It's good to see everyone out this morning. Also, the visitors that we have we're always glad to have you with us. And I'm thankful again, I have an opportunity to preach and to preach to y'all in Kenny's absence, as he's away at a meeting.
And so today, I want to ask a question. You all may figure this out quickly, I don't know, but what is, if you were asked the question, what's the most common mode of transportation used throughout the world? Think about a little bit. Maybe you're thinking about the automobile, because they are cars everywhere, or trucks. Those are good modes of transportation. We have airplanes, air travel, and then there's other avenues of mass transit, like trains that will go throughout cities and also across countries and across long distances. Subways within the cities. Busses, boats, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters. Keep on going. Okay? But you may not have thought of this, the main and most common mode of transportation we use is walking. May not have thought that, I don't know. You might have. Everywhere for the most part we go. It involves some form of walking. Walking is a very important aspect of our lives. Learning to walk is an infant milestone. It's a major point and an infant's growth. Baby's first steps are taken independently, probably around eight to 18 months. I use eight because David first started walking at age eight or eight months, and that was a little rough. But anyways, he got his sea legs then. But anyways, babies are unsteady at first, and as they get better, their nervous system develops, their muscles develop, their balance gets better, and then they're off and going and running. Eventually we do it without even thinking about it.
God made us biped individuals. He made us individuals that walk on two feet in an upright position. The purpose of walking is to get somewhere. When I use the word transportation, the word transport really means getting from one place to another place. That's what it means. And we get different places by just walking. We get around the house. We walk to go outside, move around the yard and get around the yard. Maybe our jobs require a great deal of walking. We walk for exercise. That's a good thing for exercise, especially for us old folks. Me, it's good walking to do that. It's hard, hard to run anymore. Many games and sport activities involve a great deal of walking. We often use the phrase walking through life. We use the phrase walk of life. From a physical aspect, we do walk through life. This refers to how we plan our living, the choices we're going to make, the challenges we may meet, the obstacles we may come up with, those things may pop up along the way, and that's our walk of life. And everybody seems to have a different walk of life. But there's another walk, and that's our spiritual walk, and that's what I'm going to talk about today.
Each and every one of us has a spiritual walk that we need to make in our lives. You see, we all have a spirit. We both have a physical body and we have a spirit. God gave us a soul. Without the Spirit we're dead, physically. Physically dead. They can't be separated. "For the body without the spirit is dead," according to James in James 2:26. As long as we live, our spirit lives along with us. Upon death, the physical body returns to dust, and every spirit returns to God and will live on eternally. Ecclesiastes 12 and verse seven in the last chapter of the wisdom writers book, Solomon says, "then the dust will return to the earth as it was," that's after we die, "and the spirit will return to God who gave it." As we live our lives we have the freedom to choose our path, we have the freedom to go anywhere we want to go, and we can make any choice we want to make. Now, we have to live by rules, and we have governors and countries that have laws and government, government and things like that, and you have to pay attention, you have to obey those but you may not want to make that choice. You can make the choice just not to obey anything. Maybe thrown in jail. Who knows. You can make your own choices. Okay? Ecclesiastes 12, at the end of the chapter, Solomon writes, "For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." God lets us make choices. We are creatures of choice, and as Christians who obeyed the gospel, we need to begin a spiritual walk. But everybody, whether you've obeyed the gospel or not, is walking spiritually. Your spirit is going along. Okay? So today I want to just talk a little bit. Let's take a closer look at our spiritual walk, and let's see ourselves on that journey. You, the songs we sung kind of went along with that. Thanks, Kenneth for the songs. I appreciate those. We sing many songs that relate to our walk spiritually, maybe we can answer some questions as we go through this.
First question you want to ask is, when do we start? When do we begin walking? After we become a Christian, our walk begins immediately. We don't wait till we get our sea legs. We don't wait till we get our balance. We start out right away. As soon as we come up from that watery grave of baptism, the clock starts and the trek begins. We're new creatures. We have an advantage because we start spiritually with a clean slate. Okay, so we're new creatures and we're ready to go. Okay? Christ died for us. He bled. He shed His precious blood. We just remembered that as we partake, partook, of the Lord's Supper. Okay, so he has given us a new spiritual life. It's time to start now. Romans six. We turn to Romans six. I use a lot of scripture in my lessons. In Romans, chapter six, verses three to six, Apostle Paul says, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." A new life, a clean slate, we rise and we walk. "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." Jacob alluded that to that this morning when he gave the Lord's Supper talk. We're freed from our sins. We're not slaves of sin any longer. Again, we're new creatures.
