Pleasing God, Part 6

I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is you're still going to get your gift. Okay? The bad news is I'm not going to finish the series Pleasing God Tonight. You're not surprised, are you? I really tried. I really worked hard yesterday to finish it. It's not going to happen. But the plan now is to finish it on Sunday. And therefore, the people that come on Sunday will also receive the gift. Unfortunately for them, or I guess fortunately for them, I guess. But I want to finish the series.

I do. I want to finish it on Sunday. I think it's important. The gift is not anything big, it's just a simple bookmark on pleasing God. With the outline that you'll take with you, keep in your Bible. I will refer to this throughout the year and ask you to see where you are in your walk with the Lord and are you pleasing Him. And this book will be given to you on the way out this evening by the ushers as they stand at the door. But it 's a reminder that you have, and what you put in your Bible, keep it there.

And every night before you go to bed, do a little self-examination. Did I please God today? I mean, I can't think of anything greater in life than knowing that my Father in heaven was pleased with the way I lived my life. On this day. It's a self-accountability kind of thing. You need to be able to go through that every single day. And so we're going to give it to you. You can have it in your Bible. You can read it every day. You can review it. There's CDs available. You'll be able to download it from the internet.

You'll be able to hear it on the radio. But it's something that you need to remind yourself of every day. Am I pleasing God? Now, how do we know we're doing that? Well, on the screen, we tell you: you're proclaiming the message of the cross, right? That was the first thing we talked about.

Proclaiming the message of the cross. Number two, living a life of faith. Number three, exalting Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Number four, asking God for wisdom. That was last Wednesday. On Sunday, it was staying away from sexual sin. All those elements lead to the fact that I am living a life that brings pleasure. To the heart of my Father in heaven. And that's the way we should live our lives. It's our ambition, as Paul says, to please him. Because that's why we were created. Tonight, we want to give you the next point in our out, and simply this: im Christ pleases. The Lord God. Whenever you imitate Christ, you please your Father in heaven.

And t we're going to talk to you about how it is you do that. But you know, every one of us imitates somebody else. We're all mimics by nature. None of us. Ever do what we do because it's original with us. We do what we do because somebody else Has already done it. Somebody else has already said it. Somebody else has already accomplished it. We just make them. It's like Solomon said: Is there anything new under the sun? The answer: no. Somebody somewhere has already said it, already done it. We're just mimicking somebody else.

By nature, we're mimics. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11: im me as I imitate Christ. Follow me, mimic me. I'm going to mimic Christ. If you mimic me as I mimic Christ, you then in turn will mimic Christ. That's what we need to be doing. I preach the way I preach because in 1977, as a freshman in college, we had a speaker come. To a spiritual life week in February of that year. And as I was sitting there listening to this man preach every day in chapel, every night in chapel. I heard this man preach, and he was so unique, so different than everybody else.

I can't even remember his name. But you know what? His name wasn't important because he presented the name of Christ. And Christ was the emphasis of his message. And when he preached, he came right down from behind the pulpit. He came right down and talked to the students. Everything he said was personal. Everything he said was penetrating. Everything he said was powerful because it all centered on the Word of God. But he wanted to make sure that he could see the whites of the eyes of the students.

He wanted them to know that God was speaking to them. He didn't want to hide behind the pulpit. He wanted to come out and be right in front of the students. Well, I sat toward the back when I was a freshman in college. And so, what happened is that he would walk toward the back of the auditorium. And as he would walk and preach and speak and talk, he would look at different people.

He would point to them and talk to them. And, you know, it touched me in a very unique way. Because the message he gave was the message about Christ and following Christ with all that you had. Well, I knew I needed to follow Christ. I knew I needed to be sold out to Christ. I knew I needed to To give my life to Christ in such a way that. Whatever he asked me to do, I would do. But this man, as he began to preach, was so penetrating with his words because he used the word of God. And he held the Bible in his hand, like I do today.

He used no notes, like I do today. He just came, opened his Bible, he read verse after verse after verse. He closed his Bible, holding his hand. Point. He never took his Bible, put it on the pulpit, and walked away from the Bible. Didn't do that. He held the Bible always in his hand because the Word of God was central to everything that he said. I said to myself, That's how I want to communicate the word of God. I want to be able to communicate the word like that. I don't want to be a slave to my notes.

