Thank you that you are alive. We don't come together to worship the memory of you. We come to worship and to experience the person that you are because you are alive and you speak to us. So right now we ask that you would speak to our hearts and we ask all this in your name Jesus. Amen. Well, we are right in the middle of a series called By Faith. We're gonna take a break for Ken in the marriage series, and then for Easter, we'll come back and finish it up. But we're looking at how we as people can be people that live by faith. 2 Corinthians 5.7 says we live by faith and not by sight. I have spent much of my life living by sight. And when I live by sight, I can see things for how they are. I can see the problems, I can see the obstacles, but I have a really hard time for seeing things the way they could be. I have a really difficult time seeing the potential in people, in myself, in my career, my marriage, you name it, it's hard to see things for what they could be if we merely live by sight. But when we live by faith, we see this world the way God sees it. And God often sees a greatness in us, and in this world that we have a really hard time seeing ourselves. We want to see the world through God's eyes, and we we do that when we live by faith. We're full of more hope, more joy, more peace, and more life when we live by faith. But faith is not easy. Faith does not always come naturally for us. And so we're looking at Hebrews chapter 11, this chapter in the Bible where we see story after story of people who have lived by faith. And we can learn from these people. We can look at their lives and uh and apply what they did to live by faith to our lives. This week we're gonna look at a very mysterious person in Scripture, someone who just sort of shows up and then they're gone. There's not a lot discussed about them in the word, but we're gonna explore what there is because it's really interesting, it's really important. But before we get to that, I want to know, just to be interactive with you this morning, does anyone enjoy taking walks? Or are anyone anyone a walk taker? You're like, yeah, if I've got some spare time, I'm gonna take a walk. There were more walk takers in the 9 o'clock, so this is okay. Um I'm kind of with you. I I don't love taking walks. My parents, my parents adore taking walks. It's a really good thing to do. I had walk taking kind of ruined for me years ago, and it's all because of this golf course. And I'll explain this. When I was in high school, we moved to Ackworth. We moved to Ackworth from Tennessee, we moved to Tennessee from Wisconsin, we moved to Wisconsin from Missouri, we moved a lot. And we moved to Ackworth, and my dad was so excited because we lived on a golf course. And my parents had come from really humble beginnings. We lived in a double wide when I was a kid, and we loved it. And so for my dad to go from that to a golf course was a big deal, and he loved golf so much, he was an enthusiast, and we lived right off the tea box of the tenthole. Early in the mornings, my parents would get up and they would walk the golf course before it opened. And looking back, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that. I don't know many golf courses that are like, hey, just come and walk on our grass. We really like it to be worn. You know, we want you to walk on our grass. But my parents did that, they'd take the dog. They'd take me sometimes, we'd go walk, it'd be relaxing. We'd go at night whenever it was dusk and people weren't playing anymore. We walk a few holes. And it was really enjoyable, it was really relaxing, but then one day everything changed. Because we're walking, and my dad spots a golf ball. And so he walks up to it and he bends down and he picks it up and he he holds it up and he looks at my mom and I and he goes, guys, look, it's a titleess golf ball. My mom and I, not that into golf, go, great. I don't know how to respond to that, dad. And he's like, No, no, no, you don't understand. This is a really expensive golf ball. And see, from that moment on, walking the golf course was not about relaxing time with family. For my father, it became a hunt to find golf balls. And my dad is a very obsessive human being. He's he's borderline OCD sometimes. And so he became obsessed with this. One day, my mom and I were on the back deck and we're looking out, and we see my dad, who we we know had had gone for a walk that morning. He's coming back, and he's a long way off, probably a hundred yards or so. We can tell it's him, but he's walking really strangely. It kind of looked like the stay puffed marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. If you've ever seen that movie, he's just sort of like lumbering like this. And we're like, what is wrong with dad? And then he gets closer and we we can see what's going on. He's wearing these sweatpants and a sweatshirt that he's got tucked into the sweatpants. And he had like wandered off into the woods on the golf course and he found so many golf balls that he had stuffed his pants and his shirt and even his sleeves, and he's like walking like this so that they don't fall out. And he arrives and he's so excited, his face is lit up, and he's like, Look at all the golf balls I found today. And you know when you have kids and they do something and it's just it's kind of strange, but you feel like you have to praise it because you want them to be encouraged. So you just sort of go like, Good job, way to go. That's kind of how we were. We're like, Yeah, dad, this is weird. This is really weird. All the neighbors can see you. You realize this is not normal. But my dad was obsessed with it. And I'm not exaggerating, he found thousands of golf balls and he began to organize them in our basement. He would wash them all off, and he organized them by brand. And so we had a bin of titleist golf balls, we had a bin