Walking with God

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Preacher: Dr. Brian Labosier Scripture: Genesis 5:21-24

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Good morning. I Need two volunteers today Here's one volunteer.
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Here's another Maybe there's enough for everybody to have one. We'll see So I appreciate the opportunity to be here today.
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I've included a handout partly because I used to be a teacher and partly because This message includes a number of different verses of scripture
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So if you miss any of those references, at least you can look down and possibly it's there in the handout
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It's been over 30 years now since I preached regularly as a pastor of a local church where I was involved with Preparing a message every
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Sunday. I've spent most of my life teaching Bible at various seminaries Now I preach only occasionally.
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So when I preach I look for Topics that seem to be particularly significant to me or things that God's Dealing with me in my own life.
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So this message today partly grows out of my own life I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, but I've been thinking about three questions one of these questions is
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How I can make the rest of my life count for eternity count for God's kingdom.
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I Don't know what time or energy I have left But I want to be a wise steward of whatever he entrusts into my care.
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In other words, I want to live well Second one. I want to die well, and hopefully
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I'm not too Solemn here today. I remember when I was younger I used to think
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Maybe I'll be alive when the Lord returns now I seem to have different reminders that my body is getting older and weaker and frailer and Not any great significant health issues, but at least enough to remind me
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You know God has not designed our present bodies to last forever here in this present world.
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That's not his plan so that I At least want to prepare to die well and for what that what that means to me
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Is that I want to build up gather up the different promises of God from his words so that I can
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Whenever God calls me to go through that final experience called death, you know Assuming for the moment the
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Lord does not return first that God would give me the grace and Die in a way that would honor him.
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So that's my second goal is to die Well third is I want to do what
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I can to prepare myself for eternity You know if we're going to live for eternity That's worth thinking about some of us like myself are retired and you can at least ask yourself if you're younger
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How can you prepare for retirement or here we are in the midst of retirement
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How can we use this time, but we're talking now about eternity and eternity.
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Guess what it lasts forever So you're thinking about saving up for retirement
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You might want to save up for eternity and lay up treasures where God tells you to lay them up So this third thought is preparing ourselves for eternity and as I've reflected on this theme of How these are all interrelated to each other
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How we live impacts how we die how we live determines where we'll end up eternally whether we'll be in the joys of God's presence for eternity or Suffering the loss and agony of being apart from him for all eternity under his wrath
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And as I've reflected on this theme of living well I've come back to this character that is mentioned in scripture.
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His name is Enoch and Scripture doesn't tell us a lot about him, but it does tell us he walked with God So here's the thought that's been on my own mind and heart.
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What does it mean for me to walk with God? What does it mean for you to walk with God? So that's kind of a key question
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So I want us to look at few verses of scripture that I've chosen for today and it's
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Genesis 5 21 to 24 Genesis 5 21 to 24.
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I'll read it to you The context of Genesis 5 as some of you may know is it's a long list of genealogies
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Begins by talking about Adam talks about how long he lived and When one of his children was born when
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Seth was born and then how much longer he lived Then it goes down to Seth and how long he lived before he had a child and how long he lived
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After he had a child and it keeps going verse after verse tracing the original line of descent of these individuals and then in verses 21 through 24
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It talks about Enoch. So I'm going to read these verses out loud to you This is going to be part of the focus of what we're going to look at today
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I suppose there's maybe two different themes for today. One is the character study the person of Enoch.
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What do we know about Enoch? Second is more of a topical study. What do we know about walking with God and we're going to use
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Enoch as a key means of discerning. What does it mean to walk with God?
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So here's our scripture for today Genesis 5 21 to 24 Enoch lived 65 years and begot
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Methuselah After he begot Methuselah Enoch walked with God. That's that expression 300 years and had sons and daughters so all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him.
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I'd like us to bow our heads and pray and ask God to illumine his word to us here today
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Father we come dependent on your spirit. We look to you for help. We cry out to you for help
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Pray that you teach us more about yourself more about your word more about the hope and promises that we find in scripture
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And most of all that we would learn what it is to walk worthy of you here in this present life
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We might die well that we might inherit the kingdom We pray this in Jesus name.