I don't want to be hiding behind a pulpit. I want to be able to separate every obstacle between me and the people that I might be there and talk to them. Personally, because I want to be their pastor. I want to be their overseer. I want them to know that I am concerned about them individually. And it doesn't mean the guys who stand behind the pulpit. Are not concerned about people. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that when that man was speaking, God used him in my life in such a way that I said to myself, I want to imitate that, I want to mimic that.

So, what I'm doing, I don't do just because it's original with me. It's because somebody else impacted my life. And that's the way we all live. We follow our parents. We do a lot of things our parents do. We do a lot of things our favorite teacher does. I used to roll my sleeves up a certain way because in high school we had a sociology professor who always rolled his sleeves up under. His shirt like this. And I thought to myself, well, that pretty cool. I'm going to start doing that. So I started doing that.

I thought, because he was just the coolest teacher we ever had in high school. I thought, man, that guy's awesome. I'm going do exactly what he's doing. We all mimic somebody. They make a profound impact on our lives, and we want to be like them. But ultimately, we need to be like Christ. We need to imitate Christ. Jesus said in John chapter 8, verse number 29: I always do those things that are pleasing. To him. The key word is always. I always do those things that are pleasing to him. In other words, the Lord Jesus.

Did everything he did to bring pleasure to his father in heaven. So we need to understand what he did. To bring pleasure to his Father in heaven. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 2, verse number 6.

Very familiar words. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. So if I say that I abide in Christ, that I remain in Christ, then I need to walk in the same manner, in the same way, with the same attitude that Jesus Christ him walked. So, if he lived his life to the pleasure of his father, he always did those things that were pleasing to his father. How he lived his life was the way that he walked, his daily conduct, his daily conversation. Therefore, I must imitate that daily walk.

If I say I abide in him, I remain in him, and he in me, then I need to be an imitator of the way Christ walked, do it the way he did it. So, how does that happen? Let me give you 12 principles.

Number one, you walk submissively. You walk sub. Remember in Philippians chapter 2, you know the verse. It says, If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any Fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit. Int on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.

Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others. Having this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But emptied himself, taking the form of a bonds, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee, should bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That great theological word, the kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ Himself, where He set aside His divine attributes in His incarnation that He might operate as 100% man. It wasn't that he'd lost his divine attributes. He just set them aside. He could take them up whenever he wanted to take them up, but he would set them aside. It's called the self-emptying of the Messiah. He emptied himself to become a man. He set aside those divine attributes that he might live life on this earth as you and I live life on this earth.

And that self-emptying. Is that submissive attitude that he had? That's the kind of life we need to live. We need to walk submissively, doing everything that our Father in heaven says. Christ says, I always do those things that are pleasing to him.

That is a submissive lifestyle. That's a lifestyle that says, I will do what Jesus say. You say, well, how do you do that? Well, look at Romans 6, verse number 4 with me for a moment.

Romans chapter 6, verse number 4. Paul says, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. In other words, we are walking in a new life. When we are saved, we are resurrected into a new life. The Bible says that we are a new creature in Galatians 6.

We are a new creation in 2 Corinthians:. We have a new heart. Ezekiel 36. We have a new spirit. Ezekiel 18. We have a new name. Revelation 2. A new song. Psalm 40, verse number 3. We are a new man. We're different. And the new man is summed up in the fact that once we were dis to God We lived disobediently to Him. We were unsubmissive to the will of God because we were slaves of another master. We were slaves of Satan. Now we're slaves of the living God. Therefore, we serve Him. Therefore, we are in submission to the authority of God instead of being in submission to the authority of Satan.

We've been. Transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. We are now children of the light. Now we follow the Lord God. We walk submissively. We are in submission to all that God says.

And if I want to imitate Christ, then I need to be like Christ. That's why I like what Colossians 3, verse number 20 says when it says, Children, be obedient to your parents. In all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things. Be submissive to your parents in all things. For this is well-ple to the Lord. You see, we forget that as children, we want to kind of rebel against our parents' authority. We kind of want to do our own thing, not realizing that when we do that, we are not pleasing the Lord God.

