[Mike Phelps] Well, we are officially homeless. Not in the truest sense of words that we don't have a roof over our head. My mom and dad are taking good care of us. They opened up a couple of rooms for Kelsey and Laura and I. But in the sense that we no longer own a home. Well, that's a fact now. This week we finished up packing. The movers came, they took our boxes, put them in the truck, and pulled down the driveway which that in itself is a story that if you want to hear is pretty eventful. But they pulled out, pulled down the driveway. We said our final goodbyes to our home, and we shut and we closed the door. And if you think you're finished with me, well, hang on to your hats because we're here for a couple more weeks, you're not done with us just yet.

This is not my farewell message, so I'm trying not to get emotional. But when you've lived in a home for 14 years that home becomes your abode. It's a tremendous blessing and a wonderful opportunity to have a place that we can call home, home sweet home. And when you've lived in a place for so long it becomes a part of you. It's even part of our identity. We're part of a neighborhood where our neighbors know us because we live in this home. Our kids go to school with maybe other kids, because we live in that neighborhood. You might be in the P.T.A. or your kids may be playing sports, and so you know moms and dads because of those types of relationships. So it does become part of our identity, part of who we are.

I recall this week as I was preparing this intro that when we went up to Michigan for a couple house hunting trips, you look at homes, and you look at things, and you think of what you like. And when we walked in the door on coming back from some of those trips, I looked around and I said almost immediately, I like our home. Because there's a place, it holds a place in your heart, it's your stuff, it's set up the way you like it, you made an improvement, you hung a ceiling fan, things that you really appreciated having overtime. And so it is our home, and you enjoy it. The other funny thing that happened this week is I changed my Google Home address. That's surreal and strange in itself.

Where, what used to be home 1091 Valleywood Drive, it's not the address that I can use anymore. It's strange, and it's surreal making a change like that. After we first move in this home, it quickly became a place where our needs were cared for, a place where we felt safe, we felt comfortable. We had heat in the winter when it was cold outside. And we had cool air in the summer, when we got the Cincinnati 90-degree high humidity days. And when those summer thunderstorms would roll through, we had a secure roof above our heads. It was our abode. It was provided safety, provided comfort and brought us a lot of peace.

Abode or abide, it's an interesting word that we don't use much today in our English language. And the word abide is in the Old Testament and the New Testament both. And the word in Hebrew and Greek pretty much mean the same in both languages. In Greek, it means, abide means “to stay in a given place or to stay in a state or relation.” It also means “to continue, to dwell, to endure, to be present, to remain, or to stand.” It's a powerful word because all these other words that I just went through are words we use every day, most of us. We use in conversation, we know these words. But the word abide is unique, it's not one we really use that much.

But we see the word abide throughout God's Word. And that's what we're going to look at today. Because we are called to abide in God the Father and in Jesus Christ. This isn't something we do once a year around the spring holiday season that we really focus only that one time of the year putting Christ into our lives or abiding with God the Father. We should never ever forget what Paul said in his letter to the Galatians that we have Christ living in us. Not once a day, not once a week but always. We have Christ living in us that's in Galatians 2:20, where Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Christ dwells in us through the giving off the Holy Spirit. Sharing the same, very same Spirit of God with each one of us. Let's look at Romans 8:9 as we continue expanding on this thought for a moment, Romans 8:9. Here in Romans 8:9, Paul wrote again, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit which dwells in you.”

With this knowledge of the Holy Spirit dwelling richly inside each one of us, we understand the requirement that we are to abide in God daily. With every decision we make, with everything that crosses our path, we are to abide in God. It's a responsibility that as being children of God and according to the sacrifice and the shedding of Christ’s blood for the remissions of our sins, we have to abide in God daily, always, forever. So with today's message, I'd like is to consider some practical aspects of abiding in God, some practical aspects of abiding in God. I hope as we work through this message you'll see that these aren't just theories, these aren't just feeling, these aren't just ideas that we talk about as we relate to abiding in God.

But that it can be an actual experience that there's an actual application of abiding in God that we are each to do. So as we start into the heart of this message, I'd like you to consider the following question. Have you ever done something so long in your life that you forgot what life was like without it? Another way, have you ever done something for so long that you forgot what it was like to not be able to do it? I have some examples that may better help you understand where I'm going. If you can swim, do you remember what it was like not knowing how to swim? Or what about riding a bicycle? I remember the day I learned how to ride a bike. I got to go pick it out, it was an exciting day. But I can't today remember what it was like not to be able to ride a bike because I can jump on one right now and just pedal off.