And you turn to Romans, chapter 13, verses 11 through 14, and Paul says, "and do this knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep." It's high time you would get up and get going for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. You know, when we obey the gospel? Every minute goes by, every hour goes by, every day, every month, every year, we're closer to salvation. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly." We need to walk properly. "As in the day, not in the revelry and darkness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts." We're not going to be perfect when we start out. This is not going to be a perfect journey. Right off the bat. We're going to have balance issues, but we need to get up and we need to get going. We're going to fall some we're going to start with baby steps, and there's going to be growth involved. When you're baptized we don't know everything, but we grow and we learn as we go and we as we walk that road. First Peter, chapter two and verse two, Peter says, "As newborn babes, desire the milk, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. "You know later on, as we grow, we're going to need meat, and we're going to need the meat of the word, so we start right away.
And then, how do we walk? That's a good question to ask. We walk by faith. Second Corinthians five, seven says, "For we walk by faith and not by sight." So, how do you describe that? We're not walking a spiritual life with our eyes. We're walking a spiritual life with our mind and our hearts. But let me give you an example of faith. I was 12 years old. I'm an avid fisherman. We used to go to Canada for years. I loved it. When I was 12 years over we're going to make our first plane flight into a fish camp that was in the bush and there was no other way out, but by plane, that's the only way in. We get up there to the Flying Service that morning, we drove all night, and to get out, there's no runway. No runways, no towers, but water, a big lake, and there's docks, and there, there's planes. I've never been on a plane in my life at that time, and these planes were floating on the water. Okay? We wait a little bit because we had to wait our turn. So several flights, you know, people came in, they got their gear on, they went out, and they went out, and they fly off. And flying wasn't too bad. They taxi down the water. That's kind of cool. And then they went on, they took off, and it was pretty smooth looking. Well, then they came back in, and I watched them come in, and they're going to land on the water. And they come in, they hit the water, and they bounce on the water, and I'm going, oh man, you're kidding. I was ready to go back to the car. I'm not kidding. I was, I was nervous. But dad says, hang on, don't worry about it. We'd never been I'd never been there. Dad's never was there. None of us were there. I was with my his his brother, my uncle and and my cousin. The four of us were together. We're going to go on this trip. Never been there before, never been to the lake called Granite Lake, Granite Hill Lake in Canada, never been there. So we take off. Finally, it's our turn. We take off, and we taxi out. Okay, that's pretty good. And then he hits the throttle and we're going. And, you know, we got in this plane. These planes are old planes. Okay? They're old beavers and otters. They had one otter, which is big. The Otters bigger holds more. The beavers smaller, both very versatile and very good cargo hauling planes that were used in the war. So, that's how old they were. Okay, and I get in this, you could tell it's old, believe me, I scratched up, beat up, and it's --. I'm going, oh my. And we're cramped in their seat, and there's packages there, you know, got all our luggage and everything gear all around us.
And he taxes out, it's okay, and I'm looking out the window, and he hits the throttle, and all sudden, we lift off. And wasn't two minutes, pretty smooth, we lift off, though I'm going oh, and I'm watching it. And so I'm watching the whole way. And this is about a half an hour trip, nothing but pine trees, some rocks where hills were bald knobs like on top, and all you would see is a rock, granite. But most of it was trees. No roads, no nothing but trees and lakes for a half an hour. And we're traveling along, and all of the sudden, we're traveling over trees, and you get about used to it by then. And all of the sudden, he cuts the throttle, and the engines closed down, and we start dropping. There's no water around. What's going on? I mean, that was scary, but we had faith that there was a Granit Hill lake over there that we're going to fly into. I flew by faith. I've never was there, never saw it, never been there. Okay? And all of a sudden he's dropping and all sudden water shows up. That was good. Then we finally get over the water, and he drops us on the lake. And you watch, you get water gets closer and closer and closer and all sudden, boom, boom, boom. And I thought was going to, you know, we made it. Oh, we made it. And we taxied in and we had a great time. We flew by faith. I flew by faith, knowing or believing that that lake was there, but that they, what they told me was true, and it was there. Then, from then on, it was flying by sight. I knew it was there. I've been there. We'd see the lakes go by, the familiar lakes all the time over the years, and so everything was good. But that's what we do as as as Christians. We haven't - we walk by faith. We haven't seen heaven. Okay? We haven't seen God. We haven't seen Christ. We haven't physically laid eyes on him. How do we get that kind of faith? Well, Romans, 10:17, says, "So, then Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." We don't use our own eyes, we use our minds, we use our hearts. We have to study. We have to learn God's Word that gives us the faith. That's where the faith comes from. The Word of God, the Holy Spirit gives us that faith.
