# 2 Learn To Walk With God Series

What inspires you? What breathes life into you? That is an important question!

Those without inspiration cannot make a maximum impact on the world of which they are a part! We considered the story of Gideon, a timid farmer whom God found hiding from the enemies of Israel. The Lord called him - “mighty warrior.” He was inspired to make a difference and went on in the new identity God gave to him to be a national deliverer!

· If you’re a mother, perhaps as you heard last week’s message the Lord stirred up a vision in you of being more than the person who washes your kid’s clothes and fixes her meals. Maybe you started dreaming of being a Maximum Impact Mom who raises godly children. Perhaps God said, “Mighty Mom, set high standards for your kids. Cause them to desire to live with excellence, so that they will leave your care someday to make a real difference in the world!” That’s a long-term dream – 18-21 years before you begin to see its realization. Without inspiration, you will soon settle back to the mess of a disorderly house, using TV as a cheap babysitter, and hoping merely to survive motherhood. The dream to be a great Mom will die under a pile of diapers and or emotional assaults launched by your rebellious teenager.

· Perhaps this week, God began to ask you to pray boldly on behalf of others; and wants to help you develop a life of prayer that is more than mumbled petitions in the morning and before bed. One way to have a maximum impact is by praying in a way that touches people’s lives. That’s a big dream, and it will take lot’s of perseverance to bring it into reality. Without inspiration, you will quit praying passionately, settling for “Good morning, Lord” and “Thanks, Lord, for being there for me today. ‘Night, Amen.”

We need to hear God’s calling, we need to know who He is desiring us to be- a New Identity that starts by knowing Christ.

This morning, I want us to plug into the second idea that we need to understand about a life that makes a difference, lived for maximum impact: We must learn to walk with God! Another way to say that is that we need to know the sustaining personal Presence of God.

Abraham is a first-rate example of a man who walked with God.

TEXT- Genesis 12:1-10 READ

Isn’t that amazing? For the rest of his life, Abraham lived in an ongoing conversation with God. Did he always get it right? No! Did he misunderstand God from time to time? Sure did! Did he always do what God asked him to do? No, but he loved God enough to change course and get back where He wanted him to be!

There are two very important questions that every Believer who wants to live for God must answer:

· Is God really PRESENT?

· Does He interact with us in our daily lives?

Millions of Christians know about God, but they do not really know God! They could pass a test on Bible knowledge, discuss ethics from a Christian worldview, but they do not walk with God as a Friend and Helper!

Theologians discuss the Presence of God using two big words — Transcendent and Immanent.

God is Transcendent meaning that He is distinct from His creation. To over-simplify, as Christians we clearly believe that God made a tree, but we do believe that He is a tree! He this universe and HE rules OVER it. If we over-emphasize the transcendence of God in our theology, we become Deists who believe He is ‘out there somewhere.’

God is Immanent meaning that He is involved with His creation, actively loving, directing, and sharing with those He has made. The Bible is largely a story of God’s work with those He created. Beginning with Adam, God sought to be with us. He came to us, was born a baby, and lived with us– Jesus Christ, our Immanuel- “God with us.” When Jesus ascended to the Father, he promised He would not leave us alone, but would send another Counselor, not only to be with us, but to be “in us.” Finally, He said that He would receive us to Himself so that we could live in His house forever!

Dallas Willard helps us with these two ideas by comparing God’s relationship to Creation with our own relationship to our bodies!

• Jerry Scott is distinct from his body. When his body dies and returns to the elements of which it is made, Jerry Scott will live on, not just in the memory of his kids, but with God, as a real person with individual identity. This is basic Christian doctrine.