Turn your Bibles to First Thessalonians, chapter two. Verse number 12. Paul says that. You would walk worthy of God who have called you unto his kingdom and glory. Father, bless your word. Thank you for the music solo. Thank you for the congregational singing. Let's now give us open Bibles, open minds, and open hearts. I ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. That, to the end, to the conclusion that you would walk worthy, the Apostle Paul says. It's a structure, grammatically, he uses over 50 times. Brother Dubere, the articular infinitive. Correct? He does know that he can look it up, but it is a very emphatic construction to the end, to the purpose of walking worthy. All of these said to this point, he says, I suffered, you suffered. We're careful not to use deceitful means. We want to use honest means. We want to preach an honest message. We want to preach the truth, want to speak the truth in love. We do all this. I care for you like a nurse, like a father, like a mother who would care for children for a purpose. It isn't just do-goodism. It isn't just philanthropy. It isn't just trying to be a nice person and help people in some way. It is to the end that you would walk worthy of God. That's a lofty goal. But you know, our goals, our real purpose is what defines us as people. The real purpose for our lives. I think the misery that many people have today is they have no overriding purpose. They have some activities. They have some relationships and they're sort of just kind of bumping along and good days and bad days, which, by the way, everybody has good days and bad days. Some of us have good days and better days. And some of us have good days, better days and excellent days. But even on the scale, you think some days are better than other days. But here is the overarching, overriding purpose to the to the purpose that you would walk worthy. Now, we're going to look at a couple of other verses where Paul uses this. Well, look at Colossians chapter one. He says in Colossians chapter one and verse number ten. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing the knowledge of God. And he goes on as an extended section there, but he says that you that you might walk worthy. Then in Ephesians chapter four and verse one. You know this one perhaps even better. Ephesians 4, 1 says, Paul, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. What is your vocation in life? It's being called to walk worthy of God. That's your vocation. You have other things you do, but your vocation is serving God. That's every Christian. Every Christian is called to walk worthy of God. Before I expand this tonight, I need to talk to you a little bit about walking. Walking is. A few generations ago, I wouldn't have had to preach this introduction, but now I have to preach this introduction because hardly anybody walks anywhere anymore. And I'm not talking about walking from your car to the store. In the parking lot of the store. That's walking, but not walking that's described here. I mean, walking from somewhere to get to somewhere else with some significant distance involved from the parking lot to the church pew. That's not the kind of walking we're talking about now. It does have a purpose. And until we find a way to slide you in here on a coal chute, you know, you're going to have to walk from the car to the church and we'll try to Get you as close to the door as possible. I was laughing with my father-in-law the other day. They were redesigning some of their church and they wanted to build another portico or a porch where the cars could pull under and the people could get out in inclement weather. Great idea. But my father-in-law saw an obvious flaw. He said, so you mean the women can get out in inclement weather? And the men can go park the car and make their way back through hail and storm and flood and fire the best they can. And the short answer was, well, maybe we would let the teens valet park the cars. No, but I just remembered that because in Murfreesboro, we built one of those too. We were doing some remodeling and we built one of those too. And it was real handy. But as one of my deacons said, as he came running back to, you know, the wind was taking his umbrella away and he was soaking, he said, you know, at least we could alternate rainstorms, you know, dropping my wife off. And he would have to park there and walk to back into the building. Not talking about that kind of walking. I'm talking about walking Say from from your home to maybe to school. Not very many people do that anymore. There's either a bus or a parent or like us when it just means walking to the other side of the kitchen to the table. Not a lot of walking involved. But now some of us remember walking to school. Uphill both ways back and forth through all kinds of weather. I remember as a child walking From home to school and It wasn't a long walk, but I would say that it was a definite a definite walk But I also remember as a child when When especially when I would go to my grandmother's they actually walked two places. They would say, you want to go to the store? My uncle would say, you want to go to the store? And who, what kid doesn't want to go to the store? And, you know, I ran toward the car. He said, no, we're going to walk to the store. I mean, it was hundreds and hundreds of yards. to the store. I'm thinking this is crazy. Are you out of gas or what? What's the problem? We're going to walk to the store. And sometimes he would say, let's let's walk down to Everett's. We will walk down to to another place down there or we they walked everywhere. And back, they