Walk Before Me and Be Thou Perfect - Dwayne Martin

Well, I kind of a privilege to be here in this church. Again.

It's been quite some time since I've been here. We've been here.

It seems like we don't get over here quite as often as we used to

over the years. It's not as much of my wife's family here. But

it is good to be here. And I just want to greet you in

the name of Jesus. And this morning. It's a blessing to be with

God's people and to be encouraged, been blessed by the service already, this

morning devotional and the Sunday school time. And God's word always has a way

of revealing itself and making it clear in our minds so we can know how

to walk and know how to live. For a message this morning, you

can turn to Genesis chapter seventeen, if you have your Bibles with you,

if you if you care to um, I'd like to look at Abraham.

A part of Abraham's life, a message that God gave to Abraham. And

it's in verse one. And Abraham was ninety years old and nine. And

the Lord peered to Abraham, and he said, unto him, I am

the God Almighty. Walk before me, and be thou perfect that was a

message that God had for Abraham. Walk before me, and be thou perfect

the At the end of chapter sixteen, this was Abraham was eighty six years

old. At the end of the chapter chapter seventeen, he starts out with

him being ninety nine years old. And so there was thirteen years of time

that elapsed between these two chapters. And so Abraham here was ninety nine years

old. Man, I'd like to read Versus one to eight. I'll start

a verse two there, and I will make my covenant between me and THEE

and will multiply thy THEE exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face and talked

with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with

THEE. Thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name

anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham, for a

father of many nations. Have I made THEE, and I will make THEE

exceedingly fruitful. And I will make nations of THEE, and kings shall come

out of THEE. And I will establish my covenant between me and THEE,

and thy seed after THEE in their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be

a god unto THEE and to thy seed after THEE, and I will give

unto THEE and nice seat after thee. The land we're in. Thou art

a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I

will be there. God, walk before me, and be thou perfect.

You know, Abraham, he was human. Abraham was at this point,

his name was Abraham. He was a man that was prone to failure.

But God had a message for him. You know, we can think of

Abraham as one that in one of the situations he had lied to protect himself

back in Genesis twelve from the Egyptian there form of deception, deceiving, and

we also have the account of him in Hagar running ahead of God's running ahead

of God. We could say God's plan for his child. So Abraham was

someone that in his walk wasn't always faithful, didn't always make the right choices.

And yet I believe that God saw in Abraham, He saw the core

of Abraham's heart. Even though Abraham was a man that had failures, God

didn't overlook those failures. There was consequences that he had to face with those

failures. But he saw the right kind of attitude in Abraham's heart, a

man that he really did desire to do what was right, and he wanted

to be led by God. And he was a man that had the potential.

God could see that he had the potential to be part of the plan

of providing the need of man's heart through salvation, the future of the need

of man and his descendants m And so we can see in Abraham's life the

different responses um There was responses of obedience to God when he when his family

was asked to leave Egypt. And we also see his response of humility when

he allowed an unselfishness when he allowed Lot to choose what he wanted thereover when

he looked over the plains. And Abraham was someone that communicated with God on

a regular basis. There's different times in the scriptures when when it says that

he built an altar unto the Lord. So he was he was really wanting

to be in tune with God. He was really wanting to communicate. His

desire was to have that relationship with God. And believe God saw Abraham's faith,

the faith in his heart, and he wanted to want to bless him.

And and we have that here in this covenant that he made with him,

that word perfect there in my center column has a thought of being upright

or sincere genuine, walk before me and be thou sincere be genuine. And

that was God's message to Abraham. He wanted to make a covenant with Abraham.

He said in verse two he was going to multiply him exceedingly. In

verse three we have Abraham falling on his face and talking with God, communing

with God. I believe he was humbled by the promises that God wanted to

bless him. With verse five we have him the change of his name going

from Abraham to Abraham. Found it interesting that in Neomyah nine, verse seven

and eight, there as they were reading from the book of the Law worshiping

God, they brought up the thought of Abraham. There in verse seven and

eight, it says, thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose

Abraham, and broughtest him fourth out of ur of the of the chalities,

and gave him the name of Abraham, and found his heart faithful before thee,

and made us a covenant with him, and so on. So there

was even later on in life, as they looked back on those that were

faithful in the past. Abraham's heart or Abraham's life, was one that was

reflected on in verse six to seven sixty seven and eight. There it talks

about making him fruitful, exceedingly fruitful. I will establish my covenant between me

and THEE and thy seed after THEE in their generations, for an everlasting covenant.

In verse eight, I will give unto THEE and thy seed after the

land wherein thou art a stranger, the land of Canaan, for an everlasting

possession. These were promises that God gave to Abraham, not only to him,

but also to the generations that were coming after him. I will be

a god to them, to THEE and to those coming after them after you.

And I will give you and those coming after you the land of Canaan.

