Take A Hike

MACSA 2009Nancy R. DeHaan

ndehaan@macsaonline.org

Three Simple Rules for Teachers

We Approach Our God

To Hear His Word For Our Lives . . .

. . .and Respond In Faith & Action

A Three Fold Process

Speak, O Lord, as we come to youTo receive the food of your holy word.Take your truth, plant it deep in us;Shape and fashion us in your likeness,That the light of Christ might be seen todayIn our acts of love and our deeds of faith.Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us All your purposes for your glory.

Speak, O Lord

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,Holy reverence, true humility;Test our thoughts and our attitudesIn the radiance of your purity.Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to seeYour majestic love and authority.Words of pow'r that can never fail—Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us—Truths unchanged from the dawn of timeThat will echo down through eternity.And by grace we'll stand on your promises,And by faith we'll walk as you walk with us.Speak, O Lord, till your church is builtAnd the earth is filled with your glory.

Speak, O Lord

•Walk in Humility•Walk Worthy•Walk In Love•Walk as Children Of Light•Walk Circumspectly•Walk In The Spirit

Walk Humbly with GodPutting Feet to Your Faith

Paul said that a person should not "think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”

Humility is an elusive quality--the moment you think you are humble is when you just forfeited it.

Humility is foreign to our world because our world exalts pride. • Unbelievers will continue to look on humility as a pitiable weakness. • But in Christ, humility becomes a beautiful virtue. Without it no one can

walk worthy of him.

Walk in Humility

Humility is a matter of the heartPride resides in the heart. And because pride is a matter of the

heart, humility requires a change of heart. The heart has to turn from self and turn to God. The Bible associates humility with a broken and contrite heart. It requires a repentant heart. Humility is not just some new knowledge that we have in our head about ourselves or about God. Humility doesn't just think about Jesus as Lord. It feels and embraces and desires to live in submission to God.

Walk in Humility

Humility is a matter of the eyesTo be humble we have to change the direction of our gaze. We have to

stop looking at ourselves as better than others. We have to stop looking at others and comparing ourselves with them. Instead we have to look towards God. Another way of putting this is to say that our eyes have to be brought low. Imagine bowing down in the presence of God. Our eyes are at the level of his feet, so to speak. It's a humbling position, but it reflects a true view of God. He is exalted. He is high and lifted up. Humility looks up to see God as he really is.

Walk in Humility

Humility is being content in GodHumility is about being satisfied and content in God. Ask yourself:

where do you seek and find satisfaction for your soul? The humble heart has been weaned from self-satisfaction to desire the satisfaction that God supplies. It is no longer anxiously seeking contentment elsewhere. Humility desires God, and it delights in God- so much so that our soul chooses rest and peace in God.

Walk in Humility

Humility Is Being Confident In God

Some people think humility means we are wishy-washy wimps. Nothing could be further from the truth. The humble person really ought to be more confident than a proud person. Why? Because the proud person only puts his confidence in himself. But the humble person puts his confidence in God. The humble person has conviction and certainty in who God is.

Humility is not uncertain about God. It is confident in God, certain of his promises and convinced of his truth.

Walk in Humility

How will we weaken pride and strengthen humbleness? How will we diligently learn to be content in God and confident in God? C. J. Mahaney offers these practical thoughts:

• Begin the day acknowledging your dependence upon God and your confidence in God.• At the outset of each day express specific gratefulness to God.• Practice the spiritual disciplines: "practicing the spiritual disciplines is daily declaration and

demonstration of my need for God and my dependence upon God."• Seize your daily commute as an opportunity to mediate on Scripture.• Throughout each day cast your cares upon him.• At the end of the day transfer the glory to God.• Before falling asleep acknowledge the purpose of sleep: "the need for sleep is a daily reminder that we are creatures not the creator, that we are not self-sufficient and that only God is self-sufficient."

Walk in Humility

Thessalonians 2:12"walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and

glory."Colossians 1:10

"walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Philippians 1:27"conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."

Ephesians 4:1"walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”

Walk Worthy

. . . act in a way that fits the great value and glorious nature of God and the gospel and your calling. And what fits with that great value? Faith. Above all things, faith and its fruit of love fits the worth of God and the gospel.

So think this way - NOT: I must have faith and love so as to be worth God's favor; BUT RATHER: God's favor is free and it is infinitely worth trusting. Walking worthy of that favor means walking by faith, because faith is the one thing that agrees with our bankruptcy and God's infinite "worth."