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Amen As far as I'm concerned Enoch is one of these obscure Old Testament figures from the earliest period of Old Testament history
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We know relatively little about him Other than he was an early descendant of Adam and Eve He lived long before Noah and the
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Ark and the story of the flood his name shows up in some genealogies elsewhere in Scripture we find in 1st
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Chronicles 1. There's a long list of genealogies Enoch's name shows up there He's also one of the ancestors of our
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Lord in Luke chapter 3 there's a genealogy of Jesus Christ.
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And again, his name shows up there The most extensive genealogy is the one we're looking at here in Genesis 5
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We know from Genesis 5 that Enoch must have been married since he has a son named Methuselah as Well as a number of other sons and daughters.
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We don't know any of we don't know his wife's name We don't know the other sons and daughters other than his firstborn who's
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Methuselah Incidentally Methuselah is the person who lived the longest of anyone we read about in the
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Bible an amazing 600 excuse me amazing 969 years and Methuselah died the same year that the flood took place
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When Noah had built an ark for the saving of himself his immediate family and different animals and birds and so on in the
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New Testament Jude tells us more about Enoch in verses 14 and 15 of the book of Jude He begins by describing
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Enoch as a seventh generation from Adam Now if we do some calculating using the information that's given to us in Genesis 5
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We can see that Enoch would have lived some 687 years after the creation of the world.
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That's my calculation. You can double -check my math there if you want but something like 687 years and So the earth is still fairly new
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And then Jude goes on to quote Enoch as prophesying Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their
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Deeds of ungodliness that they've committed in such an ungodly way And of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him
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So we here we can see way back at the I'm gonna say the very beginning of time we're some 600 years whatever it is beyond creation and Already God is warning people about the need to prepare for coming judgment
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Sin entered the world with Adam and Eve and things were downhill from there and we see things steadily going downhill here's a story of Noah in the flood and God essentially gives a new beginning to this world and Sometimes we could wish in our own lives.
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If only I could have a new beginning I do things better second time around and God gives this world a new beginning with the story of Noah in the flood
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But guess what things still go downhill just as they did before We need a new heart.
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We need more than just a new beginning. We need a God to change us But probably the best known quotation about Enoch is found
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That's found in the New Testament is in the list of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11
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So here's something about Enoch He's one of the heroes of the faith read in Hebrews 11 5 by faith
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Enoch was taken away So that he did not see death and he was not found Because God had taken him for before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased
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God The one detail about Enoch's life that stands out that he is apparently one of only two individuals in Biblical history that never experienced physical death
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Genesis 5 24 that I read a moment ago scripture reading Explains this truth simply as Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him
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Hebrews 11 5 provides a little more commentary a little more discussion It says by faith
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Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death And he was not found because God had taken him for behold
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For before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased God The other person who apparently never experienced physical death was the
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Old Testament prophet Elijah Some of you know this story in 2nd Kings We read in 2nd
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Kings 2 1 how the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind
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At a time when Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal Read the actual story that marks the end of Elijah's earthly life in 2nd
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Kings 2 11 and following Then it happened as they continued on and talk
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This is Elijah and Elisha suddenly a chariot of fire appeared from with horses of fire and separated the two of them
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And Elijah went up in the whirlwind into heaven and Elisha saw and cried out my father my father the chariot of Israel the horsemen
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And he saw him no more It's interesting how God calls his people home to him in all kinds of amazing ways
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Two months ago Helen's cousin died simply in his sleep Nurse the nursing home checked him at 5 a .m.
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He was breathing normally When she came back to wake him up at 6 o 'clock.
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He was gone Years ago. I knew an older Saint the
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Lord who was sitting in his dining room reading his Bible Slumped over he was dead one
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Sunday morning years ago Close friend of mine was preaching in a church that I used to pastor years ago.
