Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The time I sermon this evening is walk the walk,
walk the walk. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 6 says, therefore we are always confident
knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, the famous passage
here in verse number 7, for we walk by faith and not by sight. We walk by faith, not by sight.
The same goes that if we talk to talk we must also walk the walk. The Bible teaches the importance
obviously of speaking the right things. We see this throughout the word of God, both old and new
testament. It says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. The Bible tells
us to speak those things which become sound doctrine. Proverbs chapter 10 verse 32 says
that the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked speak
forwardness. Colossians chapter 4 and verse number 6 says, let your speech be always with grace,
season with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hear over and over again. The Bible emphasizes the
importance of speaking the right things, saying the right things and speaking in accordance to
the word of God. But the Bible also equally, if not more, talks about the importance of walking
the walk and not just talking the talk. What is that referring to? Simply referring to having
good conduct, good behavior or conduct and behavior that is in accordance to what you're
saying, right? It's essentially saying, don't be a hypocrite. Make sure that your life, your
conduct, your behavior, your conversation lines up with the things that you say. Philippians
chapter 1, you don't have to turn to verse 27 says, only let your conversation, and the conversation
there is not referring to a dialogue between two people, conversation is referring to the conduct,
he says, only let your conversation as it becomeeth the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit
with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. What is the apostle Paul saying?
He's encouraging or exhorting the church at Philippi to make sure that their conduct is characterized
by preaching the gospel, that they would be characterized and have this connotation of those
who are soul winners, those who are winning others to Christ and so forth. And so in this
particular sermon, I want to talk about just the various instances where the Bible emphasizes
the importance of walking a certain way. Now you're in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the first thing
we're going to look at here is the fact that the Bible talks about us walking by faith and at
just base level, the most basic of the Christian life is that, making sure that we as Christians
are walking by faith, he says in verse 7, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Go to Colossians
chapter 2 if you would, Colossians chapter 2. Now what exactly does it mean to walk by faith?
Well obviously if you were to ask some unsaved person, some person who's just critical of the
things of God, they're critics of the Bible, they'll often say, you guys just blindly follow
Christianity, you know, just blindly follow a man, blindly follow your God, you don't really
know if these things exist, you never seen them with your eyes and so forth. And to be quite
honest with you, you know, it is true that we've never seen the Lord, right? But just
because we've never seen the Lord and just because we've never actually viewed him with
our eyes, doesn't mean we're blindly following the Lord, because at the end of the day the
Bible says that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Why do we believe
that God exists? Why do we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why do we believe the promises
of God? It's not because we've necessarily seen them with our eyes, it's because we
hear with our ears. And when we hear the preaching of God's word, when we read it,
when we hear about the promises of God, what does it do? It accumulates faith in us,
in God, in His promises, and so forth. You know, a blind person, yeah, can follow another
individual even if they can't see them because they're basing it off of what they hear. Well,
in like manner, yeah, we haven't visibly seen Jesus Christ, we didn't see him in a dream,
we didn't see him in a vision, we didn't see him 2,000 years ago, we follow the Lord because
of what the Bible explicitly says. So it's not blind faith, it's actually faith that's based
upon the Bible, right? That's important for us to know. So when it talks about walking by faith,
what does it say? It's saying that we should live, we should walk, we should conduct ourselves
based on the faith that we've accumulated from the Bible. We have to know that this is how we
get saved. We get saved by believing on Jesus Christ, by placing our faith in Him. However,
thereafter, it's extremely important that we continue to build our faith in God. Why? Because
the Bible says that He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He's a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. Folks, let me just tell you something. Getting saved is just not enough
for you to live the Christian life thereafter. It's not enough for you to just endure, it's not
enough for you to just experience the promises of God, the blessings of God. You actually have
to build yourself on your most holy faith in order to do so. You've got to walk by faith
and not by sight. Now you're in Colossians 2. I'm going to read to you from Jude verse 20. It says,
But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. And we can summarize this by saying that we need to walk in faith just
as we began. Colossians 2, look at verse 6. It says, As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, which by the way, how do we receive Him? By faith, right? As ye therefore
have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in Him. And how does that look? Verse 7,
Rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as ye have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. So, you know, if you're newly saved,
you know, you've got a lot of work to do. Amen? You actually have a lifelong process
of growing in your faith. Obviously, it's important for you to grow in doctrine,
but it's also important for you to grow in your Christian faith, increasing your belief
in the promises of God. Why? Because life comes with challenges. Life comes with problems.
Also, if you want to experience God's blessing in your life, that requires some faith and
obedience to His Word, to His commands. And you know what? If you have a weak faith,
you're not going to be able to see the promises of God. You're not going to be able to experience
the rewards that God has prepared for those that love Him because it requires faith to
continue in the things of God to be established in the faith. You know, a couple of weeks ago,
I preached on the subject of the four grounds and the seed that's sown into the four grounds.
And one of the grounds received the Word with gladness, but the Bible says because they had
no roots, by and by, when persecution arose because of the Word, it fell away. What did
I mean? It means that this person was saved. This person was a believer, but because they
weren't rooted in their faith, they didn't dig down their roots deep into the earth.
What happened? When a trial came their way, you know, they received persecution,
they fell out of the way. They deviated from the paths of God. They got out of church.
They stopped winning souls to Christ. They stopped serving God because they weren't
rooted in the things of God. And you know, if you're a brand new Christian,
every Christian to a certain degree, when they first get saved, they experience what I would call
the honeymoon. Okay? What is the honeymoon? Well, for those who, you know, are married,
hopefully you had a honeymoon. The honeymoon stage is like, you know, you get married and you go on
your honeymoon, you're like vacationing and you're with each other and everything's just
magnificent, right? Everything, right? You know, at least it was for me. You know, it was just great.
It was awesome. Just me and my wife and spending time together and doing what married people do
and just getting to know each other. It was just like awesome, right? But here's the thing. As the
years go by, that does kind of die out a little bit. It's not bad. It's not, you know,
it's not anything evil. It's just that your relationship grows, right? It has to mature.
And they often say, you know, the honeymoon stage is over. What does that mean? It means that,
you know, when you're in the honeymoon stage, you know, your spouse can do no wrong.
Right? You just overlook any of the flaws and any of the things that you would typically
would bother you, it doesn't bother you. They're just perfect, right? But then reality
sets in. You know, she realizes that your feet do stink, that, you know, you're dirty,
you leave your clothes all over the place or whatever. She starts seeing your flaws and vice
versa. And then that begins to fade out a little bit, right? Now, if you don't grow in your love for
your spouse, you can become bitter. You can become resentful. You can become a person who
doesn't appreciate their spouse, which is why it's important for you to grow in your love
for your spouse thereafter. Allow your love to mature for your spouse, right? Well,
the same thing is in the Christian life. You know, it's great when we first get saved.
