Walking in Righteousness - The Path to God's Blessing

Introduction

Righteousness is at the heart of our relationship with God. It is not something that we achieve on our own. This is something that we receive through our faith in Jesus Christ! Listen I get it, so many of us struggle with guilt, shame, condemnation. Some of us are wired in a way that we are focused on works. That we must work to gain God’s favor. Today we are going to dive in and prove that last statement false as we receive the righteousness of Christ as a Gift from the Lord!

Pray

Our focus in the word today is going to be in 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What is Righteousness?

What does righteousness mean? From our context righteousness means being in right standing with the Lord. Living in alignment with His will and and holiness. His will. There are so many examples in the word that we can pull but where we get stuck sometimes is believing that we need to work are selves til we are so dry, to the point that we have no motivation left to get anywhere. Then when we go to the Lord and we are just so exhausted and in my mind I hear Him saying, “why are you so weary. Why did you not come to me sooner. I am able to take care of all things for you. I have your back no matter what the situation is.” Listen we are not saved by the amount of work that we do. We can go to church 1,000 times and still not truly know who Jesus Christ is. The Pastor can preach the best sermon that Holy Spirit put on their heart, but if you do not receive it in your heart and believe it for your life. Isaiah 64:6

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

If we get caught up in the world, going after the things that is not of the Lord, we might as well not even do it.

Romans 3:10 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

This is so true. We are unable to to achieve righteousness by ourselves. We need to align not only our hearts, but our whole soul to our spirit as our spirit is renewed and made new once we have given our self over to Christ.

How do we Receive Righteousness?

Romans 3:22 ESV

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

What does your faith look like? Do you trust in the Lord with your whole life? Lets dive in deeper here. What does faith look like? There are so many places in the word that shows how being faithful to God can change your life. Lets take a look at Mark 11:20-26 where Jesus teaches on the parable of the withered fig tree.

Mark 11:20–26 ESV

20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Wow! What an incredible revelation. That we have the power of our tongue to cast out demons and are able to pray for anything that comes against us. Here is the thing though, we can pray the same prayer every day. “Father continue to help and guide me through this season of depression that it goes now in the name of Jesus.” But yet we see nothing change. When you pray that prayer, are you praying from your heart, with mighty power to deal with that spirit of fear, to deal with that evil demonic power that has come over you, or are you going to pray that prayer and immediately go back to the way you felt before those words came out of your mouth? What do we believe? I believe that Jesus rose up to the plate and that He died for ALL of my sins and paid that ultimate death! Have faith! SPEAK TO THE MOUNTAIN WITH MIGHTY POWER! LET YOUR LION ROAR OUT OF YOUR LUNGS AND BEAT THAT DEVIL TO THE GROUND. WE HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT, WHY? BECAUSE HE GAVE US THAT GIFT. WE HAVE AUTHORITY THROUGH THE POWER OF CHRIST TO TAKE THE STEP AND SPEAK TO THE FIG TREE, OR EVEN THE DEAD BRANCH IN OUR LIFE TO GROW BACK! BELIEVE THAT IT CAN HAPPEN!

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Living in Righteousness

Though we are made righteous by faith, we are called to walk in holiness out of the love of God. This a lifestyle that we need to live. What does that mean, that we need to live according to the word of God. We need to live according to the way that God calls us. Yeah this is easier said then done and I will be one of the first people to say that there are times that I struggle with this. Last week I shared a testimony where I was walking through some discouragement and was really struggling to gain motivation to live out my life as written in the word. I didn’t take my problem to the lord and I held onto that issue as I felt like that I had the strength to take care of the situation. Well let me tell you that I was very wrong and that right there is an issue of pride. One of the 7 sins that we need to avoid. Proverbs 16:18

Proverbs 16:18 ESV

18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

And let me tell you, I fell. And I fell hard. Once I got myself back together, I got back up on my feet, but I didn’t get back up on my feet by-myself, the Lord pulled my out of the quick sand that I was sinking in and as soon as that happened, it was a click of a switch for me where I was like wow, thank you Lord and man, I have to really give it up to the Lord. The problem is that this is mans nature. I will only speak for myself but I believe a lot of us men struggle with not being able to fix a problem, whether be a physical problem like your car breaks or you need to fix something in the house that requires a tool that you don’t have. Then you have to stop what you are doing to go to Napa and Home Depot to get all the material you need and all the tools that you need to fix it, and now all this time is wasted and you got nothing done when we could’ve called someone that is trained to fix the issue. This is the same spiritually. If we are not trained and equipped with the right tools to fight off the enemy, we are going to waste our time being frustrated and tired but yet you are still battling the same problem. Whether it be addiction, self-worth, anxiety, depression, family issues. We are NOT built to carry that weight. That was never part of the original design. That was never supposed to be our destiny. We need to cast those cares unto Jesus.

Communion

You know Jesus gives us an open invitation to come and meet Him at His table. I love the way that He just includes us in as His family. I believe the biggest thing that we struggle with is knowing that we have community around us that can help us in our time of need. Jesus could not do all of His work alone on Earth. He hand picked 12 disciples and they met together to learn teachings from the Lord and to grow to go and then preach to those and spread the word of the Gospel. That is why we are here tonight. We are here tonight because we are hungry for more. We want to continue to grow in the Goodness of God and do this alone. I am so honored that Xavier ask me to join him in this journey of Water Walkers as we are iron sharpen iron friends and we learn so much from each other and I just want to give him a special thank you for not only trusting me, but to allow me the opportunity to learn and grow into the gifts that God has placed not only on my heart but for this ministry. That is why I continue to go back to the Lord’s table. I continue to go back. He says “come, eat your fill. Take all that you need.” Listen you will never take away all that He has to offer. He will never run dry. That is why is body was broken for us. To give us the gift of righteousness. To give us the gift of freedom. To be able to freely live out the truth of the Lord and to be able to live free from ALL pain, ALL guilt, ALL shame and ALL condemnation. That is the reward of righteousness. The reward that we have confidence before God, Proverbs 28:1

Proverbs 28:1 ESV

1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Our prayers become so powerful James 5:16

James 5:16 ESV

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

At that we will gain eternal life Matthew 25:46

Matthew 25:46 ESV

46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

I ask before we partake of Communion together as the body of Christ, with every head bowed and every eye closed, where is your heart tonight? Where are you stuck? Do you feel like you have grown weak and are no longer able to weather the season that you are in?

Pray

Partake of the Bread

The Blood is a symbol of righteousness. That shows the devil that we are in right standing with God and since we are covered in the blood, we are invincible to the devil. The blood shakes off all forms of evil.

Pray

Partake of the Blood

Listen, this gift isn’t only for those in this room, our those viewing our video, it is available for anyone that wants to receive the gift. The Lord give us that open invitation to come in and say, “come to me with open arms and I receive you as my child.”

Pray and transition to Part 2