Some other ways, like, maybe driving to your house when you leave. So comfortable, you know it so well that you don't even give it much thought anymore because you've lived there for so long. Maybe it's living with your spouse, someone that over the years you've become one with, that you don't remember what it was like not to be married to that person. What was life like? Or maybe it's children and you can't remember what it was like not to have children. Except for you do remember the peace and the calm you had, but you can't remember what it was actually like not to have a family of three, or four, or five.

It's a neat aspect that we have in our life that we can think back and try to remember certain aspects, but there's parts of life that we tend to forget because we've been doing it for so long, it's become so ingrained in who we are. These things have been so ingrained that it's difficult to not have the knowledge that we have, the abilities that we have, or not having the relationships in the families that we have. All of these things now make up who we are. They define us in a way and make our name, and our reputation, and our life what it is.

N.P.R. has had a part of their All Things Considered radio program, a series that have been titled "Been There" a series connects people of either side of a shared experience. And it captures their conversation that they have as one person explains something they've done that the other person is about to do. So, for example, for me maybe it's I'm about to head off and become an assistant pastor in another state. It would be like another minister talking to me and saying this is what to expect, or this is what I've gone through in my own life and for me to be on the other side learning and gleaning. That's the idea of this "Been There" series.

Back in May 2016 of this year, N.P.R. aired a shared experience titled "Advice From A Vet On The ‘Rude Awakening’ Of Transition to Civilian Life.” So this is a military man who is about to end his career and transition back to civilian life. And so he is on a conversation with someone who has already done that. This conversation brought together Serviceman Cameron Cook who was retiring after 23 years of service and Medic Jarrad Turner who spent 10 years in service. As Turner have been out of the service now for seven years, he recounted what it was like adjusting to a civilian life without the built-in brotherhood and mission of the service.

It also meant giving up the routines that structured his days. He remembers that on his first day as a veteran waking up and putting on his military physical training gear without even realizing it, walking out of the house only to find that he was the only person on his block out at that hour of the day. He says here, “'For me it was a rude awakening,’ he tells Serviceman Cameron, ‘because I kind of had the mentality of, OK, slackers, get up! I was, like, you're wasting time!’” Turner went on to explain that it took him three to five years to really get into the swing of being a civilian after having day in and day out routines that he had grown accustomed to.

Took him three to five years to really feel like normal, like everybody normally does. Is when you and I wake up, and we choose our day, and we go about it. Because his was so routine, it took him time to come out of that. For those of you who have attended A.B.C., where you've sat here day after day, hour upon hour, what was it like when graduation came? What was that next day like? For those of you who finished four years of high school or four years of college, what was that next day like when you got your diploma? You didn't have to go to school anymore. Do you remember what that felt like? After that much time, did you feel out of your skin a little bit?

What about for some of you who put in 45, 50, 55 years of service at a company. And you've now finished up your job, and you're retiring, and you get that benefit of not having to go to work on Monday morning. What was that like? That first Monday morning of not going to work? What was the next week like? Having a whole week off and knowing that wasn't vacation, that was retirement. I'll switch it up a bit now. What about the knowledge and understanding that you have of God and His ways and His teachings? Can you remember what your life was like before you had this way placed into your heart? Can you think back to how different your life is now because of your calling?

Everything that you have received, and everything that you have accepted by becoming baptized. It's a tremendous blessing to have everything that God has given us. A blessing, unlike any other blessing that we could ever receive. It truly is the greatest of all blessings to have this knowledge, to have His Holy Spirit, their Holy Spirit in our heart to lead and to guide us. We see so much understanding like the plan of God for all of humanity, that's huge. And we have that understanding. We have the promise of eternal life. Can any of us grasp, truly grasp what that means? Eternal life, forever. We are part of the Body of Christ.

This is the blessing of abiding in God for such a period of time that all of these things and so much more through the blessings that God has given us is in our hearts. It's who we are. It's part of our identity now. And this is where each of us really desires to abide. But I think we need to consider the other side of this as well. Can we become too comfortable abiding in something in our life that we really shouldn't be abiding in? Can we become too comfortable abiding in something for so long that we lose touch that we should've never been abiding in it in the first place? The world that is all around us presents us with many things to abide in. Many of them, very wrong. It's hard to abide in God at times.