If children would listen to the standard that, look, my obedience to my parents, my submission to my parents, brings pleasure to the heart of God, everything about my relationship to my mom and dad changes. And it makes things at home much better than if I kick against the goads, if I come out against their authority. And that whole submissive attitude was demonstrated by Christ when he set aside his divine attributes. When he would relinquish some of the things that he could do in order that he might suffer difficulty and hardship, ultimately, ultimately for your benefit and for mine.

Do you walk submissively? Are you submissive to whatever God says in His Word? Do you obey what He says? That's what it means to imitate Christ. You walk submissively because that's exactly what He did. Number two, you walk equally.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter four, verse number one. Ephesians chapter four, verse number one. Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord entreat you, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. The word worthy is where we the English word axiom. It means of equal weight, of equal value. So Paul says, I want you to walk worthy of the call wherewith you've been called. In other words, our calling, according to 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, is a holy calling.

Philippians 3. 1, it is a high calling. Hebrews 3, verse number 1, it is a heavenly calling. So if we're going to walk worthy, that means we walk equally. That is, life and lip match. Conversation and conduct match. It's all about equaling my position with my practice. In other words, Paul uses all of Ephesians chapter 1 through chapter 3 talking about the bless of the believer. Then he talks in chapter 4 to chapter 6: the behavior of the believer. So he begins that section by saying, Your behavior must be equal to the blessings.

Your practice must be equal to your position. Your duty must be equal. To the dec that you say you adhere to. Everything matches. You walk equally. It says the same thing over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul says these words, verse number 11. Just as you know, how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you may walk in a manner worthy or equal of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

You got to walk equally. That is, everything about your life matches. Nothing is incongruent. In other words, the way you are on Sunday is the way you are on Monday through Saturday. The way you are at home is the way you are at work. There's no difference. The way you are at school is the way you are at church. There's no difference. If not, you can't live a life that's well-ple to God. You're not living a high calling, a holy calling, a heavenly calling. Your life is not matching what you say you believe.

That means you end up lacking integrity because there's no matching of what your words say and how your lifestyle is. Everything must be together, it's one thing. So many times we are one way on Sunday, but we're different on Monday when we go to work. We're just different people. We got to be the same everywhere we go. Because we need to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we were called. And Hebrews 11 says that when you do that, The world is not worthy of you. They are in no way your equal. They don't even come.

Close to you. That's why in the Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith, it talks about all those people who lost their heads and lived their lives for the glory of God. And the writer of Hebrews says the world was not even worthy of these people. Why? Because they li the life they said they believed. And that's the way we are to live our lives as well. So we are to walk submissively. We are to walk equally. Number three, we are to walk humbly.

Again, Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 2. Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility. Walk humbly. Walk humbly. Micah 6, verse number 8. What does the Lord require of you? To do justly. To love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. To walk humbly with your God. Over in Acts 20, verse number 19, Paul says that he served the Lord with humility of mind. Over in 1 Peter 5, verse number 5, we are to be like-minded and we are to live Or be clothed in humility.

In other words, we are to be humble people. We are very arrogant people by nature, are we not? Very prideful people. Very self-centered people. But our Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor heavy lad, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. It was character of our Lord. That's why he would do those things that were pleasing to his Father in heaven. He would walk submissively. Well, you can't walk submissively unless you walk humbly. With your God.

So important. How do you do that? How do you do that? You know, sometimes it's hard for us to be humble at home because maybe we're the father and we're the leader of the house. We don't want to walk in humility. Or maybe we're the boss at work. Or maybe we're trying to climb the corporate ladder. And humility is not the mark of those who climb the corporate ladder. But so many times we have to realize that God wants us to be just like Him. Just like Him. Let me give you a few principles.

Not very hard to understand. Number one, if you want to be humble, honor others above yourself. Sim that honor others above yourself. John the Baptist said, He must increase, I must decrease. You honor Christ above yourself, of course. But you honor others above yourself. We read earlier in Philippians chapter 2, verse number 3. That we are to live a life where we are to, as Paul says in verse 3 of Philippians, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. But with humility of mind, that each of you regard one another as more important than himself.

Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others. Regard everybody else as more important than yourself. We don't do that. We by nature don't do that because we think we're better than somebody else. But if you're going to be a humble person, you have to honor others above yourself. You have to lift up others above yourself. You have to put them in the forefront. Above yourself. Then, number two, you must understand child lik.

Not childliness, but childlikeness. In Matthew chapter 18, Christ says, unless you become converted and humble yourself like a little child.

You cannot enter the kingdom of God. Child is something that we all need because childlikeness is a dependent lifestyle. But we want to live independent of one another. We want to live autonomous of everybody else. And we want to live independently from everybody else. But the child lives dependently. The child must have someone over them, must have someone care for them. We must understand childlikeness. We must honor others above ourselves. Number three, we must measure ourselves against God's standard, not others.

Measure yourself against God's standard. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, he said, Those who measure themselves by themselves are not wise. They're not. But that's what we do. I measure my marriage by your marriage. I measure my family by your family. I measure my looks by your looks. I measure my ath Athletic prowess by your athletic prowess. I measure myself by what your standard is instead of measuring myself against God's standards. God's standards are this, Matthew 5:4. Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Now, how do you measure up? Not so good. Because no one's that perfect. But so, in order for me to feel good about myself, I line myself up against you. And I say, well, I'm better than that. But in all reality, none of us is better than anybody else. But we do think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think of ourselves. And so we need to measure ourselves by God's standards and not by anybody else's standards. Hey, listen, whenever you do that, you always come up short. You always come up short.

You realize you're not that good. You're not that great. You're not as good as you think you are. We think we are, but we're not. If we measure ourselves by somebody else, you can always find somebody that you're better than in something. Okay? But that's not the standard. God is a standard. We're mimicking Christ. We're imitating Him. So honor others above yourself. Understand childlieness. Measure yourself by God's standards and bow in submission to God's authority. Bow in submission. To this man will I look, Isaiah 6, verse number 2.

To him is broken and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. Bow in submission to God's authority. And then Proverbs 27:2, let another man praise you and not your own lips. That's always a good one. Let another man praise you and not your own lips. Boy, I tell you, you got to be careful what you say about yourself. Proverbs 27:2 is very clear. If someone's going to praise you, let it be a stranger, let it be somebody other than yourself. Because if you're praising yourself, you're not living a humble lifestyle.

And lastly, exam your past. Examine your past. Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse number 15, these words. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. You know why Paul was the humble man? Because he kept looking back at his past and realizing, you know what? I'm not even better than anybody else. I was depraved. I was dead in my trespasses and sin. I was alienated from the life of God. I was an insolent man.

I was an arrogant man. But by the grace and mercy of God, I was saved. Listen, we all need a good dose of how we were before we were saved. To go back and realize, you know what? Except for the grace of God. There go I. We need to walk in humility. Number four, we need to walk separately. Distinctly, uniquely. Galatians, I'm sorry, Ephesians 4, verse number 17. This I say, therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk. In the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality.

For the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus. That in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of the seat, and that you be renewed in the spirit. Of your mind. You need to walk separately from the world. Distinctly from the world. The Lord God said in 2 Corinthians 6, verse number 16: I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them.

We need to be so uniquely separate and different from the world. Listen to what Peter said over in 1 Peter chapter 4. Peter said this way. 1 Peter chapter 4. Therefore, verse 1: Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he. Who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lust of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousals.

Drinking parties and abominable idolatries. And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you. Let me ask you a question.

When was the last time the people you work with were surprised that you don't do what they do? So much so that they malign you for your character. They malign you for your stand. Peter says. You don't do that anymore. Things have changed. You are uniquely different. You are separate. You are Christ-like. You are a mimic of Christ. You are completely different than the world. And we need to walk separately from the world. We need to be uniquely different from them. We can't do things the way they do things.

