Daily Walk
According to medical authorities, walking is one of the most profitable forms of physical exercise.
It stimulates the heart and lungs, strengthens the bones and muscles,
increases the blood flow throughout the body, and reportedly contributes to the loss of excess weight.
Because of its multiple values, Americans have been encouraged to leave their cars in the garage
and participate more frequently in the exercise of walking.
A Television commercial sometime ago reminded us that "walking makes the good life better."
Did you know that the average pair of feet take 7000 to 8000 steps a day;
about two and one-half million steps a year.
It makes you tired, doesn’t it?
That means that in a lifetime, you will walk approximately 115,000 miles.
The first man to walk around the world was a man by the name of David Kunst of Waseca, Minnesota.
He completed his historic walk on October 5, 1974, after walking 15,000 miles.
The trip required four and a half years, during which time David went through 22 pairs of shoes
and wore out two mules.
At the completion of his historic journey, an auction was held with eager bidders
paying $150 for his right shoe, $170 for his left shoe, and $140 for his remaining mule.
Most people find It neither appealing nor practical to be a David Kunst
and accept the challenge to hike around the world.
However, God wants us to understand that the Christian life Is a walk- a journey which requires
dedication, courage, and persistence.
It calls for self-surrender, a fully yielded life,
and an intense desire to please God rather than ourselves.
I think our daily walk is a very important aspect of the Christian Life, don't you?
You know what, just real quick bow your heads and close eyes.
No one looking around, I don't wanna embarrass anyone but I just wanna take a quick consensus.
By a show of hands how many of you would say “I believe in God and
I'm here to learn more about God and I desire to have a relationship with God”?
Okay, good.
You can open your eyes now.
Listen, I saw most of you raise your hands and so that means that most of you in essence believe in God,
desire to learn about God and have a relationship with him.
Now if that is the case then listen close to what we are going to be talking about tonight.
The title of tonight's message for you guys is called “Daily Walk”
and, your daily walk with God is what we are going to be talking about tonight,
in other words how you live and in essence how behave in your personally life
how you are at school,
how you are when your on the block with your friends,
how you are with your parents and siblings,
and does how you live, behave and how you really are, does it reflect God to others at all times.
1. Flee from unrighteousness
in other words, to Flee means to
run away from a place or situation of danger.
run , run for it, make a run for it, dash, take flight, be gone, take off, make a break for it, bolt, retreat, make a quick exit,
Flee for evil!
Lets' read 1 Timothy 6:11-12
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called
and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
I want you to think for a moment about some bad things you could get into
or bad behavior that you could portray, that doesn't reflect God.
Think about how you treat others are you selfish and self centered
think about how you relate to others and what you portray
are you always trying to fit in with the quote “cool kids” or be that quote “cool kid” by doing the wrong things
by using the shock factor you know how bad can I portray myself to look cool,
let me cuss someone out, let me shoot the bird in a picture, let me just act a fool and be disrespectful
but God's word says flee those things, run away from them and pursue righteousness.
Pursue Godliness, faith, love,and patience and gentleness
we need to step our game up be the “new cool” which is living the way that God intends for us live
the old cool is wack!
we gotta be a light in the dark world
when we leave this Church, we are entering into to battle against evil and unrighteousness
2. Fight the Good Fight!
Look at verse 12 again it's says fight the good fight of faith
now are we fighting the “GOOD” fight if we are disrespecting our parents or our teachers
are we fighting the “GOOD” fight if we are disrespecting each other
if we say we love God and desire to have a relationship with him and if we know what's right and what's wrong
then we are in a fight!
And it's not going to be easy, a fight never is
listen when these Pro Boxers are training for fight, it takes a lot of work
theses guys work there body and minds and the prepare for the fight
some hardcore training for a sport would kinda look like this
*Watch This
now how does that translate into spiritual training?
You say Jared How am I supposed to get prepared for the fight?
1st of all you need to pray without ceasing
in other words be in constant communication with God
talk to him, he's listening.
2nd of all you need to be reading his word
and even some age appropriate devotionals/reading materials that help you understand his word
and 3rd of all you need to be here at the Church as often as you can
I'd even say you should strive to be here every time the doors are open
it's a fight, a battle, a war that's going on with the sin in the world
and if you don't want to pulled down and you want to pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love patience and gentleness
then Just do It!
Let's look at the word pursue
the word pursue means to follow (someone or something) in order to catch it or them.
Or to follow, run after, chase
Pursue means in a persistent way.
To chase, run after, go after;
seek to attain or accomplish (a goal), especially over a long period.
strive for, work toward, seek, search for, aim at/for, aspire to
so that's what it means to pursue righteousness & Godliness
and that's how we train to fight the good fight.
3. We are Called
look at the the end of verse 12 it says to which you were also called and have confessed
the good confession in the presence of many witnesses
think about this, how does your testimony look to others?
a testimony is the evidence or proof provided by the existence or appearance of someone or something.
Does your appearance reflect Christ and what he's done for you
does your daily walk provide evidence that you believe in God,
that you desire to learn more about him and desire to have a relationship with him?
It says here that we are called
in other words our calling
our strong urge toward a particular way of life
should reflect in our daily walk
and we should be an example to others and a light in this world
we need to be different
and it's okay, people may say “oh wow your just a punk or a goodie or whatever”
so what!
you serve the God who created the universe and everything in it!
Don't falter, don't let evil over take you!
Train hard, Stand Strong, Pursue Righteousness and Flee Unrighteousness
and I will close with these 2 encouraging passages of scripture
Deuteronomy 5:33New King James Version (NKJV)
33 You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you,
that you may live and that it may be well with you,
and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Colossians 3:23New King James Version (NKJV)
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
you see everything that we do should be to glorify God
we can't do that if we're not living for him and behaving accordingly
we need to glorify God and also share with others the good news about Christ
about how Jesus died for our sins and he is risen
and God did all of this, because he loves us!!
