Sermon Central
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A Believer’s Walk-1 Series
Contributed by Shine Thomas on Nov 12, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: When a person comes to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the new creation has come and the old has gone. Then, there is a certain level of progress and quality of life that God expects from us.
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Introduction:
When a person comes to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the new creation has come and the old has gone. Then, there is a certain level of progress and quality of life that God expects from us. How is your walk with the Lord today? Is there progress in your spiritual life from when you were saved?
In 1 Thessalonians 4 & 5, Apostle Paul talks about practical Christian life. Paul is asking us to walk to please the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech (beseech means beg) you, brethren, and exhort (exhort is stronger than encourage, to command) you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
Paul says, on one side I am begging you but I am also commanding you to walk to please God. In speaking to the Colossian church Paul said: Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Our Christian life is compared to a walk with God. God walked with man and woman in the garden everyday in the cool of the day. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. Abraham told his servant to walk before God. Here in the NT Paul is telling us walk to please God. How is your walk with the Lord?
Just imagine a child growing up and learning to walk. He or she just does not walk straight away. It takes time to walk isn’t it? We too need to advance spiritually to walk with Christ.
Requirements for a good Christian walk.
a. Walking requires life.
Dead people cannot rise up and walk. Many people try to walk spiritually but they cannot walk because they are dead. They go to church, then they get into the world and are dead in sins, and the next Sunday they try to rise up and walk again. If we need to have a good Christian walk, we need to be dead to sin and alive in Christ. We need to have the life of Christ always in us.
Colossians 2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him.
Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
b. Walking requires growth.
New born babies cannot walk! They are alive, but they don’t walk, because they have not yet grown.
1 Peter 2:2 Like new born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. We need to nurture in the word of God for a healthy Christian walk.
Listen, growing spiritually is not a process of gaining things you did not have before. When a baby is born it has legs already, but they have not grown strong enough to work, there is no coordination to use their muscles yet. God has already given you the capacity to walk in new ways, but you need to develop the strength and coordination to use what He has given to you. You need nourishment for growth and that comes from the word of God.
The moment you are saved you have the power source from God to start a new life, walk a new walk, beat that habit, holy living, prayer, Bible reading, to give tithes etc but you got to nourish it but obedience to the word of God and make it grow.
Now there are some things that can stunt your growth: Self-will and disobedience. When we say no to God we put a big block into God’s plan and it can affect our growth. When we say no to God, then it may take quite some time for God to respond back to us.
In Genesis 12 God asked Abraham to stay in Cannan but when the famine rose he by his own will went to Egypt. If you see Abraham got into real trouble there. Sarai was about to be taken by Pharoah as wife, God intervened. Then they came back to Cannan, Abraham prospered, prayed to God but God never spoke to Abraham. It was only after Lot separated and Abraham’s heart was so heavy that the Lord spoke again to Abraham.
Some believers probably do not find growth probably because they said no to God in some decisions of their life. Maybe they are still heading in a good direction, they are prosperous, but there is no spiritual growth. Remember God has not abandoned you, if when we disobey God is just to forgive but it may take time. Remember self will and disobedience can shunt our growth temporarily.
