A Walk that Pleases God
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Transcript
Intro:
- Hey guys I’m so glad to be here with you this week. When Bobby asked me if I would be willing to come down and share with you, I was excited for the opportunity.
- It is always a blessing to come here to Calvary Chapel Chino Valley because I know I am coming to a place where, the people are well taught and so I am excited to get into God’s word with you today and to see what God would say to us.
- I have 2 kids. I have an 18 year old daughter and I have an 11 year old son. And it is interesting, because both of my kids are completely different.
- My daughter was a swimmer in high school. She was on the swim team and was on the water polo team. She was also a singer and was in the school choir. Her high school years consisted of my wife and I going to her water polo games, picking her up from practice and watching her choir performances.
- Now my son loves baseball. He has been playing baseball for a number of years. So the last few years have consisted of practices, and games.
- And for both of my kids, I absolutely loved the seasons that they were in. I loved going to my daughters games, and loved watching her perform. I love to watch my son play baseball. …
- but what I loved the most, and what I cherish the most, are the intimate private conversation we had discussing their passions.
- I remember having the conversations with my daughter discussing her set list in her performance and what songs they were singing and the problems they had. To talk about her frustrations, the victories of certain dance numbers and the joy of doing what she loved.
- I love having sports conversations with my son. Talking about who the Dodger trader for, what the score of the game is, what new pitch he is working on, talking about his swing.
- The games, and performances are all things I love and will remember, but the thing I will cherish the most, are the moments I had to spend quality time just talking about their passion, talking about their struggles in the moment they found themselves in. I will cherish the moments I had to walk alongside of my kids in those seasons of their lives. Being near them is what brought joy to my life more than anything that they were doing.
Transition
- And as I was praying about what to share with you tonight, the Lord lead me to a passage in Heb. 11. If you have your bible, you can turn to the book of Hebrews 11.
- Now in Hebrews 11 you have what many consider the Hall of Faith. The writer of Hebrews spends time addressing faith and gives a number of stories of people who exercised great faith in their lives.
- We will look briefly at one man who is named in this section, a man by the name of Enoch. There is not much we know about Enoch, his name is mentioned only 5 times in the bible. But within these few verses we are able to draw a lot out of his life.
- I’ve titled todays message “ A walk that pleases the Father”.
Read Heb.11:5-6
Pray
I. Enoch Pleased God because He walked with God. Gen. (5:22,24)
- We are introduced here to Enoch. And within these verses we are given insight into this man. Now in order to get a full picture of Enoch we have to look at another passage that speaks about him.
Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
- Within these two sections of scripture we are given a complete understanding of the man Enoch.
- We are told that …..
1. Enoch Did not see death ( Heb. 11:5, Gen. 5:24)
- we are told that Enoch was taken away and did not see death in Hebrews, while Gen.5 tells us that God took him
- Enoch was 1 of two men in the bible who did not see death in this life, but was taken away by the Lord. The other man was the prophet Elijah.
2. Enoch pleased God (Heb.11:5)
- We are told in v. 5 that before he was taken away, he had a testimony of pleasing God.
- Now that word “testimony” speaks of bearing witness, to give evidence, or bear record.
- Websters dictionary describes the word this way. “testimony is the declaration of a witness, and the evidence is the effect of that declaration”
- In other words, a testimony is the declaration of something along with the evidence that supports it.
- When that word is used here speaking about the life of Enoch, it speaks of his life being both the declaration and the evidence that he pleased God.
- Enoch lived a life that honored God through his actions. His actions were evident to all.
Transition
- Now one thing to understand is that Enoch lived some 600 + years before the flood consumed the earth in Gen. 6. His great grandson was Noah. His son’s name was Methuselah which means “one who is sent” or “man of dart”, he would be a sign of judgement to come on the wicked world. He lived for 969 years. The judgement would come after the death of Methuselah. For 969 years you see God’s mercy on a wicked world, giving them the opportunity to change their ways.
- in Gen. 6 that the Lord looked and saw that the wickedness of man was great. Every intent of the thoughts and heart were to do evil, so God would bring judgement through the flood.
- So the world that Enoch lived was a corrupt world much like ours is, and in the midst of this evil world, he lived in such a way that pleased God.