of Nikes, the really expensive ones, and then we had the off-brand golf balls that he didn't care so much about. And occasionally I would want to go out and hit a few balls and play. And so I'd say, Dad, I'm going to play golf, and he'd say, Okay, don't take the titleists. And I would be like, Why? And he would say, Do you know how expensive those are, son? You found them! You found them, they're free, they didn't cost anything. But but it wouldn't convince him, and he'd yell at, No, I don't want you to lose them, and I'd be like, You'll find them if I do. In fact, you get more excited when you find the expensive ones anyway. So if I take those and lose them, I'm just adding to your joy when you find them in a few hours. But there was no convincing him. So I stopped going on those walks because they got weird. He started taking a bucket and he had this pole. It was strange. It was strange. That same golf course is where I would go on walks with Megan when we first started dating. And so for a while I thought, well, that that redeems that experience because yeah, it was weird with the golf ball thing, but but in our early days of dating, Megan and I would walk those those same holes on the golf course when she would come over and we just want some time to go talk. And then one day, three or four years into our marriage, somehow I'm thinking about those walks, and I said, Hey, Megan, you remember when we would take those walks? And Megan just goes, Oh yeah, I almost broke up with you on one of those walks. And and hold on, we've been married for like three or four years, and I had no idea that this had ever even been a thought in her mind, okay? Because I promised you it wasn't a thought in mine, and I'm like, What do you mean? She's like, Yeah, I was gonna break up with you, and then I just couldn't, like out of pity or something. I don't know what it was. But oh, just to know that, to know that on the back end, that's really hard. And so when I think of taking walks, those are the things that come to my mind. My my crazy dad looking for golf balls with his bucket and his sweatpants full of golf balls, and Megan going, should I break his heart? Should I crush him? Should I now I'll see how things go. That's what taking walks means for me. So I don't take a lot of walks anymore. But it's interesting because that word walk has become pretty synonymous with our relationship with God, at least in our culture. And I grew up in church, so there's a lot of phrases and words that you only use in church that I learned. We try really hard not to speak what we call Christianese here at His Hands. We don't think you should have to learn a new language when you come here. So, like we call this room the big room, not the sanctuary, because it's it's a big room. It makes a lot of sense when we say that's in the big room. People know what we're talking about. But there are still a few phrases or a few words that have slipped through the cracks that I still use, and one of those is the phrase walk. So I might ask a friend of mine, hey, how's your how's your walk with God? How's your walk going? And they know what I mean. I'm asking them, how are you and God doing? How is your relationship with God? It's just become a phrase synonymous with how we're doing with God. And I don't know where that phrase came from. If I had to guess, I'd say Genesis chapter 5. If you've never read Genesis chapter 5, it's one of these really, really exciting chapters in the Bible that's a genealogy from start to finish. I don't know if you've ever been someone that said, I'm gonna start reading the Bible, I'm just gonna dig in, and you, you're pumped, you you're really excited, then you get to one of those chapters and you're like, Why is this in here? What is the purpose of this? It actually is really purposeful, though. Because it allows us to fact check the Bible. There have actually been other historical documents where they have found the same people, but from a different source, and it lets us know that the Bible's really accurate, which is great, but it's not a lot of fun to read. And if you're like me, you get to those chapters if you're reading and you just sort of glance at it, you kind of skim it, you go, yeah, a bunch of people lived lives, had kids, I get it. Maybe even just go ahead and skip to the next page. And if you did that in Genesis chapter 5, I don't blame you, but you would miss a really interesting person and a really interesting moment. Genesis 5 begins in verse 3 by saying, When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness according to his image, and he named him Seth. The length of time Adam lived after he became the father of Seth was 800 years. During this time he had other sons and daughters, the entire lifetime of Adam was 930 years, and then he died. Now, if you're here and you're going, wait, hold on. 930 years. How on earth am I supposed to believe that people lived that long, that long ago? I mean, we have better medical knowledge and technology today than ever, and we're lucky to live 100 years. Like, what is going on here? We could talk about this for hours, and it would be a really interesting conversation. I don't know how much it would help us tomorrow in our lives, but it would be really interesting. So, what I'll say is if you're someone really fascinated by that or you have questions about that, on Tuesday we'll post something on our Facebook page that'll kind of explain some really cool theories and ideas about that, really interesting stuff. If that's your thing, check our Facebook page on Tuesday. But let's continue on. