Walking By Faith - Part 1

Welcome to the intensified gas to town Stanley for Wednesday, March 2 that isn't a guarantee that life will be submitted. There is a promise that the board will always be with those who trust in our series going strong in faith continues with part one of walking by faith.

There is one area of the Christian life that all of us fail and not once but very burial and the result is that we feel discouraged, we feel insecure. Oftentimes, we feel depressed people feel all kinds of things. As a result of failing in this one area you say what what in the world kind of mistake is that one that I make one that you make that all of us make and we all ought to know better, but somehow we do it. I want you to turn if you will. The Colossians chapter 2 in Colossians chapter 2 Paul says in one verse one phrase here he gives us the key to what we are talking about. And in this particular phrase he gives us the way.

Also that you and I are to live a Christian life and what is that mistake we make Willis read this second chapter and read the first 10 verses of your remember now that Paul is writing to the Colossian believers and there are all kinds of pain, empty philosophers that are being perpetrated upon the church and grandma Paul established the church, someone would try to come along and some a different kind of theology and just cause confusion. The church and so he writes and begins by saying in verse one by want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who at Laodicea for all those who have not personally seen my face that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery that is Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive arguments for even though I am absent in body.

Nevertheless, I'm with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed in overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ, for in him that is in Jesus all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form and in him you have been made complete and he is the head over all rule and authority to give you in verse six as you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Now listen carefully, because here is a very very important word from God. He commands us as you receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

So walk in him that was a look at this word walk for just a moment because this is the word that Paul uses to describe the Christians behavior and his condo as you notice if you can, for example, if you read the throughout the epistles.

Here's what you'll find Paul saying things like this. He says in second chapter of Ephesians chapter 3 talks about you and hopefully resave used to walk according to the course of this world that is in their lifestyle, their behavior, their conduct, then he talks about walking according to the flesh walking as children of God walking in wisdom walking in the spirit walking in love. Paul uses many phrases to describe our then John in his little epistles first second third John. He talks about walking in light walking in darkness walking in truth walking according to the commandments of our Lord. Paul says, for example, one occasion walking worthy of the one whose callers walking according to the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the term walk is a term that they use to describe our conduct in our behavior as a believer and so he says in this passage.

If you'll notice as you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him.

Now the question is how are we to walk that you notice he says in this passage, he says. So walk in him. What does he mean by walking in him well. He says when you are not trusted Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. We began a relationship. This relationship is a vital union that exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer so he says in this passage that you and I are to walk in him I will talking about a continuous.

That is when a person is walking at that they're moving, there's action. You can't walk and stand still and the believer cannot walk in Christ and standstill when either going backwards in our Christian life away going forward. We do not stand still, so this is one of Paul's terms here and if you Lotus for example, that in the book of Ephesians again I he will use the term in him, in whom, in Christ in the Lord. This is his way of describing our relationship. In fact, you could probably take all of Paul's theology and wrap it up in that phrase in Christ or in whom are in him because that's the way he saw life and the thing that God desires for all of us is not suited to forgive us of our sins, but to develop a relationship. A personal relationship with him. And so when Paul uses this term of walking in him. This is what he's talking about.

He's talking about this vital relationship as seeing the Lord Jesus Christ as the source of everything. For example, you and I cannot live without blood and without air in our lungs and so Jesus Christ is for the believer. What the blood is through our body with the areas throughout lungs that is we have eternal life. We have Christ life inside of us that is through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have been sealed as children of God we have divine life within us and so he says as you receive the Lord Jesus Christ. So walk in him. Most of us were saved and we understood at that moment that we were saved by faith. But somebody most of us would have to say that no one told us now that you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith.

That's the way you will you just to put your trust in him daily for everything, but most of all is this article probably had to decide because nobody instructed us that now that I trusted him by faith as my Savior and want to stay saved by God to perform in a certain way my behavior and conduct has the right some kind of the legalistic up a formula that nobody knows what it is anyway and so we were probably frustrated.