And then we're to walk circumspectly. And all that means is we need to walk looking around, keeping an eye on our surroundings, knowing what's going on. Ephesians 5:15, Apostle Paul says, "So, then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but wise." Other versions, use the word carefully. Walking around, looking, carefully. Looking carefully, looking all around, being aware of your surroundings, knowing what's coming. Kind of like watching for the road signs. You know, God provides road signs for us. There's going to be bumps, there's going to be curves, there's going to be things on the way. But you know, again, another thing about going to Canada, you have to drive up these dark roads at night, in the middle of the night, and after a while, you start realizing that when there's a yellow sign with a triangle on it and a curve, it means the curves coming. And they didn't miss. The only ones that were there. You knew you had straightaways then, but that was there. And same thing down here in Alabama, we got these curvy roads. When a curve goes like that, you gotta slow down. You know a curve is coming when it does this, you know you really gotta slow down. Okay? And that's those are helpful. Railroad crossings. We stop at railroad crossings. We stop, look, listen. We need to look and listen in our minds and use our our hearts. In Psalms, the 37th Psalm. In the book the 37th Psalm verses, 23 to 24 it says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." God orders our path, orders our way. We need to be awake. We need to be looking. We need to be ready. We know Proverbs, three, verses five to seven, Solomon says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil." Okay? He will direct our paths. Other versions say he will make our paths straight. There won't be so many curves, he'll help us keep it straight. Or if there are curves, we'll know how to handle them, because we study, we're ready.
Along with walking circumspectly. We need to test the way. You know, the Bereans in Acts, chapter 17, verse 11 says, "these were more fair minded than those in Thessalonica and that they received the word with all readiness and search the Scriptures daily to find out what these things were, that these things were so." They searched the scriptures. They wanted to know what they're being told. And we need to search the Scriptures. Don't just. Listen to other people telling us that, look and see what it says and make sure it's true. Anything I tell you, look in the scriptures and see if it's true. First John 4:1 says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Test the spirits." Test the way, test the direction. Make sure everything is right. Test them, "whether they are for God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." We need to set our course and use our GPS. I know I got a electronic but a Bible. Use the Bible. That's our GPS. And every waypoint is in there. Every road, every turn, every stop, every curve, everything that we need on our spiritual walk. Make sure you're on the right course you.
Don't follow the crowd. I learned a lesson about that last year. For the first time, we went to Branson, Missouri. Went to Silver Dollar City. It's amusement park and just Patti and I. That was when it was really hot in late August last year. It was terrible that heat wave. So, then we're in there, and we got in and we're waiting. And they didn't open up the park till 10 o'clock, so we had to stand around this thing. They eventually, just before 10, they played the national anthem, and then he opened up the gate, this gate, or rope across, and let people into the park. So, all everybody was going this way. So we looked at each other, I don't know where to go, you know, and we just followed him along. Patty and I did. And we're following along. And everybody's going, Everybody's rushing, rushing, rush to get and everybody and we follow them right to this ride. And we don't mind rides once a while. So, we went into this ride. It's called Time Traveler. And we get got into the seat, and I missed the roller coaster. Okay? It was the worst roller coaster I've been on. It was fast. It turns you up sideways and spins you, spun you around. I couldn't even turn sideways. It was weird. I mean, I come out there, Patti and I both come out and said, what did we do? I mean, we thought --. Patti said, I'm not following the crowd anymore. Okay, we followed the crowd, I mean, and I agreed. Don't follow the crowd. They're going to go where you don't want to go. That's not where you want to go.