3. Enoch walked with God (Gen. 5:22, 24)
- in Gen. we are told 2 different times that Enoched walked with God. The fact that it records it twice goes to show the importance of that statement.
- to “walk with God”- speaks of a true, deep, personal relationship with God.
- One writer speaks about Enoch having such a personal relationship with God that as he walked with him one day, they just kept walking, and today he is still walking in the presence of the Lord.
- Now it is interesting because in the septuagint , which is the Greek translation of the old testament, it does not say “he walked with God”, but it says “he pleased God”.
- In other words, to walk with God and to please God are used interchangeably. To walk with God is what pleases God.
- Now we are told in Heb. 11:6, that it is impossible to please God without faith
- So, it was by faith that Enoch lived a life that honored God, by faith Enoch walked with God, by faith Enoch believed that God was a rewarder of those who seek him and pursue after him.
- Enoch pursued righteousness and holiness, he pursued a personal relationship with his God….. and we are told that God was pleased.
Transition
- I started off by telling you a little bit of what brings joy and pleasure in my life when it comes to my kids, and we have briefly looked at a biblical example of a walk that pleases God……
- What I am trying to do is to develop the reality in your minds that there is a way to live in such a way that we please our God. There is a way that we can enjoy a personal and intimate relationship with God.
- Both in the stories I gave you of my kids and the example of Enoch, you see that the joy of the father was produced by a personal relationship, by spending time together, by walking in communion together.
- While we don’ t have too much information on what the life of Enoch looked like specifically, we do have biblical passages that describe what our walk with God should look like.
- So what I want to do, is to look at our lives, our walk with God. I want us to look at what God’s heart is for us and what he desires out of us.
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II. God’s Heart for our Walk
- we will start by looking at , what is God’s heart for us when we talk about our “walk”?
A. God’s Heart for us
1. Is for us to walk with Him ( Micah 6:8) Gen. 3
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
- It is the heart of God for us to walk humbly with our God. To have this personal relationship with Him. I think many people understand that there is a God, many people even put their faith in God, but many people do not realize the reality that we are to have a personal relationship with God.
- I can say I know the president of the United States of America, but it is a completely different thing to say I know every detail of the president because I had dinner with him last night. We can understand the difference of knowing of something and having knowledge based on personal experience.
- The purpose in life is not just to saved, but to know God personally, to have communion with Him, to speak to Him and to listen to Him.
Book Walking with God
“Intimacy with God is the purpose of our lives. It’s why God created us. Not simply to believe in Him, tough that is a good beginning. Not only to obey Him, though that is a higher life still. God created us for intimate fellowship with himself, and in doing so he established the goal of our existence- to know Him, love him and live our lives in an intimate relationship with him. Jesus says that eternal life is to know God (John 17:3)
- We see this heart of God all the way back in Gen. 3, as God would come to the garden and call out to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. He longed to have fellowship with them just as HE longs to have fellowship with us today.
- Yet, we know that sin separated Adam and Eve from this personal fellowship with God and through them sin entered the world. But you see God’s heart in that while sin separated you and I from Him, His love for you and I lead Him to the greatest plan of salvation.
- To send His son to pay the price for our sins, to pay the price that we could never pay, to be reconciled to God.
2. He has made a way for us to walk with Him (Rom. 5:8-11)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
- God’s heart is for you to be near Him. And He has made a way where we can experience that personal relationship with Him.
Question
B. How do I Walk with God
1. There has to be personal Knowledge
- the first thing is that there has to be a personal knowledge of God.
- while looking at Enoch we saw that by faith He walked with God and pleased God. There had to be a faith in the one true God. Matter of fact in Heb. 11:6, it tells us…. “he who comes to God must believe that He is”….
- that He is what? That HE is the one true God. This is the same phrase used in the Old Testament. You remember when God called Moses to deliver the people form Egypt. Moses asked, “what shall i say your name is”, “who shall I say sent me”….. and God said tell them “ I am that I am” .
- That phrase speaks of the all sovereign God, the ever present one who has always been and will always be. It is a reference to the one true God who is over all. Yaweh.
This is one in whom Enoch believed in.
- There has to be first and foremost a personal faith in the one true God as your personal Lord and Savior.