It's like, man, I just learned about salvation by grace through faith. I learned about all these
doctrines and church is awesome. You know, the pastor says, fag a lot. And, you know, we learned
about all these cool doctrines and it's great. But then after a couple months, you know, it
starts getting a little old, believe it or not. Okay. And maybe you get a little lazy.
Maybe you don't want to come to church as often. Maybe you're not as disciplined as you
were in the beginning. Why, why is that? It's because the honeymoon stage is over.
So in order to prevent that from happening, you need to make sure that you're growing in your
faith. You're getting rooted and grounded, you know, in your faith, in the Word of God,
so that when you do get persecution from family, you get persecution from the outside,
you get pushback from people around you, it doesn't, you know, cause you to be moved
out of the way. It doesn't cause you to fall by the wayside. It doesn't cause you to
stumble and get offended and, you know, stop coming to church and stop reading your Bible
and stop serving God. Why? Because you are rooted. You're supposed to be established in the faith.
And I think every Christian, once they get, you know, once they get saved, they are in
their minds are like, I want to be in this thing for the long haul, right? I think everyone's
desires to be in this thing for the long, it is for me. I want to be in this thing for
the long haul. I'm sure you're sitting there thinking like, I can see myself growing old as
a Christian, getting married, serving God and all that. And you know, that's a great
desire. That's a great goal, but it's an unrealistic goal if you're actually not doing something today
about that. Okay? It's not going to happen. It is a fading dream if you don't actually
attempt to become disciplined in your Christian life and get rooted in your faith.
If you're not walking by faith, you're going to walk out these doors sooner or later.
If you're not walking by faith, you're going to walk out on God. You're going to walk out in your
walk with God. You're going to walk out on soul winning, walk out on church attendance,
walk out on just serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because walking by faith
requires for us to get rooted. If you want to be in this thing for the long haul,
it's important to dig deep, right? And not have this superficial Christianity. It's time for you
to mature. It's time for you to grow up, okay? And so this is what Colossians is telling us,
is that we need to walk by faith. Meaning that, you know, it's time for us as Christians,
especially if you're a newer Christian, to start thinking biblically. Now this is an important
part of the sermon that you need to understand. And obviously people who've been safe for a
while need to understand this too. And you know, you need to be reminded of this,
is that we need to make sure that we approach every aspect of our life,
every trial, every blessing, every opportunity, everything in marriage,
everything with child rearing through the lens of the Bible.
Meaning that you base your decisions off of, what does the Bible say? You say,
what does it mean to walk by faith? It means that you filter everything you do off of,
what does the Bible say about that? You say, well, you know, I don't really do that. I just
kind of figure out what's logical. I figure out what I've learned or the experience that I've
gotten through life. Well, that's called walking by sight, right? You're using your senses. You're
using your own knowledge. But the Bible says, trust that the Lord with all thine heart,
and listen to this, and lean not unto thine own understanding. And all thy ways acknowledge
him and he shall direct thy paths. What is that? Walking by faith, okay? Now this is
going to require some effort on your end, okay? Obviously, at this point right now you're walking
by faith because you're listening to me preach the faith unto you. But you know what? You need to
start digging into the Word of God and, you know, not be a biblically illiterate Christian
where you're not reading the Word of God. You better make sure you're opening the Bible
on a daily basis, reading the Word of God, not just so the Word of God can minister to
your emotional needs, but also to just accumulate the knowledge of the Bible
so that you make proper decisions in life. This is what the Bible means when it says
to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. When the Bible says, be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, it's referring to the fact that you need
the Bible to be in here so that when you make a decision or when you're faced with a difficulty,
you ask first, what does God think about this? Obviously, folks, you know, not everything in
the Bible, the Bible doesn't tell me how to tie my tie, what color suit I should wear,
what I should do. It's not going to have an answer for every single, you know, detail of my life.
But in general, what does it do? It provides the guidelines, listen to me, and the parameters
so that I make the right decision or at least it narrows down what decision to make. And look,
you know, free will is important, right? So God, what he does, he doesn't give us,
you know, this is what you got to do unless it's really something specific in the Bible.
Sometimes he just provides the parameters and he gives us the liberty to choose between this,
this parameter and this parameter. But here's the problem, a lot of Christians don't even know that.
They don't even make decisions based upon this little, little parentheses right here.
They don't even know that exists. Why? Because they're not reading the Word of God,
okay? Walking by faith requires for us to actually dig into the Bible and see, you know,
what does the Bible say about this? You know, before you make any major decision,
why don't you look to see what the Bible says about it first? You may think
to yourself, man, it's going to take a long time though. Like, what if I need to make a decision
but I don't even know where to look? Then go to a mature Christian that does know the Bible
and they can impart unto you the wisdom of God's Word that they've accumulated from the Word of
God, okay? Which would require for you to go to church, it would require for you to be surrounded
by godly Christians who know the Bible, right? Rather than just, you know, you making a decision
thinking, well, this is the best decision I think, well, you know, you might want to filter
that through the Word of God first, you know, walk by faith and not by sight. This also means that
we need to make sure that we're not just emotionally making decisions either, okay? Now, look folks,
we're emotional beings for sure. I am, you know, if you ever see me when I'm hungry, you know
I can get emotional, okay? You know, anyway, how many of you have ever been hangry before,
right? Yeah, more of you need to raise your hand because I know for a fact that, you know,
we're all emotional beings. We go through emotions and, you know, our emotions are there
because, you know, God expects us to feel things and have empathy and compassion
and weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. Emotions are important,
but, you know, sometimes our emotions can deceive us as well, right? The Bible says
that the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it? So,
it's important. You never follow the Hollywood instruction of following your heart.
Such a, it's wicked sometimes, you know, out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, you know,
blasphemies, fornications, adultery thefts, all these things. And so, you can't really trust your
heart. You can't really trust the seat of your emotions all the time. Now, I get it. Sometimes
people are like, I got this gut feeling about this situation, right? You know, I got this
instinctual gut feeling about this certain situation and I'm not against that as long
as it lines up with the Bible. But, at the end of the day, even if something feels off,
if it's biblical, you need to go with what the Bible says. So, when the Bible talks about walking
by faith, not by say, it's saying, don't rely on your senses to make certain decisions
because sometimes you're just emotional. Sometimes you're just, you know, sad,
you're depressed, you're angry, you're overly anxious, right? You're worried and that can
cause you to make a lot of bad decisions. We need to make sure that we as Christians
stick to making faithful decisions, faith-filled decisions, faith, you know, full of faith
decisions. We're based on what the Word of God says. Everyone with me? So, the Bible's telling
us here that we have to walk by faith, not by sight. Our sight can deceive us. We can often,
you know, conjure up imaginations or an outcome that's not really real. Therefore,
we need to allow the compass of God's Word to direct us, okay? And, you know, sometimes you make
a decision based off of God's Word and you're just like, I don't know about this, you know,
because it seems as though if I make a certain decision, you know, I think this is a better
decision instead of going with the Bible says, but you know what that requires? Faith on your
end. Because what is faith? It means that you've got to trust God. If God says something,
you've got to go with what God says, even if it doesn't make sense to you. That's what faith is.
