Enoch
By walking with God we are open to spiritual gifts from God.
Scott Rodgers
Aug 5, 2018 38m
In this sermon Pastor Rodgers introduces us to an unforgettable man. from the bible. named Enoch. Enoch's story teaches us that God wants us to walk in friendship with him. When we walk with God we are often given spiritual gifts from God, such as peace, love, and faith. God wants us to be his friend. Video recorded at Chandler, Arizona.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Scott Rodgers: 00:36 Cornerstone! How's it going people? Are you guys doing good? It's so great to see you here. My name is Scott. If we haven't yet met, it's just a thrill to get to know you a little bit for a few minutes today and let's give a warm welcome to those at our San Tan and Scottsdale locations. Come on, give it up guys. So glad to be a part of the Cornerstone family throughout this valley with you all. And, today we're going to continue this series called Unforgettables, which is really cool because when we read the Bible, we see that a lot of people are like the, you know, the major focus or a main character and what God did throughout history and what He's doing in the world. But yet there's a whole slew of people scattered throughout scripture who are kind of living in the background; just ordinary folks, like many of us who God is using to do some pretty extraordinary things and when we pause long enough to take a look at these people, it just becomes really unforgettable.
Scott Rodgers: 01:30 It's like, wow, I didn't expect that from someone who was living in the shadows and living in the background. And that's what we're during the set of conversations during Unforgettables. So if you brought a Bible with you, this complicated, get ready, open it up to Genesis Chapter One. All right, way back in the beginning. If you're not familiar with the Bible in your paper Bible, it's all the way to the left and if it's on your phone just go up to the top and go to chapter one and that's going to get us in the ballpark and we're going to read something in just a minute. Okay?
Scott Rodgers: 02:05 So several years ago, my family and I, we lived in Houston and it was right after we had moved to Houston. We were there three or four months and I'm pastoring at a church. And on a Saturday, late morning after doing some work around the house, I'm sitting in the house, just kind of cooling off from a hot, humid summer morning in Houston.
Scott Rodgers: 02:26 And the thought hits me is like, oh my gosh, I've got a wedding to officiate. And just like now, almost some. I'm freaking out going, this is not good Pastor PR to be late for the wedding that you're officiating. And so I jump in the shower really quick, take a shower, I put on my one suit, my wedding suit, and I got my tie and all that stuff and my jacket. I grabbed my Bible, I get in my car and I head out on my 20 minute drive to get to the location and I am way behind schedule. So I'm driving down the road, I'm sitting in my car. And um, I don't know if you've ever had this, but you know, you're kind of pushing the envelope with how fast you're going. And I'm really pushing it heading to this wedding, late. A little stressed out.
Scott Rodgers: 03:12 And a police officer drives right by me going in the opposite direction. Anybody ever had that moment? Like, your heart spikes and you're like, Ooh! Oh No! And so literally from the time I looked down at my speedometer and then look up into my rear view mirror, the strobes are already on. And it was turning around coming at me. And I'm like, oh, this is going to make me even more late. No good. So I pull over into this little parking lot of a small business and uh, the officer pulls up behind me and I'm sitting in my car and I'm thinking, okay, what, what am I going to do? Like, what am I going to say? How am I going to play this out? And the thought hit me. It's like hey, I've got my tie on and you know, my suit.
Scott Rodgers: 03:57 And I grabbed my Bible that was sitting in the passenger seat and I slid it over close to the console and I'm thinking maybe he'll see my Bible and he'll know I'm a man of the cloth, cut me some slack. So I do that.
Scott Rodgers: 04:18 He walks up and he says, "Hey, uh, do you have any idea how fast you were going back there?"
Scott Rodgers: 04:21 And yeah, I just kind of played dumb. I'm like,, "Oh, was it too fast?"
Scott Rodgers: 04:21 He says, "Yeah, I clocked you at...."
Scott Rodgers: 04:28 And he clocked me like 25 miles an hour over the speed limit. I know. I was feeling like, oh.
Scott Rodgers: 04:36 And then he says, "You also realize you have a taillight out?
Scott Rodgers: 04:39 And I said, "Oh yes I do. It's on the list. I'm getting after that."
Scott Rodgers: 04:45 And then he says, "Can I have your driver's license, proof of registration, all that kind of stuff?"