would walk to church. When I was a little boy, we could walk to church and sometimes we did walk to church. Not very often, but we would walk the several blocks from our house to church. It was a fairly common thing, a lot of people. It wasn't till I came to Cincinnati that I first saw a church advertised that they had off street parking. It was a big deal. They had off street parking. You know what that meant? They had a parking lot. They had a parking lot off the street where First Baptist Church of Science still had parking. If you could find it somewhere on the street and only like six spots of those, you didn't want to block somebody's driveway. So there wasn't even a parking lot. So a lot of people walk to church. I don't know if you've ever walked any great distance, and I'm not talking about on vacation when you're hiking through the woods. That might be representative of this, but let's face it, when you're on vacation, you're doing that for other reasons. But I'm wondering if you ever... When's the last time you had to walk any distance for a purpose? You say, well, the last time my car broke down, you know, I walked... Yeah, that might count, but you made up your mind that you had to walk some distance. I don't want you to think I'm bragging on me because I'm a novice about this. I never did a lot of walking, but we did walk places. We would walk all over our little town to church, to school. We didn't think anything odd about walking somewhere. People don't do that much anymore. They drive, or they catch a bus, or they call a taxi, or they wait for somebody to come and get them and take them where they want to go. There's a little bit of a lament in that, just like we're losing our agricultural roots. And a lot of people don't know as much as previous generations knew about where milk came from or where food comes from. And there's so many analogies in the Bible about agriculture. I mean, let's face it. Not too many of us are, you know, raising cattle and raising, you know, acres of corn. And Brother Russ knows all about that. He's on the commercial side of that, but not too many. I mean, we've shifted to an economy where most people are not working the land directly. That's not a bad thing necessarily, but it's certainly different from the Bible economy. And one of the things we've lost is walking. Jesus would walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Eighty some miles, not an uncommon trip. The Apostle Paul, although he took ship and I'm sure at times may have used horses or whatever, I suspect that most of Paul's missionary journeys when he wasn't on a ship were by sandal. I'm sure of it. He just he just walked all over Asia Minor. And. That kind of walking is is kind of alien to us. Setting out on a journey and accomplishing it on foot that we may have done it some and some of you may do it and afterwards you'll say, look, I walked six miles to work every day. and back in the evening, and perhaps so. I've heard my parents talk about being children, about walking that far to church on Sunday, six miles to church on foot just to go to church. I don't know how many people walk six miles. I know in other countries they still do it. I know in other countries, they're still walking distances to get there. And some of the reasons that in some cultures that services start late or seem to start later is the fact that some of the people have many, many miles to walk to get there. And once they get there, they want to stay there for a while and have church for about six hours because they're not ready to go back home just yet. And so this kind of walking. that the Bible wants us to think of here is sort of alien to us, walking some distance with a purpose. Now, most of you live too far to walk to your work on a regular basis, other than the occasional time maybe when you've been somewhere with a flat tire or a car is broken down and you've had to walk some distance to get assistance. And it's just not something that suburban life is geared to do. Some of you may live over your shop or live next door to what you do. But even that's not what I'm talking about. walking with a purpose to a destination. And, I mean, having to plan and think about what kind of shoes you're wearing and what kind of clothing you have on because, well, if you're walking several miles, the weather could change. You know, most of our walks, we can judge by the skies. Okay, well, maybe I'll throw an umbrella in the car, but, you know, walking several miles, the weather could change significantly. You got to be prepared for that. You got to be you got to be ready for that. And that kind of walking is pretty much alien to us. And I mentioned all that. I beat that horse till he's dead to say this. The walking that's described in the Bible is not a stroll. It's not a vacation hike. It's not from your car to the church building. It's not some little, you know, casual walk down the sidewalk. It is a travel, a traveling vision of some distance. Matter of fact, it turns out to be your whole life after you're saved. And some of you have been saved several years. That's how long the walk is. It is years and years long. It's not measured in miles. It's measured in time. But you just keep walking. I think the Bible uses that imagery, that analogy, because the Bible wants you to know that you are going somewhere. You say, well, I know I'm going to heaven when I die. But there is a trip involved in your life. There is a travel. There is a journey. There is a path to your life. And you're walking it. You're walking that path. And you are going from where you were when God saved you