Sermon Central
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Walking With God Series
Contributed by Bradley Kellum on Aug 31, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: What is a disciple? What does it mean to follow Jesus? This series clearly spells out what it means to believe in and follow Jesus Christ.
A disciple is…A person who is learning to worship Jesus as God, walk with God and His family, work for God in ministry, win their battle against sin and witness to outsiders about Christ.
Key Question: What does it mean to ‘walk with God’?
Walking With God Means Working With His Spirit.
“Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Jesus explained to his disciples that after He would ascend to heaven, He would send another one to enter their lives and be their helper.
John 14:16-18 tells us:
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
This third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is meant to walk with us, be with us, to act as our companion through out our journey here on earth.
And walking with God means essentially working with His Spirit.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22:
“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”
Christian, you have the Spirit of God in your heart this morning. What a blessing!!!
This is great cause for worship.
God has sealed you and given you His very own Spirit to walk with you throughout this life on earth.
This is a spiritual reality for every true disciple of Jesus.
And a disciple is one who is learning how to walk with God’s Spirit.
So, walking with God begins as I understand that He has placed His Spirit within me.
Walking with God continues as I learn to distinguish between God’s part and my part in growing in Christ.
Did you realize that when it comes to living the Christian life, there’s a part God does and then there’s a part that He expects you to do?
Paul, talking to a bunch of Christians, was teaching this principle of how walking with God is a partnership with God’s Spirit.
Listen to what Paul said in I Corinthians 3:6-7:
“I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”
He goes on to say in verse 9 of that same chapter:
“For we are God’s fellow workers...”
So whenever someone says that they are learning to walk with God what they mean is that they are learning to work with God’s Spirit who is inside of them.
So we understand that God has a part in my growth and I have a part.
Paul explains this two part process in Philippians 2:12c-13:
“…work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
First of all I want you to notice that Paul does not say, “Work for your salvation.”
To work for something means to earn it, deserve it, or merit it.
But the Bible is clear: Salvation is something you and I cannot earn.
Salvation is the free gift of God based upon His grace.
Paul says, “work out not work for.”
“Work out your salvation…
Well, this is what walking with God’s Spirit is all about.
Walking with God means working with His spirit.
Working With His Spirit Involves Working Out Our Salvation.
Now what does it mean to work out our salvation?
What’s Paul talking about here?
He’s talking about a spiritual workout.
What do you do when you work out and exercise physically?
You build muscle. You tone muscles God has given to you.
To work out means to cultivate, to make the most of what you have.
Paul is saying you and I need to cultivate our spiritual lives.
How do we work out our salvation?
Working Out Our Salvation Involves Working Through Our Questions.
I believe that working out our salvation involves working through our questions.
• Do you have any questions you would like to ask God?
• Are there any questions that you would like to know the answers to?
The longer I walk with the Lord the more questions I seem to have.
When you first decide to become Jesus’ disciple, His follower, it is exciting.
You are riding the wave of salvation.
But then reality hits you and you discover that living by Christ’s principles is harder than you first imagined.