Scott Rodgers: 04:48 And as I go to reach for my glove box for the registration, the thought hits me, we'd been living in Houston for into four months. And the law there was, you had to update all of your registration information, like in 10 days. I hadn't done that yet. And so I'm reaching out and going, oh no, that's right. I hand him the stuff.
Scott Rodgers: 05:06 He looks at my driver's license says, "Is this your current address?"
Scott Rodgers: 05:10 I said, "No, it's not. I live here."
Scott Rodgers: 05:12 And then he reminds me, says, "You're supposed to do that in 10 days."
Scott Rodgers: 05:12 I was like, "Yes, yes sir. Um, yes."
Scott Rodgers: 05:12 And so he said, "Alright, hang tight."
Scott Rodgers: 05:22 He goes back to his car, and I'm sitting there and I'm just stressing out and what am I going to do? And so I was like, I want to pray and sitting there and I'm in Houston. So as I begin to pray just quietly, mostly with my inner voice. I'm praying because I'm in Houston, my best Joel Osteen prayer. Anybody here heard of Pastor Joel? Okay. I'm like, and I kind of pray in my Houston accent like, but I thought you should have the Joel accent.
Scott Rodgers: 05:55 And so a little like "God, this is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have and I can do what it says I can do. And God I thank you that I am the head and not the tail and I am above and not beneath and your favor rests on my life. And God, I pray that you would blind the mind of the officer today that they might overlook or disregard this gross infraction. And that Lord they'd let me go free knowing my heart is right with you. And I want to make a difference in this world."
Scott Rodgers: 06:43 I kind of pray that and the officer walks up to my window and hands be three tickets. I'm like man that prayer didn't work! What's going on here? So I head onto the wedding and I'm late.
Scott Rodgers: 06:56 Whenever you think of God, do you ever think of Him in that way? Like God is the enforcer of the law. Like His greatest goal in our life is to be the one who we're just cruising along and we would go by. We get close enough to God. He sees our stuff and He turns on the strobe turns around and comes up, "I'm going to pull you over and I'm going to write you up some tickets, boy." I mean, do you ever think of God like that's His agenda?
Scott Rodgers: 07:28 It gives Him great pleasure to come up to us and say, you're busted. I think when we do that, maybe we all have in different ways and to different extremes throughout our life, is when we look at God as the enforcer of the law or only the enforcer of the law, we tend to shy away and maybe even more hide from Him because I don't want to be called out. I don't want to be busted. And if you ever felt that way, just got to know you are not the only one. In fact, we're not the first ones either.
Scott Rodgers: 08:02 Look at the book of Genesis that you've already turned to you, but go over to chapter three. Okay? Turn to chapter three. You're in the ballpark. And here's, here's what we read. Genesis 3:1, my tablet here is slowing down. Genesis 3:8 - Speaking of Adam and Eve, it says, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden. So just think about this. God is a spirit, but He is present in this garden who we know as the Garden of Eden, okay? They heard the sound of him walking in the garden in the cool of the day, which really forever settles any idea that the garden of Eden was in Phoenix. It's impossible because it was in the cool of day. So anyway, it says, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Scott Rodgers: 08:51 But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" Which I think kind of humorous because of course God knows where he is and it's just the same today. God wants us to just agree that He already knows our stuff and He wants us to fess up to it.
Scott Rodgers: 09:06 He already knows. So he says to Adam, he says, "Where are you?"
Scott Rodgers: 09:11 In Verse 10 he answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid."
Scott Rodgers: 09:17 So here we have the very first man that God created is in hiding from him, exposed, and of course, if you're familiar with scripture, we know that it was sin. He disobeyed God's command and now his conscience is all jacked up and he's feeling convicted and he's shameful and he's hiding from the presence of God.
Scott Rodgers: 09:39 But Adam isn't our person of interest today for this conversation. I just thought that that would help us to kind of set a foundation because what we're going to do is look at Adam's great, great, great, great grandson. This guy named Enoch. Everybody say Enoch. So Enoch is seven generations in from Adam, and we see with Enoch, not everyone's hiding from God.
