Voice of the Nazarene 11-16-25

Voice of the Nazarene 11-16-25

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Ray, coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene a week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:18

Behind all of the universe there was a divine designer, and it led them to the great Lord of the universe. They became heroes. Do you have any heroes? We all need a hero or two in our life, right? Somebody that we are inspired by, somebody that we aspire to be like, somebody that encourages us and betters us, someone that's been a great example, who's lived before us and maybe gone on before us. Last week, we talked about Abraham and his altars. This morning, I would like to look at Enoch and his example. You'll find in the fifth verse of Hebrews 11 by faith, Enoch by faith, he was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found, because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. I believe that we can learn a lot from Enoch. And there's three quick things I'd like to unpack. Let me share with you, first of all, the manner of Enoch. Enoch, in his story, only mentioned three times throughout the entirety of Scripture. Now I'm going to look at those three areas and gather just a little bit of insight from these three portals here in Genesis, 521, it says, When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah, and Enoch walked with God, and from That verse, we understand the manner in which Enoch lived his life. We've heard of people who walked after God or walked before God, but only two individuals. Does divine writ tell us that walk with God, Enoch here in Genesis, chapter five, and then the next chapter over chapter six, Noah walked with God. Only two guys in all of Scripture. The Bible records had a walk with God. That's the manner in which Enoch lived. But look at the Ministry of Enoch. I told you this. There are only three places. And this is found in in Jude verse 14, now Enoch, the seventh from Adam. You've got all of this generations living at the same time. The seventh from Adam prophesied about these men, saying, also, behold the Lord comes with 10,010 1000s of his saints to execute judgment on all and to convict all who are ungodly. So the ministry of of Enoch is prophesying. There's judgment coming. If you look at the timeline, you you've got, you got Adam and Eve up here in Genesis, five living 930 years. And their offspring, Seth and lived 912 years, Enos, who lived 905 years, and then Canaan, 900 and and 10 years, Mahalo, 895 years. Jared, 962 years Enoch, he only hung around about 365 years. Then Methuselah, 969 years. But God broke in on Enoch and gave him a vision. The judgment was coming. Things were going to end. They would not continue as they were going. And so he had a ministry of proclaiming the judgment was coming. But we also see the move of Enoch. Now, I'll spend more time on this in just a few minutes, but Hebrews 11 five, says By faith, he was taken away so that he did not see death, and he was not found. And then in Genesis, 524, Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him. He. He was not the Russians have their common odds, or cosmonauts, America has his, what astronauts? Well, God has His. Was nots okay? I mean, he was here and he was gone. Boom, he's on Earth, and next moment he's in heaven. God took him. That's the move of Enoch. And with that foundation in mind, I'd like to step through three things with you real quick, like I want to begin with this trip with God. And I already told you, there's only three places to look in all of Scripture, so we're gonna have to strain everything we can from those few openings, Genesis, 521, when Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Now I don't know a lot about the first 65 years. We're not told the Bible's silent. We don't know if he walked much with God, if he thought about God, or he talked with God, or he lived for God, we we have no idea. We don't know, but according to the next verse, verse 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah, when after he fathered Methuselah? So what we know, apparently he wasn't walking with God before fatherhood. So the Bible infers It was after he became a father, and something happened in his life, in his life around about the time that this son that he named Methuselah, is born. Bible doesn't tell us if he had any sons before that, or any daughters before that. We do know he had children after that, but when, when this boy came along, he named him Methuselah, in that an odd name before that. It was Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel normal names, and then comes this crazy name, Methuselah. Interesting by by the way it sounds, but it's also interesting by what it means. It means, when he is dead, it shall be sent. So whatever happens when he dies, Something's coming. Better wake up, Something's coming. And apparently something right about the time of his birth influenced Enoch to give his name to his boy. And apparently what Jude is telling us about the judgment is that 10 1000s of angels, and although it's future, not yet, yet he saw something imminent and and it was coming soon. Judgment, he said, is coming on the ungodly and apparently Noah comes at the end of methuse life. Now, Methuselah had a son named Lamech. Lamech had a son that we all know by the name of of Noah. And at the very end of methuselah's life, when he