Walking in His Ways # 1
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Intro
Intro
Jokes:
My grandpa started walking
Five miles a day when he was 60.
Now he's 97 years old
And we have no idea where he is.
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I have to walk early in the morning,
Before my brain figures out what I'm doing...
Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise',
I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
I do have flabby thighs,
But fortunately my stomach covers them.
People often say “How’s your walk with God?” or “Did you walk with God today?”
Sometimes it is “How’s your fellowship with God?”
Question: What does it mean to walk with God?
Our new series: Walking in His Ways
Our new series: Walking in His Ways
The theme verse for the series is Joshua 22:5
Joshua 22:5 (KJV 1900)
5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
MW defines “walk” as: to live, act or behave; to pursue a particular course
Joshua was admonishing the Reubenites, Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh before they went and occupied their land
How to walk with God should be embedded in this seven-fold admonition to walk in His ways.
These are the foundational principals to walking in His ways…
1. To Heed
1. To Heed
“but take diligent heed…”
Diligent Heed: constant effort to take notice of
My life verse: Colossians 4:17
17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.
We know very little about Archippus
In Philemon 1:2, he is called a “fellow soldier in the faith”
2. To do (action)
2. To do (action)
5 “But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you…”
I imagine you take constant effort to take notice of the rules and regulations when your fishing or hunting?
Did you know there part of our judicial system deals with crimes that were not intentional?
You could be arrested for murder when you never intended to kill anyone…
It’s called criminal negligent homicide… You could go to jail for a very long time or even the rest of your life when you never intentionally killed a person.
Someone may drive drunk and kill someone. They failed to take diligent heed to the law and the consequences of breaking it. Or they just completely disregarded the consequences of it.
1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2 That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 10 And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12 Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; 15 (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
a. A Walk with God means doing what He calls us to do…
a. A Walk with God means doing what He calls us to do…
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
How’s your walk with God?
Are you doing what He tells us to do? i.e. the things the Bible commands…
Moses instructed the people to fear God and keep His commandments…
We must fear God if we are going to have a walk with Him.
Start with the basics: are you obeying the Bible?
3. To love
3. To love
“…to love the Lord your God…”
Our walk must be centered around our love and desire for God
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
We must fear God if we’re going to walk in all His ways
We must love God if we’re going to walk in all His ways
We can’t have a walk with God unless we fear and love Him…
Otherwise obedience out of love turns into compliance…
4. To walk (choose a particular course)
4. To walk (choose a particular course)
“…and to walk in all his ways…”
We are pursuing a particular course
If we fear Him and love Him, we can walk (pursue a particular course that’s pleasing to Him)
“His ways” are the key to this phrase…
Not my ways… not your ways… HIS ways…
5. To keep (to preserve or retain the commandments)
5. To keep (to preserve or retain the commandments)
“…and to keep his commandments…”
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Remember, it said to take “diligent heed” to this…
6. To cleave (to stick, to adhere, to hold to)
6. To cleave (to stick, to adhere, to hold to)
“…and to cleave unto him…”
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Dissimulation:
8 But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.
7. To serve
7. To serve
“…and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
The command to serve God is followed by the way in which you should serve Him…
“…with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
7-fold admonition for how to walk in all His ways:
To heed (take constant effort to take notice of; pay attention to)
To what?
2. To do - action - don’t just be a spectator… A walk requires doing, not just watching…
*I watched the olympics… but when I watched them run the marathon, I didn’t say “I ran a marathon.” No… I WATCHED a marathon…
We don’t WATCH our walk with God… We DO our walk with God…
3. Love - this fuels your desire to do
4. Walk - this is you choosing your course…
5. Keep - Preserving this course of life or choice… Keep it close, don’t give up on it, preserve it. How? By taking constant effort to take notice that you keep it up!
6. Cleave - stick close to him once you’ve chosen this walk… don’t stray away
7. Serve - no do it with everything you got