Looking to God's infinite worth for our help and satisfaction is "walking worthy of God."

Walk Worthy John Piper

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.DesiringGod.Org

Education in general and Christian education in particular can exert a powerful influence on our students and in turn, on the quality of our national life. To be sure, there are other powerful forces shaping our students and culture. The media, technology, and politics, to name a few, but it is the quality of the education received by those who will start families, fill pulpits, develop our technology, create our entertainment, and pass our laws that will shape the character and quality of each individual and in turn the quality of our national life.

Walk WorthyBarrett Mosbacker

Few callings allow one to contribute more directly to the shaping of lives and to the welfare of a nation than Christian education. Like raindrops falling into a pond, Christian educators shape lives and “drop” them into communities. Each life creates ripples—some small, some large—that radiate into the community affecting it for good or bad. Like a constant rain, the drops fall year after year all contributing individually and collectively to the national pool of talent and character that ultimately shapes our nation’s character and determines our national destiny.

Walk WorthyBarrett Mosbacker

When you walk in love you are . . . because love is . . . .• Patient• Kind• Unselfish• Enduring

Walk in LoveWhen you walk in love you are not . . . because love is not . . . .• Envious• Proud• Self-centered• Rude• Provoked to anger

Walking in the light is the opposite of walking in darkness. It means seeing reality for what it is and being controlled by desires that accord with God’s light. If God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, then he is the bright pathway to the fulfillment of all our deepest longings. He is the deliverer from all dark dangers and obstacles to joy. He is the infinitely desirable one.

Walking in the light is to see things in the light of God, to let God be your bright pathway to joy.

Walk as Children of Light

Walk as Children of Light

Hear the call of the KingdomTo be children of lightWith the mercy of heavenThe humility of ChristWalking justly before HimLoving all that is rightThat the life of Christ may shine through us

(Chorus)King of Heaven we will answer the callWe will follow bringing hope to the worldFilled with passion, filled with power to proclaimSalvation in Jesus' name

To walk circumspectly is to walk with great care, accuracy, and precision. This involves taking deliberate and carefully thought out steps. It is not running or rushing. It is not walking in a manner where we do not know where we are going.

This is the opposite of stumbling, tripping, or stubbing a toe on the furniture. It is not being clumsy or careless. To walk circumspectly is to be careful, accurate, and precise in the way that we walk.

Phillip Way, Providence Reformed Baptist Church - Texas

Walk Circumspectly

To “walk in the Spirit” is to follow the Spirit’s leading. It is essentially to “walk with” the Spirit, allowing him to guide your steps and conform your mind.

Those who walk in the Spirit will show forth daily, moment-by-moment holiness.

Walk in the Spirit

Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh. This means that "walking by the Spirit" is not something we do in order to get the Spirit's help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit.

Walk in the Spirit

We can know that we are walking in the Spirit if our lives are showing forth the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control .

Walk in the Spirit

Five things that I think we must do so that it can be truly said that we are walking by the spirit.

AcknowledgeFirst, we must acknowledge from our hearts that we are helpless to do good apart from the enablement of the holy spirit

Pray Second, since it is promised in Ezekiel that God will put His spirit within us and cause us to walk in His statutes, pray that He do it to you by His almighty power

Trust The third step involved in walking by the Spirit is faith. We must believe that since we have come under the gracious sway of God's Spirit, "sin will no longer have dominion over us"

Walk in the SpiritJohn Piper

Act The fourth step in walking by the Spirit after you have acknowledged your helplessness without Him, prayed for His enablement, and trusted in His deliverance is to act the way you know is right.

Thank The final step in walking by the Spirit is to thank God for any virtue attained or any good deed performed. If without the Spirit we can do no right, then we must not only ask His enablement for it but also thank Him whenever we do it.

"If we live by the spirit, then let us also walk by the Spirit." Let us acknowledge from our heart that we are unable to please God without the Spirit's constant enablement. Let us pray for that enablement. Let us trust confidently in the Spirit's power and promise to give that enablement. Then let us do what we know is right. And having done it, let us turn and say with all the saints, “Not I, but the Spirit of Christ within me."

Walk in the SpiritJohn Piper

•Walk in Humility•Walk Worthy•Walk In Love•Walk as Children Of Light•Walk Circumspectly•Walk In The Spirit

Walk Humbly with GodPutting Feet to Your Faith

•Lace Up Your Boots•Exercise Your Faith•Walk With God

Now it’s time to GO and DO what He says!