Walk as Jesus Walked — Joshua Daniel

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvelous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior.

From small villages to large cities, in many parts of the globe, through revival meetings, literature, radio, internet, and television, Joshua Daniel has been tirelessly laboring, trusting God to supply all that is needed.

Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turn into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you.

Walking as Jesus Walked

Burden that is upon my heart today is enshrined in the words of 1 John 2, 6. He that saith, He abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk as he walked. So to walk as he walked. I do not know how you characterize your present walk.

You know, the duties of the present day keep us very busy, and we have to accomplish these duties which make for normal life. But in the midst of that, we have to stop and say, am I walking as Jesus walked?

You know, when I read in one of these earlier magazines about the little boy, the shoeshine boy, who became the favorite shoeshine of a businessman, because he would do his work so well. So one day the businessman asked him, hey, what makes you to shine my shoes so well?

The boy looked up and he said, sir, I want to black or shine your shoe like it was the shoe of Jesus Christ. And the businessman could not forget this, and he turned to the Bible and began to study the word of God and turned to Christ.

So how much depends upon our doing things for Jesus and like Jesus? How much depends on us? But you know, there is a lot of history behind us also. There is some baggage that we all carry. It's not the best baggage.

Breaking Generational Patterns of Sin

If you turn to first Kings, the 15th chapter, first Kings 15 chapter and the third verse, you know, this speaks about the King Abijam. Now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, reigned Abijam over Judah.

Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Makah, the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David, his father.

Look at this. He walked in all the sins of his father. So what a responsibility rests upon fathers. You know, after these many years of dealing with people, I see a line of descent. Those traits that were in the grandfather are now to be found in the grandson.

If they were positive traits and powerful traits, then it would be wonderful. But very often it is the negative side. Here he says, he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him.

All right. Is there any sensible, loving father who says, I want my children to walk in all my sins and failures? I suppose I cannot find any such sane father. Any sane father would say, oh no. Let my sons leave my sons.

Let them walk in all the sins of my father. Let them walk in all my sins alone. Let them not touch my weaknesses. Let them be strong where I was weak. But that doesn't happen. That is wishful thinking.

Let them be victorious where I was defeated. No, that doesn't happen. The Bible records of this king, he walked in all the sins of his father. How terrible, how terrible. Some of our fathers may not be the best example of Christian righteousness and fruitfulness.

And we must say, fine, my father was a caring man. He took care of the family. He was a good provider. There are many good things. But some of these things, which are the way of my father, I will never tread that path.

You see, there is indifference here. There is indifference to the will of God. Suppose a father is weak in performing the will of God. Well, a child says, my father didn't do it, so I'll take my time maybe and eventually do it.

But there's nothing so urgent about it. See, my father used to put first God's kingdom. That's what my father did. And I am going to follow what Jesus said, seek first my kingdom and his righteousness.

Genuine Faith Beyond Sunday Religion

You know, religion has become a kind of superficial decoration. You know, it's like wearing some special clothes for Sunday morning. You know, in the old British days, people used to have two suits. One was the work, the suit which one wore to work.

The other was the Sunday best. They used to call it the Sunday best. So you wore your Sunday best only for Sunday or special occasions. You didn't have too many suits. As a matter of fact, I began very much like that.

Yes. So I wore my Sunday best one suit, which I could put on for some occasion. That's it. So religion has become just like that. You pull off that suit as soon as the event is over, the service is over, and then you become put on your normal clothing.

That's you. That's how you look and how you behave. You are in your old shabby, shaggy dress or clothes, you know. Now, in the sight of God, what is this present religion? I can't understand. If religion is not of the heart, it is not religion.

Suppose there is an engineer who is at the top of the class, but when it comes to the workplace, the man is incapable of translating his knowledge into concrete action. You want that engineer, do you think he'll hold his job even for a month?

No. But that is the religion of today. Something which cannot be applied to actual critical situations or even the ordinary workday world. What's the good of that religion? It's a false religion. And I'm afraid most of the church people today practice that kind of false religion, which does not impact history.

Faith That Transforms Society

You see, the nation is not being impacted. The nation is not even made aware of certain realities. When I think, you know, as I was just recording, you know, certain messages in England, and I think America is so young in comparison to England.