Let me also say this. This is a way that you increase your faith as well.
How do you increase your faith? How do you become a person who is fully persuaded in his own mind,
who believes the Lord, believes the promises of God, is not derailed, is not caused to move
out of the way? I'll tell you how. You obey God even when it doesn't make sense.
That's how you increase your faith. Because when you're faced with a situation that's very
difficult, but you see in the Bible this is what the Bible says and you go with what the
Bible says instead of your own emotions, your own conclusions, guess what? You come out
winning on the other side, your faith has increased and you're like, man, I'm glad I went with
what the Bible says. And so it's important for us to recognize the importance of walking
by faith, walking in accordance to the Word of God. Now you're sitting there thinking, well,
we know that though. Is that really an issue amongst Christians? Yeah, it is actually.
I mean, there's tons of churches out there that don't walk by faith. They base all decisions off
of emotionalism, their own understanding, their own interpretation. I just think that God,
I feel like God wants me to do this instead of actually going to the authority of God's Word
and basing their decisions off of that. If you want to be a great Christian, if you want
to be a Christian who's blessed of God, you need to make sure that you are endeavoring
to grow in your faith. And look, folks, aside from just reading the Word of God
and increasing your faith in that manner, again, like I mentioned, you have to actually
be put into situations where you're kind of forced to obey God even when you don't want to
or even when it seems outside of your capabilities. This is how God stretches our faith. He causes us
to recognize. And sometimes you'll talk to Christians and they'll think like, well,
I just feel like God's not really doing anything right now or he's not working. But we're
relying upon our senses at that point. And let me just say this. Sometimes we go through
situations in life and because we're going through such a hard time, that can often blind us to what
God is actually doing. That's just the reality of it. You know, sometimes we don't realize
and you say, what do I do in that point? Well, number one, like I said, walk by faith.
But also, you need to surround yourself with Christians who are actually level-headed to
kind of direct you where to go. Right? Like you need to surround yourself with
Christians who are not emotional. Okay? So if you ever experience a hard time
and you're having a hard time putting your faith in the Bible, then go to someone who's outside of that
and ask them for advice. Ask them for counsel. Allow them to direct you because, you know,
your decision maker is kind of broken right now. You understand what I'm saying? It's important
for us to recognize that when we are experiencing a hard time and it's hard for us to step out
in faith, sometimes we need the assistance of others to kind of direct our faith as well.
Okay? And so walk by faith and not by sight. Increase your faith by obeying the Bible,
even if it doesn't make sense to you. Increase your faith by, you know, even if you doubt.
And by the way, when you doubt, it doesn't mean you don't have faith.
It only means if you don't have faith, if you actually act upon that doubt.
Understand? Meaning that, you know, you think of the man in the Gospels who said,
you know, I believe but helped I doubt my non-belief. You know, you're only doubtful if you
actually act upon that doubt. But if you're doubting and you want to have faith and you
act upon your faith, guess what? You just completely destroy your doubt and increase
your faith in God by doing so. Okay? And so walk the walk. You know, I know you believe
right, but I need, you know, we need to make sure that we're walking right,
that we're walking by faith, that we're always making sure that we are putting the Bible
first, that we're filtering our decisions through the Word of God and recognizing that,
you know, there's going to come times in our personal life where we're faced with extreme
difficulty, like hard decisions that we have to make. And you know what?
The promises of God are still true though. They're still true. The Bible does not alter
based upon the level of difficulty that you're experiencing. Right? It's not like, well,
you know, the Bible applies in this situation but not for your situation. No, it applies
in everyone's situation. Okay? And so it's important for us to make sure that if we're
talking to God, we need to walk the walk by walking by faith. Go to Ephesians chapter four,
if you would. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Now you may be sitting there
thinking, well, you know, I'm not really struggling in my faith. You know, actually,
I'm not really like, I feel like I'm good. You know what I mean? Okay, then here's
the challenge to you. Increase your faith then. Increase your faith. You know, make your faith
stronger because the reality is everyone's going to experience a time where your faith is shaken.
Okay? And let me also say this. You know, if you need to make sure that your faith is so strong
that it doesn't matter what happens in our church, what happens in other churches,
you stay in this thing for the long haul. Now my goal is to pass through this church for the
rest of my life. But if I don't, you better make sure you stay in this church. You know,
if I die tonight or something like that, it's not going to happen. Hopefully not.
You know, if the Lord wills. You know, if, if something were to happen to me,
or let's just say I become severely backslidden, something happens, I get involved in sin,
you better make sure you continue in the faith. And, you know, just because,
you know, something happens to me doesn't make what I taught in times past null and void.
You know, you better remember like, yeah, he's not in church anymore, but he did say to continue
in the faith and that was true. Okay? You know, don't base your faith off of someone else's faith
to the point where you fall out of church because someone else gets out of church or something,
or someone else gets out of the fight or whatever. You better make sure that you run your course.
And you know what? Jesus doesn't change. Jesus is always going to be,
he's the same yesterday, today and forevermore. He'll never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Don't allow your faith to be shaken by these things. Okay? And you know, obviously we need
examples in our Christian life. You know, I talked about this, about this last Sunday night where
I had great examples in my Christian life of people that I wanted to be like, people that I
emulated, people that I esteemed. And you know what? They're not even in church anymore.
They're not even serving God anymore. And you know, when it first happened, it just like,
it just kind of shook me to the core because it made me think, well if this person couldn't make
it, what makes me think that I can? Right? That's like, that's the feeling that I got
when this person, you know, got out of church. And this person, it's not like this person just
stopped, you know, working full time for the church or something. They like completely
backslid. They got completely out of church. They got into drinking and worldliness and drugs
or whatever and just deviated from the things of God. Okay? You know, they basically, demons
have forsaken me having loved this present world type thing. You know, that kind of shook
me to the core a little bit. Because again, it made me think like, if this person can't make
it, what makes me think that I can? Well, the Bible does. Okay? And if someone falls out of the
way or whatever and they get out of church and you esteem them as being a righteous person,
you would want to exemplify, you would want to be like, you know, don't use that as an excuse
for you to get out of church though. Well, I can't make it. I can't serve God. I can't,
you know, go soul-wining. I can't do this, that and the other. You have a weak faith if that's
you. You have an extremely weak faith if that's you. And if that's you, if you're
listening to the sound of my voice and you think to yourself, yeah, that is me,
you better make sure you start getting rooted and grounded in the faith.
Okay? Because you got into this thing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Got into this thing for
serving God. Okay? But, you know, if that's you and you're just like, well, I'm not,
I'm not shaking. I'm good. I'm not really, you know, I'm not really struggling. Okay,
then big shock. Increase your faith then. Walk out on water like Peter did. Okay? You know,
start taking, start stepping out in faith and doing things that's gonna stretch your faith,
increase your faith, put yourself in situations in accordance to the Bible where your faith is
gonna be tested so that you can increase it. Okay? You know, the Bible tells us about Abraham
by faith when he was called to go on to a place which he should after all receive for an inheritance
obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went. I like what Jonathan said in 1st Samuel 14
and verse 6. He says, come let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised.
