Walk Faithfully in 2020

Walking Faithfully in 2020

As we prepare to close out this year and look forward to the year 2020, I want to encourage us to trust the Lord more than we have in the past. In order to do that we are going to have to have more faith in the Lord. We are going to have to put our confidence in Him in every situation. The word of God tells us in , “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.”

For many of us we look at that verse and dismiss the seriousness of what is being said. And beloved the one word in that verse that makes it serious is the word “impossible” which means incapable of doing.

In other words, if you do not have faith in God, there is no way to please God. And brothers and sisters, we need grasp this, because if you want God to bless you over in 2020.

If you want Him to deliver you from those things that hinder you from moving forward in Him and life.

If you want God to open the window of heaven in your life and pour out on you and your loved ones the blessings, He has for you, you are going to have to have faith in Him.

When I say faith in Him, I’m not talking about partial faith. To have partial faith means to trust God to a certain point. You don’t trust Him all the way.

Partial faith says, “I trust the Lord but.”

Partial faith trust God and tries to help God out.

Partial faith says I’m standing on the promises of God, while sitting on the premises doing nothing.

But my friends to please God, you can’t have partial faith, you must fully trust Him and His word.

You must be all in faithfully trusting in Him.

So, as we get ready to enter into the year 2020, I want us to make up in our minds and in our hearts that we are going to walk faithfully in 2020.

Our text that has been selected for our watch night service deals with our future after death. If you take the time to read verses 1-10 of this fifth chapter that’s what you will find. However, as you read those verses you will find what I like to call a “by the way statement.”

A by the way statement many times is inserted to emphasize something of importance that pertains to the whole conversation. And beloved in our text, the by the way statement is verse 7 where it says, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” If Paul wanted to he could have started with verse 6 and said, “Therefore, though we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord- by the way, we walk by faith, not by sight-“

By inserting what he says in verse 7, Paul is reminding his readers that as believers in Jesus Christ, they were to walk faithfully while here on earth.

Well beloved, as believers in Jesus Christ you and I are to walk faithfully while we are still here. Our lives and the way we live ought to reflect our faith in God. Have I got a witness?

So, as we look at verse 7 the first thing you will notice is:

I. This is a call for the believer:

Paul begins this verse by saying “for we.” The we in the text represents believers in Jesus Christ.] Those of us who have placed a stake in the claim that Jesus Christ is our Savior, we are called to walk faithfully. We have been charged with the responsibility and the privilege to faithfully journey through this sin barren land as though we have hope for a better tomorrow.

This call is not for the non-believer. The non-believer doesn’t have faith in the Lord. They don’t have a future over in glory.

They don’t have a seat reserved at the great feast of the Lord.

They don’t have the One living inside of them to help them re-represent the Lord here on earth.

But we….. we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So, we are called to be an example.

We are called to re-represent God.

We are called to walk faithfully with the Lord. This call is upon us if we want to see God move in our lives.

If we want to see God move in our families.

If we want to see God move in our situations.

If we want to see God move in our Church, our neighborhood, city and world.

If we are to envision better in the year 2020, we must walk faithfully with the Lord.

Second, in order to walk faithfully in 2020, we must:

II. Live like we believe what God says in His word:

Look with me at verse 7 again. Paul says, “for we walk by faith.” That word walk in the double Greek is the word behave. It means to live or behave in a specified manner. So, when Paul says we walk by faith, he’s telling his readers, because of their relationship with Jesus Christ they ought to live in a specified manner which suggests and projects their faith in God. To be clear, they were to live like they believed what God said in His word.] Brothers and sisters, that’s what faith is. Faith is just believing what God says. Mark it down beloved, God says He will supply all your needs, and He will.

God says He will never leave you or forsake you, and He won’t.

His word tells us that He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life, and we do.

His word tells us that He is faithful toward us, and He is.

His word tells us that He watches over us, and He does.

His word tells us that He loves us, and He does.

His word tells us that He provides for us, and He does.

But beloved you and I must believe what He says in His word. And understand the word believe is an action word. It’s not just having intellectual acceptance; it’s walking or living in such a way that shows what you’ve intellectually accepted. Are you with me?

It means you look up when everything in your life suggests you should be looking down.

It means you hang on when life circumstances suggests you should give up.

It means you praise the Lord when your burdens try to keep you quiet.

It means you trust God even when it looks like He’s taken a long vacation in your life.

We are to walk by faith. We are to live like we believe what God says in His word.

Finally, beloved, if you are to walk faithfully in 2020:

III. Don’t allow what you see to determine your walk:

Paul says, ““for we walk by faith, not by sight” beloved the word sight in this text in the Greek means appearance.

And what Paul was telling his readers is their lives were to be governed or managed by faith not by the outward appearance of present things. In other words, don’t allow what you see to determine how you live.

Just because the rest of this age is giving in to the prince of this age should not cause you to give in to the prince of this age.

Just because the morals and values of the majority have hit bottom, doesn’t mean yours have to.

Just because the numbers are not what you would like them to be, doesn’t mean you practice pragmatism to make them what you want them to be.

Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean God doesn’t have it for you, and just because you do see it, doesn’t mean that’s what God wants for you.

So, beloved don’t allow what you see to determine your walk or how you live going forward.

We are a people of faith, who are called to live by faith and not by sight.

We are to live by faith in God, trusting Him to meet all of our needs.

We are to live by faith in God, trusting Him to take care of us.

Our lives should show the world that we lean and depend on God, not ourselves.

Not our money.

Not our education.

Not our friends or anything else.

We are to live by faith in the One who died for our sin.

In the One who rose again.

In the One who’s coming again.

So, brothers and sisters, if you want your 2020 and forward to be better, you are going to have to walk faithfully trusting in God for everything. Not just some things, but everything and you must walk or live in a way that shows you trust Him. AMEN!