Scott Rodgers: 10:12 In fact, Enoch is doing the opposite. Turn to Genesis Chapter 5, just a couple chapters over and here's what we find. As you're turning there, we realize the Bible doesn't have much to say about this guy named Enoch, but what it does say reveals a lot about God. Because look at this in 5:21 it says, when Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. Now, just pause there for just a moment. When we read the book of Genesis Chapter Five and some other of the earlier chapters in scripture, we see that a lot of people lived a very long time. I mean it says they're living six, seven, eight, 900 years and to me I'm like c'mon that's like scientifically impossible with what I understand. And so there's different conversations and theories about this. I used to kind of think, well, that must be hyperbole, meaning it's kind of an overstatement to make a point.
Scott Rodgers: 11:14 Like we might say it this way and say, you know, Scott Rogers is a thousand years old and all we're really saying is the brother is getting old kind of a thing, right? This wasn't hyperbole. I'll just say it that way because it was specific. It was saying this person was 783 years old. This person was 800 and some odd years old and this person was 962 years old. It was very specific, which to me says it's not hyperbole and we see later in Genesis and for whatever reason how they live this long, I don't know. But later in the book of Genesis, God basically says we're going to cap this thing off at around 120 years Max , if you read later on. And so I'm like, oh, I'm over 120 so we don't know how and why exactly they lived so long, but they did.
Scott Rodgers: 12:01 So here's what it says, Enoch lived 65 years. He became the father of Methuselah. In verse 22, after he became the father of Methuselah, which by the way, can I just throw out my idea about the age thing because maybe you're stuck on it? Maybe they live so long because they were using essential oils. Just want to get that uh. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Three hundred years. In Verse 23, all together Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God and then he was no more because God took him away. What is up with that? Well, we're going to mention that in just a few minutes, but what I want to focus on right now is the whole thing that Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and then he was no more. He walked faithfully with God. What's that mean? What does it mean to walk with God? It kind of sounds appealing to me, if you asked for my opinion. Maybe the better question before we try to answer it is why would we even want to walk with God? Why?
Scott Rodgers: 13:25 Well, I want to suggest this because walking with God is being a friend of God. Walking with God is being a friend of God. Do you realize? I want to point out a few scriptures here and maybe just notate them down. They will be on the screen, but dig into them later.
Scott Rodgers: 13:44 Exodus 33:11 says that God spoke to Moses, face to face as a man speaks with a friend. And then we see in James Chapter 2 in the New Testament, let me read this to you. It says, in Verse 23, and the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. And Jesus takes it even further, this whole thing about friendship with God.
Scott Rodgers: 14:13 Here's what he says in John 15:13 in the New Testament, greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are (this is Jesus speaking), you are my friends. If you do what I command, I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know His master's business. Instead, I've called you friends for everything I've learned from my Father, I've made known to you, even the religious leaders of the day. The people who despised Jesus and everything that He was representing accused him of being a friend to everyday people like you and me.
Scott Rodgers: 14:47 Here's what Jesus says in their perspective. Luke 7:34, he says, the son of man came eating and drinking and you say, here's a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Even those who hated Jesus accused him of being a friend, and I know that the deal that maybe if it was like, hold on Scott. Okay. The whole being a friend with God, I mean that seems too casual to me. After all, God's Almighty, and it seems irreverent to be considered like yeah God's my friend.
Scott Rodgers: 15:29 I agree. He is the Almighty. He is the creator. He is holy. He is the judge of human kinds. And make no mistake, God requires our submission to his Lordship, but He also covets our friendship. He wants us to walk with him by being a friend with Him, and I would suggest to this side of Heaven that the goal of our faith is to foster this friendship with God. So how do we do this? Okay, what's walking with God mean and how do I do that? Well, let me just first kind of throw this out at you. I think we overcomplicate it. We make it much more difficult than it has to be. In fact, I'll say it this way: we add so much complexity to walking with God like we've got to be so fine-tuned with where God is, who He is, like in the moment, like stand exactly so I can be tuned into the God frequency and walk with Him. And you know, religion is the perfect science of making easy things difficult.