to what God finally is going to make of you in this life. And the Bible says, Paul says, I want you that you would walk worthy of God, worthy of God. He says, notice, first of all, that it is an ongoing activity. It isn't something you do once in your life. It's not talking about walking the aisle. It's not talking about walking up front. It's not talking about walking a few steps. This is a walk that encompasses your whole Christian life. It is a monumental journey. It is, in many ways, an amazing, incredible journey. And I think a lot of Christians don't even think about it. They don't realize that every step they take is part of a path, part of a journey they're on. From the moment of their conversion, you begin to walk for God. And sadly, you look over in Philippians chapter three and you see a contrast of those who Paul says in Philippians 3, 17, Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. In other words. There's one way to walk and then verse 18, he contrasts this, he says, for many walk of whom I have told you often. And now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's two ways to walk. I actually believe he's talking here about professing Christians. Some walk like Paul. They follow after Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ. Some walk even professing Christ, they walk as enemies of the cross. They walk in such a way that people would conclude they are actually anti-Christ. Yet their end is destruction. God is their belly. Their glory is in their shame. And they mind earthly things. Now, you say, it sure sounds like lost people. Yes, but the reason Paul includes them here is that they actually profess to be Christians. It's not. I don't think Paul is here saying that we should be surprised when lost people act like lost people. Now, I'm not saying there's no shame in it, I'm not saying there's no sin in it, but I'm saying if someone doesn't profess to be a Christian and they behave in an unchristian manner, can we really? What do you expect? lost people behaving like lost people. The real surprise is when a lost person does something that to us seems commendable or kind. And that does happen. But it may be the exception or it may be some kind of training. The point is making that some who profess Christ walk rightly, worthy of God, and some people walk unworthily. And they bring the greatest reproach to the cross imaginable. They are enemies of the cross. They are enemies of the gospel. So, number one, get this journey in your heart, the mind of your heart. You are traveling. And until God calls you home, you have places to go and people to see and things to do for God. You've got an itinerary. You've got a trip planner. And if you remember those, I don't know if they still, the AAA still does those trip ticks or whatever they were, you know, page after page, a map and the big yellow highlighter. And now we have Google Maps and a GPS, and I still ask my wife where everything is. It's just easier. Not that I don't, I have a GPS, I have Google Maps, but, you know, we have those trip ticks, and they were page after page, depending on how long your trip was, and occasionally you needed to know where you were in connection to the big picture, if you were traveling, vacationing, or whatever it was, But I remember being allowed to sit in the back and flip through those triptychs, you know, or on page three, page three, you know, and it would have the big green highlighter there. If spiritually you could write your biography, you could make one of those triptychs up for your life. That's one of the benefits of journaling or a diary. over long periods of time to know the path that God's brought you. Anytime you give your testimony, you're really sort of summarizing that cryptic, that spiritual cryptic you have. And some of you have been saved a long time. So it's getting pretty bulky. You know, it's getting a lot of pages in there. And and that's good. That's good, because, you know, one of the wonderful things about it is the older you get, the longer you've been saved. People say, like, well, I'm here on this particular stretch of path for God. And this is what's happening to me. And you can say, oh, yeah, I went through that path. That's back on page 37. And you really can. You can say, oh, yes, I've been there. I know that stretch of highway. I know that experience you have. And you're not being a know-it-all. You're just being saying, you know, God brought me that way also. Now, it could be something as wonderful as being a new parent. It could be something as wonderful as getting married. It could be something, you know, starting your first job or going to college or moving into a new house or having some difficulty or blessing. And you could say, I know that. I know that highway. Don't. Whatever you do, don't stop. You know, you might know that stretch of highway really, really well. When we first moved away from Cincinnati, I mean, we lived around Cincinnati most of our lives. Kim and I did. And then we finally moved to Tennessee, which at the time seemed far away. It was only about 325 miles. But when you always lived in this one little town or city, it seemed farther than it was. But over the years, we got to know 71, 65, I-24, I could drive it with my eyes closed. No, I couldn't. I wouldn't recommend that. But we knew every stretch of the highway. My favorite stretch of the highway was where that construction was in Louisville for years and years and years that said no emergency pull-off. That's good to know. I'm not sure what that means. It means if you break down here, you die, you know, and everybody behind