2. There has to be personal intention
- there has to be the intention of leaning into God, of spending time with Him, of learning to hear His voice. Of staying next to Him. And this will only happen if you and I will make the time to read God’s word daily, to pray daily, to worship daily.
- The reality is that, spending time with God is not easy at first. You can get distracted, you may not have time, you may fall asleep at night….
- But the more we make time for God, putting our phones away, waking up early, saying no to our friends, the more we read God’s word…. The more we will understand it, the more we will appreciate it, the more it will apply to our lives.
- The more time I spend praying to God, the more I will learn to hear His voice. Having communion with God is something that does not happen on its own, but will require work, dedication, consistency and sacrifice.
Transition
- My wife and I just celebrated our anniversary last Friday, 21 years. I can tell you that there was a lot that I did not know about my wife before I married her. One of those things is that my wife has to be the one who drives everywhere we go. She will not allow me to drive…
- And it is not because I drive bad, but because it is a security thing.
- And I can also tell you that getting to know her more, getting to know her likes and dislikes, learning her temperament, her passions, her pet peeves…. Did not come easily. It has taken years of pursuing her, of paying attention, of asking questions, of arguing… and of failing and blowing it.
- But if we both did not make a decision to pursue after one another in marriage, there is no way that we would be married for 21 years.
- I have been walking with the Lord for 24 years, and it has not been easy. I have blown it, I have failed, but by the grace of God, He has sustained me and His grace has been all over my life.
- But I have had to make decisions to follow and pursue Him. And pursuing Him means at times, saying no to things, saying no to myself.
- We are told in Gen. 5, that Enoch walked with God 300 years. Think about the consistency, the faithfulness required to walk with God 300 years. There is no doubt that Enoch had made the decision to pursue God with intention. A man cannot have spiritual longevity in a corrupt world without purposing in his heart to pursue God.
Transition
- Now that we have seen God’s heart for us which is for us to have an intimate relationship with Him , and now that we have talked about how I can have that intimate walk with God……by faith, and by pursuing Him intentionally…
- We have to look at what a walk that pleases God looks like.
- And within the bible there are many different references and examples of this, but we are going to focus only on 3 things. If we can learn these things and bring them into our lives, there is no doubt that we will walk in such a way that pleases God.
III. What does Walking with God look like?
- Before we look at those 3 things I want us to look at a passage in John 10 that will set the tone for us.
- Turn with me to John 10
Read John 10:1-16
- I love this passage. What we just read is Jesus describing His relationship with His followers. He describes Himself as the Good Shepherd, and His followers as His sheep.
- And within this passage you are able to draw out a clear picture of our relationship with God. The Good shepherd leads His sheep, He cares for His sheep, He protects His sheep, He lays down His life for the sheep.
- The shepherd and the sheep have a close relationship, so much so that the shepherd tells us that He both knows His sheep and is Known by the sheep. And they know His voice.
- A sheep can not know the shepherd, cannot know the sound of the shepherds voice, cannot trust to follow the shepherd unless it has spent countless hours with the shepherd.
- As you and I walk with God intimately, spending time with Him in His word and in prayer, as I remain near to Him as a sheep to his shepherd and learn His voice, there are things that will naturally be produced in me.
- I will gain a knowledge of who He is, I will learn to trust in Him, I will learn to depend on Him,.
- there will also be specific characteristics that develop in me as I walk with God.
- “I read of story of a mom working in the kitchen getting dinner ready for her family. As she was cutting the vegetables, her husband walks in the kitchen and hugs his wife and tells her he loves her and walks away. Less than a minute later, the woman felt an embrace on her leg. It was her young toddler who had come to hug her, and in his soft voice, said.. “I love you mommy”, and walked away. There was no doubt that the young boy had just picked up this loving gesture from watching his father.”
- The same is true in our lives, the more we are in the presence of God, the closer we walk with Him, the more our lives will produce His characteristics.
- So we want to look at what our walk with God should look like and the things that should develop out of our lives the closer I walk with Him.
- And the first thing is that I should be …..
A. Walking by Faith ( 2 Cor. 5:7)
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
- While we are on this earth in this body, we are absent from the Lord. Right now, the presence of God is a matter of Faith. We cannot visibly see Him, but our walk with God is a matter of Faith. One day we will no longer need to walk in Faith, but we will be in His presence in Heaven.