It may be that the Lord will work for us for there's no restraint to the Lord to save by many
or by few. You know, by sacrifice or resources, time, talents, you know, whatever it is, our
service, we can increase our faith in the Lord. Okay? Now, you're in Ephesians chapter 4.
The title of the sermon is Walk the Walk. Make sure that you are walking by faith.
And you know, as parents, we need to make sure that we increase the faith of our children as well,
right? That we're talking about the Bible to our kids. We're helping them to step out in faith,
to believe in God, because quite frankly, we are the pillar of their faith as of now.
But there's gonna come a time when we're not around and we want to make sure that they can
stand on their own two feet serving God because they have the conviction to serve the Lord.
You understand? But point number two is this. Walk worthy of the vocation where with
you are called. Look at Ephesians 4 verse 1. He says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord
beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation where with you are called with all lowliness and
meekness with long suffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit and the bond of peace. Now, I love this passage because it's essentially
implying that we're not worthy. Okay? The vocation there, the definition for a vocation,
I was looking this up. Here's a couple different definitions. A vocation is a particular occupation,
business or profession or calling, a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life,
a function or station in life to which one is called by God. So the Bible is saying here that
we need to walk worthy of that occupation, of that business, of that profession. You know,
Christ Jesus unto good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in that.
So when the Bible says we need to walk worthy of that, it means like act like it.
You know, if God's called you to be a servant, called you to be a great Christian,
act like one. Right? Meaning you should try to behave as a Christian as much as you possibly
can. Meaning that you should, you know, live in holiness. You should seek to be a
righteous person, an honest person, a just person. Enough of this, well, you know,
I'm just not perfect. We know that, bro. Like, we know that. You demonstrated that very well.
But walk worthy of the vocation though. Meaning start acting like it. Okay?
You know, we're saints even though sometimes we miss the S. You guys can spell? All right,
ain't? Okay, there you go. I know that's not grammatically correct, whatever, but
I got that from the old IV. What is the Bible telling us here? It's telling us that, you know,
we need to walk by faith. But as we're walking by faith, we need to make sure that we're
endeavoring to be a part of this process of sanctification. Be more like Christ each and
every day. And you know what this means? It means like, you know, in the old IV,
they used to say this, you know, the process of sanctification is when we're less like us
and more like Christ. Now I think we could all agree none of us will be exactly like Jesus
this side of eternity. But should we just give up because of that? Should we just be like, well,
I'm not even going to try. I'm just going to be the most worldly person, the most carnal,
godless person. I'm not even going to work on my sanctification. I'm just thankful I'm saying
I'm just going to leave it at that. Wrong. Walk worthy of the vocation we're with your call.
Meaning, you know, put in some effort. Okay, actually try a little bit to live a life that's
pleasing unto the Lord and try a little bit. So maybe someone might mistake you for being a Christian.
I know that's shocking. You know, it's just like, well, no one knows I'm a Christian. I know. I know,
bro. I know. But you know what? It should be that, you know, we let our life so shine before men
that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. This is not just
in our speech. It's in our context. It's just the way that we live. You know, be a good
neighbor. Be a good testimony where you're at home. Be a good testimony to your neighbors.
Be a good testimony just in public period. Now look, folks, this doesn't mean that there's going to be
instances where, you know, the unsaved, the public are going to think that you're un-Christian
because you're actually enacting biblical principles. You can't do anything about that.
But you know, if you are a Christian, may none of you suffer as an evildoer though,
so the Bible says, right? Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Paul's simply
stating that we should live up to that expectation. You know, endeavor to meet the saintly standard
on a daily basis. Again, not striving necessarily for perfection because we'll never meet that,
but just, you know, strive to be sanctified of the Lord on a daily basis. Improve your
speech, improve your behavior, improve your way of thinking, improve your lifestyle,
and you know, bring it in line to the Bible. Go to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, if you would.
1 Peter 1. Again, the apostle Paul, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
God has called you to an occupation. He's called you to a work. He's called you to a labor.
He's called you to fulfill a role. You better walk worthy of it. And if we're to get specific,
you know, hey, married man, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Meaning,
love your wife as Christ loved the church. Be an example to your children, right? If you're a wife,
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Submit to your husband.
Be someone who's golly. Don't be a whisperer, a backbiter. Don't be someone who usurps
the authority of your husband. Don't be a feminist. Walk worthy of that vocation
wherewith ye are called. If you're a young man, be a virtuous young man.
Hey young men, you know, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Don't be lazy.
Don't be lazy. Don't waste your time. You know, be a masculine godly young man who's serving the
Lord, who's doing that, which is right on the side of the Lord, who's an example
in chastity. You're an example in your speech. You're an example in zeal.
You're an example in just character. Get a job. Live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord.
May you not be characterized as like these unsaved,
worldly young men who just have no character whatsoever. They're not putting other things
of God first. They're just lazy, effeminate, spineless people. Okay? You know, it should
be that the young men in Christianity are different than everyone else. Okay? Different how? Well,
you know, you should be different in the way you look for sure. I believe that. Okay? Meaning like,
you know, dress like you're like you're like you're important or something. Just like you're
going somewhere. First and foremost, you know, I'm not saying you have to come to church with
a shirt and tie and suit wouldn't hurt. But you know, you know, don't just come to church
like you just rolled out a bed or something like that. You're like, what if I did? Then get
up a little earlier and then get dressed and then come to church. Okay? You know,
don't come to church the way people go to the airport or the way they go out to Walmart at midnight
or something. Walk worthy of the vocation or whatever you're called. Hey, think the way a
Christian is supposed to think. Talk the way a Christian is supposed to talk. You know,
have the character of a Christian. And look, folks, you know, obviously maybe some of us
didn't grow up in a Christian home. We grew up with parents that taught us character.
We didn't learn discipline, but you're a Christian now. Now you're supposed to
learn discipline. Be a disciplined person. Hey, get up on time to go to church. You get
up on time to go to work. Get up on time to come to church too. You know, you have the
discipline to earn money. We'll get discipline to earn some eternal rewards by coming to
the house of God. And you know, if you're a young man, stop falling asleep in church too.
I ain't that boring. Okay? You know, I know I could, you know, I know dispensationalism
is not that, not that exciting or something, but you know what? You should have the character
to keep your eyes open and pay attention to the word of God. You're a young man. You don't have
kids. You don't got six kids keeping you up at night with the fever. You don't got a wife.