you because it was like this little funnel and you're driving through there and it was like mile after mile, no emergency pull off, which means, I hope your car doesn't break down. I hope you don't have a flat tire. I hope you don't run out of gas or nobody else does. Truth of it is, I don't know what I was worried about because I never had a car break down on there or saw anybody. So, I guess everybody just took it to heart and said, oh, no emergencies here. And I was thinking, maybe they should put that up every highway. Just say, hey, no emergencies. Okay, I'll have to wait till I get back to my neighborhood after I get off the interstate, after I get off this, no emergencies on this highway. That would be good advice. The same way you know about moving the deer crossings to some place where there's less traffic, that would be good too at the same time, no deer crossings where there's traffic. And then we could solve a lot of problems that way. But we got to know that stretch of highway. We knew where to stop. We knew where not to stop. We knew where the gaps were. We knew, well, this is the last good place to buy gasoline. If we're going to stop and eat, we'll stop here. If we want to go to this one, we knew every exit, knew everything at every exit, and just sort of memorized that route, went over and over again. And so when people would ask us, well, We're coming and where this is and that is oh, yeah, that's cave city. Oh, you won't stop there get up there You know, there's a hey, there's a Taco Bell there, you know the Taco Bell Or the Jerry's you could go there, you know, that's something maybe you'd like but now we knew it so sometimes your trip tick is is useful because Somebody's going through that stretch of highway in their life and you've been there. Sometimes. It's a very serious stretch and It may be a catastrophic stretch of your spiritual life. And you can be a blessing to somebody who's going through that stretch. If your attitude's right, if your heart is right, if you want to be a blessing to them, you can be. You can be because that's where you've been. Now, the spiritual journey, I want you to see first. Number two, I want you to see how important it is that you do this walking. What is the significance of walking? There's something, there's intimacy and a connection to walking that you don't get when you're driving or even bicycling or I guess riding a horse. Although what I know about riding a horse is nothing. Really, you really would want to give you advice about that. But I would assume that walking puts you in a different perspective and a different relationship with your environment than just about any other mode of travel. I mean, it is on you, not the horse, not the bike, not the car, not not the bus, not the tram. Not the moving sidewalk, just you and your energy, as it seems, and your steps. It's on you. And I mean, you notice everything. Just about every little crack in the sidewalk, every dip in the road. If you've ever walked a stretch of highway that you've driven a lot. I mean, If you maybe have a car breakdown and you have to walk even a few hundred yards or someplace and you think, man, I didn't know it was this far. This only takes me three minutes in my automobile. And you think, boy, I didn't know there was this thing here or this great big culvert or especially in the dark. You may discover things along the stretch of highway that you didn't know were there. I remember one time having a a flat tire in a neighborhood and look around. I'm thinking, I drive this way all the time. I just now realized this is not a good neighborhood. I don't think I want to have a flat tire here. But then it was too late. I should have put up no flat tires in this neighborhood or something. No emergency pull off. And I'm thinking, I don't know if I really want to have a flat tire here. It was too late then. But I had never, honestly, never really noticed. I had just zipped through there and thought, probably a few seconds of my time and didn't really pay attention. Walking is an intimate activity. It's a step-by-step kind of experience. You know, we live in a culture that's rapid transit. We want cars and even if you ever go out to somewhere and watch these bicyclists, I mean, Some of them are, they're flying down the road at 40 miles an hour. Bicyclists. Most of them have helmets on. I'm happy for that. But I mean, they're just flying. And I realize, you know, there's nothing between them and death. But that little bicycle wheel. I'm not laughing at them, but I'm just saying that's You say, well, you're safe anywhere. I don't know, I feel safer inside a car than I do on a bicycle. Just call me crazy, but it just seems like, well, it just feels safer. When you're walking, there's a vulnerability. It's your energy. Unless somebody's carrying you, unless somebody is dragging you along, it's your energy that does it. Many of the time you say, well, I'm tired. You're driving home and you're tired. And, you know, you got to shift around a little bit, you know, shift your hands a little bit. Oh, I'm tired. I'm glad when I'm home. Let me tell you, walking puts a whole different perspective on being tired. A whole different view on being tired. I remember a couple of times walking back from the store following my sister. We'd be sent to the store with a list of stuff. And the storekeep would bag it all up and apportion it to us according to each to his own ability. And he always overestimated my ability. Every time. He always overestimated me. I mean, carrying two big pokes. That's a bag. In each arm. And they're kind of cumbersome. And