want anything to do with God but I'm not going to love dumb things. I'm going to love God. Alright, first thing we do to make God our God, I will love him. Keep yourself in love with God.

Somebody says, well, if God's going to let that happen, I don't want anything to do with that kind of God. You know, there are a lot of people that don't go to church anymore because they don't like the hurricane. And you know what we have to do if we're going to have a relationship with God? We're going to have to say, I might not understand everything but I'm going to love him no matter what. Alright.

Now, the second thing is, I will what? In verse two, I will trust. I I don't know how it's going to turn out well but I'm not going to fall apart. I'm just going to trust him. I'm not going to fall apart.

I'm just going to trust him. And then the third thing we do is we say, I will call on him and you know what? We cannot be any closer to God than our prayer life. And so we have to call on God and make sure that we spend time with him in prayer and I tell you what, when we make God our God, it's pretty exciting. Now, I don't know how to end the sermon.

So, I'm going to end it with an exciting thing. I can remember when I was at a teen camp just to show you God is powerful. I was at a teen camp. I was preaching. There were 200 teenagers there and at the invitation, there were 12 of them that wanted to accept Jesus Christ.

The problem was it began to rain so much that nobody could hear me even with a microphone. And another problem was our counseling room was in another building about a football field away, and it was raining so hard that there wasn't anybody who would wanna go out in that rain without an umbrella, and it was so loud nobody could hear me. So I was so excited that 12 young people wanted to get saved. So I don't know what happened to me. I've never done this before, but at the invitation, I raised my hand and I said, God, there are 12 young men.

I just preached my heart out. So, I was so excited and all of a sudden, 12 wanted to get saved. I said, God, there are 12 young people that want to get saved and they can't even hear me because of the microphone and I'm raising my voice hoping God will hear me and then I said, hey, God. They can't hear me because of the rain. I said, God, stop the rain and I said that in front of 200 teenagers and then I thought, what have you done?

You just put God on the spot in front of 200 teenagers and then, there were other people there. My wife was there. My kids were there. Greg Murray was there. His wife, Heather was there and it was like, what have you done?

And I thought now, it's not going to stop and nobody's going believe that God is there. Nobody's going believe God answered prayer but then I started thinking, could God stop the rain? Even if it's a downpour, even if it's a hurricane, could God stop it? What's the answer? Yes.

Yes. Now, it wasn't a hurricane but it was heavy rain and I remember thinking, this isn't a want, God. This is a need and you can stop the rain. So, the second time I raised my hand and I said, God, stop the rain. And it's not me, it's God.

Within five seconds, you can ask my wife, you can ask Greg Murray, you can ask Heather Murray, you can ask my kids, you can ask any of the young people who were there. That rain stopped and it did not even drizzle. And then 12 young boys went out and they got saved and I remember two years later, I went back to that camp and a young man came to me and said, do you remember me? I said, no, you look familiar but I don't. He says, well, one day, you were preaching here and I got saved and he said, you know, when I got saved, do you remember when you prayed and you asked God to stop the rain?

I said, how could I forget? He said, when I saw God stop the rain, I saw there was something to God and he said, I wanted that and I went out and I asked the Lord to save me and I'm telling you these stories for the very reason. I'm just honestly, honestly, I'm not trying to be humble. I am just Mike. But I've experienced God do great things and here's what I want us to do.

I want us to take us, take a look at our lives and see where we're at and see. Even you ladies, you ladies, see where you're at spiritually and say, could I deepen my walk with God? Does God want me more than he has me? Do I believe that God can be my God? As much as anybody else's God?

Humbly, thankfully, but my God. Let's bow our heads and we'll have a word of prayer.