Walking What You Know

Introduction

Beaten paths

Dog paths through the yard

Cow paths in a pasture

a well worn path through the woods

These paths are made by walking the same path regularly

they are made from walking a path that is familiar or known

Walking a rough and narrow path is not so difficult when you have walked it before

the more you walk a path the more familiar it becomes

Where should we be walking?

- in Christ

In the surrounding text, Paul is talking about being deceived by the worldly philosophy

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So what we are talking about is walking in Christ, in the midst of the world

Just as we may have to walk through a dark forest, if we know the path, we can get there

So we must navigate a world of sin, but if we follow the known path, we can make it

How do we walk in Him? There are three stages to our walk

Walking with roots

Walking with assurance

Walking with abundance

Walking with roots - v. 7a

I.

Rooted in Him

the word means ‘to be firmly rooted, root in the ground, plant’

using the word that was received

received in v 6 seems to indicate receiving the truth of Jesus

Paul uses the same word in and

as we receive the word, it is up to us what we do with it.

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Not only are we to be rooted in Christ, in His word, but also rooted in ourselves

Rooted in ourselves means to make up our mind that you will do his will

we have to submit to His authority

This means will will get NO authority from outside of Christ

Built up in Him

Once we are rooted, we build on that foundation

There is a constant learning going on

the learning will come from the source where the roots are planted

if we don’t properly plant the roots, the building will not be true

Luke 6:48

None of this is possible until you “receive Christ Jesus the Lord”

Walking with Assurance - v. 7b

the Greek for established means - establish, confirm, secure, settled

We are in the faith to a point our salvation is established

We are assured of our salvation

Col. 3:2

We know!

It is important that we are certain of our faith

steadfast and grounded -

If we know what we know is right it will change the way we walk

- we know

- change your walk

Our walk is different because we are assured of our salvation

Walk with abundance - v. 7c

Abounding here means to be over and above, will go beyond

Paul told the Thessalonians to keep it up

they were doing great -

He ends with telling them to increase and abound -

Paul tells the Colossians how to abound

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And so, we are not to be satisfied with where we are, but strive to increase more and more

Conclusion

We live in a world that thinks it knows better

They use persuasive words and worldly philosophy

But we can navigate through if we know the way.

we must walk in Christ, rooted in His word, established in the faith with assurance, and abounding in fruit