Scott Rodgers: 16:49 It's so much, it's not always easy, but this is more simple than we make it. So what we tend to do is like, okay, if I'm going to walk with God okay, I've got to be in church. And don't hear me wrong, churches is good. We're here, right? But I've got to be in church in order to be walking with God in the moment because that's where God. So, at the right service time, at the right location, at the right campus [unintelligible], and then the music. It's got to be just right. You know, two fast songs, one slow song and another fast song. It's got to be like new music but not to new so I don't know it, and a little old in the middle there in the tempo has to be [inaudible]. And it can't be too loud. It's gonna be just goosebumps right? I'm walking with God. And then we add to that we're like, and, and, and I got to know a lot more about God to walk with Him. So I'm going to go. I'm going to take 16 classes this month, learning more about God. Yeah take a class, but 16? And then I've got to make sure all my behavior is just right and now I can walk with God and be friends. Bologna. We over complicate this thing.
Scott Rodgers: 18:16 I want to simplify it. First step in walking with God is take this off and never wear it in public because you look like a dunce. Okay? I was talking about me, not you. Don't take it personal. Well, maybe you should. Anyway, keep going. Stop the complexity. Walking with God, fostering our friendship with Him, it isn't complex. It's simple. Okay, Scott, well, how do we do that? Okay, here's where I'm going to frustrate some of us, because I'm going to share with you what you already know. But I hope there's a bunch of us that you might say, Scott, thank you for saying that because I now realize that walking with God is a whole lot more simple than I was making it out to be and you can just relax a little bit and enjoy the journey. Here's what I want to say. And I'm not going to unpack these. Just take them and run with it. Okay? Because here's the deal, it's easier for you and for me to walk with God than it was for Enoch. Scott, you're crazy.
Scott Rodgers: 19:23 Enoch didn't have an iPhone in his face all day long and Netflix on the TV, and all the distractions that we have today. And Enoch didn't live in a world where there was so much sin and all this temptation, all this stuff. Well, he probably didn't have an iPhone. Maybe he had an Android, no iPhone, and he certainly lived in a world full of sin. Because, if you're familiar with Genesis, there was a point back then and God's like maybe I should just wipe them all out and start over because it's one big mess. So it has just continued.
Scott Rodgers: 19:50 But here's why I want to suggest it's easier for you, for me to walk with God then was for Enoch. Because for us, God has revealed himself to us in writing. He's given us the holy scriptures, and if you're a follower of Christ, if you're a Christian, God has given His spirit to dwell within you. And as far as I can tell and understand when I study my Bible, Enoch didn't have either of those yet. He walked with God faithfully for 300 years.
Scott Rodgers: 20:25 So here's some practical things that I think you and I can do to walk with God. First, I've already alluded to it. Meet with God in His word. I think we should have a very high view of scripture because as we dig into it, we realize it says of itself that it's inspired by God, that its author is God himself through human vessels. Think about it this way. God is infinite in capacity. He is infinite in power. He's infinite in presence. He is a spirit and He has chosen to give us the gift because He's so gracious of revealing himself to us what He wants to get done on this earth, in our lives, and bringing us into a relationship with Him. He's revealed that through a written form and He's given that to us as a sure foundation to stand on. It's clear. And one of the ways to meet, to walk with God is to meet with Him in His word
Scott Rodgers: 21:26 Scripture also says that it's, the word of God. It's living. It's powerful. It's active. God is speaking to you and me through His written word, and that's the foundation of walking with Him, engage in scripture. That's the first thing.
Scott Rodgers: 21:41 Here's the next thing, okay? Are you guys ready for it? Two of us are. Give God the worship He deserves. Just let worship be a lifestyle, not only at the San Tan campus, and Scottsdale, and here in Chandler or whatever church you may frequent. Not only in worshiping God through music, but let it be our whole lifestyle. Let Monday morning when we go to work be something we say, God, I'm going to work. I'm going to give this to you as the act of worship. I'm going to work as unto the Lord. My life is yours. My very breath comes from you. Everything in my life you provide God. My life is about you and your big story and how I fit in it, and my life is all worship. And then when we gather together on the weekends and we worship God through song like Scripture says, you know, Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It's just one more expression of a lifestyle of worship. One more expression. Make worship our lifestyle.
Scott Rodgers: 22:42 And then, I'm going to go deep. You guys know me where I go way deep. Talk with God in prayer. Just talk with Him, not just before we eat the bacon and eggs in the morning like God thank you for chickens. Let it be part of a rhythm of our day. Share our concerns with Him. Express gratitude and thankfulness to Him. Pray for people that you know who could really use a touch from God. Let Him know the needs that He knows already, right, but reminding Him of the need, and let the conversation with God just be part of our rhythm. Don't sequester it or silo it off into a little segment of life before we eat a meal or on the weekend at church. Let it be a part of the rhythm of our life, conversing with God.