died, judgment came, Enoch saw it, and he he knew something was coming, and he had an encounter with God. It was his trip with God. Now the first 65 years, nothing that he did was worth the recording book just ignores him. Holy Spirit doesn't put anything on the writer's mind to write about a little 65 years. But after he saw this vision and realized that God was coming, what he saw was real. Nobody's talking about judgment, but he said it's coming. I'm trying to tell you it's coming. Folk, you better wake up. He said it's coming. And it changed his life. And for the next 300 years, he was known as a man that walked with God. It's his trip. And if we're going to have to, if we're going to walk with God, we'll have to get some things in our life in order. And I just come to tell you this morning what you need to have in order. One, you need to be in agreement with God. Amos, three. Three says, How can two walk together unless they be agreed. How can two walk together? They can't if they're not in agreement. Now you and your wife, if you're not agreeing, you can be riding along in the car, but you ain't walking together. Not good English, but it really don't matter, does it? You're out of agreement. You may be saying, I don't know what to do. I don't know what I need to do to be in agreement with God. Well, I can tell you where you need to start. You need to start by saying, God, you're right. I'm wrong. I agree. You need to start by saying, God, you're omniscient and all knowing I don't know what. Anything, God, I agree. You need to say, God, you're omnipotent and you're all powerful, and I'm nothing, and I agree, God, you're a sovereign I'll trust you. I can't even trust myself. I agree. And we all know that we've all sinned come short of the glory of God. Are we in agreement with that? And we all need to come into that kind of an agreement. And we've got to realize that the wages of sin is death. If you've seen the results of your sins going to bring death, but we're told the gift of God's eternal life, are you in agreement with that, we've got to agree that God demonstrated His love to us, and how did he demonstrate His love? He demonstrated His love while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Are you in agreement with that? Paid my debt? He paid your debt. Whosoever will may call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved, and God has made a way to escape the judgment to come. Do you agree? Well, not only that, you need to be in alignment. We have this thing of being in agreement. But does our life align? We can agree to a lot of things about God, but we're out of alignment. The Bible tells us in Psalm 119, verse 105, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Now remember, we're walking. You didn't forget that? Did you? We're talking about any walk with God. We're walking. We're trying to join eating on this scenic tour. We're having a walk. And he said, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. You ever get up in the middle of the night to have one of your four or five bathroom trips hang around you will, and on that trip, you encountered something somebody left lying on the floor, and you discovered it with your toes. We need a light. And he said, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet. It'll light on my path. And a lot of us are going through life as believers, and we have no idea what to do, where to go, which way to turn, how to act, how to respond, why we're not in the Word of God. We've not cracked it open to let the light shine on our life. We don't have a clue. We're just coming along. Hosea, four, six, he said, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If the word of God doesn't lighten and enlighten your life, you're going to get destroyed. Not only that, Galatians 516 said that we're to walk in the Spirit, and if you do, you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You know why you're struggling with evil thoughts, got an evil imagination. It's part of the old carnal nature. It's called the lust of the flesh. You know why you can't control your eyes, you can't control your appetites, why you can't handle a lot of things in life? It's called the lust of the flesh. And he The Bible said, Don't forget now we're walking. You haven't forgotten that. Then he had a walk with God. We're supposed to be on that walk. Okay, well, he listened to what he has to say. Walk in the Spirit. You'll not fulfill the lust. Now, how do I do that in the Spirit? And we have a word of God, and we have the Spirit of God in order to come into alignment with God, so that we can walk with God, as Enoch did. So that's part of his trip. Now let's get right down to his testimony, his testimony for God. Hebrews 11 five for before he was taken up. Now it's 300 years. For 300 years, not the first 65 but remember, the next 300 he was known as a person who pleased God. Anybody want to be a god pleaser? Are you kind of sick of being a people pleaser? You get a little sick of trying to please yourself, and you can't find anything that satisfies you. Want to be a god pleaser? I'll tell you something, something happened that changed his attitude and changed his lifestyle and and changed his habits and and changed his patterns and changed his direction, and no longer is he walking in the flesh. He begins to walk with God, and the Bible said, and he was known. He built a reputation as one who