WALKING WITH GOD

Genesis 5:21-24

Prayer

Walking with God means living in the presence of God.

It’s the same thing as abiding in Jesus.

He said, “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn. 15:4).

My Life Application Bible Commentary says, abiding in Jesus means:

          Believing He is the Son of God (I Jn. 4:15),

          Receiving Him as Savior and Lord (Jn. 1:12),

          Doing what He says (I Jn. 3:24),

          Continuing to believe the gospel (I Jn. 2:24), and

          Loving others in the Church (Jn. 15:12).

It’s a moment-by-moment decision.

We can’t be neutral and walk or abide at the same time.

We have to be actively involved in the things God wants us involved in.

With this in mind, I will point out eight things about walking with God.

1st---Walking with God involves the way we THINK.

Paul said, “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” (Rom.      12:2).

He said think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good   

report (Phil. 4:8).

It’s difficult to do.

But walking with God requires us to think like God.

One preacher (Pentecost) said, “The greatest conflict taking place in the       

world today is the battle for control of our minds.”

The Devil is trying to con us into thinking it doesn’t matter whether we attend         

Church or not;

Trying to con us into thinking it doesn’t matter whether we live by the

Scriptures or not;

Trying to con us into thinking everything is alright, if we’ve been baptized     

and joined the Church.

He wants us to ignore the fact that the real evidence of salvation is fruit;

That the real evidence of salvation is not baptism and Church membership,   

but what we’re doing for God.

We have a choice;

Submit to God and resist the Devil.

Or submit to the Devil and resist God.

Paul said, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”

(Phil. 2:5).

Stop thinking like the Devil.

Start thinking like Jesus.

Change your outlook.

Bring your way of thinking in line with the Scriptures.

2nd---Walking with God involves unbroken fellowship.

John said, “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship      

one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us   

from all sin” (I Jn. 1:7).

Some people walk for exercise.

It’s a good thing to do.

We can walk in the light of day;

Or the darkness of night.

The Bible is saying we can walk with Jesus.

But we have to walk in spiritual light not spiritual darkness.

We have to fellowship one with another.

We can’t be at odds with those at Church.

Amos asked, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

“No!”

We have to be willing to walk together;

To walk at the same time;

To walk in the same direction, etc.

A homeowner said there was a lot of dust and noise in his neighbor’s corral.

Two oxen were fighting.

His neighbor was urging them on with a stick.

He asked, “Instead of urging the oxen on with a stick, why don’t you stop    

them?”

His neighbor said, “I can’t use them to pull my ox cart until they decide        

which one is boss.”

“If I harness them together before they fight it out, they will pull in different   

directions.”

“I will have trouble controlling them.”

That’s the way it is with God.

If we’re going to walk with God, we have to learn who’s boss.

We can’t walk our way.

And walk with Him.

Two men were walking on the road to Emmaus.

Jesus joined them.

They had never seen Jesus before.

They didn’t recognize Him.

He asked, “Why are you so sad” (Luke 24:17).

They said, “We thought Jesus was the Messiah.”

But He was crucified.

His body was missing.

Some women say, “He’s alive.”

“We don’t know what to think.”

Jesus said, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have   

spoken” (Luke 24:25).

Then, He explained what the Old Testament says about His death, burial and

resurrection.

They approached Emmaus.

Jesus acted like He intended to walk on down the road.

But the men asked Him to stay with them.

He went in;

Ate with them.

And while they were eating, their eyes were opened.

They learned who Jesus is.

Then, He disappeared.

“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he      

talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures”    

(Luke 24:32)?

Notice, two things:

1) “While He talked with us by the way,” and

2) “While He opened to us the Scriptures.”

Walking with God involves talking with God.

And walking with God involves the Scriptures.

It involves praying,

And learning the Scriptures.

3rd---Walking with God involves steady progress.

Many walkers walk for a certain time: thirty minutes or an hour;

Or a certain distance: one mile or two.

Some keep up with how long and how far they walk.

They try to walk a little longer or a little farther each week.

Peter advised us to, “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and   

Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18).

“Growing in grace” requires increasing our spirituality.

“Growing in knowledge” requires learning the Scriptures, listening to sound  

teaching and preaching, getting to know Jesus better and better.

It involves spending more time with Jesus than we used to;

Going farther with Jesus than we used to.

There are those who used to walk with the Lord;

Who were fervent in the Spirit.

But Satan hindered their walk.

They’re walking less not more;

Growing weaker not stronger.

Peter’s advising us to resist Satan’s efforts to retard our growth.

He’s advising us to keep moving;

To keep pace with God;

To stay by His side;

To not fall behind;

To not quit or sit down to rest.

To grow in grace and knowledge, we need to read our Bible and pray  

regularly.

One good way is to start by reading and praying for just three minutes.

Do that for a week.

Increase your reading and praying to five minutes.

Do that for two weeks.

Increase your reading and praying to ten minutes.

Do that for three weeks.

It’s like increasing your walking from thirty minutes to an hour, from once a  

week to once a day;

Like increasing your distance from one mile to two.

It will cause you to grow in grace and knowledge.

In 1970, David Kunst decided to walk around the world.

He walked every day.

He walked for four and one-half years.

He walked 15,000 miles.

He wore out twenty-two pairs of shoes.

But he actually walked around the world.

God’s not asking us to walk around the world.

But He is asking us to make progress.

Anyone in this room can be a spiritual giant.

But you will have to commit yourself to it.

And stick with it.

4th---Walking with God involves separation from the world.

King David was dying.