We can't compromise our integrity. Most of you know that my son AJ plays travel ball, and so I coach him on that team. And there are three of us who coach, and I'm not the head coach, but the head coach came in one. He, Look I going put a guy in the team. And he's a really good pitcher, but he's good. But his birthday is one day over the deadline. So you can't do that. He says, no one's going to know. No one's going to know. We could use this guy. He could really help us. He says, You might be able to use this guy, but I can't use him.

That means I have to compromise my integrity because I know his birthday is one day past the deadline. One day, one minute, one second makes no difference.

If he's illegal, he can't be a part of our program. You cannot do that. He says, well, then I guess you're going to have to quit. I said, okay. It's no problem for me. I don't care. It doesn't bother me. I'm not going to compromise my integrity to win ball games. Can't do that. That's just a small thing. It's a very teeny thing. But you know what? If you can't do it in the small things, you can't do it in the big things. You just can't do it. How many people do you work with? I don't care if you're at a church, I don't care if you're at a.

At a Christian institution, I don't care if you're a lawyer in downtown L, you've got to take a stand. You cannot afford to compromise your integrity. You can't be involved in drunken parties. You can't be involved in idolatry. You can't be involved in sexuality. You've got to walk separately from everybody else. You've got to be uniquely different. Where are the people who say, I want to be so uniquely? Why did God give Israel all those dietary laws and all those dress laws? Why? He says, You're my people.

When you walk into Canaan, they're all going to know you're different than me, than they are. You're going to dress different, you're going to eat different, you're going to talk different, you're going to look Because you're mine. I don't want you eating what they eat. I don want you dressing the way they dress. I don want you acting the way they act. When did Israel get in trouble? When they started doing everything the people in Canaan did. Eating what they ate, dressing like they dressed, worship what they worshipped, living as they lived.

They would not take a stand. They would not live for the glory of God. The church is the same way today. We don't want to take a stand. We want to compromise a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit here, a little bit there. And next thing you know, we've compromised the whole kid and cab. We just have gone the way of the world. The church has got to be separate, distinct, unique. No longer walk as the Gentiles walk in the futility, in the emptiness of their mind. Why? Because we have been saved by the grace of Almighty God.

We are mimics of Christ. We're Christians. That was a term of derision in Acts 17. Before they were Christians, they were just called disciples of Jesus. Okay? They were first called Christians in Antioch, and it was a term of derision.

You know, Christ followers, Christians. Today, everybody's a Christian. I don't care what nationality you're from, what religion you're from. I'm a Christian. Yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm an American. I must be a Christian. But you know what? Are we uniquely different than the world because of our relationship with the living God? We need to walk uniquely different than the world. Number five, we need to walk dependently. Galatians five, verse number sixteen: walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

That's what it means to walk dependently. Listen, we are dependent beings. Without the Spirit of God empowering us, without the Spirit of God infusing us, without the Spirit of God enabling us, we cannot accomplish the work. Of the kingdom of God. Christ said, Without me, ye can do what? Nothing. Nothing except sin. You can do that. But Christ said, Without me, you can't accomplish anything without me. You can't. You're going to try and you're going to work hard and you're going do all you can in the spirit of the flesh, but you can't do it without me.

You need my spirit to allow you to have the kind of attitude, the kind of actions that honor my name. Without me infusing you, enabling you, empowering you, it cannot happen. You must walk in the Spirit. If you don't, you will fulfill the lust. Of the flesh. You must walk dependently every moment of every day when you walk into the office, when you walk into the classroom, when you walk into the ball. When you encounter conflict, when you're in a car accident, no matter where you are, you must walk dependently upon me, or you will act in the flesh and you will sin against me.

You need to walk dependently. Number six. Six. Oh, I missed Walk Loving, didn't I? I 'm sorry. I jumped ahead. Ephesians 5, walk lovingly. I'll go back. Sorry, my bad. Walk lovingly. There we go. Ephesians 5, verse number 2. I forgot about that one. How did I miss that one? Therefore, be im of God as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave him for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. I wasn going to say walk sacrificially, but it says walk in love, so we're going say walk lovingly, but really it's a sacrifice.

