- This is from Jenny, who says, "Hi, Pat.

"I've been struggling withtrying to get closer to God.

"It's like the more I try,the more I slide backwards.

"I want to have that close relationship,

"and I want Him to talk to me.

"How do I know if He is speaking to me,

"and what He's saying?

"How do I get there with God?"

- Well, they used tohave a thought that you

got more and more holy,and then you raised up and

then you got more and more holy.

The so-called Gnostics believed that.

And the more you gained,the more you learned,

you got closer to God.

In the Bible, it's the other way around.

We empty ourselves.

You know, Jesus emptied Himself.

And what we do is get before God

and confess the sin in our heart.

"If I regard iniquity in myheart, the Lord will hear me."

So is there something you're doing?

Get before the Lord and just wait on Him,

and then write down on apiece of paper all the things

you know where you're sinning against God,

where you know stuff you've done wrong,

that you're disobeying people,

that you haven't followedHis commandments.

Write it all down.

And then, when you get through, say,

"Lord, I give this to You,and I ask You to cleanse it,"

and then you take it andtear it up and throw it away

and begin to live for the Lord.

And from that moment on,begin to walk with Him,

and you'll be amazed what happens, okay?

- Okay, this is Wendy, who says,

"This is a two-part question.

"First, to be a good Christian,do you have to go to church,

"or are home worship and prayer okay?

"And second, does tithinghave to be to a church,

"or is giving to charitiesand organizations,

"like CBN or children'shospitals, considered tithing?"

- All right, the firstquestion is, the Bible says,

"Don't forsake the assemblingof yourselves together."

It's something of a communal prayer when

the church was together all in one accord,

in the upper room, and theHoly Spirit came upon them.

So there's something,iron strengthens iron.

So meeting together's a good thing,

but you don't have to go tochurch in order to get saved.

As far as giving yourmoney, that's between you

and the Lord, but Abraham had the example

in the Old Testament wherehe was with Melchizedek.

Melchizedek blessed Abraham,and Abraham gave him a tithe.

And so, the Old Testament,way back at the beginning,

is that people pay tithes at the place

they are being blessed.

But if you're joining achurch, then I think you

owe an obligation as amember to support that group,

not because there'ssomething in the Bible,

but just because of normal relationships.

But there was onestorehouse in the old Bible,

the Old Testament, that was the temple.

We don't have a major storehouse anymore,

and this so-called storehouse tithing

is just not for today.

So you do what the Lord leadsyou on that one, all right?

- Okay, this is Cindie, who says,

"My husband and I took out a loan.

"Do we pay tithes on the loan, as we plan

"to use some of it on billsand some to fix up our home?

"When we sell our home, weplan to pay back the loan."

- I don't think youshould tithe on a loan.

As a loan, it's not your money,

I mean, you have to pay it back,

so I don't think you need to tithe on it.

If you invest the money you have borrowed

and then you start making profit,

you give a tithe on the profits.

But I don't think youought to tithe on a loan,

that's just my feeling, okay.