- To walk by faith and not by sight, is one of the great and difficult principals of Christian living.
One writer said
“It must amaze the angels that we live for , serve, and are willing to die for a God we have never seen”.
Illustration
- Faith is a part Of our daily lives. For example, when you are sick, you go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce, and whose degree you have never verified. He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to the pharmacist you have never seen before. He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand. Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle. All in trusting, sincere faith.
- That is just one aspect of faith being a part of our daily lives. But when it comes to the Christian life, Faith is the central aspect of our lives.
- And for many, walking by faith and not by sight is the most difficult thing. For many, they will say, “I will believe in God, when I can see God”. We understand the reality that we all need air to breathe, we have never seen air, and we have no problem believing it exists..
- Now we cannot see the wind , and yet we can see the effects of it , we have no problem believing that wind exist.
- This is true in our lives as well, we might not be able to see God visibly, but creation all points to the creator. Nature and all that God has created points to him.
Transition
- Now here is something that takes place within the live of a believer. The believer begins to take steps of faith to believe in God.
- He starts slowly by taking steps of faith to believe that the bible is actually God’s word. He takes steps of faith to pray to a God he has not seen. He takes steps of faith to begin to follow after God.
- And the more the individual is able to take these steps of faith, the stronger the reality of God’s existence is in his life.
Transition
- The Christian life is a process of being conformed into the image of God, and of being built up spiritually as the body of Christ to bring glory to God. And God will use many different ways to produce both Christ like Character and spiritual maturity in us.
- One of those things that God uses, is faith. Faith is like a muscle in our bodies, the more we use it, the more we develop it.
- Now faith is invisible until it affects our actions. Which is why James says this.
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
- James is telling us that Abrahams faith was activated by His actions, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
- There are many times God calls us to do things in life that we do not have a clear understanding of, but those moments are part of His purpose in drawing us to Him, to grow in our trust in Him by exercising our faith.
- As I mentioned earlier, I have walked with God 24 years. And in those 24 years, I have taken many steps of faith in obedience to God. One of those steps of faith was when I felt the Lord leading us to come alongside a friend who was having a home bible study.
- I didn’t know why the Lord was leading us to help him but we felt the Lord urges to go. Eventually, that home bible study, became a Church where I served there for a number of years as one of the assistant pastors.
- This was actually where I meet the Garcia family, Cameron and little Bob were in our youth group.
- There were a lot of things that God did in the years I served at this church, but one of the most beautiful things that came out of it was my relationship with the Garcias. Bobby is my best friend, we talk every week. And because of that relationship with hm, I stand here with you today.
- Now, I never would have imagined that God would do something like that, but if I never would have taken that step of faith, I never would have met the Gracia family.
- So as i look back now, each step of faith that I was willing to take over the years, trusting that God was leading us, caused me to deepen my faith in God, because He never let me down, God was always faithful , always provided, always worked things out.
- But I would never have deepened understanding of God’s faithfulness in my life, if I was not required to takes those steps of faith.
Transition
- Looking at the passage in John 10, the sheep did not know where the shepherd was leading them, they simply heard his voice and followed after him. They trusted in the leading of the good shepherd.
Book “Walking with God”
“the shepherd goes ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. The bible invites us to an intimacy with God that will lead us to the life we are meant to live. If we follow Him,- there is a Promise for us-”I wil instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go, I will counsel you and watch over you. Ps. 32:8). God promises to guide us in the details of our lives”.
- This is what the Christian life is like. Our good shepherd has called us to follow Him, and there will be times in life that we might not know where we are going, or what we are doing , or how it is all going to play out… but our role is not question the leading, but to simply follow in faith.
- But more we are able to do this, the more real God becomes in our lives, the deeper our understanding will be of His presence in our lives. And the easier the next step of faith will be for us.
- It has been said that Faith in Action is Obedience
- So the next thing that should take place in our lives as we walk with God is not only , walking in Faith, but walking in Obedience.
B. Walking in Obedience ( Deut. 5:33, 2 Kings 2:3)
You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
- God’s law was given to His people not to constrain them or to make them suffer, it was the opposite. God’s law was meant to keep the people in close communion with God, to produce life, to cause them to be blessed.
- The problem was that God’s people chose to rebel against God’s law, and would ultimately pay the price for disobeying God.