And so this was God's promise. This was the reward for the life

of Abraham for making the right choice to walk before God, being sincere with

God, being genuine with God, walking in obedience to God, in uprightness,

obedient to the voice of God. Abraham lived another seventy six years after

this encounter with God, and it would appear like this encounter was God was

something that was different than what he had what had taken place before. There

was a there was something different about this. There was there was a confirmation

that God was going to bless him, and God was going to walk with

him because he knew Abraham's heart. M hm. This call came to Abraham

after he had lived fifty seven percent of his life, and he had forty

three percent of his life left to demonstrate this genuine walked with God. Thinking

about an average lifespan is about seventy years years old. Fifty percent of an

average life span is forty years old, and none of us know what percentage

of life we have left after forty or anytime for that matter, And so

here we're all here at different ages. Here this morning, I was thinking

about God, in his compassion and in his mercy, how he calls us

at different intervals in our lives, giving us opportunities, giving us chances in

spite of our failures, in spite of the wrong choices that we make in

our humanity. He's given us the opportunity to to grow in our walk with

God, to be more perfected in the image of God, so we can

be a benefit to His kingdom, to build his Kingdom, and I believe

that's God's God's um desire for each of us, wherever we are in life,

whatever we are, where will we find ourselves in life, whether we're

a young Christian, whether we've been a Christian for thirty forty fifty sixty years,

or maybe maybe you haven't found the Lord. Maybe you're at that crossroad

and God is calling, calling you walk before me and be thou perfect,

be sincere with God. Choose to follow God. God has a plan for

you. God has his promises are for you, the promise that He will

make you exceedingly fruitful. If you walk before Him in the way that He

wants you to, he will be your God. He will bless you.

He will bless you and the generations following as you serve God and pass that

on to our the next generation. And He will give you the land of

Canaan as it were heaven. These are all promises that God God gave to

Abraham and those coming after him, and I believe their promises for you and

I this morning that we can claim personally in our lives. Verse in Second

Chronicles sixteen, verse nine says for the eyes of the Lord run to and

fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on the behalf of them

whose heart is perfect toward him. It's a beautiful promise that if our heart

is turned to God and wants to follow God and wants to submit our lives

to God, that God is going to be there and walk beside us and

show himself strong and guide us through our lives. A couple of verses in

Romans chapter four, Verse twenty and twenty one says this, and this is

talking about Abraham. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,

but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that

what he had promised he was able to perform. Staggered not at the promise

of God, but was strong in faith. His faith was a strong faith.

We know he was in the list of there in Hebrews chapter eleven.

He had a strong faith. It wasn't a wavering faith like it talks about

in James five or six. And I the thought of staggered not at the

promises of God, as I think about my life sometimes and I'm overwhelmed with

the challenge, with the thought of how Abraham came to that place that he

didn't stagger, He didn't question the promises of God, but he was persuaded

that would God had promised that God would be there, that God himself was

able to perform it or accomplish it. How often do I stagger that God's

promises? You know? The things that God brings into my life, in

into our lives, the hard things, the difficult things, the day to

day um challenges that might come come to us in spite of our shortcomings.

And God is able to use us, use you to accomplish his purpose.

Walk before God insincerity, claim his promises, be strong, and be fully

persuaded that He is able to be there for us. That's the that is

the perfection that God is wanting from us to walk in the way that He

is asking us to walk today. It's not living a life of perfection where

we never make any mistakes, but it's doing well we know is right today

and following it and walking in it. I've seen a just coming over here

on Friday. I've seen this sticker posted on the vehicle and said not perfect

but forgiven. And I was thinking a bit about that. Isn't that?

You? And I this morning we're not perfect, but God forgives us.

God is a forgiving God, and we can always claim that that in our

perfection, in our imperfections, God has forgiven us and is making a way

for us to walk so that we can find that perfection and being what God

wants us to be. Thinking of God, Abraham his um, the walk

of perfection that God was wanting from him, the characteristics that came from Abraham.

He was a man of faith. We talked about that. He was

a man of he was unselfish, he was a man of humility, he

was a he was a man of prayer. He was a man that was

committed, committed to take God's way. And so those are um challenges for

us today to walk before God and faith in an upright heart. And that's

a life of fruitfulness. That's a life of blessing. That's a life of

satisfaction, that's a life of fulfillment. M hm. I'd like to read

them Second Peter chapter one, read verses one to eleven. Here. I

believe these verses are the answer to how to be able to walk before God

and be perfect. Maybe the formula we could say Second Peter Chapter one versus

one to eleven Simon Peter, a servant an apostle of Jesus Christ. To

them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and

our Savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the

knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath

given unto us. It's a gift that's given to us all things that pertain

unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us to glory

and virtue. Wherefore are given whereby are given unto us, exceeding great and

precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature,

having escaped the corruption that is in the world through life us. And besides

this, or because of all this, give all diligence. Add to your

faith, virtue and to virtue, knowledge and to knowledge, Temperance and to

temperance, patience and to patience, Godliness and to godliness, brotherly kindness and

to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound,

they make you, that ye shall neither be barren, nor un neither be

We'll start over. For if these things be in you and abound they make

you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ. But he that lack at these things is blind and cannot see

you far off, and it's forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore, the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling an election sure,

For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall, For so

an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ. M hmm. There's a a good list of

things here that that make it possible to live a life that is fruitful before

God. There was that walk before God in perfection. It's because of Christ.