England has such a history. I said, the freedoms of England go back to Magna Carta, 1215, when the king had to grant certain freedoms to the peasantry. See, look at the old history of England. And then, here comes this little country, you know, with a few settlers, and outstrips Britain.

And outstrips the whole world, as it were. Well, people are not going to be very happy about it. You see, the normal heart doesn't say, wonderful America, you have done splendidly. No, they don't say that.

They get blue, they get green, they get yellow, they get jealous, they get furious. See, this new country has come, and it's going to be come along, and has outstripped us. You see, after all, if you look at the map, the British Isles are so tiny, and yet they ruled half the world, when there was greater obedience to God's word, and fear of God.

Today, that's gone. So, you can have fellows moving around you know, just out to plunder, to kill, gangs, in London, in the subways. Now, such a condition is coming upon this country as well. And what is wrong?

The religion of Sunday morning is not being translated into life, into action. It's not to be seen. It goes into hiding. And what good is that? All the sins of the fathers begin to come out in the workday world.

Jesus' Priority of the Father's Business

What are we going to accomplish that way? How sad! Now, dear friends, how do we walk as he walked? Now, if you turn to Luke, the second chapter, and the forty-ninth verse, you have the first utterance of Jesus Christ, recorded utterance of Jesus Christ, to his mother, who was searching for him.

And he said to her, I'm going to say unto them, how is it that you sought me? Don't you know, wist you not that I must be about my father's business? Father's business. At twelve years, the Lord Jesus Christ was only twelve years old when he said, must I not be about my father's business?

Must I not be doing the will of my father? Yes. Let us walk like him. We've got business to transact. Business to finish before this short life is over. Business. I must be about my father's business.

Overturning Worldly Values in Worship

Now, in doing his father's business, one of his first actions, we see in John's second chapter, John's second chapter, thirteenth verse, and the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Here he's going up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen, it says, found in the temple, oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money, city. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables.

Let us walk as he walked, you see, and how did our master walk? He overthrew, overturned that which just did not fit into God's presence. All right. Are we removing from our lives everything that does not match or fit into God's presence?

Yes, we are. Does it fit into God's presence? That's it. Does it fit into what Jesus says? Does it fit into what Jesus does? Does it speak of Jesus? Now, these oxen, they were there for the Passover feast, and they were the sheep and the doves, and the changers of money, and the cows, and all that business that went with sacrifices.

But the Lord Jesus saw that it was quite out of place. You know, we don't see certain things as being out of place today. The high commercialism in religion today, give me a higher paycheck, and I will become your pastor.

What? A paycheck is to determine where you're going to be or where you're going to preach? But on the whole, we don't have a higher paycheck. We don't have a higher paycheck. We see the very fact is money is practically controlling our whole way of life.

And what does Jesus do with those values? He made a scourge of small cowards. He drove them all out of the temple, the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables. You know, we have to be very careful.

Let us walk as He walked. Today there are things which we have to overturn. Now, that's not the way, you know. We have to be careful. One of the first things that people think of if they want to do something for God, they first think of money.

Conducting Ministry by Faith

Have I got the money? Well, you know, you're living on a paycheck, and therefore your whole thinking depends on budgeting your money in such a way that it falls within your affordability. But when you are doing things for the Lord Jesus, you have to act in faith.

So what we see in the Bible are acts of faith. The widow's two mites, a complete act of faith. You don't get put into the offer tree all the time. You don't get the money that you possess. How would you do that?

No, God will not be my debtor. God is going to take care of me more than my paycheck. It is God who takes care of me. You know, my friends, if we really began to walk as He walked, America would not be what it is today.

And as we give time to the Lord, time to the study of His Word and do His will, what a blessing we are going to be. Let us pray. Loving Father, we confess that we do not walk like Jesus. I certainly don't walk like Jesus.

Oh, my Father, not to give you just lip service, let us walk as He walked. Walking Christians are the desperate need of this hour. Those that walk straight, those that walk like Jesus. At school, at college, in the places of work, Lord, we want to walk as You walked.

In Jesus' holy name, amen.

This program is brought to you by the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International, an interdenominational missionary and prayer group working for revival around the globe. We invite every lay person to become God's ally in changing his or her corner of the world.

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