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I was not there at the time He was preaching and he died of a heart attack while he was preaching
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What calls us home in strange ways? Examples I've chosen
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Illustrate the suddenness and unexpectedness of death Because I want to challenge us that we need to be ready to meet the
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Lord Other people die very different deaths Some die very difficult deaths in great pain and physical agony where their death really comes as an answer to prayer
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Other people's deaths are long and slow For example,
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I feel that we lost my mother To dementia about five years before her physical body finally died
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You know for that five years as far as I was concerned you really could not have a serious or significant conversation with her
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You know, so some people's God works in each of our lives differently Here's I think latest statistic eight billion people in this world
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Each one is created different. Each one has different life experiences and As the
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Lord tarries each one will die a different kind of death so the question is How can we prepare for death?
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And the answer is we prepare for death by the way that we live Enoch prepared for his home going by his walking with God For a believer, there's an intimate connection between how we live and how we die
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This was true of Enoch who is our key biblical character in this morning's message Genesis 524 tells us
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Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him What happens to a
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Christian when he or she dies? What's it like for a Christian to enter into glory? Some of you remember the story of the thief on the cross and Jesus promised in Luke 23 43
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Jesus said today you'll be with me in paradise Apostle Paul's an older man just talked about his longing for life to come this way in Philippians 1 23
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I'm hard -pressed between the two having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better But there's more to heaven than a glorious destination there's also a continuous presence with God a continuous presence
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Specifically with Christ if we've come to know Christ here in this present life if we're walking with him every day
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Then we also experience Christ as we go through the valley of the shadow of physical death and Then we continue entered into an eternity with Christ in the life to come
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So in one sense not a lot changes if we're walking with Christ now, we'll walk with him forever through death through eternity
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And again, I'm speaking specifically experience of Christians flip side is that If you're without Christ in this present life
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You'll be without Christ is your Good Shepherd as you go through that experience of physical death
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You'll be on your own at the final judgment you'll be without Christ and his blessings for all eternity
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So what we're talking about here Involves a new heart or being born again a gift that only
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God can give but even for the believer There's still a need for spiritual growth
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This is part of what it means to be transformed Paul tells us or be conformed to the image of his son
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Jesus Christ Through a process we sometimes describe as sanctification We're using the language of today's message.
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It involves learning to walk with God Right here in this present life
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And apparently this was Enoch's experience our text in Genesis 5 24 tells us
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Enoch walked with God. He was not for God took him and In Hebrews 11 5 elaborates by faith
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Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death It was not found because God had taken him for before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased
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God What we see here is a conscious continuous experience of walking with God and Then suddenly finding ourselves in God's immediate presence
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Question how is Enoch's experience different from ours? Enoch's experience is different in two ways
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First of all there was no body to bury Hebrews 11 5 tells us he was not found meaning his physical body was not found
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We also know this was true of Elijah's death as well some of you may remember that Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire in second
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Kings 2 and The story continues on in second Kings 2 16 when the sons of the
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Prophet begged Elisha to send out 50 young men they told Elisha look now
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There are 50 strong men with your servants. Please send them out and search for your master That but lest perhaps the
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Spirit of the Lord has taken him away and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley And he said you should not send anyone
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But they pressured Elisha so that he finally let them go to see whether Elijah or at least his body could be found somewhere close by where it would have been deposited from that whirlwind from heaven
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There's a time there was a tornado years ago, and we found in our front lawn a mitten
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Who knows where it had come from it came from that tornado somewhere somebody's house Blew apart and here was a mitten that landed in our front yard, and so they're thinking well
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Maybe Elisha's body's like that somewhere But as you some of you know the answer to that question
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Elijah's body was never found Second difference between Enoch and us is that Enoch's life was apparently characterized by an exemplary walk with God Every believer has a walk with God or they wouldn't be a believer, but there's something unusual and remarkable about Enoch's walk with God There's a question.
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What do you want to be remembered for a week and a day ago?
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Helen and I were at her cousin David's graveside service, and it took place in a family plot in a cemetery where there's a whole row of family gravestones and Each of these tombstones was engraved with a person's name individual ones each person's name birth year and death year but Cousin David had deliberately chosen to have something else written on his
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Glory to God This is what he wanted to be remembered for Grew up in a family that I'm gonna say was not you know there were some
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Christians in it But it was best a mixed family a mixed marriage mixed everything and there was
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But this is what he wanted to be remembered for glory to God God tells us here in our text in Genesis 5 what he wants us to remember about Enoch.