- The same is true today in our lives. The bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. Within the bible, HE has revealed Himself, He has revealed His plan of Salvation through His Son, He has established His will for our lives. The Bible is the road map to our lives, to live a life of spiritual abundance and spiritual life.
- And the same principal that we see at work in the old testament is true in our lives, when we willfully disobey God’s word, there are consequences.
- You can remember a time in your life where you parents told you to do something or not to do something. The command was meant to protect you, they understood the danger on the other side of that thing.
- But with the command, came consequences right. We all knew that if we disobeyed them, we would pay the consequences for our actions.
. Interesting that you and I today can still willfully disobey God knowing that there are consequences,
Transition
- Now lets look at why we tend to disobey
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
- In other words, when we obey God’s commands, it is a sign of our love for Him. Now here is the ugly truth, when we disobey God, it reveals our lack of love for Him, but shows our love for ourselves.
- When we disobey, it is normally because we want to do what we want to, the main concern is “US” in that moment. It’s a love for self.
- But the opposite is true, when we chose to love God more than ourselves, we will say no to us and yes to God And will obey God
How do we grow in Love for God.
- the way to grow in love for someone, is by actively pursuing them, but spending time with them. If I am in a relationship with a person, the only way that relationship will grow into love, is if I am invested in them, if I am pursuing them, if I spend time with them.
- my wife and I meet in 7th grade, we were in the same science class together. I remember the first day I saw her come in.
- but our story grew over years getting to know each other. I remember sitting on the phone with her for hours when we were in school. This was when we didn’t have cell phones, we would literally fall asleep with the phone in our hands.
- but love grew out of time spent together. That love produced a life together. This is the same principals in our spiritual lives. We will only grow in love for God, when we are spending time with Him. The more we spend time with Him, the more we will grow in our obedience to His word.
- Complete obedience should be what is evident in the life of the believer.
- Now obedience should lead to live a life that honors God, or to Walking in the light.
C. Walking in the light ( 1 Jn.1:5-7)
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- This passage tells us that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. It also says that in order for us to walk in fellowship with God, we must walk in the light.
- The word fellowship has in it not only the idea of relationship, but also of sharing common life. When we have fellowship with Jesus, we will become more like Him.
- It says that if we walk in darkness, we deceive ourselves and do not have fellowship with God.
- The darkness speaks of the current culture of this world, speaks of a world that does not know God and their evil practices. This is who we once were.
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
- But we have now been made alive and have been transferred into the kingdom of light 1 Pt. 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
- Therefore, walking in the light speaks of us living in complete communion with God, it means to live such a way that is according to God’s standards found in His word, to live in such a way that will honor God, to live in such a way that is a reflection of His character and not like the reflecting world who we once were. It speaks of putting on the new man created in Christ.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
- As I walk in communion with God., as i walk in the light, these things will be evident in my life.
I will…..
1. Walk in Truth (2 Jn. 1:4-6)
- the importance of a believer walking in truth and believing truth. Not being deceived by the philosophy of the world.
2. Walk in Unity (Eph.4:1-6)
- the follower of Christ is one who seeks to create unity rather than to cause division
3. Walk in Love (Eph. 5:1-7)
- the follower of Christ should be an example of love for others. We have been reciepians of the greatest love ever, so we should be able to show this same sacrificial love to people around us.
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
4. Walk in Wisdom (Eph. 5:15-21)
- being wise how we live among a world that does not know God.
5. Walk in Holiness ( Heb. 12:14)
- We should be living a life that is set apart, that is Holy as HE is holy.
Conclusion
In Acts 4 we see the story of Peter and John arrested for preaching Jesus and the resurrection in the temple. When the religious leaders questioned them, they were astonished by what they heard.
Acts 4:13
“now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus”.
- Their character, speech and lives gave a testimony, it declared that they had been with Jesus.
- As we close tonight, I pray that God would have spoken to you. That you may have realized that God’s heart for you is to walk with Him, that God has made a way for us to walk with Him.
- That this walk requires personal knowledge of God and personal intention to pursue Him.
- And as you and I spend time with God, my life will consist of walking by Faith, walking in obedience and walking in the Light
- And as you and I strive to pursue God, we too can have a walk that pleases the Father, we too can have a testimony that reaches out t the world around us.