You don't got none of those responsibilities. Guess what? You should be a person of character
to actually come to the house of God and be an example to everyone else. Walk worthy of that
vocation. You should be the one provoking others unto love and to good works. People should be
looking at you as a young man saying, see, that's the kind of fire I want to have. Not like that,
see right there, that's the kind of nap I need right there, you know. You got like an
exorcism in church on a Sunday morning. We need to make sure that we exemplify what
it is to have Christian character. And you know, if I put on your favorite movie,
I guarantee you wouldn't fall asleep. Right? You know, if I put on your favorite video game,
I guarantee you wouldn't fall asleep on that. Right? You know, if I put you to play your
favorite video game, your favorite movie, you'd be all, you'd be attention on deck,
you'd pay attention to every single thing. You know why? Because you're a carnal,
that's why. You need to walk worthy of the vocation we're with you're called.
Be an example, be a person of character. Oh man, you're mean. Then go to some limp-wristed,
watered-down church where they'll call to you. They'll probably have a video game night there as well
where you can compete with other losers and you'll win a gift card or something for
beating someone on Call of Duty or something like that. Go do that over there. Don't bring
that nonsense over here. We have enough of that in the society. We need to raise up some
Godly young men who take life serious. And if you're going to fall asleep, you might as well just,
you know, walk your rear into the back of the building and just go fall asleep back there so
no one, not everyone else is watching you. Amen? You know, I remember, you know, being in Bible
college is just, I'm sorry for even mentioning that, but you know, I went to Bible college
and, you know, there was times when I was exhausted and I remember students, we learned not to fall
asleep in Bible college because they would just call you a hardcore. You know, I'm calling you
out now, but I'm not calling any names. You know, back then they would call your name out,
you know. And Brother Hernandez could have tested this because you know how he falls
asleep today? You know, it's the same way he did it back then too. You know, one time
he was just in the front row and he's just like, and one of the missionary teachers was
just like, hey Garfield, you know, he's just like, get this guy up right now and he's just,
he got on him hard. He just never fell asleep after that. You know, but I remember being in
Bible college, working a full-time job, serving in the ministry, and you know, obviously we
stay here till like 10, but back in those days, we wouldn't get home till like midnight because
we're dropping people off or we're preaching, we're serving God like throughout the entire
Sunday. So we're just exhausted, but you know what, even then we made sure, and even
if I was tired for my Monday classes in the morning, I stayed awake. You'd say, well,
what do I do to stay awake? Well, we didn't even, we didn't even pound Red Bulls back then.
Let me just say that. Like, we got Red Bulls now. We got, we got, we got a Red Bull guy
who brings Red Bulls for everyone. You know, you have the, back then they would, they would
say just pull the hairs off your leg if you want to stay awake. But I know some
of you don't even have that, so. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're
called. Be a young man with character. Be a young man at your job that doesn't show up
late, that gets the job done. There is an example where the boss favors you because
you're a hard worker. But you know what, may not just get favor at your job. May
you get favor in church too. May they look at you and say, man, this guy is a
person of character. This person got his stuff together. This person is zealous
for soul winning. They're zealous for the things of God. They're an example
to all of the believers. What is that? Walking worthy of the vocation wherewith
you're called. Okay. And you know what, same goes for the ladies too. Amen.
You know, be a young lady. We got too many boss babes out there.
Too many ladies who just want to do their own thing and just make their own
money and do this, that and the other. And they want to have their own
podcast, a Christian podcast and teach everyone how to be a wife and how
to be a homemaker. Shut up and get in the kitchen and go
make your husband a sandwich. How about that? Forget the podcast. We don't need a
podcast. Just chat GBT a meal. How about that?
We don't need other women telling other women how to be a wife. It's super easy.
Just just cook, clean, please your husband. Amen.
It's pretty simple. You know, but we have all of these
feminist podcasts out there where they want to assert as though they're
actually promoting the tradwife movement and they're all about
pleasing their husband. Really? Then why are you the only one that we
see? Why is it that you're the most important
person that everyone has seen there? It doesn't sound like you're really
walking worthy of the vocation because the vocation is for you to serve
your husband to be a help meet unto your husband.
We don't need any more boss babes, independent women.
And masquerading, these Christians who are,
they're masquerading as Christians, but they're actually feminist at heart.
How about this? How about you just be meek? How about you just be quiet?
That's what the Bible says. To be meek and quiet, right?
Oh, this is offensive. Yes, because you're not walking worthy of the
vocation we're with here called. That's why.
How about this? How about you just stop usurping your husband's
authority? How about that? How about you stop trying to nag your
husband? How about that? How about you stop trying to,
you know, what else? I'm trying to think about the things here.
You know, just stop being an Eve, okay?
Stop being like Eve, actually walk worthy of the vocation.
And again, both male and female, you know, we're not going to
fulfill these roles perfectly. You know, we're supposed to love our
wives as Christ loved the church. And yeah, of course we fall short in that
area. And you know what? Men need to not make sure,
you need to make sure that you're loving your wife. You need to make sure that
you're patient with your spouse. You need to make sure that you're a good
leader. You're being benevolent towards your
spouse and towards your children. And not be such a pushover.
And make sure that you're actually taking the lead and not allowing your
wife to run you and run the house spiritually. You need to make sure you
take the reign, amen. Walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called. This is important.
Look at 1 Peter 1.14, it says, as obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the form of lust
in your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy,
so be holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written,
be holy for I am holy. What does the Bible say in here?
It's saying that we should be set apart unto the Lord and behave as such,
okay? Act like it. Act like a saint. Act like a Christian.
It's not telling us to be perfect, but at least strive for sanctification.
Don't use your liberty as an occasion to the flesh,
okay? And look, I don't need to know what kind of music you listen to,
okay? Because it might be super gay and I don't want to know,
okay? But if you're not accustomed to listening to
godly music, okay, you know, whatever. If that's your thing,
a lot of people are giving me the look right now. Maybe I need to talk about this a little more.
You know, let's just assume you're listening to Mozart or something,
I don't know. I don't know what kind of music you like to listen to,
but do me a favor. Don't come into the church parking lot, bumping it on like
full blast so that everyone else can see what kind of music you listen to.
Actually have some shame about yourself, okay? I remember back in the day we used to have
a church member that would come just bumping CCM, just the gayest music you could ever even think,
like I would have preferred Tupac over that. I would have preferred, you know,
I would have preferred NWA over that or something, but they would come in playing CCM,
just blasting it, just the most faggoty music you could ever think of. It's just like,
have you no shame? Like, you know, if I was into CCM, which I'm not, never will be,
okay? There's not a feminine bone in my body, okay? Not gay whatsoever, okay?
I got saving a fundamental Baptist church and I was put on those hymns right off on the back,
okay? I'm all about that traditional hymn life, okay? You know, I'm not all about that
sensuality and all that gay stuff. But you know, if I did like CCM, let's just pretend, okay?
First of all, I'd be super ashamed about it, okay? Especially if I was coming to church like this,
okay? I'd be like, man, I hope no one ever finds out that I'm gay. I mean, did I like CCM?