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. The entire lifetime of Seth was 912 years, and then he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Cenan, and he had other sons and daughters. The entire lifetime of Enosh was 905 years, and then he died. And it goes on and on. Same pattern, same wording. But then you get to verse 21, and it changes. Verse 21 is really interesting. We meet a man named Enoch. It says, When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. Now, the previous guys all had kids when they were like 100 plus, so Enoch got started really early at 65 to start a family. It says, after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years. And he had other sons and daughters. The entire lifetime of Enoch was 365 years. Enoch walked with God and then he disappeared because God took him away. I don't know what your experience with walks is. Maybe you've had some golf ball moments or some breakup moments, but that's that's a walk, right? I went on a walk with God and I never came back. Because God just, he took me. And if you're concerned for Enoch's well-being, let me assure you, everything works out fine for him. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 5 through 6. It's the next time we see Enoch. It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying. Okay, now that's different. Enoch was taken by God into heaven and he didn't even have to die. It's like he found the express lane to heaven. It says he disappeared because God took him, for before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. So Enoch was a man who lived by faith. And he pleased God. He believed God, he pleased God. But the only description that we have of how he pleased God is this very brief statement in Genesis 5.24. It says, Enoch walked with God. I want to explore this morning what it means to walk with God, what it looks like to walk with him. And the Bible's full of these amazing metaphors, these pictures. When I was a kid and I read books in the library at my school, I loved books with really good illustrations. I love pictures. But then at some point, as you get older, someone just decides, nah, pictures are for kids. No more pictures, just words. And I don't know if you're like me, but I remember those times and I'm like, what why aren't there pictures in books anymore? Pictures were like the best part. And then one day they say, nah, we don't need those anymore. I love that scripture includes all these beautiful pictures for us. Jesus painted beautiful pictures to help us understand what it means to live a life connected to God. So one day Jesus said he wanted to fill us with living water. And water was this metaphor for life. So Jesus says, Hey, I want you to be full of living life. Not stagnant life, not dead life. I want you to be full of living life. Life that is so powerful that even death cannot stop it. Jesus talked a lot about agricultural things. And he wasn't a farmer, he didn't own a vineyard, but one day he said that he was a vine, and we're branches that come off that vine. And if we want to bear fruit, if we want to be people that are productive, if we want to be full of life, we've got to stay connected to the vine. We have to stay connected to Jesus. It's this picture that helps us understand what it means to live with Jesus. And one of those metaphors, one of those pictures is walking with God. If you ever read Jesus talk about roads, when we hear road, we picture vehicles, we picture cars. In that day, if you had a lot of money, maybe you could afford an animal to ride. But what people did on roads was walk. So that's the picture people would have had in their minds, walking on a road. Enoch was a man who was described as walking with God. I want to look at three aspects of walking with God today. I want to ask that as we explore this together, that your heart would just be open and you would say, okay, God, I want you to show me which of these three I need the most help in. I want to start progressing in this area. Those three things are pace, destination, and direction. When we walk with God, we learn to walk at God's pace. To live at the pace that He sets. When we walk with God, we learn to walk toward the destination that God provides for our lives. And when we walk with God, we learn to follow the directions that God gives. And when we do those three things, we walk with God like Enoch walked with God. Have you ever known someone that lived life at a very different pace than you? Maybe you're married to someone that lives life at a very different pace than you. That can be frustrating, right? Someone wants to go faster than you want to go, that's hard. If you've ever followed someone in a car and that person is the one that knows how to get to where you're going, and they're aware of that, they know that you are dependent on them to get you to where you need to go. You're a stranger in a foreign place and you need to get there, and they're the ones that are supposed to take you there, but they don't seem to care much about you keeping up with them. And so you're driving behind them and there's a yellow light, and they gun it through the yellow light, and you're like, I'm how what are you doing? Now I'm stuck here and I'm gonna lose sight of you, and oh, this is frustrating. It's hard to live at a different pace. It's hard when people want to go faster than we want to go. It's hard when they want to go slower as well. I have spent a lot of time in this building. In September, we'll be celebrating our 10-year anniversary as a church, which is so cool. That's a decade. It's a decade. That's a big deal. And I'm 31 years old, and so I've been here almost 10 years, which means I've spent about a third of my life here at this church, and a lot of it's been spent in these walls. Not literally in the walls, but within the walls, you know what I mean. So we've knocked most of the walls down since we started, so there's very few walls left. But but a lot of the times I'll come here on Saturdays, especially a few years ago when I was working with youth or with kids, and I'd have a project to work on. And