Enoch: The Walk of Faith, Part 2

If you're the only one on your job who knows you're a Christian, you're not walking with God. Dr. Tony Evans says if you're keeping company with God, your circle of connections deserves to know.

God has called you to represent Heaven because He's invited you to walk with Him. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. If you want to walk with God, you've got to be willing to go where He goes.

Today Dr. Evans tells us about a man who did exactly that and how the resulting relationship changed his life. Let's join him as he begins. Today Enoch is the hero that God uses to explain to you and me what it is to walk by faith. It's in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 5 and 6, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. And he was not found because God took him up. For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. And without faith, it is impossible to please Him.

For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them who seek Him. So the New Testament writer writing the New Testament Christians reaches back to the book of Genesis and introduces us to a man who has four verses written about him in Genesis. Those four verses are in Genesis chapter 5, and we can see why Enoch was pleasing to God because Genesis 5 verses 21 to 24 says, Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.

So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. So Hebrews tells us he pleased God. Genesis tells us why he pleased God. He pleased God because he walked with God. So the way you please God is to walk with God, and it takes faith to please God by walking with God because you're dealing with a God that you do not see, and you're dealing with things about God that are often invisible. So in order to please God, you must walk with God.

Let's reverse it. If you're not walking with God, you're not pleasing God. Because God says the way Enoch pleased God in Hebrews 11 was that in Genesis he walked with God. Most people want God to walk with them.

God, this is where I'm going, join me. But that's not what God is requiring. God is requiring us to walk with him. That is to find out where he is going and join him on his trip. So to walk with God means, God, I agree with who you are.

I agree with where you're going. Let me stroll with you. In order to do this, he says in verse 6, him that comes to God must first believe that he is. It's hard to walk with somebody and you're not sure they're there. You must believe that God is. The second thing you must believe if you're going to walk with God, verse 6 says, is that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him. So you believe in two things, that there is this personal God who wants me to walk with him and that he's not going to waste my time on the journey, that he's going to respond to my belief in him and my walk with him. One of the reasons we're not seeing more of God is that even if we believe him, we don't believe there is a response from him. We must believe in him and that there is a response that we're going to get from him if indeed we are walking with him, seeking to be pleasing to him, that he is going to, in fact, join us and he is going to walk with us.

That's the first thing. But walking with God means you will often be walking against the culture because you're listening to a different drumbeat. Enoch, son of Cain, had a city named after him. He had a city called Enoch after him.

So he was recognized by man. But Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, was not known by men, he was known by God, for Enoch walked with God and was not. So the question is, who you want to know your name? You can live for people and have notoriety named after you, power named after you, success named after you, privilege, or you can have God knowing your name.

So the question is, who you want to know your name? He says Enoch, the seventh in the generation of Adam, he says, was not a private Christian. He prophesied against the ungodliness of his day. He wasn't just this quiet little Christian sitting in church where nobody knew he belonged to God but him. If you're the only one on your job who knows you're a Christian, you're not walking with God.

Nobody else is being silent. We even now have churches giving in to ungodliness, churches okaying ungodliness. Well let it be known at Oak Cliff and Bible Fellowship, we stand with the word of God. We stand with the scripture, not with the culture.

It doesn't matter that it's popular, it doesn't matter that the world accepted it. He says Enoch who walked with God let the ungodly know that ain't right. God calls that sin, God calls that unrighteousness. God doesn't agree with men marrying men, women marrying women, God ain't going for that.

They took that stand. You ought not to be apologized, that is if you're going to walk with God. Because if you're going to walk with God, you got to agree with God. You can't disagree with God and walk with God. You must take that stand.

Joshua said, I can't control what the rest of y'all do, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So he did not compromise with ungodliness in order to be popular. In order to have a big name. It's 1936, the place is Germany. In 1936, his name was Jesse Owens.

Jesse Owens belonged to the United States, but he was in the Olympics in Germany. He's in the Olympics in Germany in a hostile environment. The Germans view themselves as superior, the superior race. Not only were they there to demonstrate their superiority over Germany, they were demonstrating their period over that monkey, because that's how he was designated.

The most inferior of the inferior. The head of the evil empire came and sat in his chair, Adolf Hitler, to proclaim that in this kingdom I'm king, and in this kingdom I'm demonstrating who the greatest is. Four gold medals later, after Jesse Owens had put the shame, Nazism, and the Third Reich as he had demonstrated, Hitler had to get up and leave, because the monkey showed off and let him know, I'm going to testify in front of all these Germans that greater am I from America than you folk who think you own this place. He stood in a hostile environment and demonstrated his greatness.

You may work in a hostile environment, you may live in a hostile environment, but it ought to be clear, you belong to another kingdom, you belong to another king, and you represent that kingdom in a hostile environment. Satan has his doctors. Christ ought to have his. Satan has his lawyers. Christ ought to have his.