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He walked with God This is the single best way of summing up his life
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What does it mean to walk with God? Our goal this morning is to focus in the description of Enoch walking with God in Genesis 5 22 and 24
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Verse 22 after he begot Methuselah Enoch walked with God 300 years
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Notice that phrase 300 years. That's a long time isn't it? And had other sons and daughters
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Notice the phrase 300 years Verse 24 Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him.
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I Know what you think about other translations new living translation translates this last verse Genesis 5 24 is
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Enoch walked in close fellowship with God Then one day he disappeared because God took him
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Eugene Peterson's message Bible translation of Genesis 5 24 is that Enoch walks steadily with God and One day he was simply gone
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God took him It's also remember that this phrase walking with God is explained for us in Hebrews 11 5 is
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Enoch having pleased God Question wants to think about what does it mean for us to walk with God or to please him?
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Certainly, this was Enoch's experience. What does it look like in our lives? Here wants to think about the illustration of Psalm 23.
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This is an illustration of David 23rd Psalm makes a clear connection between walking and living the
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Christian life We see in verse 4 even though I walk use that same verb through the valley of the shadow of death
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I will fear no evil fear are with me your rod and your staff. They comfort me David's talking about his relationship with God in verse 1 when he says the
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Lord is my shepherd And because of that he can say I shall not want What David thinks about God he thinks about how
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God is like a shepherd who provides for his sheep He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters.
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He restores my soul He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake Walking involves all the intimacy with God described here
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Symbolically as lying down in green pastures and walking along still waters
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David immediately elaborates on this and tells us that walking with God means being led along in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake
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So in a sense we do the walking God does the leading But we're following New element is introduced in verse 4 of Psalm 23.
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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you're with me your rod and your staff. They comfort me
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Here I believe the imagery of the shadow of death can refer to any dark or scary experience God allows into the lives of his people
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Sometimes many of us imagine the land of Israel is one continuous expanse of green pastures and still waters just kind of a continuous
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Garden of Eden kind of thing those of us who have been to Israel know that's not true on the whole
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It's more of a dry barren rocky land with only occasional places of green pasture and still waters
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Separated by dark canyons and with all kinds of potential dangers The Good Shepherd knows where he's going.
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The Good Shepherd knows where he can find pasture for his sheep He knows where he can find water for his sheep.
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And so does our heavenly Good Good Shepherd We shouldn't be surprised that God leads us through various valleys the shadow of death
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Those of us who are here today have gone through any number of difficult experiences or what we could call valleys the shadow of death
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Where we had to die to ourselves and many of our hopes and dreams Paul warns us of this in Philippians 1 29
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I want to read Philippians 1 29 for it's been granted to you that for the sake of Christ You should not only believe in him but also suffer for his for his sake
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Many of us think that maybe half the verse is enough for it's granted to you
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That for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him But guess what he continues on and says but also suffer for his sake
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That suffering is part of the Christian life as well as believing in Christ Philippians, excuse me,
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Psalm 23 continues on David reminds us It's ultimately about believers and not literal sheep at all
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Language changes in the final two verses from animal husbandry to God's relationship with human beings living in a right relationship with himself
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You prepare me a table you prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows
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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
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David's not talking about literal sheep sitting at a table. He's talking about human beings and that was the theme of the whole psalm
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God is preparing a heavenly banquet for his people. But at the same time God also Reminds us there'll be dark scary places along the way as well as green pastures and refreshing still waters before we safely arrive home in glory
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These difficult places include all kinds of experiences. One of these is physical death, but there's far more than that But our lesson here today is if we're prepared for life, we're also prepared for death
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Whenever and however, it may come the flip side is if we're not prepared for life, we're not prepared for death either
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The secret is both to both living well and dying. Well is found in the phrase walking with God Or pleasing
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God as Hebrews 11 phrases it But a focus on three aspects of walking with God that stand out to me as I think about this topic