It's hard to abide in God when we're stuck out searching after our own wills, after our own desires, after the other things that we want from around us in this life, then it can be tough to abide in God. Because we do live in a physical world and temptation exists all around us. We are each bombarded daily by societal pressures that just don't seem to let up. It's tough at times to live in this world. And I really feel for our teens and our younger adults who I think are really sensitive to this. And they're being hit the hardest out off many of our age groups, right now. There's a story in Genesis that continues to be very relevant for all of us today. It's found in Genesis 13, and it's the story of Lot. So you can begin turning there to Genesis 13.

Lot was the nephew of Abram and traveled with Abram when he left his homeland Haran and set off for Canaan. And we're going to pick the story up as they're traveling back to Egypt, or from Egypt back to the land of Canaan, here in Genesis 13:1. Here in verse 1, it reads, "Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold." We'll skip to verse 5, "Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents." So these two men and their families had a lot of wealth. They had a lot of blessings from God that they had acquired over this short amount of time that they were there and that God was bringing them back to Canaan with.

And in verse 6, "Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock." Verse 8, "So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.’ And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord."

In this example, we have Lot choosing what he felt was the better land. What he thought was the better place for him to start his family, and then to continue his family, to bring his shepherds, and his livestock, and everything with them. And he chose the area near Sodom. And we all know from the rest of the story what happens to Sodom. A choice he made in time almost led to his death. In choosing Sodom, Lot placed himself in a difficult environment to remain righteous before God. He made it difficult for himself to fully abide in God. And we know the Lord had a meal with Abraham as the story goes on, and eventually explained his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah to Abram. Abram asked the Lord if he would destroy the city of Sodom if they were found 50 righteous in that city, and the Lord said he would spare the city if 50 righteous were found.

Then Abram asked if 45, and then 40, and then 30, and then 20, and then even down to 10. If 10 righteous were found would you destroy the city, and each time the Lord said, "No, I would spare the city." But then we find in the next part of the story in Genesis 19:1, this is Genesis 19:1, "Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face towards the ground." I'm going to pause here for a moment. Because for Lot to be at the city gate, it most likely meant he had a place of prominence within this city. He might of been in some leadership roles, or he might of been able to do business with some of the men. It was a place to be seen and to see others for trade and for business.

It appears that he was someone of importance or at minimum interacting with city leaders. How did Lot find himself in this situation? How long did it take for Lot to become a leader of sorts in this horribly sinful city? So sinful that God is going to destroy it. Obviously, Lot rising to the status did not happen overnight. None of us just show up in a city, park our cars, and move into a house, and suddenly become a leader in a city, or a leader in the community, that takes time. You have to get yourself established, you have to have your reputation, you have to show others your experience. At one point Lot was in a tent outside of Sodom. Now, we'll see, he's in a house in the city, it took time. In a couple of chapters before this, there's a series of events that took about 10 years to transpire. So we can at least say that most likely it appears it was at least 10 years up to this point of the story.

Let's continue reading in Genesis 19:2, “And he said, ‘Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’" Let's pause for a minute. He recognized who these people were, these weren't just some random guys that showed in. He recognized who they were, he said “my lords,” he was still righteous, he still knew God, he recognized who these people were, the angels were, and he was inviting them to his house. So he had not just turned his back on God. Later in Peter… in the book, I think it's 1 Peter, we see he's called righteous Lot. So we know that he was still righteous.

So he's inviting these angels to his home, “And they said,” here in verse 2, “'No, but we will spend the night in the open square.’ But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.’ So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, 'Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!’” Again, Lot recognized the wickedness of their behavior.

So he knew God's way. He knew God's laws. He knew what they were doing, and what they wanted to do was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he called them out on it, he knew right from wrong. But what does he do next, “'See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.’ And they said, ‘Stand back!’ Then they said, ‘This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge,’” they're speaking of Lot, right here. “'now we will deal worse with you than with them.’ So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door."

How could a good man, a righteous man offer his own daughters to be given to this perverse mob? Had Lot abided in the city so long that he placed the customs of protecting guests at any cost, to protect the guests of his home at any cost over the law of God. Had he become desensitized to the sinful behavior in an incredible sinful city? While we don't know the heart of Lot, we're not here to judge his motivation and his thoughts that's to God. We can see that living so close to sin can have an influence on one's life. Choosing to abide in sin does come with a cost. Continuing on in verse 15 of Genesis 19, "When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ‘Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.’ And while he lingered..." keyword, "while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city."