And then you ask the question, why are we walking? We're walking to reach the goal. We want to get somewhere. Philippians 314, Paul says, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ, Jesus, I want to be called up. Whether I'm dead or alive, I want to be called up with Christ in heaven. He's not coming down here. He's not going to set foot on earth again. He's calling us up and we want to be called up. That's what we want. That's the prize. We want the prize. We want to be God with God in heaven for eternity. We can't see heaven, but we have faith that is there at the end of our pilgrimage, at the end of this walk, it'll be there. Paul tells us that there's a reward at the end of the course. This reward is heaven. As Patrick read in Second Timothy chapter four, I'm just going to read seven and eight, says, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, whichthe Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing." Now, he uses the word race. Okay? The Greek word for that is dromos, D, R, O, M, O, S, dromos, or whatever. Thayer's definition says a course. And I like that better, a course. We're walking on a course. It's not a speed race. It's not who gets their first wins, and nobody else wins, everybody else loses. Okay? You finish the course, you finish it. Everybody gets the same prize, kind of like a participation reward. But everybody gets the same prize. And I like that word better, course, than finishing the race. But we have to stay on the course. We have to stay on the course until the end is reached. We have to have endurance. We need patience and we need persistence.
Everyone, like I said, everyone who finished the course wins. You know, some are on the course longer. Some it takes longer to finish the course because we grow older, and God allows us to live longer, and some are short. Some may not be a course that long, and others who obey the gospel late in life will be on the course a shorter amount of time than those who obey the gospel early in life. It's all different. Everybody's course is going to be different, and their lengths are going to be different, but we're all traveling in the right direction. We should be. We need to train. We need to train and work to develop this endurance. We need to stay in shape. We gotta stay in shape to handle the rough terrain. Now, I said that God will direct our paths, and it says, make your path straight. But we gotta stay the course, and we need discipline and training to stay on that course. First, Corinthians nine, verse 26 to 27 says, "Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body." Paul says, I want to discipline my body, "bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." We need to stay on the course. We need to stay going the right direction. We don't want to be disqualified. And we need to work hard.
And remember one thing, there's people cheering us on. In Hebrews chapter 12, we talked about the beginning of Hebrews chapter 11, it says we walk by faith, not by sight, and it says faith cometh, but we know Faith cometh by hearing. In Hebrews 12 verses, one to two the next chapter. Because 11 is the faith chapter all these people of faith. "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." They're watching us. They're our witnesses. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnared us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." We got a lot of people going to be watching us there. But the question we might want to ask, though, down here on our course, on our spiritual walk, is there going to be someone to follow, someone to walk with, somebody to talk to and help us? One thing we definitely know is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be with us. They will be definitely with us. But you know, there'll be other people there too, but remember one thing, don't follow the crowd. We're in this together. That's why we have a church. That's why Jesus established His church, local congregations, Paul set up. We know that we have example of that, and that's why we're all together. So, we'll be together and help each other out. We're in this together. We can lean on each other. We all want to be on the same trail, right? We want to travel that same direction. We have preachers and teachers, elders, deacons to help and guide us. As an elder, I do my best to help, to be a guide and example, but I need help, and I need guidance too. We don't know it all, the elders don't. But we do our best to try to keep everybody walking in that right direction. And you can't force it. You do it by example. You do by leadership as best you can. And we strive hard to do that.
But this worship service for us is a rest stop. You know, we're on the course, we're going, we're moving out in the world. This is a rest stop. We can come here, get away from the cares of the world. We can recharge our batteries. And by the way, I got new batteries. He gave me new batteries before I started, so I can go a long time. But anyways, he gave us - we can recharge and check our direction, see where we're going, look at things, study. That's what it's all about. You know, in Philippians, chapter three, verse 17, Paul says, "Brethren join in. Follow my example." Let's follow Paul. "And note those who so walk." That means note others that are walking according to Paul, those you can follow too. "As you have us for a pattern." They're the pattern. We have a pattern to follow. Psalms 37 again, chapter 37 or book, Psalm 37 verse 37 says, "mark the blameless and observe the upright, for the future of that man is peace." Isn't that what we want? Peace, grace and mercy. That's what we want, and that's what we'll get. Philippians two and verse 15, Paul says, "As children of God without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights of the world."