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Imagery of walking together clearly suggests first of all a personal relationship with God Language of walking with someone suggests that we know the other person there's a close and definite relationship between us
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We all know if we're out walking it's possible to bump into someone, you know Unexpectedly or it's possible to meet someone for the first time you can even stop and chat with them for a few minutes
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You might even discover that your paths correspond with each other for a short period of time
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But these kind of chance encounters are not what we normally mean when we speak about walking with another person
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We assume a personal relationship Where we know that other person and are in a definite relationship with them
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In particular the expression walking with God suggests what's sometimes described in Scripture as a covenant relationship
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Here with the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah how he describes this covenant relationship in Genesis Excuse me in Jeremiah 31 33
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For this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord I will put my law within them and I'll write it on their hearts and I will be their
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God and they shall be my people It's what a covenant relationship is all about God becomes our
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God we become his people we enter into a covenant relationship with him
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Covenant relationship most of us are most familiar with is marriage Marriage begins with a public commitment to each other
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Often we use words like I take you to be my wedded wife or husband Covenant like commitment in marriage is a promise to each other that involves all kinds of commitments that we make to each other
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For example my in my wedding vows. I made with Helen I promised I Brian take you
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Helen to be my wife to have and to hold from this day forward for better for worse for richer for poorer
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Sickness and in health to love and to cherish until death does us part Marriage involves a commitment
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Theology of marriage reminds us that we should expect certain parallels between marriage and our covenant relationship with God Marriage begins with a commitment to each other our relationship with God begins with a commitment to God where we commit ourselves to him
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To be our God Accept what he has done for us in Christ and commit ourselves to be his people This is part of what it means for God to be our
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God and for us to be his people This is what's described here in our passages scripture in terms of Enoch walking with God He's entered into a personal relationship with God.
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It wasn't the process of living out that relationship Biblically we know that God is the one who invites us into that kind of a new relationship with him and God is the one who has made this new relationship possible through the life and death of his son
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Jesus Christ Walking with God is simply another description we find in the Bible for living out this new relationship with God So for a child with God we can say we're walking with him
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But there's still something remarkable about Enoch's walk with God Enoch was walking with God in a way
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Was the single thing that best summed up his life This is what made
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Enoch the man that he was he walked with God Second thing about walking with God lesson from walking with God.
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There's a common life direction or goal When we're walking with someone else not only on the same road with them, but we're also headed in the same direction
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Going to the same destination walking at the same pace We can meet all kinds of people on this journey we call life
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But unless we're headed in the same direction and going the same place and endeavoring to walk at the same pace
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We'll never go very far together with them Certainly we really can't walk together with someone unless they're headed in the same
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Destination and have a common understanding of how we're going to get there The Old Testament prophet
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Amos described this reality this way in Amos 3 3 can two walk together unless they be agreed
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There's a popular saying that all roads lead to Rome actually, this saying that all roads lead to Rome seems to Originate more in the medieval times.
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It's a proverb that Had developed and this saying means that all choices methods and actions eventually lead to the same result
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Now we go back to ancient Roman times. This statement had a literal meaning Roman Empire had an advanced system of roads and all the major roads led to the capital
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We can debate how accurate this statement is about all roads leading to Rome in the ancient world But certainly we need to recognize that this
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Roman road system was one of the amazing Engineering feats of its day there had never been a road system like that before But hopefully we know it doesn't work spiritually all religions do not lead to the same destination
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One of the main themes in scriptures ultimately there are only two ways Proverbs 16 25 tells us
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There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death. So there's always a right way in a wrong way
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Jesus describes this reality this way in the Sermon the Mount in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14
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Enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction And there are many who go in by it
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Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life and there are few who find it On another occasion
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Jesus said in John 10 verse 9. I'm the door if any enters by me He will be saved and went and out find pasture
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The bottom line is that we need Jesus Jesus is the one who said in John 14 6.