My whole life should be a sacrifice. I sacrifice for the sake of God's kingdom. To love is to sacrifice. When I understand love, I am willing to give my life away. And so, as I walk in love, I'm an imitator of Christ, for he is the God of love. That's why it says in 1 John chapter 4, these words: 1 John 4, 7 and 8. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In other words, the one who does not sacrifice does not know God, who is the God of sacrifice.

We say we love our husbands or our wives. We say we love our children. We say we love our church. We say we love this and we say we love that. But if we're willing to sacrifice to demonstrate that love, Then truly, it's a selfish love, not a selfless love. It's more lust than it is love. Because love is defined by sacrifice, it's an action verb. It's about giving yourself away. We are to walk in love. Be imitators of Christ. Walk in love. In other words, walk sacrificially. Walk lovingly. What are you willing to give away today?

For the benefit of somebody else. What are you willing to do today to benefit the welfare of someone else that you know and say you love? What do you do? We need to walk in love. We need to walk sacrificially. We need to have the kind of lives that bring glory to God. 1 Corinthians 14:1 says, pursue love. You gotta hunt it down. You got go after it. You got be hungry for it. In other words, you got be hungry to give your life away. You've got to pursue opportunities to sacrifice because that's what love does.

Christ pursued the opportunity to love his own. He came to us to sacrifice for us. He becomes the one we mimic. When was the last time you sacrificed for the one you said you loved? Because that's what love is. And so we walk sacrificially. We walk lovingly because we love God. 1 Corinthians 16: says, Let all you do be done in Love. Proverbs 10, verse number 12 says, For love covers a multitude of sins. Love covers sin. It doesn't expose it to everybody else. It covers it so that it can remedy it, it can deal with it.

And so we have to understand that we, as people who are Christians, if we're followers of Christ, if we're mimics of Christ, we need to walk lovingly. We need to walk separately, uniquely, distinctly. We need to walk humbly with our God. We need to walk submissively. Need to walk equally. Make sure that life and lip m. Need to walk wisely. Or brightly. I'm sorry, walk brightly. Ephesians 5, verse number 8. For you were formerly darkness, but now are you light in the Lord? Walk as children of light.

For the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Walk brightly. Wow, that's so good. Walk is shown in the light. You know, light, God is light, right? God is light. In Him is no darkness at all. His glory is defined by His beauty, His brightness. That's His glory. Okay, he dwelleth in unapproachable light. He is so bright. Well, we are to walk as children of light. So we're like flashlights. You know, we're like big bright lights. We walk into a classroom and we shine light on all the evil that's there.

We walk into the marketplace and that light goes on, and bingo, all the evil that's there is exposed because we're shining bright. Let's go and say this. It says, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, verse number 10, and do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even ex. Expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. For everything that becomes visible.

Is light. In other words, we are to shine so bright that evil cannot coexist in our presence. Think about that. When you walk into the workplace, when you walk into your school, when you walk into any environment where other people are, you ought to be so bright that their sin is automatically exposed. Because of the brightness that exudes from you. It's the fruit of goodness, the fruit of righteousness, and the fruit of truth. That's what he says. It's all about the goodness. It's all about the righteousness.

It's all about the truth. And when you live a life that's that way, People will realize that to be around you is going to be detrimental to their sinful behavior. If the sinner is comfortable in your presence, You're not shining very brightly. You're not. And we are light, Matthew 5 says. We are light. We are salt. That's what we are. But sometimes our light doesn't shine very bright because we like to participate sometimes in the deeds of darkness. Can't hide the light. Can't put it under a shade and kind of dim it.

You got to shine it. And so we are to walk brightly, shining forth the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. Next, we are to walk wisely. That's Ephesians 5, verse number 15. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. The wise man makes the most of every moment, he embraces the moment, he seizes the moment. He buys it back. He redeems it back for the sake of God's glory. That's what he does. He embraces every moment.

We share with you. Years ago, we'll talk about it again at the couple's retreat. That we need to embrace every moment as if it was our last. We don't do that enough. We don't look at every moment as if it's my last moment to redeem the time.