He wanted to give some final advice to his son Solomon.

What should he say to Solomon at the close of his life?

“Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man;”

“And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his      

statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it

is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest,

 and whithersoever thou turnest thyself” (I     Kings 2:2-3).

Be strong.

That Chevrolet commercial says “Like a rock.”

Chevrolet isn’t talking about Jesus.

But Jesus is the Rock.

Did you ever wonder about the physical attributes of Jesus?

He walked everywhere He went.

Walking stimulates the heart and lungs;

Strengthens the bones and muscles;

Increases the blood flow in our body.

Jesus was a carpenter.

He probably built furniture and houses.

He probably was strong.

David was saying, “Walk in His ways.”

Be a person of conviction.

Keep His statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies in the  

Scriptures (Law of Moses).

Notice, this.

Keep His Commandments “that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest,”

Keep His Commandments “Whithersoever thou turnest thyself.”

“Whithersoever thou turnest thyself” means “wherever you walk.”

If you want to succeed in everything you do, keep the commandments of God       

wherever you go.

Here’s something else.

Jesus said, “whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his       

commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight”

(Jn. 3:22).

Some people are offended when we display the Ten Commandments.

Some people don’t want to live by them.

A court recently [fall of 2003] ordered Judge Roy Moore to remove the Ten  

Commandments from the courthouse in Alabama.

When he refused they removed him from office.

But King David said, if we keep the Commandments we will succeed in life.

And Jesus said, if we keep the Commandments and do things that are

pleasing in His sight, we will receive the things we pray for.

5th---Walking with God involves unfailing perseverance.

Some people stop walking.

Adam and Eve stopped.

They walked with God in the Garden of Eden.

But they stopped long enough to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good       

and evil.

God came down to walk with them.

They were afraid and naked.

But it was not so with Enoch.

He walked with God three hundred years.

Spring and summer;

Fall and winter;

Hot and cold;

Rain and snow;

In times of trouble;

And times of peace;

In times of need;

And times of plenty.

Martin Luther said, “I know not the way God leads me.”

“But well do I know my Guide.”

This great man of God was saying, “I don’t know which way God wants me          

to go.”

“But I know He will get me there.”

When life gets difficult;

When we get sick or lose a loved one,  those who are walking with God can say,

“I’m not alone.”

“I’ll persevere.”

“He knows the way.”

“All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are   

the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

6th---Walking with God gives intense satisfaction.

I’ve heard elderly people say, “I’m ready to go;”

I’ve stood in front of caskets and heard people say, “My loved one’s better  

off.”

There’s a lot of satisfaction in a life lived for God.

Someday, we’ll be in that casket.

We need to do something about this before we get there.

Paul said, Enoch “pleased God.”

That’s the right attitude.

There’s something wrong, if we don’t want the summary of our life to be that         

we pleased God;

Something wrong, if we don’t want to hear God say, “Well done, thou good

and faithful servant” (Luke 25:21).

I want to give you some quick pointers on pleasing God.

For one thing, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this         

life;”

“That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Tim. 2:4).

Christianity’s not a playground.

It’s a spiritual battlefield.

And some are losing the spiritual battle because they’ve managed to get        

tangled up in extracurricular activities;

Tangled up in hobbies, sports, or whatever.

We should never think that we can replace God with these things.

And please Him.

Those who do are losing not winning.

For another thing, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify

him with thanksgiving.”

“This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath      

horns and hoofs” (Psa. 69:30-31).

We please God with songs of praise and words of thanksgiving.

We can do this wherever we go.

But we’re more apt to do it when we’re in Church.

For another thing, may God “Make you perfect in every good work to do his         

will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight” (Heb. 13:20-21).

How do we please God?

Not by SAYING we’re a Christian,

Not by putting an angel, a ceramic church or a Bible on a table in our house,

Not by putting a needlepoint or plaque with a verse of Scripture on the wall.

We please God by doing His will.

By being doers of the Word and not hearers only.

7th---Walking with God brings future blessings.

Moses said, “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him”   

(Gen. 5:24).

Paul said, “Enoch was translated that he should not see death” (Heb. 11:5).

The Latin word for “translated” means “carried over,” “carried across,” or   

“caught up.”

One minute Enoch walked with God.

And the next minute God “carried him over,” “carried him across,” or

“caught him up” into heaven.

God plucked him up into heaven.

This will happen to the Church at the Rapture (I Thess. 4:13-18).

Jesus told the Church at Sardis, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which        

have not defiled their garments;”

“And they shall walk with me in white:”

“For they are worthy” (Rev. 3:4).

Some Sardis Church members just pretended to be faithful.

Some just lived off of the Church’s reputation;

Some were sinning.

But Jesus said, “I know that a few of you haven’t defiled yourself.”

“You’re worthy to walk with me in heaven;”

“And wear robes of righteousness.”

8th---Walking with God involves faith.

Paul said, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).

Without a living faith;

Without an active faith;

It’s impossible to please God.

He told the Thessalonians, we don’t try to please men, we try to please God

(I Thess. 2:4).

Our faith doesn’t cause us to try to please people;

To try to be popular;

To try to make a name for ourselves.

Our faith causes us to try to please God.

Will anyone make a commitment to walk with God today?

You take one step that will bring you closer to God.

Then, a second step,

A third, a fourth, etc.

And before you know it, you’re on the trip of a lifetime.

That first step could be a first step down this isle.

But you have to decide whether you will listen to God.

Or listen to the Devil.

Will you listen to God?

Will you do what He wants you to do today?