so on a Saturday, I would come in at the office door, and the office door is on the far left side of the building, and I'd have a project to do over here on the youth side, which is all the way across. You've got to walk down that big hallway. That's a very big hallway. It's one of the first things I noticed when I came here for the first time, the size of that hallway. But when Liam was born, I'd start to bring him with me. Especially when he was about two years old. He'd want to come with Daddy on a Saturday. Well, Daddy worked on a project, and I wanted him to come along. And as big as that hallway seems to me, I cannot imagine what it looks like to the two-year-olds who are here. I think it just begs them to run. That's what I've experienced. They're like, I gotta move. This is huge, I gotta go. So you see a lot of parents chasing their kids. We're sorry about that. That was an unforeseen side effect. But but when Liam was two, he'd come with me. It'd just be the two of us here. And I'd have stuff to do. And we need to get from the office to the youth area, and we gotta walk down that hallway. And Liam just walked slow at two. It was very important to him, though, to walk with me. I'd I'd say things like, Hey, do you want daddy to carry you? Do you want to ride on my shoulders? Because I kind of need to get there and work on stuff. And he'd say, No, I want to walk with daddy. And so he'd walk and he'd reach his hand up and he'd hold on to my finger because he was that small. And here I am in a hurry to get something done, and we're just we're walking. And I'm like, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. This is the most infuriating thing, right? I'm just tortured by the pace that we're going at. And pardon me, I never did this, but I just wanted to yell, hurry up, Liam, move. Come on, son, you gotta move. I got stuff to do. It is so hard when someone is moving at a pace that slows us down. Most of my life, I have believed that I am growing at a pace in my relationship with God that must frustrate him so much. That he must be in heaven just screaming, Justin, hurry up! What is taking you so long? Why are you making the same mistakes over and over again? Why do you keep getting distracted by the same things? Because Liam would do that. Like, there were pictures that Marlon had painted that are on the walls that he really liked, and so it didn't matter how many times we've been down the hallway, he would always stop and go look. And I'm like, I know it's here every time we're here. We gotta move, son. Come on. And and God must be in heaven going, Justin, stop. Stop doing the same things over and over again that are slowing you down. You've got to move. That's how I felt about God, how he must feel about me. I know I can't be the only one. I mean, how many of us in the room, if if we were asked the question, how do you feel like you're doing when it comes to the pace at which you're growing in your relationship with God? How many of us would say, Oh, I'm doing awesome? I found that sweet spot, right? Like I'm I'm growing at the perfect pace. I know God is really, really happy with my progression so far. How many of us would say, hey, I don't want to brag? I'm actually way ahead of the pace. Okay? I'm like, I know they say it's a marathon, not a sprint, but I'm sprinting the marathon. I'm doing really well. Okay, so there's a lot of people back there, but God, he's just like, wow, you're doing great, keep it up. Or how many of us would be honest and we'd say, you know what, I I know I'm behind. I know I'm not where I should be. I've taken a few detours over the years. I've wasted a lot of time, time that I could have been growing with God, but instead I was focused on something else. There was one period of life where I actually turned around and ran the other way. So I'm kind of trying to make up lost crown. And we believe that God might be going, hurry up. You are you're driving me crazy with how slow you're going. But see, in those moments where I was frustrated with Liam, I realized that I was not being a good dad. Because see, in those moments I valued the task that I needed done more than I valued time with him. And there will never be a moment in your life where there is some task that God is trying to accomplish that he cares more about than you. Because if we search scripture, we find that the task that God values the most is knowing you. One of my steps was like five of his. And it was foolish of me even to desire him to keep up with me. What I should have done, because now I actually look back and miss those moments. Now when we're here, he just scoots on with no, he doesn't want to be with dad, he just wants to run to his friends. And I'm like, oh, remember those times when he would walk with me? He'd hold my finger. I want that again. I want you to know that God is not screaming to those of us in this world following him, hurry up. God is a God who knows that we cannot keep up with him. We could not go at God's pace. But he's a God that wants to slow down and walk with us. And he's looking for people who will be like that child and and they'll forget about the pace and they'll just reach their hand up and hold his and appreciate the fact that we have a God that is willing to slow down and walk with us. And this isn't just some nice thought. I mean, it's all through Scripture, Jesus in Matthew 11. 