Pleasing God With Our Faith
Notes
Transcript
To Please God Our Faith Must Be Alive and Well
To Please God Our Faith Must Be Alive and Well
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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5 Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].
What other famous scripture talks about being ‘caught up’?
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Gen 5.25-27
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Enoch being ‘caught up’ is a type of the Church being caught...
‘before his translation’ or ‘before being caught up’ he had this testimony...
What is our ‘testimony’ up till now?
Enoch’s testimony was not so great that we cannot have the same.
‘He walked with God’, He walked with Him ‘by faith’, He ‘pleased God’ with how he lived his life.
Before Enoch was ever ‘caught up’ he learned to walk with God by faith and please Him...
What does it mean that Enoch ‘walked with God’?
What does it mean that Enoch ‘pleased God’?
How could he have done all this ‘by faith’? What part did ‘faith’ play in all this?
This story of Enoch sets up vs. 6 God is showing us how we can be like Enoch and have the same testimony before Jesus comes again
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
‘But without faith it is impossible to please Him’
To please God as Enoch we first must exercise faith:
What does this mean?
‘for he that cometh to God must believe that He is’
That does not just mean to believe that God exists...
What else could it mean?
We must believe that God is ‘ever present’ with us...
That He is a friend that sticks closer that a brother...
He is not with us to constantly judge us and condemn us...
But to nurture us as His child and to guide us in life...
To ‘walk with us and we walk with God’ everyday as Enoch
As we walk and talk with God our faith grows through a living relationship with our Creator and through this relationship we can have the testimony that we ‘please God’ as Enoch did
We must keep our faith alive as we live our life and never lose it…
Without it we cannot please God.
This is why Satan wants to destroy our faith in God, our constant faith is our ‘connection’ to our God
Faith begins when we ‘come to God’ we receive the Holy Ghost by faith and faith must continue to the day we are ‘caught up’ as Enoch
Our faith must keep our connection with the ‘good things of God’
He IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him
God always rewards diligence: Zeal, constant, earnest effort
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
His final reward as with Enoch is to ‘catch us away’ to be forever with Him...
Before He comes back for us let us all have Enoch’s testimony...
We walked with God and pleased Him