Satan has his teachers. Christ ought to have his. Satan has his business men and women.

Christ ought to have his. Satan has his housewives, Christ ought to have his. Satan has his husbands, Christ ought to have his. Satan has his men, Christ ought to have his. Satan has his women, Christ ought to have his. Satan has his janitors, Christ ought to have his. Satan has his secretaries, Christ ought to have his. Satan surely has his lawyers, Christ ought to have his. If the unrighteous can represent hell, God has called you to represent heaven because he's invited you to walk with him.

Either walk with God. One of the realities is the closer you get to God, the more sensitive you're gonna be to the unrighteousness in your own life and the unrighteousness in the culture in which you live. We're not perfect people, but when you're close to God, you feel it, it hurts you. It hurts you for yourself.

It hurts you in the lives of others. And the zeal, as Jesus said, of this house has consumed me. Enoch walked with God. And it was a public walk, not a private walk.

If you're walking with God, but you don't want anybody else to know, that's who you're walking with, then that means you're ashamed of him. And in the election, when the election goes up, you put a placard on your car, you put a placard on your lawn. In other words, you advertise your vote, but it's clear who you're voting for. When it comes to who you're walking with, you should not be an undecided voter.

It ought to be clear. This is the lever I pull. This is the vote I take because this is who I stroll with all day.

And it's who I look to to sustain me in every area of my life. You see, Enoch walked with God. And it wasn't an event. It was a lifestyle because he did it over 300 years. So this is how he rolled.

This is how he lived. And the reason why many of us don't feel God's presence is that we don't walk with God. We visit him on occasion. He wants to be walked with.

That is included in the totality of all of life, not segmented. Dr. Evans will be back with what walking by faith can mean for us when he returns with more of our message in just a moment. First though, I wanna mention Tony's brand new book that was just published called Kingdom Heroes. It's a close look at the Bible's Faith Hall of Fame. And it's full of ordinary people who did extraordinary things by taking God at his word.

It teaches us that spiritual reality is about much more than we can see or touch and shows how much we can endure, overcome, and accomplish when we act as though God is telling the truth. We want you to be one of the first to receive a copy of this new Kingdom Heroes book as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. Along with it, we'll send you the companion Bible study workbook and all 13 messages in Tony's Heroes of the Faith series as a bonus.

You can get the messages from both volumes on CD and digital download. But this limited time offer won't last long, so be sure to get in touch with us today to get the details and make the arrangements. You can do that online at tonyevans.org. That's tonyevans.org. Or reach out to our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 any time of the day or night.

That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that information for you right after part two of today's lesson and this. Coming to theaters this November. We're at the Church of the Nativity here in Bethlehem where it is believed that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred. Travel with Dr. Tony Evans as he retraces the life and human journey of the greatest being to ever walk this earth. Well, we're here in Capernaum, a place where Jesus did most of his miracles. And it is in this place that he demonstrated he truly is the Son of God. You'll travel the streets, fields, and synagogues where Jesus walked and visit the locations where some of the most powerful events recorded in the Bible took place. It is highly likely that much of what we read about Jesus' ministry in Galilee happened right here. Journey with Jesus in theaters November 15th, 16th, and 17th with Dr. Tony Evans.

Visit tonyevans.org for locations, showtimes, and to learn more. What was the payoff for walking with God? What was the compensation? It says, God took him, verse five of Hebrews 11, for he obtained the witness that before he was taken up, he was pleasing to God. So before he was taken up, while he was still living over these 300 years that he was walking with God, God, the word witness means testified. God testified with his special presence in Enoch's life that I am with Enoch and Enoch is with me. There was a testimony. God vindicated him and validated him. There was a supernatural presence. There was a supernatural witness. God answered prayer. God showed up and showed off. God steered him.

God directed him. See, one of the reasons that we don't hear God is we're so far away from him that his voice is undetectable. If I whisper in your ear, it's because you're close enough to hear me. But if you're far away, then you don't hear me.

When you walk with someone, you don't have to scream because the proximity is so close that you can hear their voice. If you're not walking with God, you won't hear him give you direction. You won't hear him guide you. You won't hear him re-steer you.

You won't hear him redirect you because the proximity is not that close. Enoch walked with God and it says, God testified. God validated him, verified him. Could have done it a hundred different ways. I don't know how he'll do it for you.

You don't know how to do it for me. But he says, those who walk with me by faith, even though they don't see me, but believe I am a rewarder of those who seek me will get a testimony from me. He says, Enoch walked with God for 300 years. Now, if you're not used to walking, it takes a little practice. When a newborn baby is learning to walk, you know, it falls down a few times because it's not used to walking. Or if you're starting an exercise program and you're just starting out walking, you're not going but so far. Because your body is not used to doing that.