11, 28 through 30 says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you, because I'm humble and gentle at heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. Does that sound like a God who is screaming, hurry up, move faster? You will not find in Scripture a God who is impatient. You will find people who are impatient. You'll find a lot of people in the Bible screaming at God, hurry up! Why aren't you doing something right now? I need you to do something today. Read the Psalms so many times, David, a man who the Bible describes as being connected to God's heart. He and God just got each other. And he's screaming out to God, where are you? Are you asleep? Why aren't you moving right now? Why aren't you doing something? I need you now, and you're you're not on my timeline. And many of us have been in that situation in life where we're like, God, I need you today, and then tomorrow comes. And we're like, okay, God, I really meant it yesterday. I wasn't joking around, I really need you today. In fact, I needed you yesterday, but then another tomorrow comes and it doesn't feel like God's doing anything. And we have to realize that God is just a patient God. And what he really desires more than anything is for you to slow down and walk with him. In fact, that's required that we're gonna see the kind of changes that we need to see in life. His idea of fast is just different than ours. Jesus said, I am coming back soon. 2,000 years ago. His idea of soon is very different than yours and mine. And I would imagine that if you're an eternal God, 2,000 years would be pretty soon. Jesus is saying, hey, I'm working on it. Things are moving at the perfect pace because I'm patient. When we walk with God, we learn to walk at his pace, and so often that pace is slower than the pace that we're trying to go. So we've got to be people who recognize that our God will slow down and walk with us, and we need to enjoy that and walk with him. When we walk with God, we not only learn to walk at his pace, but we learn to trust the destination. One of my favorite words is the word destiny. It's such an epic word, right? Destiny. Something from a fairy tale. It's my destiny to do this. This is my destiny. The word destination, not as exciting. Not at all. I wish that an airline company one day would change their verbiage so that when you're going somewhere, somewhere really exciting, like Cleveland. And instead of you looking at your ticket and it says destination Cleveland, it says destiny Cleveland. Like I'm destined to go to Cleveland today. This is really cool. And even though destination, it's not as exciting as the word destiny, it means the same thing. It's all about where we're going. Our lives are heading somewhere. They absolutely are. It's just a matter of who's setting the destination. When we walk with God, we trust the destination that God has set for us. Most of my life I have had a difficult time surrendering to the destiny and the destination that God has for me. Because I've believed that God wants less than I want for myself. That me surrendering to what God wants means less money, it means less excitement, it means less success, it means less whatever. And that's because religion very much informed my idea of God, and I was taught as a kid, not directly, I don't think, but just indirectly, that God wants you to learn how to live on less. You got too much. So God wants you to give this up and give that up and give this up and give that up so that you can learn to live with just Him. And one day the best life would be not even to need oxygen anymore, where you just have God. You don't even breathe. You just live with Him. That was kind of the idea that was presented. And it's crazy because as I search His Word, I don't see a God telling people, I want less for you. I want to take things from you so that you really appreciate me. I see a God who says, I want more for you than you want for yourself. I want more joy, I want more peace, I want more hope. I want you to be successful. I want you to thrive. I mean, Jesus Himself said that if good parents, if normal human beings, know how to give good gifts to their kids, how much more does God want to bless his children? We have a God that is all about more. And we've got to learn to trust the destination that he has for our lives and to believe in our heart of hearts that where he wants to take us is a place of more. And it's a good place. I mean, Enoch's destination was pretty nice. Heaven. Eternal life, everlasting life. At the end of the day, that's that's really one of two destinations that we have, right? Life or death? Scripture speaks about this very often in Romans. We won't have to pull it up and look at it, but in Romans, Paul basically said, hey, you live by the flesh, you're headed to death. You live by the spirit, you're headed to life. And it breaks my heart to know that there are people in this world that believe that their ultimate destination, that their destiny is to die. That they believe that that's it. No matter what happens in their life, no matter what they do, no matter who they are, their destination is a grave. And it breaks my heart, not just because it's a sad thought, but because it is not consistent with Scripture. It is not consistent with what God tells us about who we are. We are not destined for death. Our destination is not a grave, our destination is life and everlasting life. The same place that Enoch is, is where we will be. Living. So much of this world is obsessed with death. We think about how many products were sold on a daily basis that are all about the fear of death. Oh, you better, you better do this. You better exercise this much, eat this diet, or you're gonna die. They're gonna die too. You don't see people on TV being like, hey, follow my workout plan and eat what I've eaten. I'm 212 years old. You know, that's enough, you'll see that. Like maybe, maybe if I never eat bacon again, I can squeeze out another year of life. Right? I'll take the bacon. Thank you very much. I have really poor self-control with food, so don't apply that. Um see, here's the thing, at the end of the day, and we're gonna talk about this a little bit more at Easter. There's a little preview. But we're not meant to squeeze out every drop of life. Because life is not gonna end for us. Jesus has promised