you've got to walk carrying those things. And I'm telling you, your poor little arms get tired. And you just want to sit down and rest. And your sister turns around and says, you're a baby. And you say, and your point is? No, it's like, oh, I'm not a baby. I got something in my shoe. I use every excuse known to man. My shoe is untied. One time she came back and tied them myself. I never got them untied again. She tied them. They were never untied again. I would get tired and I would grumble. And she told me one time, listen to this, she said, the worst part of going to the store is you. I didn't think she was speaking the truth and love, Abby. I just I didn't sense the love out of that. But, you know, later on, I realized she was right. Because later on, I had to go to the store with my baby brother and I had to carry the groceries and him. It seemed like. I got to know what it's like to be the leader and say, oh, it's like, oh, I get tired. And it wasn't that far and it wasn't that heavy. But I remember just saying, can we just stop for a little while? She said, no, we got milk or we got whatever we had. It was an emergency. You know, we got to get it back now. And I thought, oh, I'm so tired. I can't believe I'm this tired. Somehow we always made it. As you can tell, I lived. to tell the story of those great journeys. But I think, oh, there's nothing there's all to have a little wagon. They wouldn't let me take the wagon. Oh, I could take my I didn't have a bicycle. I didn't have a horse. I didn't have a mule. Just me. I remember one place we lived and we had to get our drinking water from my grandfather's. About a half a mile away, and I'm here to tell you, There ain't nothing heavier than water. Five-gallon bucket of water. It's back-breaking, Brother Keith. I mean, it's just numbing. It's like, oh. And sometimes I would go. Sometimes my sister would. Sometimes we both would go. And one of us would grumble the whole time. This is unbearable. Finally, she told me, just shut up and just quit it and just get there faster. And I'm thinking this is heavy. I'm telling you, walking is harder than riding a car, riding a bicycle, riding. And I believe the Bible uses this illustration to teach us that the Christian life, there's an intimacy to it. I know all the power. I mean, the breath in my body is a gift from God. Any energy I have is God sustaining me. If God holds the molecules of the universe, the atoms of the universe in place, I know God holds me in the palm of his hand. I know my heart doesn't beat, but what he breathes life into me. I know I don't have breath unless God gives it to me. But when I'm aware of the Christian life, I'm aware that it is a walk. And there are some burdens to carry. There are some things over which you can stumble. You can get in too big of a hurry. You can take your eyes off the road and you can get, you can stumble faster than you could dream possible. To this day, and I've lifted our house, what, 13 years. And every once in a while, I walk out of my own garage, my own garage, for which I'm very thankful because then, you know, you just pull your car in the garage. You don't want to get out in the rain. I mean, so you pull your car in the garage and I walk to the garage to go out to pull up the trash can or something. And at the end of my garage, just before the driveway starts, there is a quarter inch. I'm not lying, there's a quarter inch difference between the concrete slab and then the concrete driveway. Maybe not a quarter inch. Do you have any idea how many times I've turned my ankle, stepping wrong on that little ledge? I can't tell you how many. I come back in limping, hoping my wife will send somebody else to get the trash can the next time, but oh no. But yeah, she would. But I'm thinking, I know this place. I know the end of the driveway and the garage floor meet. And there's a little difference. Watch where you step. And sometimes I don't even bother to turn the light on because I know it so well. And you can stumble so quickly. It's amazing. We've walked through our neighborhood. And I know this because not too long ago, a couple of years ago, utilities came by and said, we needed two sections of our sidewalk replaced. It cost me like $4 billion or something, an assessment. And I thought about getting a contractor. And they said, well, but it has to be to their specs. So I let them do it. And I'm paying for it for the next 30 years, the way I figured it out. I'm not sure how that works. But they replaced. And I had to laugh, because if you walk through our neighborhood and found every bad chink in the sidewalks, Well, it'd be laughable. Every variation, every tree root that's popped one up, everyone that's out of line, everyone that's a little crooked, everyone where you got to look where you're going because I've walked it not that many times, but enough times where, yeah, I've turned my ankle or nearly fall and nearly fell and, you know, crashed and burned. And a couple of times I did fall, though bones were broken in the filming or anything, but it's like, Just because my foot caught the lip of a section of the sidewalk. You've got to pay attention when you're walking. If you don't get anything out of this message, take that home. Pay attention when you're walking because you can fall quicker than you would think. Can you extrapolate that and make the spiritual application? The Christian life is a walk. And you can stumble so quickly. You can trip over the smallest things You can get hung up and fall over things that from a distance, from a car, you wouldn't even notice it. But in the spiritual life, some