Walking in Wisdom
Forward by Faith • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsThis focuses on walking in wisdom, following God's leading and direction
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Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Top five reasons people get lost while driving:
Bad directions: 47 percent
Unclear, missing highway signs: 45 percent
Detours: 38 percent
Confusing maps: 21 percent
Auto distractions: 13 percent
Our theme this year of course is “Forward by Faith.” But sometimes we end up going the wrong direction.
And on top of that we live in a world that is not conducive to a spiritual walk. No matter who you are or what your phase of life, if you’re going Walk in God’s way, you’re going to have opposition. For the next few weeks I want to look at this theme of walking God’s way and we’ll start to today with walking in wisdom.
1. You Must Walk Carefully
1. You Must Walk Carefully
Circumspectly - perfect, diligent.
Within line - narrow path; follow God’s commands
Comply with God’s character
Good testimony
Illustration of land navigation in the Army. Walking a long distance at a certain azimuth required a careful walk - following a narrow path. Just a couple degrees over time could get you in the wrong destination.
So how do we walk carefully?
A. According to God’s Character
A. According to God’s Character
Can we be reminded that God is the standard. And His standard is perfect.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Jesus reminds us of this in
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
In order to walk carefully and to walk with wisdom in God’s way it has to perfect - completely in His will. God points this out in a couple instances.
1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
God wants us to walk perfectly or rather in holiness.
The idea is of perfect obedience—completeness of spiritual character— our goal is to walk as He would, to be in complete conformity to God
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
When one enters upon this highway called holiness, it does not mean that he is perfect in every decision. It does mean that he is walking down a road of change. Repentance means a change of heart or a change of mind. Throughout the Christian life we should be continually changed, or conformed, into the image of Jesus Christ.
So to walk in wisdom we have to walk in the way of holiness - is our walk holy? Are we in perfect obedience to God?
B. Avoid the Traps of the World
B. Avoid the Traps of the World
The word circumspect tells us that we have to ‘look carefully’ around us.
I remember going to a SS party at our teacher’s house as a kid. One of the games we played began with you standing in front of a line of paper plates, each with a raw egg on it. Then the teacher blindfolded us, and told us to walk ahead, doing our best to avoid the raw eggs. As I gently stepped, remembering where I had seen the first plate, I heard a very noticeable crunch. I failed on the first step! Well I continued and probably crunched another 3-4 plates with eggs on them. At the end she turned me around and took the blindfold off and they had replaced the plates of eggs with plates of potato chips. It was all pretty funny. But I’ll always remember that lesson anyway.
You must look where you are going!
4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.
The devil is looking to trap us!
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Some people feel that they can walk through life without a care in the world. But you need to watch where you’re going and you need people, family, a church to help you watch where you’re going.
2. You Must Walk While You Can
2. You Must Walk While You Can
Redeem here means to buy up, to pay the price to recover. How can we buy up time? Well the idea is that we make the most of every day and opportunity we have. Why?
A. Time is Short
A. Time is Short
Over your lifetime you spend: 2.5 years driving a car; 6 months waiting at red lights; 5 years waiting in line; 6 years eating; 2 years returning phone calls; 1 year looking for misplaced objects; 23 years in bed; 7 years in the bathroom; 8 months opening junk mail; These activities add up to about 50 years of your life. www.sanjoseca.gov
We need to make the most of the time we have - the idea here is that of a ship taking advantage of the wind and the tide to arrive safely in the harbor. Why take advantage? Because time is limited and short.
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The devil loves to lull us to sleep. 2020 and even the start of 2021 has woken us up quite a bit … at least I hope. Life isn’t as reliable and stable as it once was.
We only have limited opportunities to serve God.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Therefore a wise walk is extremely necessary!
I think we tend to be procrastinators.
Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow?
And isn’t interesting that when we’re wasting time, we actually say, “Oh, I’m just killing time.”
5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
B. The Days are Evil
B. The Days are Evil
Again we have an idea of urgency and watchfulness.
We shouldn’t waste opportunities to win people to the Lord and to spread the gospel.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
The days are evil and only getting more evil. It’s getting harder and harder to win people to Christ. It seems that the darkness only grows stronger.
It seems that more and more people have no (or very little) knowledge of God and His Word.
3. You Must Walk with God’s Guidance
3. You Must Walk with God’s Guidance
We are guided by God. Going back to the idea of avoiding the traps in this world, we now come to the importance of having a guide.
If you’ve ever been somewhere new (vacation, tourist, etc), it’s always better to have a guide. Maybe you ask the server, what do you recommend on the menu? Well God is our spiritual guide and his recommendations are always perfect.
A. God Always Guides His People
A. God Always Guides His People
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Even though the people in the wilderness constantly complained and sometimes even turned against God, he still guided them.
B. Listen for God’s Guiding Voice
B. Listen for God’s Guiding Voice
20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
This is a wonderful passage about our walk with the Lord. Here we see in v. 20 that difficulties are assumed - there will be adversity and affliction, but God will leave us teachers (blessings, the throne of God in prayer, the word of God, human friends and helps). But v. 20 is not my focus here it’s v. 21.
Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee. When Elijah was hiding in the cave. God shows him the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, but God was not in those - he was in the still, small voice, a whisper.
A guiding voice! This is the voice we hear when we are just about to stray from God’s path. That voice that brings His truths to remembrance.
It says, THIS is the way, don’t go right, don’t go left, go THIS way.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
This voice comes behind us and offers gracious hints at our direction.
4 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Can you hear His guiding voice?
You ever been on a phone conversation and couldn’t hear because the kids were too loud? You have to quiet them down! Maybe we can’t hear the voice of God, because there’s too much noise!
C. Understand His Will
C. Understand His Will
In looking at God’s guidance, He has always guided His people, and we find that still, small voice yet today. But where is He guiding? Into His will and into our understanding of His will.
God’s will is not some mysterious journey or destination which we have to discover.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
See God’s will involves understanding through the mind. A renewed mind is what understands God’s will. You need to gather Biblical facts and ask for divine wisdom to understand the direction God has for you!
God has an absolute plan for our lives. He didn’t just saved us, He saved us for a purpose.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God wants us to serve Him and to have an understanding of His will. It is His will for you to know His will!
God has a master plan - when we had the nursery building put in, we had to submit documents that showed where it was going and they had to get approved by the county. It’s literally called a Master Plan.
God has a blueprint for your life!
1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
If you really want to know the will of God and be wise, you will have to know the Scriptures.
CONCLUSION
So we’re starting 2021 by Walking in God’s Way, and the first way we do that is by walking in wisdom.
You must walk carefully - you must walk while you can - you must walk with God’s guidance.