that to us. He said, anyone, and if you've ever wondered if what Jesus says applies to you, just ask yourself, am I anyone? And you might find that in fact you are anyone, you're actually someone. So this does apply to you. Jesus said, anyone who believes in me and confesses that I am who I said I am, anyone who puts their trust in me will not perish, but will have everlasting life. Eternal life. That is what our destination is. And we've got to trust that no matter what we're doing, if we're walking with God, we are headed toward life in a life that is so bright, a life that is so brilliant that death cannot snuff it out. That's the destination. But it's easy for us to lose sight of that. And I feel like we've got to create some type of destination on this earth that's so good that it's gonna make, it's gonna make life as good as it can be until we die. And that's not that's not how we live. When we walk with God, we walk at his pace, we trust his destination, but we also learn to follow his directions. You ever had someone give you bad directions? Of course you have. Bad advice, something like that. Or have you ever had someone give you really good advice, really good directions, but you just chose, nah, I'll figure it out myself. I mean, I'll be honest, that's gotta be 95% of my mistakes in life. I mean, there's a few of them that I can literally claim I had no idea that things would work out this way. But most of the time there was someone or something that I knew going, no, don't do that. Don't no go that way. I'm like, well, I just want to see what happens when I do. A few years ago, my parents moved to Lenore City, Tennessee, just for a little while. They lived there for about a year. My dad called me to give me directions because we were gonna go visit him. And uh, and the directions were so simple that I didn't even use GPS. They were so simple. He said, Go up 75 north for two hours, and then our house is like right off the exit. And so I said, All right, great. That that works. I wrote the exit number down, Megan was gonna keep track of the exits. And so we start driving, but but here's the thing my dad gave me the right directions. It's just that in my mind, for some reason, I don't know why, I confuse 75 north with 575 north. Now here's the thing: they both go north, but like north-ish, okay? Because if you go up 575 for two hours, you're in a very different place than if you go up 75 north for the same two hours. And Megan's smart, Megan caught it. She recognized that the exit numbers weren't matching up with what we were supposed to look for, so she kind of had me stop, and then we routed it with GPS, and we found that we had to go about an hour and a half west to get where we were supposed to get. And we went through some really interesting places. Places I don't ever want to go to again. Okay. But we got there, just took a lot longer. I had the right directions, I just didn't follow them, and it wasn't on purpose, it was just an accident, but that happens sometimes. See, God loves us so much that not only does He walk with us, not only does He tell us where we're going, God gives us the directions that we need to get there and to get there as safely as possible. But it's up to us to follow those directions. If there's one thing that I have seen so many times, I have seen good people who love God, who want the best for their life, who want the destination that God has for them, but they just don't value his directions. So they they choose to kind of do their own thing. They either ignore his directions or they just don't seek them out. And if God loves us as much as he says he does, that is not how he wants us to live. I love my children very much. And if I was gonna ask my children to go on some long, dangerous journey one day, I would not say, hey, just put one foot in front of the other, you'll figure it out eventually. That's not what I would say. No, he gives us directions, but we've got to follow those because if we don't, we're in trouble. We've got to be honest with ourselves and understand this. Have you ever felt like the world is conspiring against you? You ever felt like there seem to be forces at work against you trying to keep you from having what you need to have in life? Anyone ever felt that way? Seriously. You know why you feel that way? It's because there are forces conspiring against you. You're not crazy. You're not paranoid. It's the truth. In Romans chapter, or Ephesians rather, chapter six, Paul wrote, a final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. For when we are, for we're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. God says, Look, there are forces at work and they're coming against you. Satan wants to destroy you. He wants to destroy your life. How does he do that? We get another picture that the Bible paints for us in 1 Peter 5. It says, Stay alert, watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a loring, like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering that you are. Satan, he's lying in wait. He sets traps for us and he's just waiting for us to step into them. And we step into those traps when we depart from the directions that God's given us. We're not punished by God. It's not like we take a step in the wrong way and God's like, zap, told you not to do that. It's not what it says. It's that we have these traps lying in wait for us. Not put there by God, but put there by an enemy. And God does not want us to step in those traps. My wife told me this story last week. It's a really cool story about how she was a little girl, her family was thinking about buying some land in Blue Ridge. And so they went up to look at that land, and she walked with her dad through that land as they were exploring it. And I don't know if you've ever looked at an area and gone, that looks like a place where snakes might be. Maybe