If I'm going to walk wisely, teach us the number of days that we might apply our hearts into wisdom. Psal 90, verse number 12. If I'm going to walk wisely, I'm going to embrace Every moment that I have of the day, saying, How can I buy this back for the sake of the kingdom of God? How can I use this classroom? How can I use this? Encounter at work? How can I use this journey, this trip, this vacation to buy it back for the sake of God? Glory. That's walking wisely, redeeming the time. Because the days are so evil, they are evil.

So I walk in wisdom. I walk wisely, not as a foolish man, but as a wise man. I truly want to honor the Lord God. Next. Then I walk dependently. I knew I had to get there sooner or later. There we go. Galatians 5:16. But I'm not going to cover that one again. I already did. Okay? Walk dependently. That's number eight. Number nine, walk truthfully. You got to walk truthfully. 3 John 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. You got to walk truthfully. That is, when you live your life.

It's all centered around the truth of God's holy word. When John said that his greatest joy was that it should have walked in truth, that is just so true. That is the essence of joy. That's the essence of parenting. That's the essence of being a father and being a mother to make sure your children know the truth of God because He is truth. And they walk in that truth. Jesus embodied grace and truth. He walked in truth. He was the living God who is truth and speaks truth. And therefore, if we're going to mimic him, we too must walk in truth.

Do you desire the truth? Do you desire it more than gold, more than food, more than anything? Do you defend the truth? Because it means more to you than anything else, that you will defend it no matter what? Do you declare the truth in every opportunity that comes your way because you want people to understand God and to follow Him? Do you demonstrate that truth on a regular basis where you live it out? Because you want others to know that what you believe is so true that you will live it even if it costs you?

Do you depend upon it? Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 32, these words are not just feudal words. These words that I give you are your life. Their life for you as you go and embark in the land of Canaan. That's how you know you're walking truthfully. You defend it, you desire it, you demonstrate it, you declare it, you depend upon it, you do everything you can to live in line with it. You want to mimic Christ? You want to be an imitator of Christ? You want to please God? You need to walk truthfully.

In today's evangelical church, we've learned to compromise the truth. We've learned to lay it aside for our own convenience sake. We can't do that. We need to walk truthfully. Then we need to walk faithfully. We walk by faith and not by sight. According to 2 Corinthians 5, verse number 7. And over in 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse number 3. Paul praised them for the faith grew exceedingly. We need to walk faithfully. That is, we walk in line with what God's word says, but that our faithfulness goes before us.

We walk steadfastly. We walk faithfully. We walk with a committed spirit. As Paul said, I have fought the fight, I have run the race, and now there is laid up in store for me a crown. Of right, know to be able to tell all those who love his appear. He was a man who walked faithfully. He was faithful to the fight. He was faithful to the faith. He was faithful all the way to the finish. And that's what we need to live our lives: faithful lives, never compromising that which we know to be truth. Because we love the Lord.

Are you faithful in your walk with God? Next, you walk intimately. Colossians chapter 2, verse number 6. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in. Him. Walk intimately, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were instruct. Walk intimately. Listen, we have too many people in the church today who walk side by side with God, but don't walk intimately with God. There needs to be an intimacy between me and my God. An intimacy that's firmly rooted in who he is and what he's done.

So much so that my life is completely God-conscious. That I walk in Him. He's in me and I walk in him. That I walk in such a way that there is a relationship that's deep, not superficial, it's intimate. It's true. It's based on truth. It's based on commitment. And I love my God, and I serve my God, and I want my God, and I long for His return because I want to be with my God. We need to stop walking superficially and start walking intimately with Jesus Christ our Lord. You think our Father in heaven wanted his Son To walk any other way than in intimacy with him.

That's the way he wanted him to walk, and that's what he did. He would get up early in the morning, commune with his Father in heaven. He would talk to him about the day's events. He would tell his men after John the Baptist was beheaded: let's come apart for a while. Because they needed to understand not only the death that came upon John the Baptist, but their impending death because of their commitment to the Lord God, but they needed to be retooled and refueled for the sake of God's kingdom. And you do that as you begin to cultivate a relationship with the living God.

