Faith & Courage - Enoch
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How’s Your Walk, Bro?
How’s Your Walk, Bro?
I am so excited to be bringing the message this morning.
Over the last several weeks we have looked at people from the Bible whose lives were characterized by faith & courage. A few weeks back we looked at the courage of the Apostle Paul, and the life of Joseph, and Peter one of Jesus’ disciples.
I’ve been a Youth Pastor for a long time. God changed my life so radically at age 17 that since then I've been all about helping young people have a growing relationship with Him.
Tami is also called to youth ministry and grew up in it with her Dad serving in Youth for Christ for a lot of years. The letters of her name TAMI are actually an acronym for Teens Are Most Important. That is a calling!
My wife and I were called to adoption and have raised four kids who are all mostly grown up with our youngest just getting married in May. Some of you know, four kids, that’s pretty courageous! And some of you are like, four kids, that’s an investment! As Anderson’s we come in all shapes, sizes, and skin tones. But, they all come with their own unique God stories as to how He brought them into our lives. We are super grateful to God. And, looking back, they are four of the best purchases that we’ve ever made.
So today I’d love to talk to you about having great faith. I want to show you one of my favorite guys from the Bible.
Today’s character may not be as familiar or famous as the others that we’ve looked at, but also worth consideration by what God said about them.
Located right here (gesture) in the Bible in Hebrews chapter 11. If you are using an app you might want to bookmark this chapter. Hebrews 11 lists a whole lot of characters some familiar and some not so familiar and is sometimes referred to as the Hall of Faith. It’s a great reminder of people that have gone before us and have been known for having great faith. They are examples to us that we can do it! We too can have great faith. They weren’t perfect people, and neither are we. But, God has given us His Spirit to live in us to guide us into Godly living. This is the chapter where God tells us about many of the people who have been known for their great faith. But one, in particular stands out to me as a solid dude—and that’s Enoch.
Maybe start in Hebrews 11 vs. 1 to help define faith
It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Go ahead and read By faith… thru Noah, Abraham, and Sarah
All of these people were known for their faith, but Enoch was taken up. Let’s look at that a little closer.
There are several places where Enoch is mentioned in the Bible.
Genesis 5 lists the descendants of Adam and Eve. Yeah, this is one of those parts of the Bible where there are all of the hard to pronounce names but check this out.
Now Enoch lived sixty-five years, and fathered Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he fathered Methuselah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Have you read that before? Have you ever heard of this guy?
Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more because God took him up.
That’s crazy. His faith was so special that it pleased God and then He took him up to Heaven.
You know there were only two guys that didn’t experience death.
Enoch shows us what a life of faith looks like. Enoch walked with God. That’s about all we know. But, we get that concept because the phrase “walking with God,” is part of our Christian grammar. But let me add some thoughts from one of my favorite commentaries.
“Walk” is the biblical expression for fellowship and obedience that results in divine favor.
Allen P. Ross, “Genesis,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 36.
I often meet with students who are part of our ministry or in my guys group, and I’ll ask, “How’s your walk, Bro?” Or if it’s one of the young ladies like Alyssa, I’d probably say, “How’s your walk, Brodette?”
So when I ask that I’m not thinking about if they have a swagger in their step, or an elegance to it.
I’m asking them how is your relationship with God?
Are you growing in your faith?
Are you trusting God more with your decisions?
Are you spreading God’s love to others?
Walking with God is pretty common language. (Pause) Enoch had some of these things going on in great measure that God was pleased with his faith. That’s pretty cool to know that people can please God. I wonder how we can please God? I wonder what our walk with God should look like? Let’s look into this a little further.
How’s your walk, Bro?
Our Walk with God is a Relationship.
Notice how I said relationship? You know sometimes people don’t get the whole you have a relationship with God thing. They think that having faith in God means believing in a set of rules and going to church once a week on Sunday. But, it’s so much more than that! The Bible tells us that His Spirit indwells us when we believe.
Ephesians 1:13-14 says, And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
He’s there to lead us, and teach us, and convict us when we are tempted to sin.
And, as we walk through life, the Holy Spirit walks with us every step of the way. I often pray (and sometimes when I don’t know what to pray) that the Holy Spirit will go ahead of me so that when I finally get caught up to Him, it’s as though I’m walking in His footsteps or side by side.
Here is a picture that comes to mind when thinking about this… when our kids were younger and we’d go for a walk in the snow, I would walk first and make big Daddy sized footprints in the snow so they wouldn’t get buried too deep with their teeny little legs. God is there to continually walk in front of us so that we don’t get buried…
A relationship with God is not a formula or list — it is living it out. You don’t approach any other relationship like that. Imagine if we made a list or formula about our life and then simply exchanged lists? That would be weird. We build a relationship with God by walking with Him.