Most of our Christian life and wondering if we were ever pleasing God and (people wonder if they're still saved because the are they have struggles with our doubts at times and so what Paul is saying His disease is a look billeted by lead you astray, mislead you by thinking that that these vein philosophies of men.

These elementary principles that they come up with these things you must do have to do it all to do and should do. Don't let that be a part of your thinking because just as you trust in Christ to save you. So walk in him. Our walk is to be the walk of faith, placing our trust in him daily. But whatever the need may be the Christian life is a walk of faith and he says the just shall live by faith with to walk by faith, we die by faith with saved by faith. The whole life is a life of faith and so he says we ought to walk by faith, placing our trust in him.

And so if someone should ask you will. How would you define how would you define the walk of faith. And I would simply say the walk of faith is this.

It is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which results in placing my trust in him. For every circumstance of life is enjoying a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which results in placing my trust in him for every circumstance of life which simply means I will trust him in every circumstance to do what is good for me what is best for me what is right for me every single solitary time no exception. And so what I want you to see is this, it is absolutely correct that it is not always easy to trust them. That's why we need something to help us to learn to trust him. And so this is what happens in this next verse, if you'll follow this and notice at the end of verse six is not. But, he says, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, walking him having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed in overflowing with gratitude and what he says here is Leslie says the command. First of all, is the walk by faith and secondly he said not, here's the conditions upon which that's going to happen, but if you notice he says here having been rooted in him now when he uses the word having been is the tense of the verb which means that something started in the past and is continuing, and so he says having been rooted is what is done using an agricultural term to describe a relationship with Jesus or his what he say he says that when you and I received Christ as our Savior.

We weren't listened we were planted in the eternal soil of the person of Jesus Christ in him. We began relationship with him.

And when we were planted there. Our roots grew down in the Christ. And so now we are rooted and grounded in our relationship with him. Now you know that when a plant or tree is is our planet, what does it do it sinks its roots them to the soil because from that soil and it has its nourishment. That's the way it grows and so what is he saying there was.

He says this is where you live by faith. You live by faith, by having some Q roots in the him from salvation.

You are continually on a daily basis doing what in every circumstance of life you are drawing your nourishment. Listen from the roots that have been sunk into the eternal soil of the person of Jesus Christ. Not only that a tree sinks its roots down deep, and what happens is rooted down deep, so when the wind blows and the storms come. What happens is stable because it is rooted in the soil and often times around the rock so that he says if you want to walk by faith.

You want to walk in that relationship with Jesus Christ you want God to make your life all that he wanted to be. He says then we must learn to walk the walk of faith walking in him and he says one of the things is necessary is that you and I be listed, rooted in the eternal soil of the person of Jesus Christ because it is from him. We drop nourishment.

It's like God placed the well on the inside of us that is ever flowing an ever-growing. He says these roots are in the person of Jesus Christ who is all sufficient to meet every single solitary the rehab regular network. He says not having been rooted and now being built up in him well.

He goes from agriculture to architecture these is being built up in him present in something that is going on now I think about this when you are not trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior. The Bible says in person in Chapter 11 that Jesus became the foundation of our life. The truth is you and I have been walking is not amenable to rehab or not.

You and I have been walking in the Christian life ever since the moment USA we may not of been walking in the right direction. We may have been walking in the proper direction we been walking that is we've been walking and we've been building on this foundation of Jesus Christ by our thoughts and motives and actions and RD unanswered question if someone built your foundation for a house that the that say it had 5000 ft.² and they said the unite here's the foundation it's all yours property is yours foundation Joe's it's all finished and sold on this side, there is the very finest of material on this side is poor quality stuff. This is cheap stuff.

Now don't last long in fact not very good to look at are not very lasting a difficult to work with but you know you have a choice on this side as you build upon your foundation you got top quality.