hurt feelings, some misspoken words, some unkind words, some fiery dart that doesn't seem to have any significance, but it hits you at just the wrong time and just the wrong place and you stumble over it. The Christian walk is So hazardous. I don't say that to depress us because I'm going to before I get to the end here, I've got a few minutes. I'm going to talk about all the advantages we have, but I would like for us to take heed how we walk. We're involved in a daily walk. That doesn't end until Jesus comes back or he calls us home. It's a long trip. I hope for your sake that it's very long. I hope for your sake that it's not entirely unpleasant. I hope there's some beauty along the way. I hope there are some blessings along the way. I'm sure there will be. But here's the point. There is a walk in the Christian life. It is a present tense thing. He says that you would be walking worthy. He's not talking about walking down the aisle or occasionally walking someplace. This is going to be an ongoing walk. From the day you get saved, to the day you die, to the day Jesus comes back, you're going to be walking this journey. Gear up. Be ready for it. You're going to be walking. There are many adversaries. There are many discouragements. There are many distractions. There are many, even people, who are going to try to trip you up. It's not just the blemishes in the sidewalk, there are actually going to be people who are trying to make you stumble. You say, oh, why? Why would God allow that? Well, I know the trials are necessary. I know that the trials are necessary. Let me add quickly here, if you do stumble and we all do. First, John has the remedy for that. Just confess your sin. and forsake it, and God will forgive you. You let God pick you back up. You get back up and get back on the path. Don't lay there by the side grumbling because somebody tripped you or something snared you. Get up and get back in the race, back in the walk. Here are some advantages we have as we walk the Christian life. Our goal, remember this morning, walking worthy. A.T. Robertson said, it's really an adverb, worthily walking in a manner worthy of God. It might help you if you thought of it as walking in a way that imitated Jesus Christ. Speaking in a way that would echo the words of Christ, acting in a way that would reflect Christ likeness, that's worthy. of God. Our best is not worthy of God, but if we, in the power of the Holy Spirit, imitate Christ, we could hope that that would be worthy of God, because God's Son is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who created all things. Worthy is the Lamb that gave himself to pay for our sins. He is worthy. If we would walk in a way that imitates Christ and represents Christ and reflects Christ, we could hope that that would be a worthy walk. Here are some of the advantages. Number one, you have the Holy Spirit as the comforter. The biblical word really brings to mind the if you've seen the therapist or the physical therapist, with their hand behind a patient learning to walk again, learning to get their strength again. And now they use a special belt and all to help people stay upright. That aid, that physical therapist is a good picture of the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, the one called alongside to help. You don't just have the Holy Spirit in your heart. The Holy Spirit is there to hold you up. Now, you say, well, then why do I ever stumble? Well, because we do things that grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. We make deliberate choices that contradict the Holy Spirit and we make bad choices. And the patient can fight the aid. And they can both fall. But in the spiritual application here, you have this one called alongside to help. And you don't have to have the strength to do this. You say, I can't do this. But the Holy Spirit can do those things. He will not call you to walk a path that he will not give you the help to do it. God will. He'll never leave you or forsake you. He's got his hand behind you and his arm around you. He's going to hold you up. You say, well, then we should never stumble. I know. But sometimes we are so contrary. Sometimes we are so pigheaded. Sometimes we are so self-centered that we don't listen to what God's word says. And when we fall, I don't think we really have anybody to blame but ourselves. You say, well, they made me do it or they said this or they. Yes, but you have the Holy Spirit on your side. How could they possibly trump the Holy Spirit? Yet the Holy Spirit holding you up and some man knocked you down. I don't think that I don't think that some man is some woman, some person stronger than the Holy Spirit. When we fall, we can trace the trip to some choice we made or something we overlooked, something we took for granted. You got the Holy Spirit holding you up. Number two, you have clear directions in the Bible. clear directions in the Bible about what to do and what not to do. Now, I know sometimes people say, well, I don't know if I should take that job or take this job or buy this house or buy that house or do this or that. I'm not talking about those decisions now. I'm talking about how to think, act and speak moment by moment in your life. There is no mystery to that. You think, well, I don't know what to say to people. Let's start saying to people what the Bible tells us to say to people. Sometimes we wouldn't have to say anything. But we don't have to wonder how God wants us to speak, live and think moment by moment, day by day. I'll tell you, if you and I would be obedient to God about how we walk with him day by day, moment by