Scott Rodgers: 23:37 And then here's the fourth one. It's just do what He says. Just do what He says. When we're meeting with Him in His word, and we're living a lifestyle of worship and talking to God, and bringing our requests before Him, expressing gratitude. When you see something in scripture that you know God wants you to do, just do it. Don't complicate it. Just go for it.
Scott Rodgers: 23:56 Well maybe you say, well Scott I don't know everything that the Bible says and I don't want to mess it up. Just walk in the light that you have. Just do the next thing God's put on your heart to do. That's walking with God. My apologies that it's not rocket science. Enoch walked with God 300 years.
Scott Rodgers: 24:20 We can walk with God every day of our life, and here's the benefit. At least here's what I think, like if I'm in your seat and I'm sitting in Scottsdale right now, I'm like, okay dude, that is so God centric walking with Him. I mean, you told me, meet with Him in his word right? I'm reading my Bible. Give Him he worship he deserves. Talk with Him in prayer. Now, I don't know about you, but the audio I hear in my prayers are mostly mine, not his. And then do what He says. God, that's pretty much centered on you. So is this relationship kind of like all about you? It's not because Jesus makes it really clear the benefit that you and I have. Like, but what's in it for me of walking with God is really clear.
Scott Rodgers: 25:11 Let me show you. It's in John Chapter 15 in the New Testament, and we were just there a minute ago and let me show you what Jesus says. He says in verse seven, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, now a lot of folks would say or call that abiding in Christ, just living in a relationship with him. I wouldn't say it's the same thing as this walking with God, walking with Christ. Jesus says, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. In verse eight He says, this is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. Do you realize that God takes great pleasure and is glorified when you bear spiritual fruit in your life, that when your, your life is the outflow of the working of God in you? God gets the glory and takes great pleasure in that whole deal.
Scott Rodgers: 26:15 Uh, the book of Galatians described some of those fruits of our spiritual walk, It says as we walk with Him, we'll have a love that's sincere and genuine and real, and it's just deeper our love for people and a love for God. That we will have a joy. In the midst of the challenges of life, we can actually experience a joy within that's solid, that stands firm. And it's just like man, it might be going crazy on the outside, but on the inside, man, I'm doing good. Another fruit would be being patient, being patient with people, patient with ourselves because we know God's at work. In the bigger picture here, I mean there's a lot of fruit described - gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. God is glorified when you and I are, are, um, this fruit is growing in our life. And it doesn't come from like gritting our teeth and going to 16 classes and reading a dozen books on prayer and going to church 42 times in one week and all this stuff and then trying to behave perfectly. It's just walking with God because He's our friend. That's it.
Scott Rodgers: 27:38 You know, as a dad, many of you guys' and I'm sure in some of my stories, you know, we have three kids, Shelly and I. We now have now Ashley who is a senior this year at GCU. Our daughter Morgan is a junior at a school in South Florida and our son Dylan is a senior at high school where we live near Sacramento. And the relationship dynamic is changing. And what's becoming really cool for me is that my desire for my kids to be friends with my kids as their dad is like red hot and it starting to happen. I mean we're kind of past the days when we're saying don't run across the street. Don't stick your finger in the socket. Pick up after yourself. Clean up. Well, we still have a senior in high school, so we're doing all that still, like pick up after yourself, boy. What do you think this is?
Scott Rodgers: 28:39 But the relationship is changing. And so what's been really cool the last couple of years is, for instance, like last summer, uh, Dylan and I, we did a road trip up to Portland and just spent a few days away and just had a great time, and it really wasn't this father son dynamic as much as it was just like buds. Two guys hanging out, having a good time. My uh, my daughter Morgan, she and I had been hiking a bit this summer in the Sierra Nevadas. She loves the outdoors and it's just awesome. And it's not as much like I'm your dad, you're my daughter. It's more like just friends hanging out together, having a great time. Our daughter Ashley, who's the senior at GCU this year, she stayed in Phoenix this summer because she's doing an internship in Scottsdale plus she wanted to enjoy the mild summer out here in the valley. But usually she would come home and what would had been a three year tradition is that I'd drive back with her to GCU in August. So we would drive down, you know, through the beautiful lush, plush Central Valley of California over through the desert. You know it's a beautiful ride, right?