It's because of Jesus Christ. Verse two talks about grace and peace being

multiplied. It's not just added, it's multiplied. When something's multiplied it it

grows quickly. And that's His grace and peace to us this morning. It

multiplies. Like God's promised to Abraham to exceedingly multiply him, God wants to

do the same for you and I this morning. Verse he talks about his

divine nature, his divine power that he gives to us and that pertains to

life and godliness. Each one of us have the privilege to be able to

tap into God's divine power as we surrender to him. That's what gives us

the makes it possible to live above the spiritual battles that we face. M

Verse five talks about giving diligence to add to your faith virtue. It's a

growing experience. Add to your faith, virtue, into virtue, knowledge and

to knowledge, temperance and to temperance, patience and to patience, godliness and

to godliness, really kindness. It looks like a big but as we as

we are determined to walk with God and have a conscious awareness of God and

His presence with us throughout the day, throughout the week, a desire to

understand His word more fully, it takes effort. It doesn't just happen automatically.

M M. It's a life of temperance, it's a life of kindness

showing charity. Verse eight, I like this verse year says if these things

be in you and a bound, if they are part of our life,

if they are lived out in our life. It says that you will neither

be barren nor unfruitful. And the word barren, neither barren nor unfruitful means

that we're being productive for God. And that's what God desires from all of

us, that we're productive for him. We're not sitting around being idle,

and but we are actively involved in God's work. We all, we all

like when something is productive. We all like when when there's fruit. Um.

I understand this year maybe the grass seed crop is lighter than usual,

um. But we like when there's a good crop, or when the fruit

trees have a lot of fruit on them. And that's what God wants from

us. He doesn't want a light crop. He wants a fruitful crop from

our lives Verse ten. Or further, Rather, Brethren, give diligence to

make your calling and election sure, For if you do these things, you

shall never fall. The call to diligence remind her to continue on in walking

before God in the perfection that he wants us to be in Verse eleven,

For so an entrance so we ministered unto you abundantly promises that we can enjoy

in this life as we walk before God. And a desire to grow more

like God into perfection, but ultimately the reward of being able to enter into

the Promised Land, the presence of God himself, being in the presence of

God himself, and the glories of Heaven that be worth at all. We

might ask, how is it possible to achieve this perfection that God desires from

us? I believe it's as we desire to do what we know is right

today and respond in a positive way to that. God sees the potential in

you for his work and his kingdom like you did with Abraham. So as

we face the challenges of the day each day, think about our walk with

God and how He wants to perfect you. The things that He brings into

your experience, into my experience, the daily challenges, the pressures that are

the temptations that God allows into your experience. We can make this our model

to walk before God and be perfect. It came across a quote here thinking

about relationship with God and our connection to God and a conscious awareness of God

in our daily lives. Too often intimacy with God has never achieved because communication

on God is reserved for our morning devotions and at church. God desire.

God's desire is for us to stay near him through each day. We need

to learn the value of brief prayers through the day. The six months that

an average person spends during his lifetime waiting at traffic lights is an excellent opportunity

to communicate with God. The five years spent waiting in various lines can be

an excellent time to continue your building venture with God. Stay in a frame

of mind where the daily happenings turn you to God. Thank God, Praise

the Lord, help me Father should be the prayers that ascend often to the

throne. Give God every moment, after all, who gave us time?

I thought that was pretty well put. You know, there's a lot of

opportunities that we are waiting, and maybe when we're waiting, we're frustrated,

we're in a traffic jam. Isn't that a great time to just turn to

God and and communicate with God rather than in our frustrations spend time being frustrated

or there's many opportunities that I know I overlook to just connect with God on

a throughout the day, and I think that's that's value, and it all

has to do with walking with God and before God. And I think in

those times it helps us to be challenged to more perfection. So thinking about

Abraham and God's called to Abraham, I believe it's the same challenge and call

for us today to maintain that conscious awareness of God's presence each day. It

helps us to achieve that perfect heart that God wants from you and I.

A couple versus in closing here cautions one verses nine to eleven says this for

this cause, also since the day you heard of it, do not cease

to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge

of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy

of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,

and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to

His glorious power, unto all patience, and long suffering with joyfulness, that

you might be filled with the knowledge of His will, he might walk worthy,

being fruitful, fruitful, and increasing in the things of God in our

walk with God strengthened. It takes that spiritual, that divine power to be

strong in the world that we live in today. And so maybe be encourage

us morning to purpose in our hearts to walk before this almighty God, and

grow in our perfection and understanding of Him, the God. Blessing,