was walking with God, see, Enoch had this testimony. He had something that he was known for. We all have a testimony. What's your testimony? What are you What are you knowing for? What are people going to say about you when you die? I hope the preacher can figure out something good. What will they say? Who were we living for? Trying to please herself, or were we trying to please others, or were we trying to please God? What will they say? Because if you please God, it doesn't matter what they say anyhow, and if you don't please God, it doesn't matter how good others thought you were 600 years before Jesus, a great storyteller named ASAP, said, if you try to please all, you please none. Do you know you can't please everybody. I've got news for you. It is possible to please God. God's not quite the hard task master that you think you can please God. And the Bible tells us a little bit about that, and how do we please God? Well, first of all, we need salvation in Christ. This is getting in agreement we talked about that. It's the foundational aspect. Remember, Hebrews 11, verse five, it said by faith. Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and it was not found all right, he was saved by faith. And that's true of you. Look at Hebrews 11, six, and without faith, it's impossible to please God. So we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. We must believe. We must believe that He is and you better start right there. It's called salvation in Jesus, putting our faith, our trust, our confidence, in the foundation of Christ. No matter what, no matter what, I'm going to believe God. If God never answers another prayer for me, I'm sure going to believe God. If God doesn't bring a healing to my body, I'm still going to please God. If God doesn't change that diagnosis that I was given, I'm still going to serve God. If God doesn't make a way out for me, I'm still, Hey, God has got a genie in a bottle. You remember what Peter said, Thou hast the words of eternal life. Whom else will we go? Hey, I'm with you. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They said, if God doesn't deliver us and if we burn, hey, we're still with you. And he stepped in there with them. But if he doesn't, didn't matter. We're still going to please God, and not only salvation in Christ, but be spirit led. Now here comes the alignment. We talked about agreement. Now comes the alignment. We're to be spirit led. Romans, 88 it says that why? That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature. Are you under control of your sinful nature? Can never please God, but you, who are not controlled by your sinful nature, you're controlled by the Spirit. That's the condition of serving God. You can't be controlled by a carnal nature, but by the Holy Spirit and God's people, needs to be controlled by the Spirit. Maybe that's why we get so much negative PR around the church, because people have witnessed a carnal Christian, please God, and then it's to be sold out. Salvation in Christ spirit led, but I need to be sold out. We can't all the time be playing the Hokey Pokey Christianity thing, you know, right foot in and the left foot out, and then we shake it all about. And then we come to church on Sunday and put our left leg in and do our little shout, it's time that we get serious and be sold out. And look what the Bible says in Colossians 110, walk. Hey, don't forget, we're walking. You didn't forget that? Did you? Enoch had a walk with God? Or you want to walk with God? So he says, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him. Remember, he had a testimony that he pleased God. Why? Because he walked with God. How do we do it? It tells us bearing fruit in every good work. Now, what does it mean? Bearing fruit in every good work? It's talking about the fruit of the Spirit. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace and and patience and gentleness and temperance and long suffering, those are the aspects that we need to have in every interaction that we have, and we need to exemplify those attributes. And what else should we be doing? It goes on saying increasing in the knowledge of God. Do you know it's not okay to be. You 65 years of Christian and not know anymore about the Word of God than we did from the moment that we first gave our heart to Christ. If you had a child and you fed it milk and you burped it, you changed this diapers, and 65 years you're still later, you're still changing their diapers and burping them and and and nursing them and and giving them now, hey, that's the kind of church, that's the kind of bunch of people that God has to try to reach a lost and a dying world with to fight in his army, when we've got communities out yonder that need God, and people are broken and they're held by the chains of sin and all kinds of addictions and a church full of squabbling, squalling babies, knitting burbs and diaper chains. I'm simply saying that we need to grow and increase in the knowledge of the Word of God now be stagnant. Never open the book. We need to please God. Be sold out. It's time to stop playing, and then you must have stewardship. Look at what the Bible says here in Hebrews, 1316, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God, share, not only with people you like, but we need to share with people that we don't like. That's why it's called a sacrifice. You preach it. You don't know how hard I work to get