Scott Rodgers: 29:47 But that was kind of our deal. And last summer we're in the drive and just hanging, friends, just friends. And I told her, I brought something up in conversation that I had actually spoke to my kids probably more times than they want to hear it in the last few years. And what it was was, um, you know, I tell them my greatest regret as a dad and I, yeah, I tell him, I said, hey guys, try to live your life so that you have fewer regrets, but we all have them. And I just told them because I just felt so bad about this. I said, my greatest regret as your dad was when we relocated a couple of times for ministry, and it's just always bothered me.
Scott Rodgers: 30:43 And Ashley and I are driving here to Phoenix and I just bring it up. It's on my mind, on my heart still after all these years.
Scott Rodgers: 30:52 And I said, "Hey, um, do you remember that big regret I told you about before about when I moved the family?"
Scott Rodgers: 30:52 And she says, "Yeah."
Scott Rodgers: 31:01 And I said, "Yeah, I'll never forget that that day." Because when I let her know she, made the high school cheer team as a freshman in high school. It was a big deal to her. What's actually kind of cool about it is that she had never cheered before. She never did the tumbling stuff until like six or eight months before. Started going to some training for tumbling and she made the cheer team in high school. So it was kind of an accomplishment, if you're familiar with all that stuff. And right before her freshman year in high school starts, I'm like, hey, um, we're going to move. It was horrible.
Scott Rodgers: 31:43 It just ripped her heart out of her chest as it did for our other kids. Like, what about my friend or my school? And at that point in time I was just kind of like, yeah, you know, but you know, this is my career and I'm serving God and dragging my family with me. It was really immature on my behalf.
Scott Rodgers: 32:02 And so we're sitting in the car and I said, "Yeah, you know, it's the biggest regret of my life is doing that to you guys. It just still aches my heart."
Scott Rodgers: 32:14 And Ashley says, "Dad, I forgive you. It's good." She said, "In fact, I'm kind of glad that we moved because we love where we are now and we've gotten to do so many different things and see so many things. And, and you know, I have a lot of friends who didn't have the struggle of a relocation a couple times and they're kind of like, you know, small world thinking. And I liked that I have a more expansive viewpoint on the world."
Scott Rodgers: 32:44 And I'm sitting in the car and I'm just like, I'm wanting to sob. I'm like, ah, don't do this right now. That would look good. You know, dad's crying. But it was like in that moment I'm like, the ball and chain just fell off like, man, I'm free of that regret. It came in a moment of friendship. When we let the guard down, walking with one another, doing life as friends, I felt safe enough to bring it up again and she just like, "It's done and we're good. Let's move on."
Scott Rodgers: 33:28 And guys, I want to tell you, when you choose to walk with God, you will have moments with Him that will rock your world. You'll have moments with God where your soul comes alive, where the shame is gone, and we have joy because man, God is real. He's my friend. Yes, He requires our submission to his Lordship, but man, He covets our friendship. Let's walk with Him.
Scott Rodgers: 34:08 Let me show you what you what Enoch did. In Hebrews 11, in the new testament it says this, you know the hall of faith, you know, Hebrews 11:5, by Faith Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him away. Well, it just is what it says. You know, all throughout the Bible there was only two people that it says this happened to, that God took them and removed them from this life without dying first, and that was Enoch and Elijah.
Scott Rodgers: 34:55 Why? I don't know. Maybe Pastor Linn will dig into that someday, but here's what I want to get to. It says this, for before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And the verse after that is one of the famous verses that without faith it's impossible to please God. Because he comes to God must believe that He exists. Enoch pleased God. Jesus hadn't gone to the cross. His sin was not paid for.
Scott Rodgers: 35:28 God had yet to reveal himself in writing, and the spirit of God was not poured out on the earth dwelling in people who surrender to Jesus. Enoch was just a guy whose heart was for God, and it says that he pleased God and it certainly wasn't because his behavior was perfect because he was a sinner just like us. He pleased God. How awesome would it be for you and for me that at some point down the road, someone looks at our life and they say, oh, [unintelligible] Scott. That dude was not perfect. He did some crazy things. He probably regretted he made a bunch of mistakes, but here's one thing I knew about Scott or Sally or Jim or any of us. Man, the dude walked with God. The dude just walked with God.
