Taking The Next Step In Your Spiritual Walk With God
Notes
Transcript
Good morning Church! Would you stand with me today as we claim our faith to God and call upon Him to move in this service?
This is my Bible.
It is Your Holy Word.
It is a lamp unto my feet,
A light unto my path,
and I will hide its Words within my heart,
That I might not sin against you!
Speak to us today through Your Word,
and strengthen our faith, that we might obey.
Amen!
Context
Context
Read Acts 10!
I don’t know about you, but i can say with complete assurance in my own life, that our spiritual walk with God is a journey. I know for myself, that I have grown throughout my journey with God. There are things that I preached as a young man of God, that I would not preach now. There are things that I would do as a young man of God, that I would not do now. There are things that I would not do as a young man of God, that I could not imagine not doing now as I have grown in my relationship with God. Our spiritual walk is a journey.
As we continue to seek God in our lives, we learn more about God, which in turn teaches us more about ourselves as well. God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit of God within us, work together to strengthen our faith as we travel through this journey. Our hope becomes stronger around each and every corner and our longing for home becomes ever more real.
Today, we get to see a glimpse of this firsthand in a couple of key men in our text.
This is also the title of our text today: Taking The Next Step In Your Spiritual Walk With God
Content
Content
Defining Christianity
Defining Christianity
A Christian is an individual who believes in Jesus Christ. They have agreed with God as to whom Jesus Christ is. (He is the Son of God. He lived a perfect life. He died for the sins of mankind. God rose him from the dead three days later. He has been given authority over all things in heaven and on Earth. He sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for all of those who believe in Him and walk in His statutes.)
A Christian is an individual who believes in Jesus Christ. They have agreed with God as to whom Jesus Christ is. (He is the Son of God. He lived a perfect life. He died for the sins of mankind. God rose him from the dead three days later. He has been given authority over all things in heaven and on Earth. He sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for all of those who believe in Him and walk in His statutes.)
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Both men believed in God. Peter believed in Jesus, but we do not know if Cornelius did or not. Nonetheless, we know that both men loved God and lived faithful lifestyles before Him.
We must remember that we are in a spiritually transitional period for the Church. Before Christ, everyone believed in God directly based upon His Word. Now that Christ has come, a transition in faith must take place through Christ. Peter is used by God to bring this group of people through that transition in their lives.
A Christian is an individual who seeks to grow and become more faithful in their walk with God by pursuing an on-going personal relationship with Jesus Christ, their Savior. (They talk to Him in prayer continually. They seek His wisdom in their lives. They listen intently to what God says to them, even when they do not understand exactly what He is saying. They are obedient to His Word as it is revealed unto them and speaks truth into their life.)
A Christian is an individual who seeks to grow and become more faithful in their walk with God by pursuing an on-going personal relationship with Jesus Christ, their Savior. (They talk to Him in prayer continually. They seek His wisdom in their lives. They listen intently to what God says to them, even when they do not understand exactly what He is saying. They are obedient to His Word as it is revealed unto them and speaks truth into their life.)
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Cornelius is visited by angel. He is obedient to the angel and sends for Peter. He is obedient to the angel, which resulted in himself, as well as his whole household getting saved and receiving the Spirit of God.
Peter is given a vision by God. He is told to stop calling things that God has made clean unclean. Peter is obedient to God and goes with the Gentile men to Cornelius’ house. The result was that Peter grew in his faith towards God and he learned something about the nature, and therefore the grace, of God.
A Christian is an individual who has experienced a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit, which resulted in supernatural changes in their lives as a result.
A Christian is an individual who has experienced a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit, which resulted in supernatural changes in their lives as a result.
Go to Romans 8.
Go through vv. 1-16
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
When the Spirit of God merged with the spirit of these men, a supernatural experience took place. They began to speak in tongues and glorify God.
Though speaking in tongues may not be the norm today, we should still expect to see a supernatural working of the Spirit of God in an individual who receives Him. We should expect to see God glorified. We should expect to see this individual instantly say to know to sinful things in their lives. We should see the working of the Holy Spirit within that individual in external ways.
Commitment
Commitment
Examine Your Own Heart
Trust the Word of God
Pray to the Father