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I'm the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me Now we know from the rest of Scripture that none of us begin by nature in a proper relationship with God David tells us for example in Psalm 14 verses 2 and 3
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The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of man to see if there are any who understand who seek
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God They've all turned aside. They've together become corrupt. There's none who does good.
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No, not one in the New Testament Paul quotes this verse and this is his Summary in Romans 3 11
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No one understands. No one seeks for God We can't walk with God unless we have first come into a right relationship with him
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It's only through the gospel and any of us can enter into a right relationship with God Salvation and new life are always by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone
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Accepting Christ as Savior places us on a new road of walking with God third aspect of Walking with God is there's a growing intimacy
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We all know from elsewhere in Scripture. Our relationship with God is not a relationship between two equals.
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God's very different from us one of the most basic teachings of Scripture is that God is
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God and we are not an Awareness of God's greatness and majesty is always one of the first steps in coming to know him
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None of us can ever know God unless we first know something about him New life always begins when
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God opens our eyes to see there's more to life than we initially thought But think with me again about our biblical character for today
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Enoch. How much Scripture did Enoch know? Even the very earliest
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Old Testament books were written thousands of years after his time So we don't know what he might have known
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Even though Enoch lived the seventh generation his life still overlapped with many of his forefathers including
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Adam and possibly Eve Helen and I have four children. We have eight grandchildren put them together.
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Here's three generations Maybe the day will come when we have great -grandchildren if we live long enough that we make four generations
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How's that for a sobering thought is sobering to me at least? But we need to remember that people live far longer in the earlier years of biblical history
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Get out your calculator and look at the length of time these early generations live Adam lived an amazing 800 years after he gave birth to Seth according to Genesis 5 4
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According to my calculations Enoch would have lived two -thirds of his life before Adam had died
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So we don't know what information about God Enoch might have known But I'm sure that Adam and Eve would have had some interesting informative and important stories that share
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Certainly we can all know something about God simply by looking at creation David tells us in Psalm 19 1 heavens declare the glory of God the firmament shows his handiwork
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We can also also know something about God by looking at how he's created humanity in his own image and likeness
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We can look at how God has made us David tells us in Psalm 139 I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well
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My frame was not hidden from you When I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth
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Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book They were all written the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them.
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How precious are your thoughts? Oh Lord, how great is the sum of them? So two initial sources of revelation about God our creation in general and how he has made us deep down inside as human beings and Both of these clearly point us the existence of God Truth of the matter is
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God has his people in every generation. He does whatever he needs to draw them to himself He did this in Enoch's life even before scripture was written
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After all God is the one who takes the initiative. He draws us into a relationship with himself We talked earlier about covenants relationships in our relationship with God that can be described as a covenant relationship
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We can also see the parallel to traditional marriage In traditional marriage
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God has designed as God has designed it. It's a man who takes the initiative and proposes
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It's a woman who responds to that proposal Just like God is the one who takes the initiative in our salvation and we're the ones who respond to him
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Many times people are so preoccupied with their own thoughts and feelings when they come into a savoring relationship with God It's easy to imagine that we're the ones taking the initiative and deciding to become a
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Christian It's only as we get further along in our relationship with God that we discover that God was there all along He was just drawing us into a relationship with himself
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But my point here is simply that a covenant relationships involve both the beginning and a going on God takes the lead in both
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Covenant relationships like marriage or our relationship with God begin with a commitment to each other and Then go on to a living out of that relationship
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Proper covenant relationship with God involves a life of obedience and commitment to him Just like marriage is far more than a wedding ceremony and a relationship with God involves far more than Praying a prayer or walking down the aisle of a church
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Both involve a relationship with another person our spouse and marriage or entering into a right relationship with God in terms of becoming a
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Christian And then just as marriage involves a focus on another person our commitment to God involves a relationship with him
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We come more and more to enjoy and delight the same things that God enjoys and delights in We grieve over the same thing that God grieves over We develop similar interests and values as a part of our walking with God if we're truly walking with God we have the same destination the same goal that God has for us and one way of looking at what it means to walk with God and Is to focus more and more on his glory.