Scott Rodgers: 36:20 Let's stand up. I want to pray for us. San Tan, Scottsdale, let's just pray together. We get to walk with God as a friend, and here's what I'll say before I pray. I hope that some of us are like, what? Come on, man. God Almighty, a friend? We read it in scripture. Embrace it. It's kind of fun. Let's pray. Father God, we are so grateful that you created us, that you are holy. You are the almighty God and we with reverence and respect speak to you right now. God, we want to honor your desires and be friends with you. God we want to walk with you. Lord, I pray that you would encourage us, inspire us to either continue walking with you or to start walking with you. Lord, wherever we are in life right now, for those of us in Chandler or Scottsdale or San Tan or online, God, Christian, non-Christian, personal faith, someone who's not sure what we believe, may every single one of us walk out of here today knowing that God, our maker wants to be our friend and to walk with Him. Can we thank you for that God? May we be one who walks faithfully with you for the rest of the days of our life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.
Scott Rodgers: 01:30 It's like, wow, I didn't expect that from someone who was living in the shadows and living in the background. And that's what we're during the set of conversations during Unforgettables. So if you brought a Bible with you, this complicated, get ready, open it up to Genesis Chapter One. All right, way back in the beginning. If you're not familiar with the Bible in your paper Bible, it's all the way to the left and if it's on your phone just go up to the top and go to chapter one and that's going to get us in the ballpark and we're going to read something in just a minute. Okay?
Scott Rodgers: 02:05 So several years ago, my family and I, we lived in Houston and it was right after we had moved to Houston. We were there three or four months and I'm pastoring at a church. And on a Saturday, late morning after doing some work around the house, I'm sitting in the house, just kind of cooling off from a hot, humid summer morning in Houston.
Scott Rodgers: 02:26 And the thought hits me is like, oh my gosh, I've got a wedding to officiate. And just like now, almost some. I'm freaking out going, this is not good Pastor PR to be late for the wedding that you're officiating. And so I jump in the shower really quick, take a shower, I put on my one suit, my wedding suit, and I got my tie and all that stuff and my jacket. I grabbed my Bible, I get in my car and I head out on my 20 minute drive to get to the location and I am way behind schedule. So I'm driving down the road, I'm sitting in my car. And um, I don't know if you've ever had this, but you know, you're kind of pushing the envelope with how fast you're going. And I'm really pushing it heading to this wedding, late. A little stressed out.
Scott Rodgers: 03:12 And a police officer drives right by me going in the opposite direction. Anybody ever had that moment? Like, your heart spikes and you're like, Ooh! Oh No! And so literally from the time I looked down at my speedometer and then look up into my rear view mirror, the strobes are already on. And it was turning around coming at me. And I'm like, oh, this is going to make me even more late. No good. So I pull over into this little parking lot of a small business and uh, the officer pulls up behind me and I'm sitting in my car and I'm thinking, okay, what, what am I going to do? Like, what am I going to say? How am I going to play this out? And the thought hit me. It's like hey, I've got my tie on and you know, my suit.
Scott Rodgers: 03:57 And I grabbed my Bible that was sitting in the passenger seat and I slid it over close to the console and I'm thinking maybe he'll see my Bible and he'll know I'm a man of the cloth, cut me some slack. So I do that.
Scott Rodgers: 04:18 He walks up and he says, "Hey, uh, do you have any idea how fast you were going back there?"
Scott Rodgers: 04:21 And yeah, I just kind of played dumb. I'm like,, "Oh, was it too fast?"
Scott Rodgers: 04:21 He says, "Yeah, I clocked you at...."
Scott Rodgers: 04:28 And he clocked me like 25 miles an hour over the speed limit. I know. I was feeling like, oh.
Scott Rodgers: 04:36 And then he says, "You also realize you have a taillight out?
Scott Rodgers: 04:39 And I said, "Oh yes I do. It's on the list. I'm getting after that."
Scott Rodgers: 04:45 And then he says, "Can I have your driver's license, proof of registration, all that kind of stuff?"
Scott Rodgers: 04:48 And as I go to reach for my glove box for the registration, the thought hits me, we'd been living in Houston for into four months. And the law there was, you had to update all of your registration information, like in 10 days. I hadn't done that yet. And so I'm reaching out and going, oh no, that's right. I hand him the stuff.