This city where Lot chose to abide, and the time he spent there almost allowed him to become as the people of Sodom, both in character, both in attitude, but also in the punishment that they were going to receive. It almost cost him those things. He lingered while he understood that the city would be completely destroyed. Was it his position within the ranks of the leaders of the city that caused him to linger? Could it have been his possessions, the comforts that he had in this city? We don't know for sure, but we do know that something caused him to linger. And it is easy for us to probably criticize Lot and his actions in this passage. But the key that I'm wanting to bring out, and that we need to ask ourselves is have we or do we abide in a situation in life that is causing us to not fully abide in God?

Do we hesitate to obey God because we have become wrapped up in something around us? Have we been so close to a wrong influence for so long that we have forgotten what it was like not to have that influence in our life? In John 12:46 we have Christ saying, "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." We have that standard of light versus darkness that we see so many times through God's Word. And here Christ is saying that He has some as light so that we should not abide in darkness. Having a focus on Christ is a focus that each of us must have as we continue moving forward towards the light of God and towards His righteousness.

This is why it's critical that we must abide with God and create a separation from things that pulls us away from His righteousness, no matter what it is. We see from this example with Lot that the influence of darkness can be great. The influence of darkness can be so strong to turn away from that we could pause, we could hesitate, even when we know that destruction is at hand. There is a passage from Job 24 where he ponders why the wicked are not punished. Let's turn over to Job 24. But in the midst of this passage, there's a really interesting statement that he makes, it shows the deepness of some people's darkness.

Job 24, we'll read verses 13 through 17, but I'm going to read this from the New Living Translation. Job 24:13, "Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths. The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No one will see me then.' He hides his face so no one will know him. Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light." Verse 17, "The black night is their morning." Think about that for a moment. "The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness."

It's a powerful passage just to see how far that some people can go into darkness. Clarke's commentary on Job 24 says this, "Speaking of wicked men. They rebel against the light of God in their consciences, and his light in his word… if brought at any time to a better mind, they speedily relapse… They hate good; they regard not its operation; they go out of the way of righteousness and refuse to return." Refuse to return. How do we evaluate what we are abiding in? How do we evaluate what we are abiding in? There's a wonderful list that we have in Galatians 5. Well, it's a good list on one side, a bad list on the other. But it's a list that we use many time to gauge what fruit is being developed, what works of the flesh may be showing their ugly head.

So let's turn to Galatians 5 and look at verse 16 as we consider, how do we evaluate what we are abiding in? Galatians 5:16, "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." And now here's our list. "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies," that's quite a list but it continues, "envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

But then on the flip side, we have another list to compare against us, to see how are we abiding in God. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." As it was in Lot's time, it's the same today. We live in a world that does not see the contrast in the decisions they make, and the pain and the hurt that they are causing to themselves. Families are being broken apart every day by improper sexual relations, by addictions, by choosing to chase after things that do not belong to them, that are not theirs to have. And where does all this stem from?

There's only one author of this type of disorder and breakdown, and that is Satan the devil. From the beginning of his fall from the heavenly plane where he existed with the fullness of God, he decided, he no longer wanted to abide with God. He wanted something that wasn't his to have, and he grew disinterested in what he was already given by God. And he had made it his plan and purpose to ruin physically as many human lives as he possibly could, and to break as many relationships as possible as he wreaked havoc over the face of the earth. None of us, not a single one of us is immune to Satan's influence because we are each part of the physical creation of God.

And many times we are driven by our own motivations, by our own lusts, by our own desires, driven by our own pride, by our own jealousies. We are driven by things that only you know, things that only I know, that lead us to go a direction that is against God. And we know that as we chase after these things, we know they won't bring us happiness. That's not where our joy is, that's not where we place our hope. But that's what we find ourselves in at times. But what does bring us happiness? What does bring us happiness? It's abiding fully and being one with God. That's where we find our happiness. Let's turn to Luke 10. As you turn to Luke 10 we know that nothing else in this world will ever reach the level of joy, of peace, of happiness, of hope as we have when we abide in God.

This is why we must each remember our calling and not fall into the trap of doing something for so long that we forgot what life was like before it. We must see that light originates from Christ, in His way of life. We must remember that we're sitting here, or that we're listening online because our eyes have been opened. Our hearts have been sensitized to this way of life. We want to live this way of life. If we didn't, we wouldn't be here. God has opened our hearts and opened our minds through a miracle of our calling, and that's why we are here. In Luke 10:21, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, 'I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.' Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.'"