you're semi-afraid of snakes, which isn't that irrational of a fear. I don't know if you've ever been in an area where you don't even have to wonder. You're like, that's like snake paradise. That just seems like someone opened up the perfect world for snakes to live in. We had one of those places behind our house, our first house. We had a fence, and then there was this deep kind of drop, and it was very wooded, and there was a creek down there. And one time Liam threw a ball, he was like one or two, threw a ball over the fence, and it rolled down that way. I went down to get it. It was this $2 ball, and I got down there, I'm like, why am I risking my life for this thing? Because I just knew, I'm like, this is this is snake world. What this is what this is. And that was confirmed to me. We had so many snakes in our backyard that came from that area. In two years living there, one day I opened up the door to our backyard and I came this close to stepping on a copperhead snake. It was just laying right there. And I'm like, ah, all right. That's a snake, and I knew exactly what kind of snake it was, and pulled it up, and yep, it's a copperhead. One day I was in the backyard, same house, and I pulled up this mat that had been lying outside, and I see a snake underneath it. And I'm like, man, that's a really, really long, skinny snake. That's a strange-looking snake. Because I'm looking, I'm just like, it just keeps curving around, and then I see another head. I'm like, that's I start counting. There's seven snakes. Seven snakes in my backyard. People. Okay? Messed up stuff. So so Megan's a little girl and she's walking in this area that's been unkept, and she knows they're snakes. And her dad's set on going through it, and she's like, I don't want to die. But then she noticed something really cool. That where her father stepped, he's a big guy, he's 6'5, he's got big feet. Where he stepped, the grass would be pressed down. He would leave his footprint. And she realized that in that footprint, if there was a snake, it was gone or dead. And so the whole time they're walking, she's just putting her feet in the footsteps that her dad was making. And she was safe. She followed the direction that her father set. And in our life, it's the same way. When we follow the directions that God gives us, we are safe. Our enemy sets these traps and we just dodge them. We just go through them. And I'm not saying that life's easy, I'm not saying that we won't have to encounter hardships. We do. But those traps, those snares that the enemy that Satan sets for you in your life, if you walk with God in the direction that God tells you to go, you will avoid so many of those. It's not hard to find God's direction. He gave us this whole book, and we can read it. We don't even have to be like a Bible scholar to understand it. You can go on Google and say, Bible verse is about, fill in the blank. Whatever problem you have in life, there is not one problem that you will ever encounter in life. Not one that I can even imagine that Scripture does not speak to in some way. So no matter what you're going through, even if you don't know the Bible, start reading it, read it every day so you will know it. You can hide its words in your heart. But even up to that time, you can just say, Hey, what does the Bible say about temptation? What does the Bible say about managing money? What does the Bible say about raising children? What does the Bible say about infidelity? What does the Bible say about depression? What does the Bible say about anything? And you will find something and it will help you. God's gonna give you directions. Amos 3.3. Says, can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction? If God's gonna walk with you, you've got to go in his direction. Psalm 32.8, God promises, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. As he walks with us, he tells us what steps to take. And we have to be people that value his directions. When we walk with God, we walk at his pace. When we walk with God, we we walk toward the destination that he sets for us. We trust that. When we walk with God, we follow his directions. And when we do that, we get to walk with God. Like Enoch walked with God, we get to have a journey. As we wrap up, in the three years of Jesus' public ministry, three years that he walked around and told people who he was and did some crazy things, from 30 to 33 years old, Jesus walked over 3,000 miles. Isn't that cool? You think about the people that walked with Jesus, the men and women that accompanied him, that walked with him for 3,000 miles, and the things they saw, the miracles that they saw, the intimacy that they developed with Jesus just by walking with him. And he was the one dictating the pace. He was the one setting the destination. They didn't know why they were going to this town versus another town. Sometimes, if you read scripture and you look at a map, it looks like Jesus is taking the scenic route. Why would we go all the way over here just so we can go back this way? He's not very efficient. They didn't know why they were going where they were going, but they trusted Jesus and they walked with him. And they followed his directions. I want to be a person like that. I believe you do as well. What would it be like if at the end of our lives someone asked us, hey, describe your life to me. Give me your life in a nutshell. What would it be like if we could say, I walked with God? That's my life. I walked with God. You know, that's not just for Enoch. That's not just for Jesus' disciples. That's for you. That's for every single one of us. We can all be people who walk with God. We don't normally do this, but I want to ask us to do something this morning. To do something outward that it's a reflection of something that's happening inside of us. Because here's the thing: there are people we