It's not used to doing that. So it's going to take a little bit of practice. But let me tell you, what helps you walking is when you're walking with somebody. Cause as somebody else can help you out and keep you going by the conversation that's taking place during the walk. Cause the conversation that's taking place helps you distract you from the frustration and from the perspiration of the walk. So when you're walking with somebody, they help you to go further than you could go on your own because the relationship helps distract you from the pain of the movement.

So everybody here who don't start walking with God, who just, who gonna move from being a religious Christian to a walking Christian, who gonna move to be a, from a Sunday Christian to be a all week, all year Christian, to be a 300 year Saint, it's going to take a little getting used to. I'm learning slowly how to live in the world of technology. I had a meeting that I had to go to and I had to take some of our staff with me to this business meeting related to the church. And I said, print me out the directions. Now I was driving our staff to this meeting. So I'm driving with one hand with a piece of paper in this hand and I'm reading the paper as I drive in order to get to the place that I'm trying to go. Pastor Bellamy is sitting in the passenger side and he says, pastor, pastor, pastor, what are you doing? I said, I'm reading the directions to where we're going. He said, you got a GPS thing sitting right in the middle of this car.

Now, ever since I've owned that car, that's been there, but it's never been used. He began to punch some buttons. Bup, bup, bup, bup, bup, bup, bup, bup. Up pops a voice that I've never heard before. Up on the screen pops a mat. He says, this arrow is you, that's where we're going.

Throw the paper away. I had to learn to use something I wasn't used to using. You may not be used to hearing the voice of God. You may not be used to walking with God. It may be a little tough when you first get started to include him in everything all day, all week, to ask the Holy Spirit when you get up to open up your mind to his thoughts, to ask the Holy Spirit to give you the right decision-making power today, to ask the Holy Spirit to send you to walk in the Spirit to show you who to relate to, how to speak to them, how to stay away from that, how to avoid it. You may not be used to that, but since you're walking with God and he knows where he's going, he will begin to lead you into all truth so that you experience his direction.

And then I love how it ends, because it says he was not, for God took him. How you live will determine how you leave. Let me say that again. How you live will determine how you leave. Everybody doesn't die the same. It says Enoch was walking with God and he was not, for God took him. So here's how it was going.

For 300 years, they're walking. God's included on everything. God, what you want me to do about that? How should I deal with this? What about this family problem? Okay, God, how do I handle this?

How do I handle my money the way you want me to handle? God, show me the way I'm doing. Okay, God, we're doing this year after year after year after year after year, then they hit year 300. They hit 300 and they just walking like they've been doing because they used to walk and they go walking every day. God puts on his tennis shoes.

Enoch puts on his tennis shoes. They just go walking and they chilling together and they just walking and year 300 hits. And when year 300 hits, God says, Enoch, I tell you what, you know, we've been walking together a long time and we're closer to my home than your home.

So why don't we just keep on going? Dr. Tony Evans with a message about the special relationship God has made available to each of us when we choose to walk with him. And if that's something you want to do, but have yet to take the first steps, now is the best time ever to begin. Just visit tonyevans.org and click on the link that says Jesus. There Tony will explain everything you need to know about what it means to be a real Christian and how to start a brand new lifelong journey with the Lord. That's tonyevans.org. And while you're on the website, don't miss out on your chance to take advantage of that special offer I mentioned earlier. It's a three-part faith resource package, including all 13 messages from volumes one and two of Tony's current audio series, Heroes of the Faith, along with his brand new book and Bible study, Kingdom Heroes. They are yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported program coming your way. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to assist with your requests.

That's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org. When God tells us to do something we would have done anyway, it's pretty easy to obey, but what about when the Lord's instructions are a little bit out there or take us beyond our comfort zone? That's what Dr. Evans will talk about tomorrow as he takes a look at the life of Noah. Right now, though, he's back with this final story to wrap up today's message. Steven, at the end of Acts chapter seven, he says he looked up. He was still alive.

He looked up and he saw heaven open, and he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father in heaven, and he said Jesus would give him a standing ovation, and he says, receive my spirit. That's what happened to Paul. Paul says, I'm ready to be offered up. I'm finished what I've left here to do. It's time.

Just whisk me on out of here. There's a brother who was in church a couple weeks ago, and he found out he had cancer. He didn't know whether it spread or not, and he was going to the doctor to see whether it spread, and he says, well, there's one good thing. I don't know what the doctor's gonna say, but there's one good thing. If he gives me bad news and if it's gone too far, I'm not afraid to die because I'm ready to leave here whenever God calls me because how you live determines how you leave. Thank you. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.