We sit here today with information, understanding, knowledge that a fraction of people in the world today know. Things that they would pay money to understand the way that we do because to us this is value. This is valuable to have a way of life that brings happiness, peace, understanding, and we have it. There's experts, Bible scholars that have plenty parts, maybe some people even have the whole Bible memorized. They know the words, but yet their hearts haven't been convicted to follow it. But yet we sit here, we share stories, we encourage each other with God's Word because we know it to be true. It's a miracle that He has opened our eyes and our hearts to understand. It's a blessing to abide in God, imagine for a moment not having the calling that you have, seriously.

I had to do this, this week, I did it this morning, I'm going to do it right now. Imagine for a moment not having the calling that you have, that we have. What would you be doing today? What would be your focus for life? What hope would you have for your future? What would your marriage be based on? And what would you desire for your future? If you had none of these things, just for a moment, take our calling and our knowledge and put it to the side, and just put yourself here and say what would I be doing? What would my life look like? What would I hope for? And what would I dream for in life? It's a scary place to go at times. Because it's so far from the joy and the hope that we have in our hearts.

To think that we could not have this, that we've just stumbled through life making mistakes that we see all the time in people's lives, it's scary. But that is why it's so important for each of us to ask the question, where do I abide? Where do I abide? I'd like to spend a short amount of time considering four points to help answer this question. What does it look like to abide in God? Let's begin answering the question by first looking at Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 and we'll start reading in verse 11. As we answer the question, what does it look like to abide in God? Verse 11, "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—" And verse 12, "that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

Here Paul is talking to the Ephesians church, Gentiles not Jews. Those who did not have the promise that God had given to Abraham or to Isaac and Jacob. But yet Paul is saying you do now have it, because of the blood of Christ. That is what has brought them near, and this is what brings us near to God, it's the blood of Christ. At one point in our life, we were each separated from God because of our sin. But Jesus Christ came to this earth, and He lived an example that we are called to follow. And through His unwavering commitment, and through His sacrifice we are no longer separated, but we have been reconciled with God. We must draw near to this example that we have in Jesus Christ. We must live as Christ lived and practice the example that He set for all to follow.

Let's turn to 1 John as we continue to begin to answer this question, 1 John 2:3. 1 John 2, and we will read verses 3 through 6. "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." And verse 6, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." That's the key to answering this question of who and what are we abiding in? Because if we walk just as He walked, we're abiding in God.

So how did Jesus walk? These are the four points you can put in your notes. And each one of these can be blown on to a sermon with very little effort. Because they are so deep, just to examine how Jesus walked and the importance of that. But you could put in your notes some of the scriptures, you can add to them because there's plenty to add to. But how did Jesus walk? Point number one, how did Jesus walk? He walked in constant remembrance and understanding of Scripture and application. He walked in constant remembrance and understanding of Scripture and application. Christ left us an example of a deeper understanding of Scripture that had ever been revealed before to mankind. He knew Scripture inside and out. He was God.

But He also showed the example of using it appropriately to encourage, to admonish, to lift people up, to correct others as needed. So what are we to do? What are we to do? We have to be abiding in God's Word daily and seeking deeper understanding. We have to understand what it is that God desires that we do with our life. What does He want us to do tomorrow? What does He want us to do with our jobs? What does He want us to do with our families as we rear children? And as we consider a possible mate to marry someday. What does God want us to do? What does His Word say that we are to do? We only know that if we study it if we dive into it. That's the only way that we have this understanding. And this is what Christ showed us as an example.

So that was point number one. Point number two on how did Jesus walk. He walked with a constant connection to the Father. Jesus Christ walked with a constant connection to the Father. We have examples of Christ going by Himself, alone, away from groups, to spend time in prayer with God. He showed the example to the disciples. He showed the example to those who were following and wanting to hear His voice. He spent time with the Father, and He spent time working and making sure that the connection that they had was strong and secure. He was God, but He showed us this also as an example to make sure that we understood and to make sure He was always in a close relationship with the Father.

So what are we to do? We have to abide. We have to stay in a given relationship. We have to be present. We have to remain in prayer with God. Christ gave us the example of the model prayer in Matthew 6. It's a great example at times when we've been working through our normal prayer life. But at times to take a pause and to work through the model prayer, in a prayer to God. Christ gave it to us, it's inspired for it to be captured here in the book of Matthew. It's good that we would take time once in a while maybe once every so often, that you work through the model. And think through of the depth of the meaning in it.