moment, I think some of those big decisions would not be as daunting, would not be as overwhelming, would not be as mountainous as they seem to us because they would just be part of the journey. And if we lack wisdom, God gives us wisdom liberally. Say, well, God doesn't give me wisdom. Have you really asked him? And if he did, if you did ask him, are you willing to obey the wisdom that God gives you? Some of my biggest mistakes have been when I knew what to do and didn't want to do it. I didn't know it wasn't that I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to do it. Now, that's never happened to you, I'm sure, you know, never. Whenever I know what God wants me to do, that's why I do it right away. I just never hesitate. Now, the Bible gives us the directions for the path. You see, we're not thrashing around in some fog. We're not we're not lost in some wilderness. We are walking a path. We're walking a predestined path. We are walking a journey that God's laid out for us. He's told us how to walk. What to avoid, what to add, he's told us how to dress for it, he's told us how to Think for it. He's told us how to prepare for it. He's told us what's going to happen. Nothing happens that should surprise us and say, oh, I didn't know there would be cheaters and liars along with. Oh, I didn't know there would be hurtful people. I didn't know if he would persecute us. Jesus told us everything that could happen. Now, not everything happens to everybody, but we're nothing happens in a Christian's life that we we haven't been forewarned about. Say, well, I didn't know that there would be people cheating me. Well, sure, there's. There's going to be people trying to cheat you. I didn't know there'd be people that stabbed me in the back. I didn't know there'd be people that would tell lies. I didn't know there'd be people that gossip. I didn't know there'd be people that take advantage of... Why, sure, you know that. The Bible tells you all about people like that. That's no mystery. We say, well, I just can't believe people are the way they are. Actually, lost people, people without God, people disobeying God, are not as wicked as they could be most of the time because God restrains them. So God's word gives us the path. And then finally, and this is this is very important, I think you're not walking this path alone, you say, well, yeah, you told me the Holy Spirit is there. I'm not now talking about the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about your brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm talking about members of the same body. They are walking this path with you. Now, some are with you. Only certain sections of the road. God calls them home. Or God takes them a different direction. I don't mean away from heaven. I mean, He takes them out of your life or He takes them to another city or He takes them to another ministry. But then someone else, you look around and there's someone else walking with you. It's not a lonely road. It's not a solo flight. You're not Charles Lindbergh flying over the Atlantic. You're there in a group of people who are supposed to be like minded. Now, are some of them stumbling? Yes, well, they're just like you. Occasionally, they do. Occasionally, they fail. Occasionally, they fall. And you can help them up and they can help you up. One of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is that there are people there with you. It reminds me of the story of a little boy There was thunder and lightning. He cried out. His mom came. She said, what's the matter? He says, I don't like this. He says, I'm afraid. She sat with him for a little while and she said, you know, Jesus is watching over you. Jesus is right here with you. Now, you try to go back to sleep. She left. And the thunder and lightning. And he cried out again. And she came back in there and she said, what's the matter? He says, I'm still scared. She said, well, I told you Jesus was with you. And he said, I need somebody I can touch. That would be mommy. I need somebody I can see. You say, oh, that little boy, he needs help. I don't know. I am so thankful. I know the Holy Spirit's with me. I don't deserve it. I don't always understand it. But I tell you, I am thankful to have people along the journey that I can see, that can grab an elbow and steady you or encourage you or help lift you back up if you stumble. And they don't laugh at you. They don't mock you. They don't abandon you. If you're hurt, they'll get assistance for you. They'll stay with you. I'm glad to have Christians. And it's one of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is to have people along for the journey. Some for only a few months or years. Some for part of your lifetime. Some for many, many years. But the companionship, the fellowship. Most of the time when Paul traveled those Roman roads all over the empire, he traveled with a team. I just I just think he had good sense. I don't think I think Paul very seldom traveled alone. There are a few times when it seems to indicate most of the time he had some helpers. He had some assistance most of the time. And this shows you his wisdom. He had a medical doctor along with him. That's not a bad idea. When you've got health problems, you're in risky travels, and Luke, the physician, often was traveling with him. That was the providence of God, but Paul often writes and says, you know, Luke is here with me, send Timothy, Titus, help me, John Mark, he's profitable, and they had a whole team of people helping him. Christian friends, Christian fellowship. Great benefit, blessing for the journey. Let's bow our heads.