Okay? I hope no one ever finds out about this, you know? And you know what? If I did play CCM
and I'm coming, if you needed to get in the spirit when you're coming to church,
you know, turn it down a little bit at least. Yeah. Have you no shame? Like, here I am to what?
It's the only one that I know. Here I am to worship. And then you're just like,
at least turn it down a couple of decibels before you bring it in here. And you
said, what do you got against CCM? It's super gay. Most of the people who actually perform these songs
and any former liberal in our church can tell you this, right? Oh, you're so mean. Ask the
former liberals in our church. They'll tell you the same thing. I preach against this stuff.
Yeah, Cody, you know, I say this stuff because it's right for me to preach. But let me tell
you right now, people who've been in non-denom churches agree with me 100%. You know,
they've been to these liberal non-denom churches and they know how faggoty it is. And you know what?
They could even tell you that people who perform these songs are also homos or at least
fornicators and adulterers. Some of the most godless people are the ones performing these
songs. Okay. All right, let's talk about this more because I'm getting looks right now.
CCM is gay. You know what? It's stupid music. It doesn't uphold actual sound doctrine.
All it does is get you in a sensual mood. It makes you all soft and sensitive. You know,
how about traditional hymns that actually exalts doctrine? They reinforce the doctrine
instead of repeating the same thing for seven times. God is good. God is good. God is good.
God, we know. I like the hymns that actually uphold doctrine. I like hymns that actually give
hope. Hey, until then, it's awesome. I love that song. We need that song here, man. And you know
what? I don't want to listen to some chick making love to a mic, talking about Jesus. Right? That's
what it is. Alex, am I right about that? That's how I say it. He used to be in one of those
bands. Yeah. He said, why didn't he say anything? Because he's ashamed of it, you know?
But he knows what's up. You're like, dang, he called him out. Like, he could tell you? Go talk to him
after the service. He'll tell you how gay it is, how sensual it is. But let me say this. If that's
what you're into, okay, you know, if what I just preached is not shame you out of CCM and you
want to continue to listen to that gay music, okay, but don't bump it while you're coming to
church, please. You know, if you're into, what is the most famous rapper right now?
Ah, very good, very good. You know, I almost caught you guys. You know, let's just say Drake. I know
about Drake because he's a Jew, okay? You know, if you're into Drake or something like that,
you know, and he's just like, I just struggle with Drake. You know, you need to get off the
Jew and, you know, he's got a lot of problems or whatever. If you're into...
I won't think that you're listening to this if you know what I'm talking about. Kendrick Lamar.
If you're into Kendrick Lamar with his little bell bottoms, okay? Okay? Okay, you know, I don't
agree, but if that's what you're into, all right. But why don't... When you roll into church,
walk worthy of the voc... Drive worthy of the vocation we're with you are called.
And don't, you know, just bump it in super loud. Everyone's watching you. Kids are around.
It's like, can you act like a Christian at least? Aren't I being fake? Well, you know,
we kind of prefer you to walk... It's called walking worthy of the vocation, not being fake.
It's called being ashamed actually. No, I just think I'm real. Yeah, yeah, real stupid,
real worldly. That's what it is. You know, it gets to a point that we need to make sure
that we are... Look, look, obviously we understand we shouldn't care what everyone thinks. I get that.
I know that for sure. Okay? I don't care what people think about me. Okay? To a certain degree,
obviously. But there comes a point where we need to make sure that we like recognize that we're
ambassadors for Christ too. Okay? There were representatives of Jesus, representatives of our
church, you know? And, you know, when you're out in public, you know, you should... I'm not saying
you should just be looking like a fundamental Baptist everywhere you go. But you better not
be looking like a hoe either though. And I'm talking to the dudes, now I'm just kidding.
No, I'm just kidding. You better not be looking like a whore either.
You know, it's good that you come dressed like a good Christian woman when you come to
church. But, you know, this should be like an all-around thing when you like at all times though.
Like, even when you go like, even like home and stuff.
You know, you said, why? I don't know because maybe the Lord's there.
Right? Because God is watching. You know, Joseph, when he went to Egypt, he's just not like,
all right, time to party. I'm in Egypt. Where's Potiphar's wife, you know?
He's just like, you know, my parents aren't here. He's just like, how can I do this great sin before
God and sin against God? You know, go out in public, walk worthy of the vocation we're with
you're called. You're like, are you saying that I should just wear a skirt like at all times?
Yeah. Like, how? I can't show you because I have, you know, I don't believe in cross-dressing.
But, you know, there's plenty of women who do that all the time. You know, I've had women ask me,
like, well, how am I supposed to, you know, carry out this particular activity or do this
particular thing and address? Well, and the philosophy is this. Well, if it requires
for you to wear pants, then you probably shouldn't do that activity.
If you know make, if you got to do backflips, you know, you probably should be doing backflips.
Right? Amen. That's how you say it. Amen. You know, we need to make sure that we walk
worthy. You say, well, I just don't think that's possible. Well, how do my daughters and my wife do
it then? They do everything in a skirt. They even swim in a skirt. That's homage. No, they got this,
you know, swim skirt that you get or whatever. You know, I can't really, they got something
from Mrs. Anderson where, you know, it's, it's custom made so you can swim and stuff.
But you think I'm gonna be like, well, swimming is different. Go ahead and put on,
go down and put on a swim bathing suit or something like that. That's, that, that, you know,
that's the exception to the rule. No, it's not. Walk worthy of the vocation worthy you're called.
You know, be a Christian. Be a good Christian everywhere you go. And here's, here's what I'm
saying, folks. And I know people get offended at this stuff, but I'm telling you, because I
want you to walk by faith. I want you to walk worthy of the vocation worthy you're called.
You understand something? The Christian life has to be something that you do recognize
and that God is always watching. You do things out of conviction, right? And you know what,
it may start off as, well, you know, I don't want to do that because I'm, then I'm just
being performative. Okay, but why don't you just go ahead and perform for the Lord then?
How about that? Right? You know, and I can tell you stories about like in times past,
not here, but like it at our old church where, you know, my father in law preached
hard against pants on women and preached about women wearing skirts and stuff. And he
passed through the church of like 1300. So, you know, there's like a good percentage of that are
getting offended at that sermon, right? And he's just letting them have it. So he obviously
understood and people understood what the standard was at the church. And so a lot
of people were abiding by that rule, but you know, they wouldn't necessarily abide by
that when they're outside of the walls of the church. Right? So, you know, sometimes
we're in public, right? And we run into one of the sisters in public, you know? You just run
into them. And it's just like, hey, they're so-and-so. And she's like, hey, you know,
just hiding behind like some sort of, you know, just something, hey, I gotta go. We'll see you
later. You know, why? Because obviously she wasn't in a skirt. And it's not like we're like,
you know, we're in, we're in judging and like that. And in fact, I don't think we even paid
attention to afterwards. Like, why was she acting like that? Why did she jump like that?