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This is what life is ultimately about it's about God and his glory Many of us know the first question and answer in the
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Westminster Shorter Catechism What's the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify
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God and enjoy him forever Some of us may possibly have read a Jonathan Edwards book title is a dissertation concerning the end for which
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God created the world I'll be honest with you It's not an easy read But it does clearly point to the reality that God has a goal for everything
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He created this world for a purpose and guess what that purpose is his glory God's Not only created this world.
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He's also continuing to work out his plan through his providence and Again, he has the same goal his glory
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Scripture highlights the same conclusion Colossians 1 16 for example tells us for by him this talking about Christ all things were created that are in heaven and on earth
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Visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him
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The question I want to ask you. Do you know why God created you? This verse is clear
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Colossians 1 16 Not only were you created by Jesus Christ, but you were created for Jesus Christ That is the purpose of your life is for Jesus Christ For his glory.
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The only way we'll ever experience meaning and purpose in life is to discover the reason God Created us
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Christ created us and the answer is his own glory. How can you prepare for death?
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The only way any of us can ever live a new life in Christ is to die to ourselves Learning to walk with God always involves a dying to ourselves
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Jesus said in Luke 9 23, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me
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Paul makes the amazing statement in Galatians 2 20. I've been crucified with Christ It's no longer
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I who live but Christ who lives in me in the life, which I now live in the flesh I live by faith the
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Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me How does Galatians 2 20 become a reality for us?
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Only as we're brought into a relationship with Christ. It's often described theologically as a union with Christ God in his grace takes us and brings us into an eternal relationship with his
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Son So when God looks at us, he sees us clothed in Christ's righteousness.
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He sees us in a union with Christ Language of Galatians 2 20 is that we've been so placed in Christ That it's like we were crucified with him.
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I was crucified with Christ Paul tells us There's a spiritual sense in which we're no longer alive as separate and unrelated
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Individuals Christ has come into our lives. He lives within us. I Preached a message different place a few weeks ago how the
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Christian life is all about Christ living in us And he comes into our personalities.
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We're still individuals We still have our own personality, but somehow something is new and different Christ is living deep down inside us
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And yet Paul continues we're still alive here in this present life But the life that we now live in the flesh we live it in a new way
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We live it by faith the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me So here's a key application of our lesson in Enoch's life
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It's only as we discover what it is to die to ourselves that we can learn what it is to live in Christ The more we die to ourselves in our daily lives the more prepared we will be to die that final time
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When God calls us home to be with human eternity How we live determines how we will die
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Some of you may have heard of the Heidelberg Catechism First question is
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What is your only comfort in life and in death many times? I begin a day by asking myself that question.
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What's your comfort in life and in death today and The first answer begins that I with body and soul both in life and death am not my own but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ Application is clear.
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My body is not my own. It's a gift given me by God It's also something I've dedicated to the Lord But it's ultimately his to begin with my soul is not my own it belongs to Christ My life is not my own it belongs to Christ the timing and circumstances of my death are not my own they belong to Christ Walking with God involves among other things giving him control over my body and soul my life and my death or the language we've been talking about here in this section dying to ourselves and our own self -centered desires and Living a new life of walking with God What are some of the tools we need to grow in this grace of walking with God?
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Most of you already know the means of grace that you can use to walk in your to grow in your walk with God going to make a short list of Four of these here to begin with first exposing yourself to good preaching and teaching no surprise here
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For me this also in this always includes not only worshiping and fellowshipping with other believers regularly
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But also reading good God -centered books and listening to God -centered preaching and teaching online
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The other day I was reading a book is entitled going downward the path of to Christ exalting humility by someone
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I never heard of before Nick Thompson Reminded me there's nothing more meaningful or exciting in life than a relationship with Jesus Christ Sometimes we kind of already know this but still it's important to be reminded of us reminded of that He quotes
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John Murray who tells us there's no communion among men that is comparable to fellowship with Christ He communes with his people and his people commune with him in conscious reciprocal love
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Read it again. There's no communion among men that's comparable to fellowship with Christ He communes with his people and his people commune with him in conscious reciprocal love
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Many of us have only begun to experience the depth of God's love for us If you're hungry for more ask
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God to help you see more of his love for you second regular daily feeding on God's Word Longing for the pure spiritual milk of God's Word is 1st
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Peter 2 2 tells us like newborn infants Number of newborn infants here in the church family so that you may grow up into salvation
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Ask God to help you understand what you read and to know more about him God's Word is the primary way by which he reveals himself to us
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Third developing a habit of God -centered prayer life both individually and a regular basis with others
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Paul admonishes us to pray without ceasing ask God to help you grow in this area of Praying That it'd be something that is a
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Characteristic of our life Fourth growing in personal obedience to all known commands and instructions.