love and know that are not walking with God. And we've all been there. Some of us might be there now. There is someone in your life that doesn't know what it's like to walk with God. One of the amazing things about the people that walked with Jesus is they didn't walk alone. They weren't by themselves. And what we can do is as a church is we can find those people in our lives and we can say, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna walk with them. See, I'm walking with God, so if I start to walk with them and they start to walk with me, guess what? They're gonna start to walk with God. I'm gonna start to walk alongside them, I'm gonna come alongside their life. And I'm just gonna gently steer them to the answer to all their problems. To Jesus. See, that's what we get to be as a church. There's this mentality that as churches grow, it kind of gets ruined, it's too big. And I get that. And God has really blessed us and we've grown a lot this year, and it's really exciting. But I know that there's sometimes this thought of like, ah, what if it gets too big? What if there's too many people? I think you're with me in this, but if there's if there's one person that lives within earshot of this place that does not know that they are loved by God, do we want that person here? We will make room for as many, as many people as there are that do not know Jesus. But the way they get here is we walk with them. And so this morning, if you are someone that wants to say, you know what, I'm gonna walk with God and I'm not gonna walk alone. I'm gonna find people and I'm gonna walk alongside them and I'm gonna walk them to Jesus. That's what I want my life's purpose to be. That's what I want to do right now in my life. I want to be someone that walks with God but doesn't walk alone. I want to be someone that walks people right to the God that I'm walking with. If that's you this morning, if you want to be that person, I'm gonna ask you to stand. Just wherever you're at right now, and just stand. And you don't have to stand, there's no pressure, but this is a declaration of saying, you know what? I'm tired of seeing people struggle. I'm tired of seeing people wander around life aimless. Because I know the answer. I know Jesus. I'm tired of watching my friends and my family go back and forth from one thing that hurts them to another thing that hurts them, and I want to walk them to Jesus. And maybe you're here this morning, and maybe you know that you're the That's got to start walking. Maybe you stopped walking with Jesus a long time ago, you took a break, and you feel guilty about that. But here's the great thing: you may not realize this, but Jesus just sat down next to you the whole time. He said, Okay, if you need a break, I got nowhere to be. I got all the time in the world. And I'll slow down and I'll be with you. And so if that's been your life and you say this morning, I'm tired of sitting, I'm tired of going back and forth, I'm tired of wandering around, I'm tired of running away from God. Stand up. That's your first step, is just to let Him know that today you're gonna start walking again. We don't have to feel guilty for not being able to run with God or sprint with God or even jog with God or speedwalk with God because Enoch did none of those things. He just walked. And if we are a group of people, if we are a family that simply walks with God and refuses to let anyone else walk alone, there will be more people in that destination that we're heading toward. Lives will change. There will be families that never split up. There will be children that never have to know what it's like to be a part of a broken home. There'll be people whose addictions are healed. There will be people who never have to have an addiction in the first place. They get to avoid that because someone walked them to God before before that came into their lives. It changes everything. Thank you for standing. That's the first step in walking, right? And when we have people that have a hard time standing, what do we do? We lift them up. And we carry them, we walk with them. If we're a church that just can't stand to see people struggling, when we can either walk with them or pick them up and carry them along the way. If we can be that church, and I believe we are, this world around us will change. Pray with me, please. Jesus, thank you so much. Thank you so much for walking with us, for being a God that cares enough about us to slow down and walk with us at the pace that we can manage. And we know, God, sometimes it must be a really slow pace. We recognize that. And we know that sometimes we get lost and sometimes we go in the wrong direction and we wander off. Sometimes we get bit by some snake. But if you're with us, if you are by our side, we are fine. We'll survive anything. And as a church, we're committing right now to you, Jesus, that we're gonna walk with you. And we're gonna enjoy that walk. We're gonna be like children holding up their hands and just enjoying the fact that our whole hand fits around your finger. That you're so big, you're so strong, and yet you walk with us and we're safe. And we're healthy and we're healed when we walk with you. And Jesus, as a church, as a family, we're saying that we're not gonna stand idly by while other people who don't know you walk into trap after trap that our enemy sets for them. We're gonna people be people, God, who run and grab those people and say, no, no, walk with me, walk with me. I'll take you to Jesus. We love you so much, Jesus. We thank you in advance for the lives that are changing in this room. We thank you in advance for the lives that are about to change in this community. And Lord, you're amazing. We want to worship you just a little bit more and thank you for being the God that is real. Help us walk with you today, Jesus. We ask this all in your name. Amen.