Walking intimately with God, knowing that His word is so true and pure that you can't wait to read what He has to say for you today. Because you want to hear his word. You want to know his word for the day. What is the verse that will keep you on the straight and narrow today that you can cling to because you're walking intimately with the living God? And then lastly, you walk thankfully. He says in Colossians 2, verse number 7, and overflowing with gratitude. Walking thankfully. You know, if you walk intimately, you walk thankfully.

Because you're thankful for all that God does. If you walk faithfully and truthfully and dependently, you walk thankfully. You have an overflowing attitude of gratefulness and thankfulness to God. We need to live a life that expresses our gratitude to God every day. When you get up, you thank him, Lord, you have given me another day. I wish that you would come today, but if you don't, I'm going to live this day for you, and I'm grateful for it. Lord, I want to overflow thankfully. I want to thank you for my wife.

I want to thank you for my husband. I want to thank you for my kids. I want to thank you for my j I want to thank you for everything that comes my way. The Bible says we are to give thanks in everything.

1 Thessalonians 5, verse number 18. Ephesians 5:2, we were to give thanks for everything. There 's no way you get around it. In the midst of everything, you give thanks, and for whatever comes your way, you are to give thanks to God. But unless you're walking dependently, intimately, submissively, humbly, you're not going to walk thankfully. See, they all build one upon another, and that's the way we live our lives. We want to be a mimic of Christ. We want to serve Him. Now, listen, if you're going to do this, it takes two things: number one, desire, number two, discipline.

This is what you want to do. You got to want to do this. You got to want to do this. You got to want to please God. This is what I want to do. I want to please God. If you don't want to do it, you're not going to develop the discipline to accomplish it. Listen, we only do what we want to do. I don't care who you are. You always have time to do what you want to do. People say, I'm too busy. No, no. You're only as busy as you want to be, and you only do what you want to do. Don't throw those excuses out.

What moron is going to belie that anyway? You do what you want to do, and you will make time to do what you want to do because you want to do it. You have to want to please God. You have to want to walk intimately with Him. You have to want to mimic Him. You want to do always those things that are pleasing to Your Father in heaven. You have to want to do it. Because if you want to do it, you will discipline yourself to accomplish it. You will. You will discipline yourself unto godliness, 1 Timothy chapter 4.

Bodily exercise profiteth little. It does profit, but only profits little because it only profits for this life, not the life to come. But godliness is profitable for all things because it enhances the life to come. And so you will discipline yourself to do what you desire to do. So important. You have to want to do it. And I would pray for you, for me, that that would be our life. That this is what you want to do. You want to live a life that's pleasing to God, and you will stop at nothing until you accomplish it.

That's why we give you this bookmark that you can put in your Bible. You can hold yourself accountable. Did I do this for my God today? Did I proclaim the message of the cross? Did I live a life of faith? Did I exalt Jesus Christ the Son? Did I do those things? Did I ask God for wisdom so I could make wise choices throughout the day? Was I staying away from sexual sin and sexual lust? In all kinds of sin, but particularly sexual sin, because I know it pleases my God. Because my body is a temple of the Spirit of God.

And did I live my life imit my Christ, my Messiah, my God? And then you go to bed. But before you do, you confess, Lord, I didn't do this very good today. Please forgive me. I want to do better tomorrow. Help me by your grace and your mercy to accomplish those things I need to accomplish. Lord, thank you for giving me the grace to accomplish this today because without you, I can't do anything. Can you imagine how your life would change in your family if you held yourself accountable to pleasing God every day?

I don't think there's a woman here who doesn't want their husband to please God. And I don think there's a husband who doesn't want his wife to please God. And I don't think there's a set of parents in here who don't want their children or their grandchildren to please God. So let's make it our ambition. Let's make it our drive. Let's make it our aspiration every day to wake up and say, Lord, this day I want to live a life that's pleasing. To you. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for tonight, a chance to be in your word. Truly, Lord, you are a great God, and you alone are worthy of praise. And our prayer is that, Lord, our lives truly would be pleasing to you. You've outlined for us in the scriptures: this is what pleases you. This is what brings a smile to the heart of God. This is what we were created to do. And Lord, may we learn to have the desire to please you, that we might develop the discipline to accomplish the task that's before us. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.