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We need to be doing what God tells us to do But this morning I want to focus briefly on three other means
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Some that are a little less traditional than what I've shared so far The first challenge to making our walk with God a priority is how we use our time
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We need to value our relationship with God with above everything else we do Some of you have already discovered that having a
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God -centered marriage and family takes time and energy Message for today is that growing this area walking with God also takes time and energy
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We need to make our relationship with God the number one priority in our lives Nothing more important that we can do in our day
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Than taking time to nurture our walk with God And even as I say this
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I know that at least some of you have demanding high -pressure jobs and family responsibilities
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Life is not always easy But still my challenge is to make your walk with God a priority in your life ask
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God for wisdom and creativity How to grow in your walk with him Second challenge is to encourage all of us myself included to have regular daily fellowship with others practice of exhorting one another every day as Hebrews 3 13 tells us to prevent us from being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
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We all need regular daily reminders the goodness and grace of God Certainly, we know stories of Christians living in isolated situations.
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Maybe they're in prison for their faith Don't have regular fellowship with others We can believe that God gives them special grace.
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I remember my daughter told me thought of someone she met in the country of Turkey Never once had been at a church fellowship.
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Never once had met another Christian Are people isolated like that? But God's plan is for us is that we gather together
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God wants us to be in relationships with others so that we're both on the giving end as well as the receiving end of Exhorting one another
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I Would say that we need regular daily Relationships with three different kinds of people not necessarily all three every day, but at least three on a regular basis
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First of all, we need relationships where we're With others that are spiritually further along than we are and that we can learn from them
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Second we need people who are not as far along spiritually as we are This includes both the lost and those who are struggling and their fellow believers
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We can challenge them and teach them more about God in his ways Third we need our spiritual peers so that we can encourage and exhort one another
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Some of you may have attended the bowl of conference. I know at least some of you did and Stuart Aliot Commented that his wife died in 2017
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So he's now living by himself and he finds this practice of exhorting one another daily
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It's harder now that He's a widower But he still makes the point to seek out relationships with other believers for mutual encouragement every day
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Third challenge is triggered by the theme of the week Thanksgiving as we look at the
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Thanksgiving Day later this week Being thankful in scripture is something far more than simply reciting off a list of things that make us feel good and comfortable as we set
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Around the table this coming Thanksgiving Day Being thankful Involves our confidence in the sovereignty and goodness of God in all the details.
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He providentially brings into our lives Life is often hard Week or two ago a fellow
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Christian was diagnosed with bladder cancer Thankfully saw this as a fresh opportunity to share Christ with the medical staff he would meet during his cancer treatment
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Then as I was preparing this message, I received a phone call from someone telling me if there will be a number of layoffs
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Where he works? So for a lot of people life is not always easy.
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I Guess what God still calls us to be thankful Being thankful reminds us of the sovereignty of God.
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It reminds us of God's providence reminds us that God is God And he calls us to trust him
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There's a verse a couple verses 1st Thessalonians 5 verses 16 through 18 Rejoice always pray without ceasing everything give thanks.
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This is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you Rejoicing praying and giving thanks are simply aspects of walking with God After all how can we walk with God and not be excited about him and about what he's doing in our lives
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Bow with me in a word of prayer Our Father give us grateful hearts as we worship you today
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Give us hearts that recognize your sovereignty over our lives. Give us hearts that desire you about above everything else
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Teach us all more and more what it means to walk with you here in this present life So we might enjoy your presence for all eternity