what I've got. I know and so when you give, it's a sacrifice, and the Bible calls it a sacrifice is what pleases God. God never blessed you to just hoard everything, but to be a blessing. So how are you stewarding what God has given you? And the ultimate choice in life is between pleasing yourself or pleasing God. And now we see his translation. He was translated that he might not see death. He transitioned Look at Genesis, 524, and he walked with God, and he was not for God took him. Now the Old Testament is written mostly in Hebrew, a little Arabic. And the word their word said, and he was, God took him. The actual meaning of that in the Hebrew meant snatch. God snatched him up. He was there. One moment, he's gone. How many Samaritans disappeared. He was on earth. Now he's in heaven. And imagine that timeline in view. You got to understand, he's the seventh down on this generational totem pole. Adam and Eve are still alive, and Seth is alive, and Canaan's alive and Jared is alive. And along comes Enoch, and God, in a flesh, in a moment, snatched him away, and Adam turns to Eve, and he said, What happened to him? Our great, great, great grandson is walking with God. Hey, I remember what I used to walk with God. Do you remember that Eve back there in the garden? I know it's been 600 years ago, but we used to have a walk with God. We, we there was a time we had a relationship with God. We don't have that so much anymore. You remember? And now God's walking and talking with with Enoch. And they they watched him walk with God for 300 years, and all of a sudden, Enoch is gone. Can you imagine Adam and Eve? Eve turns to Adam and says, Why didn't God take us? We've been here all of this time for 900 and some years, God took Enoch and he left us. And before judgment came, Enoch saw it, and it affected his life so much so that he named his son Methuselah, meaning, when he is dead, it shall be sent. He saw judgment coming on the ungodly. He saw it, but before it came, God took him, snatched him. It reminds me of another scripture in another part of the Bible, over in that New Testament, where Paul's writing to the church down at Thessalonica in chapter what four is it? Verse seven, where it says, We, who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord of the air, and thus shall we always be with the Lord now Thessalonians is the New Testament that's written in the. A Greek, different language altogether. And so where it said caught up, just like back in the Old Testament, it said he was taken up, where it says the Christians will be caught up. The same meaning, although it's a different word. It means snatched Paul said there's going to be a body of people walking with God, and God said, I'm going to snatch him away before the judgment comes. He said, it's going to happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And you know what you and I are going to be. We're going to be was not going to be caught up, taken away. We're going to be gone. Enoch saw it, and I said in my office, and I thought, I'm going to go out and face the people just a minute. I wonder, will they see it? If they see it, they're going to be changed. They're not going to live the way they've been living, not if you see it. Enoch saw it. It changed his mind on a lot of things. It changed his habits. It changed his attitude, all the criticalness of the bitterness and all of that went away, and he began to walk with God. Walk day after day, walking with God until his testimony was and he pleased God. Do you see it? Are you following the example of eating? Picture the rapture. Jesus is coming. Can't you see the world is heading towards judgment? You think God is blind to all the abortions and the addictions and the universities shaking their fist in the face of God, saying there is no God. You think judgment is not going to come. I'm talking to you. It's coming. Maybe you don't see him in Enoch. He saw it, and it changed him. It'll change you. There's some lessons here from Enoch. It'll change your lives. It'll get us to walking in agreement, and it'll bring us into alignment, and, and next thing you know, we're sold out for God, and we want to grow in His Word and and we want to live a pleasing to God. And I'm asking, Will you, before it's too late, start walking in the beautiful light of God. There's a story right here, back clear back in the beginning of time for you and I, who are down here at the end of time things are wrapping up. There's a tribulational period coming. I'll just throw this out to you, because someday real soon, I'll probably be standing before God, and I'm going to tell you either side of this thing, whichever it is, so you won't point your finger at me, and I don't care if the other preachers don't want to say anything about it, that's up to them. While God snatched Enoch up before the judgment, Noah had to go through it, through the flood, and the world perished around him. He built an ark, not only for himself, but to save his family, and they went through the judgment. And I'm trying to tell you tribulational periods coming. It's coming. Jesus is coming. And however, this thing goes either way, if you get snatched up before, if you have to go through, walk with God.

Unknown: 28:42

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor, Ray la salle. For more information regarding B and C, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org, you.