2. Our Walk with God is Continuous,
It keeps going, and is lifelong. Walking with God is not a walk to the convenience store, or to 7 Brew, and then leaving Him there and going off on our own. It is a continuous relationship where we grow closer to God as He leads us through life.
This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
It is a continuous relationship from before we were even conceived that God had YOU AND ME in His thoughts.
Psalm 139:13–18 (NLT)
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
Our walk with God is continuous. Colossians 2:7 (NLT): Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
3. Our walk with God is a Surrendered life.
Saying “yes” at all cost is what Enoch’s walk with God looked like.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?
Pastor and author Britt Merrick says…to walk with God means to live a life that is surrendered to God—a life of saying, “Not my will be done, but Your will be done, God.”
Britt Merrick, Big God with Study Guide: What Happens When We Trust Him (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2012).
The Prophet Micah echoes what many of the other prophets were saying to God’s people when they were straying from their walk with God. He begins the passage with the question of What kind of offering can I bring to get back in right standing with God after years of waywardness? And the answer is found in…
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
Surrender requires humility and knowing that God has what’s best in mind.
Walking with God is not TRANSACTIONAL, it is TRANSFORMATIONAL.
When we are walking with God its not … If I follow God more closely I’ll get the promotion at work, or if I pray more I’ll get a good grade on my test, or any other transaction.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
This is the kind of transformation we are talking about. Leading to a solid faith.
This list in Hebrews 11 says that many of the people who walked by faith didn’t experience the blessing of earthly gain, but it says they were looking forward to something else, depending on the Lord for a Heavenly home that is being prepared for each of them.
There is no doubt that walking with God has great blessings, the byproduct of walking is Are you growing in your faith? Are you trusting God more with your decisions? Are you spreading God’s love to others?
4. Our walk with God has Direction.
Men, pay attention here. You know there’s that old stereotype about us that says we won’t ever stop for directions or to look at a map. Or, look at directions when assembling furniture.
Imagine taking a walk without direction or a purpose. You’d end up with sore feet and might have to call Über to give you a ride home.
How do we decide the direction our walk is going? Especially our walk with God… Lemme read a couple of Scriptures for you.
The direction that God has for us can actually protect us…
Psalm 119:11 (NAS): Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
This whole passage is great, you should read it tonight when you get a moment at home. There are 176 verses in this chapter so I’m not going to read them all right now.
Psalm 119:105 (NAS): Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
The path or direction is revealed to us in Scripture. These are God’s intended words for you and I to see and then put into practice. These are life-changing words that have the power to transform you from the inside out- transform you into a better person- more Christlike in the way you think, talk, and act.
Can somebody give a shout out to God for His Word?
It’s His Word and His ways that determine the direction of our walk with God.
5. Our walk with God needs to be Authentic.
Hebrews 11:6 says that faith is believing that God exists, but also sincerely seeking Him. When studying the Greek word ἐκζητέω used here for seeking, you find that it entails a diligent, careful search for something.
This describes a walk that is sincere and authentic —not passive, out of convenience, or fake!!!
The real deal.
Set up Showing the engagement ring.
Take a look at this thing…
Would you be happy with an engagement ring like that?
LET ME BE HONEST — It’s not real. It’s not authentic. It’s fake. Nobody likes fake things.
I’ve heard plenty of stories of people ordering things online only to receive something totally fake or a knockoff.
Do you think that people can be fake too? No pointing at people around the room.
A friend of ours told his wife after 7 years of marriage, “I don’t love you anymore. You are not marriage material. In fact, I don’t think that I ever loved you.”
How devastating! She was devastated! A family ripped apart. Do you see how devastating it can be when we are not authentic or faking our way through something? Or, don’t take our walk with God seriously?
If we allow our walk to deviate from the path with God...
There is so much at stake. There are at least three things that I can think of that are at stake….
Numero 1 Your reputation is at stake
Sadie Hawkins Dance
People will see through it and wonder why you have to be fake.
Number Dos God’s reputation is at stake
When we are trying to fake our way through making it look like we are following Christ when we really aren’t - and denying our sin, 1 John 1:8 says we make God out to be a liar. We put God’s reputation at stake.
Oh, so That’s what Christians are like?
What can we do to turn that around?
2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are to reflect God, and more and more as we live our lives following Him, we will become like Him.
Matthew 5:16 says to let our good deeds shine out so that other’s will praise our Heavenly Father for it!
Numero 3 Others’ eternity is at stake
1 Corinthians 8:9 says don’t cause others to stumble by the way you live.
If people don’t see an authentic, real walk with Jesus in you and me, they are going to have no interest in learning more about Him.
