11th January 2023

11th January 2023


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Message Alan Burke


Enoch was a man who walked with God, who pleased God for he had faith. We don’t know the ins and outs of Enoch’s walk with the Lord, what it looked like but there are some things that we can safely presume from the scripture of what walking with God, or earnestly seeking God involves and it is those things that we think of today for God rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb 11:6).


What is it to walk with God, to please God, to earnestly seek Him? Well for some they think that going out for a walk in nature to be closer to God is earnestly seeking Him, and well yes nature declares the Glory of God but that’s not what it is to seek Him, to walk with Him to please Him. How would have Enoch walked with God, well we do not know the ins and outs of Enoch’s walk with the Lord but we can safely assume that his walk would have been very similar to how we walk with God rightly and it would have revolved around, the word, prayer and worship. We although are on the other side of the hope that Enoch looked to, the Christ has come and we wait until He comes again and we have the sacraments which are visual aids and spiritual helps for us to serve and strengthen the believer. But much of Enoch’s walk would have revolved around the word, prayer and worship what are known as the ordinary means of Grace, the things that God has given us for our benefit. 


How do we walk with the Lord, how do we please the Lord, well let’s start with His Word. How we know the Lord, it is through His word. David in Psalm 119:105 said; “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”, Paul in Timothy; All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). We look to God’s word and God audibly speaks today, but not through some voice in your head but when His word is preached faithfully, the bible teaches us that God speaks when His word is preached, God is speaking today if we desire to hear Him. But are we walking with the Lord rightly when the word of God says one thing and we do another?


Next, we need prayer, God has given us prayer where we offer up our desires to Him, for things agreeable to His will, in prayer we come to the Lord God almighty, the one that we come before already knows what we are facing, our anguish, our pain, our joys, our troubles what ever it may be. He also knows what we need, he knows all things. But as we come in prayer as we pour out our hearts to the Lord God we do so commune with Him, in prayer we acknowledge our dependence on the Lord and give Him His due glory, it builds our relationship with our heavily Father. Jesus instructed us to pray. So for us the simple question is are we praying? 


God has also given us sacraments, for those who partake in the sacraments through the faith that God has wrought in us they are a sign and a seal, but they are more, they serve to strengthen the faith of the believer, for the Spirit of God works in us and enables us to die to self and follow Him. God by His grace has given us visual aids that remind us what He has done, that we have the sign of the covenant placed upon us in baptism and we partake in the Lord’s supper it reminds us that we partake in his death and resurrection, that spiritually feeds us with Christ Himself. 


One more thing Hebrews 10:25 the word of God tells us, “25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb 10:25). But some think meeting is optional. I know some of you watch the service online because you cannot make it out, but there are some who are choosing to neglect to meet together and are making excuses. How do we encourage one another? It is by being here together, we come to worship God but in doing so we encourage one another by our very presence as the body of Christ. Do we make a priority of these things? These are the ways in which God has given us to walk with Him.


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WSC
Q47 What is forbidden in the first commandment?
The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, (Ps. 14:1) or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God, (Rom. 1:21) and our God; (Ps. 81:10–11) and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone. (Rom. 1:25–26)
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