Because it shows the proper way that Christ gave an example of how we are to pray to the Father, and it's a good reminder to all of us from time to time. The third way that I have here in how did Christ walk. He walked in a constant mindset of God's will for Him. He walked in a constant mindset of God's will for Him. In John 6:38, Christ says, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Time and time again Jesus points back to the Father, and the Father's will in all that He did. He maintained a steadfast focus and did not allow the things going on around Him to distract Him from completing the will of the Father. Were there distractions? There were always, and there always has been distractions.

But His focus never wavered, His focus was straight on God. And the way that He did that, and the way that He just kept that connection, that He never lost track of the mindset and the will for His work, is what we should be doing as we go through our lives. So what are we to do? We must remain a constant state of considering how our will aligns with that of which God wants for us. What is God's will for us? What does He hope that we'll do? What does He want us to overcome? These are the things that we should be thinking through, the things that we should be considering. What is it that God expects us to be doing on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a yearly basis? We have one such thing recorded in Matthew 28:19, Matthew 28:19.

In Matthew 28:19, we have recorded in Christ words, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." We are to be about our Father's business. We are to be doing things that He wants us to do, of encouraging people with His Word, of sharing the truth, the hope that we have in our hearts that this world just can't seem to grasp. We have to be letting our light shine. We have to be doing the will of the Father. We must never forget that as we teach others, as we teach our children, as we share stories of our life and God working in it, hoping that others will understand and see that there's different.

And if God will open their minds, and open their hearts to see, we are an example, that is clear from His Word. So that's another way that Christ walked is a constant mindset of God's will for Him. The fourth way in which Christ walked. He walked in constant love for the Father and for those around Him that He interacted with. Christ walked in constant love for the Father and those around Him that He interacted with. In John 14:31, Christ says, "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandments, so I do." Christ says, right here clearly “that I love the Father, as the Father gave Me commandments, so I do." In all things Christ completely obeyed the Father and performed His will, in this He showed love for the Father.

In His actions and compassion, He showed love to all He came in interaction with. He lifted people up. He admonished some. He gave clear insight for the future. He expounded on the commandments to make them more than just on tablets of stone but to write them on our hearts. Because that's where real change happens. This is the ways that He showed love. He performed multiple miracles. He fed those who were hungry. He thought continually. He never ceased. So what are we to do? We must also show love to the Father and to Christ in the manner in which we conduct ourselves. In John 14:15, Christ says, "If you love Me, keep my commandments." "If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Let's turn to Ephesians 5:1. We're going to have a few just rapid verses here. As I said, these are all good points to consider, to pray about, to add your own scriptures to here, to build these ideas, these points out a little more. But in Ephesians 5:1, Paul says, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God a sweet smelling aroma." We are to walk in love. We are to give our life as a sacrifice to God in the decisions that we make, in the choices that make, in the choices in how we handle ourselves with others that we interact it. In everything, we are to do it in love. And as we do that, we submit ourselves to God's will.

Let's turn to 1 John 3, for one last verse on this point. 1 John 3, we'll read verses 11… we'll start in verse 11. "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,” and verse 16, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." If we know that others are suffering, and we know that others are in need. We have a responsibility out of love to care for their needs. We must do as Christ did, as He cared for so many around Him constantly.

We must be doing the same thing, loving God, and loving Christ, and loving our fellow brothers and sisters. Loving everyone that we come in contact with because Christ died for the whole world. He died for you and me. And we must be about our Father's business in caring and showing His love reflected through us in those that we can help and encourage. Someday everyone would be presented with an opportunity to abide with God. His plan affords that all will be given a choice to understand or a chance to understand His Word, the purpose that God desires for everyone, and a choice to have a relationship with Him.

How amazing that you and I have this opportunity before us, right now? We have this opportunity. Daily, we can seek out God and invite His presence to be in our life. We live with His Spirit in us, working with us, and as we seek to follow His guidance, He will lead us. I'll read Luke 10:23-24 once more. We read it once already but as a reminder, Luke 10:23, "Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.'" That is you, and that is me. This week we packed our belongings, and we said goodbye to our Cincinnati home.

How wonderful of a blessing we had to be in that home and to have God bless us in it. But how wonderful a blessing that we have daily that we can abide with God. We can choose to abide in God. We can choose to abide in His ways. And that we could choose to allow His Spirit to abide in us. Our physical abodes provide peace and comfort. But our home sweet home is with God.