Why did she hide like, oh, it's because she's wearing pants, right? It's like she's wearing pants
or whatever. And then, but, but here's the thing, like in her mind, she automatically knew.
So, you know what that tells me? It tells me that she understood that I was wrong.
That's what it was. Walk worthy of the vocation. Try. Okay? You know, if you are a young man who's
accustomed to just being really soft, super effeminate, very emotional, act like a man.
Walk worthy of the vocation, worthy of what you're called. You know, if you grew up
where it's just, you're just emotional, you're just easily just offended, you just need to be
coddled all the time. Stop. Just walk worthy of the vocation worthy you're called. You know,
here's a novel thought. Just act like a man. And in fact, that's literally a biblical concept.
The Bible says what? Quit ye like men. You know what that means? Act like a man. So,
you know, I get it. Maybe you didn't grow up with proper masculine and a proper masculine
environment. You never been punched in the mouth. You've never had older brothers. Maybe
you didn't grow up around thugs and gangs and maybe it was hard. You know, you're just kind of,
you're kind of like a Solomon, right? You're just kind of soft all the days of your life.
Okay, you're a Christian now. You know, it's time to man up. It's time to man up. You know,
like, yeah, but then I don't want to like just be performative. I don't want to just act. Well,
the Bible literally commands you to act like a man though. Because he knows that sometimes
it's hard for some dudes to act like men. Okay? And we're not just saying act like
a man, like be macho. Okay? You know, it's good that you lift weights and do all that stuff.
I'm talking about just be masculine in your emotions. Be masculine in the way that you think.
Don't think like a woman. Don't have the emotions of a woman. You gotta man up emotionally. You
gotta be emotional. You have to have emotional fortitude and not fold under pressure, right?
Oh, it's so hard for me. Then you know what? Then what you need, number one,
is to be filled with the spirit. You need to be around men who will exhort you to act like a man,
right? And to correct you and to help you because we don't want you, God doesn't want you,
to be feminine. And we think of being feminine as like someone who's just a little light on their
toes or something. You know, he gets a manicure or, you know, he, you know, is very flamboyant
or something like that. He puts lotion on his hands or something, you know? Oh man, I don't know if
someone does that. You know, you put lotion, you know, people think of that, but really
being feminine doesn't include that. But being feminine is also just being womanly in the way
that you think and the way that you act in your emotions. Okay? It's like, you don't
experience that time of the month, sir. That's why you act unlike you do.
Right? You know, you don't, you don't have those hormones. You're not made like that,
so you need a man up. Act like a man. Walk worthy of the vocation,
wherewith you are called. And look, you know, I'm thankful that when I went, you know, I didn't
grow up with my father. I grew up with my mom, my brother, and my sister. And obviously,
I had some bad influences growing up that helped me to toughen up a little bit.
But here's the thing, when I got into church, I was surrounded by a lot of just masculine men,
and I'm not talking about like, they're like punching me or something like that. I'm not
saying we need to punch each other, though that, you know, doesn't hurt every once in a while,
you know, just to be, you know, tough or whatever. But I was around masculine men who
just exhorted me to be strong in my emotions, be strong in my mind, to act like a man,
to take lead, right, to not be easily offended, to not be coddled, and things of that nature.
And I'm thankful for that. And you know what? We have the same thing in our church. We have
enough men in our church to kind of help you and mold you to be a proper man, okay? And until
then, just walk worthy of that vocation. Man up a little bit, okay? A lot of bit.
What's the sermon? Well, this is just my second point. I'm not done yet, actually.
But you know that second point, it's important for us to talk about that.
You know, it's, go to Ephesians 4. Look at Ephesians 4. It says in Ephesians 4, verse 17,
this I say therefore and testify in the Lord. Listen to what it says.
The henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds. What is it saying?
Don't act like an unsafe person. Don't have the philosophies of an unsafe person.
Don't behave like an unsafe person. Don't walk like other Gentiles here in this context is simply
referring to those who are unregenerated, okay? You should be different from everyone else.
And again, I fall short, okay? I joke about this, but I'm serious. You know,
sometimes I'm a little worldly. I'm just not perfect. I'm just a worldly person sometimes.
You know, I didn't grow up in church. You know, I'm a little rough around the edges,
and maybe that's why we have worldly people in our church. I don't know.
You know, I struggle. I'm not perfect. But you know, one thing I can say is that I endeavor
in sanctification, though, okay? I endeavor to be sanctified, to live a life that's pleasing unto
the Lord. And you know what? Just because I fail or I fall short, I'm just like, all right, well,
I'm just going to be a gangster. Just going to be a complete thug. Just going to go out
into the world. No, it's just like, you know what? I need to correct my ways. I need to
make sure I correct my way of thinking, my way of speech, my way of behavior,
and align it to God's word, because God doesn't want me to walk as other Gentiles walk in the
vanity of their mind, okay? You know, the Bible tells us wearing in Ephesians 2,
you have the Quicken who were dead and trespasses in sin, wearing in time past,
you walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among also we all had our
conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath. What does it say? That's how
you used to be, change that, okay? Now, we don't preach sinless perfection in here,
okay? It's no such thing. But let me say this, when you get saved, you should sin less though,
right? It should be less than what you were doing before. It should be that you no longer
drink, smoke, and run with those that do. It should be that as a Christian you surround
yourself. Let me give you this novel thought with other Christians, right? Like your closest people
should be other Christians, because we're intentionally seeking out to serve the Lord
and do that which is pleasing in his sight, okay? Go to 1 John, if you would.
1 John, look at chapter 2 of 1 John. It says in verse 9,
he that saith, he is in the light and hated this brother is in darkness even until now.
He that loveth this brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion
of stumbling in him, the Bible says. And in chapter 1 it talks about walking in the light.
You know what? As a Christian, we need to make sure, right, that part of walking in the vocation
where we are called is that our love for the brethren increases, not hatred for the brethren,
okay? It's a big issue when Christians hate other Christians, right? And are seeking their
downfall. They want them to be destroyed or whatever. That's wrong, you know? And here's
the thing, there's a lot of Christians that I don't like, right? But it doesn't mean I hate
them. I just don't like them. He's like, that's kind of awkward. I told you, I'm not perfect.
I'm just being transparent with you. And it's okay to not like someone as long as you just
don't let that get into hatred, right? Now, I will say this is that I for sure hate people
who claim to be Christians, who are fake Christians. They're masquerading as Christians,
but they're actually godless reprobates and false prophets, okay? And we've had a lot
of people like that even in the new FB. Even within recent years, a lot of people are starting
to come out and you can start to wonder about these people if they're even saved or not.
Just because they have such a deep hatred for God's people. And let me just say this,
you know, if I had something against a pastor who is saved and I didn't like that pastor,
you know, I wouldn't spend the rest of my ministry trying to bring that person down.
Because a lot of people out there I don't like, but I don't spend my life trying to bring
those people down. Why? Because I got business to take care of. I got to walk worthy of a vocation.