Now, how are we going to find these people? We're walking down the road and we need some help, and there's supposed to be people around here to help us. How we're going to find them? Well, that light should be shining bright. Paul says we're to be lights of the world. They're going to be shining we'll see them. We can hook up.If we're in a dark area or a dark spot, and we look ahead, we find the shining light. Go to it. That's help. That's what we need to be. Matthew five in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify the Father, your Father in heaven." Look for the shining lights. Look for the bright lights. And you know what? We can, and should be, those lights. We should be shining lights to help others along the way, along a dark road. You know, God illuminates our paths. Yes, he does. But there's people that may be wandering and drifting and don't see the light. And what if they come up to us and they ask us, where are you going? Are we going to be able to tell them? Do we have a good answer? They may be traveling in the wrong direction. You know, we can have an answer, first Peter three, verse 15, Peter says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and in fear." Maybe somebody's trying to contradict you, but other people are seriously might be looking for directions. And we're a light, and they see us. We can help them. He may tell us, though, hey, I got an easier way. I got a shortcut. Let's go that way. Now, don't do that. We know if the blind leads a blind, and you're walking in darkness, both are going to fall in the ditch. No, we don't want to go that way. We want to follow His Word. We want to stay in the light. Well, we can teach them and bring them along.
So, in conclusion, we look at our walk. We need to start walking now. We need to get on it and start going. We need to. We're fortunate because of the grace of God we get to walk with a clean slate. No baggage. We take off clean. We need to follow the path and head in the right direction and keep checking it. We need to keep being faithful and know that the prize will be there in the end. Don't lose faith. Don't lose hope. Patience and endurance are a must to stay on this course. We need to look for shining lights along the way, and we need to keep our lamps burning and bright so we'll be a shining light. We need to help others on the way and bring them along too. Keep your eyes open. Pay attention to what's going on around you. We need to watch out for Satan's dangers and pitfalls. Okay, I've been talking to Christians. What if you're not a Christian? What if you've not obeyed the gospel? What if you've not trusted in Jesus enough to obey and enough to realize what he's done for you? If you've not repented of your sins, if you've not confessed that Jesus is the Son of God and have not been buried with him in the watery grave of baptism, what about you? Simple, you're on the wrong road. You made a wrong turn somewhere. Or actually you, probably, you never got on the road to start with. You need to get on the road. You need to trust in the Lord, and He'll show you the way. There's no other way to get on the right road except through Jesus. John, chapter 14 and verse six says, Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life no one, no one comes to the Father except through me." And that's to be buried with him in baptism for remission of sins. You don't do that, you'll never get on the road.
Maybe you've lost your way. Maybe you've gotten to dark area and you there's a fork in the road, and you went the wrong way, and it just keeps getting darker. You can get back on the path. We can help you. You know, you can make wrong turns. We do that. We make mistakes. Again, I can give you a story. We're in Florida in near the Kissimmee area, but my wife's sister and her brother in law were going to come and visit with us and stay with us. They're coming into Orlando International Airport. Orlando airport, okay, fine, we'll pick you up, no problem. Okay, it's later in the evening. It gets dark quick, and storms are coming. It's raining, and we go to Orlando International Airport. Okay, we're there, and they say we're here. Okay, we'll wait for you. So, we go around. You know where the arrivals are. We're driving by through to see them and let them join in with us. Go around once they're not there. So, we pull out and get back out and try to come around again. Anybody's been in Florida knows the airport probably knows this, okay, and it's a mess. I mean, there's cars going away, busses and trucks. It's a mess. But we kept looking. We went around again. They weren't there. Hey, where are you at? We're standing out here, we're waiting for you. I went around a third time. I can't believe I went on a third time. They still were not there. I said, we cannot see you, aren't you at the arrivals a baggage area? Yes, that's where we're at. I finally stopped, and there was a couple of lady police officers there to help directing traffic and stuff I got. And I said, Ma'am, I said, Where does this certain airline come in and where, where they get their bags at? She goes, Oh, you want Sanford. Okay. You want Orlando Sanford International Airport. Well, that's 50 minutes away, and it was storming and raining and lightning, and we had to go there and go through a bunch of different toll roads, and paid a lot of toll to get there, to get them and get back. We went the wrong direction. You know, you can't say to yourself, hey, what's the difference? Orlando International Airport, I didn't know there was two airports. Do we do that with God's word? Hey, it doesn't matter. We'll do whatever we want to do. Well, that's not true. You need to follow God's Word. We need to follow it specifically. There's a pattern, a specific pattern, that we need to follow. So, if you've lost your way and went the wrong direction, you can get back. If you've not started on the road, you can start. And you have time and opportunity right now, as together we stand and sing.