We have to be genuine, authentic, the real deal.
People are attracted to the real deal.
Jesus says that A tree is measured by its fruit. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 12 that we aren’t to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. But instead, measure ourselves by the faith that God has given us.
Romans 12:3 (NLT)
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
Think about it, would you want to rather be known as one who reflects Jesus or one that reflects yourself? Caleb likes to tease me about my hairline maybe reflecting a bit more off the top. No, but seriously… would you want to rather be known as one who reflects Jesus or one that reflects yourself?
When I met Tami I saw something in her that really reflects Jesus. Well, I also thought she was pleasant.
ADD moment, when I first met her it was in the College group at church and I saw her sitting there. I thought that I caught her smiling at me, but as it turns out she just smiles a lot. So guys when you meet that special someone, ask your closest friend in the room if they’re feeling the same vibe as you cuz you might be way off.
As I got to know Tami better, I saw her passion for walking with God (pause) and knew that I’d have to fight off a few other guys to get... just kidding. When someone loves Jesus, they are just great to be around.
Over the past few weeks both on the Mission Trip and at Summer Camp, students shared their testimonies (their faith stories) of how God became BIG in their lives. Those moments - Brought us chills. God is doing a work in you and your family. (Pause) When you proclaim it That is reflecting Christ in a big way.
Surround yourself with others that will live life with you helping one another grow in their Walk With God. Iron sharpening iron.
When Jesus grabbed ahold of me, my life was so radically different that I all of a sudden wanted to be about Him rather than just me. All my friends also started coming to faith in Christ. It was such a rad time seeing the power of God change lives.
This is not just for the youth group—this is for everyone in the room. It’s not about having friendships just for good times — but seeing God transform our friendships in ways that we help one another grow. Helping each other get closer to God. In the church we call that discipleship. Which is a fancy word for saying I want you to grow deeper with Jesus. The guys in my last JH small group called it being more Jesus’y
6. Walking with God means We are never alone.
That is one thing to say that…Sometimes life gets so big that you only see your problems piling up in front of you. That can be overwhelming. It can be crippling. You feel like you’re alone in your suffering.
Let me illustrate this…
Tennis Racquet
Regular > Small > then BIG
Stop looking at those problems the same way. Colossians 3 says to set our minds on things above not on earthly things. Remember how BIG your God is!
A few months ago Dave Early came to our church and delivered a message and something that he repeated was
How Big is God? Big enough
What should we do? Trust Him
Well I want to close out our passage in Hebrews by reading…
Hebrews 11:39–40 (NLT)
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.
Living with that kind of urgency and expectancy should cause our walk with God to be more of a run.
Unsaved friends and relatives, so much to live for…
Hebrews 12:1–2 (NLT)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
God kept Enoch from the one thing we fear the most which is death and walking with God keeps us from death as well.
In a few weeks we are going to have a baptism
King, Chloe, and perhaps several others.
Baptism symbolizes how we join Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. We are raised to new life, and this is eternal life so we don’t have to fear death.
When you are walking with God you are never alone.
How do we put into practice having great faith?
Saying “yes” to God and putting your faith in Jesus to forgive you of your sins and becoming a child of His. John 1:12
Saying “yes” to God and going on a mission trip feeding thousands of people around the world. This summer we brought 12, let’s bring 24 next summer!
Last month we brought 30 students to Summer Camp, maybe believing that next time it needs to be 40!
Jump on a team here at Harmony and serve
Tech, worship
Children’s Ministry, both Sunday morning and evening for Awana
Student Ministry helping young people navigate faith into adulthood.
Time for Response
As we get ready to dismiss you have the opportunity to practice these things helping one another really think this through and grow.
I say this almost every time that I’m with a group of students… You have the opportunity to walk out of here as a better person than when you came in when you put God’s Words into practice in your life.
Read Romans 12:3 and do an honest evaluation of yourself based on your faith.
Ask a trusted friend who is a Christian how they see your walk with Christ.
Think of at least one person that you can help in their walk with God. Maybe you could ask someone here this morning…How’s your walk, bro?
How’s your walk, bro?
Hey, let’s pray!
The service arrangements for Jessica's father are:
Michael Jack Hinman:
Saturday, August 8
Visitation at 10 am
Service at 11 am
Northside Baptist Church
7415 NW CR 225
Starke, FL 32091
Please remember to pray for the family, Connie Jessica’s mom, and Josh and the girls as they travel this week.
Phil and Becky Reagan are also in our prayers as they’ve recently lost loved ones.
Randy Waltz is going to come and close our service with prayer!