The best I mean the present someone else can walk in your home and be very proud to be impressed by what you put in this house the way you build this health on this side, you might be alone immediately close yet so now the foundation is built. All you have to do is to choose which side you want to go to what you want to build your house so that you want to build shabby stuff you want to build out the best. It is your choice, is what happened the moment you and I were saved. We began to choose the quality of materials that we would place in our house so that all of us in our walk all these years of your life since you been a Christian you been walking deleted walking in obedience to God, dissipated seven times in all of us have walking disabilities in the back in obedience. But we been placing in this life of ours. Those quality materials and those core materials that were maybe not so quality in our life, so that what we are today is a result of the choices we made down through these years since we were say you said a lot about those years before he was saved.

No, that's all right. When the blood of Jesus Christ. You got a brand-new foundation and new house, new spirit, new life, new destiny, a new Savior do not you. You have something new, and so you are new creation crises, but since that moment you not been placing this material in this house about so that we are today the result of our choices. And as we walk.

He says we are being built up now. In this passage of Scripture back to Colossians from over there.

He uses the term. He says here he says now not only have you been Brenda Rudy but he says being built up being built up and being built up. We have placed into this life. All kinds of going.

For example, when we pray, that is good quality stop when we read a list of the word of God that's good quality when we are sharing our faith good quality when we are serving the Lord some patient good quality when we are giving good quality within their all the negative things that we allow in our lives at times that all on the left side. This is poor quality, shabby stuff. They report in our life and so he says we are being built up. So in order to walk in faith in the walk in him and understand that I can trust him for everything. Whatever is is first of all, remember you been rooted in him, so what you will lose you what you want to draw from him. Those things that you have need of because he's the source of all and secondly on this foundation you want to build with those quality attitudes are those quality actions that will do what it will strengthen you then if you notice the third word uses. He says having been firmly rooted now being built up in him and established in your faith when he talks about the word here being established on in your faith. What is referring to here is the fact of being strengthened and made secure. That is not fixed and that we are secure in our relationship with him. And so as we become in our relationship with him in our fellowship with him. We spend more time with him. We begin understand more and more the word of God. What happened, we become more established we may become more understanding of who he is. We understand his ways and how he operates, what does that do that increases our faith.

So we talk about walking by faith trusting him everything. If I'm gonna trust them for everything listed. I must keep drawing. What I need from him. Building on this foundation of Christ. Those quality things that that I want in my life and being established being established. What, by fellowship and prayer in the word of God becoming stronger in my understanding of who is therefore stronger in my faith, so that when the winds of adversity blow they will not blow you off the path. Why because you rooted your foundation is the eternal rock of ages. The Lord Jesus Christ your established. You understand, God is working in your life, then notice the next word he uses here for he says that his having been rooted presently being built up continuously being established, and he says, just as you are instructed now what is referring to here is that a pepper is one of his associates had the I taught the Colossian Christians here and he knew that they had known the truth in her the truth and so he says having been instructed so if I'm going to be the counter person is able to walk in faith and trust the Lord Jesus Christ for everything that I need some instruction now listen carefully you are not going to trust somebody you don't know you not going to trust someone you don't know so therefore it is so very important.

If you are not going to walk in faith, walking him develop this relationship, trust, and for every single circumstance of life, we must know who is this that we are trusting now. So when somebody says well what what when you send the bridge. What's your motive. Just one simple thing is normal that God enriches and deepens and strengthens and build you up and makes you godly.

That's what this is all about and the reason I want to keep pulling up the ward and I repeat some things over and over and over again because I want you to hear what he say just as you trusted Jesus Christ as Lord. So trust him. Also in your walk walking and him living in him personal relationship Christianity is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior and beginning then all imported intimate, loving, walk with the same that's with the Christian life is all about. It is not simply forgiveness is a wall is a journey is a lie is an experience is relationship.

It is a vital union that you and I have the person of Christ. Thank you for listening to part one of walking by faith.

If you think you know more about Charles Stanley for intense ministries index data lighting. After the presentation of intense ministries Atlanta, Georgia