Walk With Him

WALK WITH HIM

The book of Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul, to the church in Colosse. This was a little different church than the norm. They were having problems with staying on track with serving God. Paul had never been to Colosse, but was hearing some strange reports of deception.

In the NIV version of chapter 2, verse 1 Paul said that he was “struggling” for them. They were doing something wrong, and Paul was responsible for them even though he had never been there.

So rather than giving them a stern word of correction, Paul chose to try and encourage the people.

(Sometimes a little spoonful of honey helps the medicine to go down.)

Likewise there are times when I am out of town that I too “struggle” with what is going on back home. I don’t want you to think that I don’t think about this family when I am away. The fact is I am often stirred by the Lord to pray for certain ones, or perhaps the entire church.

I believe this is healthy for each of us. We all should be –

• Concerned for each other when we go through our week at work, or at school.

• Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He causes you to “struggle” for your church family.

Text: Colossians 2:4 thru 6

Let me point out to those who may have a different translation for vs. 6. The Greek translation of the KJV phrase, “…walk ye in Him…” is a word that is too hard for me to pronounce.

It simply means to -

Tread all around, trample on, (and it kind of means) to live with or be occupied with.

You get the idea. But for the sake of this message, let’s all agree on the phrase, “Walk with/in Him.”

I want to try to explain to us more specifically how we can WALK WITH HIM. I believe this message is important for each of us in what each of us are going through.

Speaking to all - Many of us have received Christ as our Savior. As a result of this, we should understand that each of us has been given a set of godly values. The fancy-seminary word for these values is “doctrine”.

We find these values/doctrines printed for us on paper in our Bibles.

We have said many times they are not a list of rules and regulations.

I would prefer for us to consider them as an explanation of spiritual morals.

With Christ we are changed within our hearts for a natural desire for His values and morals.

With these values, or principles, or morals, we decide everyday whether or not we are going to abide in Christ.

We each (individually) have that right to make that choice. No one else can make those choices for us.

We make them on our own.

These godly values and spiritual morals determine how we live.

On the other hand, if we belonged to any other organization we would have a list of rules and regulations that we would have to abide by.

If we wanted to a part of that group or organization, we would have to abide by these rules and regulations.

In this life there are all kinds of rules and regulations for organizations.

There are also state and federal laws that we have to live by. We may not agree with some of those laws, but we still have to live by them.

If we do not abide with those laws, we will have to pay a fine or serve time in prison. Rules may not apply to some, but laws apply to everyone.

Whether we like it or not. That’s life…

So far, have I told you anything you didn’t already know? I’m just warming you up for the deeper stuff.

Consider this. You can buy a car, insure a car, and put gas and oil in a car. But honey when you crank it up and pull out on the street in front of your house, you have no choice but to drive that car according to the laws of the land. Something dramatically changes as soon as you pull that puppy out onto the asphalt.

No matter how much you wanna’ do what you wanna’ do, the state says you have to abide by the written law.

When it comes to being born again, this is where some have missed it with God. Let me explain.

A person will ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins and save them from an eternity in hell. And that’s good.

But sometimes that is where it stops.

In other words, they bought the car, the insurance, and the gas and oil. But they never committed themselves to what the state law requires for driving that car.