I got to occupy myself in the ministry, but I'm not going to just spend day and night
trying to bring a person down like that. That's kind of a marker of a false prophet.
When you have deep hatred towards another brother in Christ, that's a red flag there.
You're potentially dealing with a psychopath, a reprobate. That's a fact. You know what?
I'm not even going to say any names, but if someone clips this and says the name of the person,
they're just proving my point of who I'm talking about. Because they know exactly who that is.
And look, we should grow in our love for people. We should love people.
And you know, there's pastors out there that I don't agree with. I think they're stupid.
They're retarded. I think they made some bad decisions, but I don't hate them at all.
Like, I don't desire for them to die or anything like that.
You know? I don't desire for them to just, you know, for just God's cursing. You know,
for me, it's just like they're just complete idiots. And because they're saved,
I'm kind of forced to love them a little bit, but I don't have to like them.
But then there's other pastors who I don't believe that falls upon them because I don't
believe they're saved. I think that, you know, to walk worthy of the vocation we're
worth, we are called, we need to make sure that we grow in our love for the brethren.
And you know what? Don't worry about the people on the outside of the church.
You know, work on loving the brethren in the church. Grow in your love towards the brethren.
May that abound in you to love the brethren. And how do you know if you love the brethren
if you want to be around the brethren? That's a good way. You want to be around
the people that you love, right? That's why I've never agreed with like this old
life B pattern of once the service ends. People are praying that there's just like,
you know, they're out. You just don't want to be around anybody. You know,
and I get it. Sometimes people have to work or they got responsibilities. I'm just talking
about you got no responsibility. You just don't want to be around the brethren.
You know, the love of the brethren wants to see the brethren. And believe it or not,
I'm sure you believe this. I want to see you. Yeah, you. I want to see brother
Hike, believe it or not. I get excited about that. Yeah, I know it's crazy.
That's what I'm saying. I want to see brother Adrian. You know, I want to see brother Cody,
even Chris, even Chris. Yeah, I want to see you, you know, like when I come to church and I see
people, I'm just like excited to see them. You know, brother Tim, I get excited to see
brother Tim. I'm like, man, maybe it's because I'm a pastor and I love my people and it just,
you know, I like to see people in the house of God, but I genuinely love to see the people in
our church. When new people start making church a discipline, you know what? I love that.
Those people who are new to our church, new to Sunday nights, you know what? It rejoices
me to see them. Why? Because I love the brethren. You know, I love to see them,
commune with them, talk to them, yell at them, preach against them. You know, I love to do it all.
Look at chapter 2 of 1 John, but whoso keepeth this word in him barely is the love of God
perfected. Hereby no weed that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself
also so to walk even as he walked. What does the Bible say? It's saying that if you want to
walk the straight and narrow, if you really want to walk according to the vocation we're with here
called, here's a good example. Walk like Jesus, right? You're like, I need to know how this looks
like on a practical level. Well, we have four Gospels that highlights the life of Christ.
Be like Jesus. What would Jesus do? How would Jesus walk? It's all there. Just emulate the
Lord Jesus Christ, right? And I'm not going to get into my pet peeve of people telling me I'm
not like Jesus when they don't even know how Jesus is. How can you do that to that bum
and that homeless person? You know, what would Jesus have done? Well, I didn't have time to make a
scourge of small cords. There was no tables available. If you really want to know, that's
what he would do. He would be like, you're lighting the church on fire. That's what he
would have done, you know? And then Jesus of Revelation would have done what Brother Marcos'
meme showed, remember? But be like Jesus. Walk like Jesus. Here's another way of saying it. Walk in
the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Okay? All right, here's the last
one in Ephesians 5 and I'm done here because we got the lovely little ladies they got to
meet and we got nachos and whatnot. We got to show each other we love each other and you know,
be happy to see each other and all that. Amen. All right, lastly is this, you know, walk the walk
and what does that mean? It means walk carefully. Walk circumspectly. It says in Ephesians 5,
verse 15, see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time
because the days are evil. I love this verse because it's basically telling us we need to behave
ourselves in a very careful manner. We can't be careless about the Christian life, right? In other
words, we need to make sure that we look at what steps we're taking. The steps of a good man are
ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. We need to make sure that we're walking
carefully. We're walking circumspectly because of the fact that we have a lion known as Satan
who's walking about, seeking whom he may devour. We need to make sure that we're
redeeming the time because the days are evil. He says in verse 17,
wherefore be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Let me read to you one more
verse, Psalm 18 verse 36 says, thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
What is this referring to? It's referring to the fact that it's important for us as Christians
to live with intentionality, okay? Meaning don't let just a week happen to you.
We should intentionally know we're walking. Don't just wake up and be like, what am I going to do
today? I think I'll read my Bible. Nah. Play video games for a little bit and then I'll read my Bible.
I'm going to pray later. You're just kind of like flippantly going through life. You know
children are like this, right? Especially during summer break, okay? We need to make sure that
we are intentional about our days, right? Make sure that you're walking circumspectedly. Why?
Why do we need to walk carefully? Because you've got an enemy. You've got a spiritual enemy who's
constantly looking to take you down, to destroy you, to discourage you, to cause you, to deviate
from the paths of God. So we need to make sure that we're not walking where there's
minds around, right? Landmines that can just blow your leg off spiritually speaking.
We need to make sure that we are walking in such a manner that we're pondering the path of
our feet, as the Bible says, right? Letting our ways be established in the Lord. What's the sermon
this evening? Walk the walk, man. It's just a sermon encouraging you to just improve your conduct,
bring your conduct and alignment with God. And I'm with you on this. I'm not perfect.
I work on this too. I've been working on it since I got saved. No one has arrived and I don't expect
you to arrive. But you know what? Let's put some effort into it though, okay? Let's try to be
a sanctified person, okay? And, you know, walk worthy, just at least focus on that second point.
Walk worthy of the vocation we're with here called be a person who's at least trying
to live in accordance to God's word and meet the standard that God has for us. And you know what?
If you do that, listen to me, if you do that 10 years from now, you'll see that you've made a lot
of progress. You look back 10 years prior and be like, man, you know, I'm not where I should be,
but I'm definitely not where I used to be. And that should be the goal, man. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for receptive hearts. I know
there's a lot of truths within this sermon that could rub people the wrong way. And I pray that
it falls upon good ground, ready to receive the word of God, to be exhorted unto righteousness.
And I pray that you'd help us, Lord, as your people, to conform ourselves to the structure
of the Bible, to talk to talk, but also walk the walk, to conduct ourselves and have a conversation
that is in accordance to the principles of the Bible. And Lord, may you help us through this
process of sanctification as we better ourselves and the Lord. And I pray that you continue to be
gracious with us and merciful. Bless the meetings, Lord, the lovely little ladies who are
meeting afterwards, Lord, as they also endeavor, Lord, to just walk worthy of the vocation.
Bless the fellowship. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.