Scott Rodgers: 05:06 He looks at my driver's license says, "Is this your current address?"
Scott Rodgers: 05:10 I said, "No, it's not. I live here."
Scott Rodgers: 05:12 And then he reminds me, says, "You're supposed to do that in 10 days."
Scott Rodgers: 05:12 I was like, "Yes, yes sir. Um, yes."
Scott Rodgers: 05:12 And so he said, "Alright, hang tight."
Scott Rodgers: 05:22 He goes back to his car, and I'm sitting there and I'm just stressing out and what am I going to do? And so I was like, I want to pray and sitting there and I'm in Houston. So as I begin to pray just quietly, mostly with my inner voice. I'm praying because I'm in Houston, my best Joel Osteen prayer. Anybody here heard of Pastor Joel? Okay. I'm like, and I kind of pray in my Houston accent like, but I thought you should have the Joel accent.
Scott Rodgers: 05:55 And so a little like "God, this is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have and I can do what it says I can do. And God I thank you that I am the head and not the tail and I am above and not beneath and your favor rests on my life. And God, I pray that you would blind the mind of the officer today that they might overlook or disregard this gross infraction. And that Lord they'd let me go free knowing my heart is right with you. And I want to make a difference in this world."
Scott Rodgers: 06:43 I kind of pray that and the officer walks up to my window and hands be three tickets. I'm like man that prayer didn't work! What's going on here? So I head onto the wedding and I'm late.
Scott Rodgers: 06:56 Whenever you think of God, do you ever think of Him in that way? Like God is the enforcer of the law. Like His greatest goal in our life is to be the one who we're just cruising along and we would go by. We get close enough to God. He sees our stuff and He turns on the strobe turns around and comes up, "I'm going to pull you over and I'm going to write you up some tickets, boy." I mean, do you ever think of God like that's His agenda?
Scott Rodgers: 07:28 It gives Him great pleasure to come up to us and say, you're busted. I think when we do that, maybe we all have in different ways and to different extremes throughout our life, is when we look at God as the enforcer of the law or only the enforcer of the law, we tend to shy away and maybe even more hide from Him because I don't want to be called out. I don't want to be busted. And if you ever felt that way, just got to know you are not the only one. In fact, we're not the first ones either.
Scott Rodgers: 08:02 Look at the book of Genesis that you've already turned to you, but go over to chapter three. Okay? Turn to chapter three. You're in the ballpark. And here's, here's what we read. Genesis 3:1, my tablet here is slowing down. Genesis 3:8 - Speaking of Adam and Eve, it says, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden. So just think about this. God is a spirit, but He is present in this garden who we know as the Garden of Eden, okay? They heard the sound of him walking in the garden in the cool of the day, which really forever settles any idea that the garden of Eden was in Phoenix. It's impossible because it was in the cool of day. So anyway, it says, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Scott Rodgers: 08:51 But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" Which I think kind of humorous because of course God knows where he is and it's just the same today. God wants us to just agree that He already knows our stuff and He wants us to fess up to it.
Scott Rodgers: 09:06 He already knows. So he says to Adam, he says, "Where are you?"
Scott Rodgers: 09:11 In Verse 10 he answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid."
Scott Rodgers: 09:17 So here we have the very first man that God created is in hiding from him, exposed, and of course, if you're familiar with scripture, we know that it was sin. He disobeyed God's command and now his conscience is all jacked up and he's feeling convicted and he's shameful and he's hiding from the presence of God.
Scott Rodgers: 09:39 But Adam isn't our person of interest today for this conversation. I just thought that that would help us to kind of set a foundation because what we're going to do is look at Adam's great, great, great, great grandson. This guy named Enoch. Everybody say Enoch. So Enoch is seven generations in from Adam, and we see with Enoch, not everyone's hiding from God.
Scott Rodgers: 10:12 In fact, Enoch is doing the opposite. Turn to Genesis Chapter 5, just a couple chapters over and here's what we find. As you're turning there, we realize the Bible doesn't have much to say about this guy named Enoch, but what it does say reveals a lot about God. Because look at this in 5:21 it says, when Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. Now, just pause there for just a moment. When we read the book of Genesis Chapter Five and some other of the earlier chapters in scripture, we see that a lot of people lived a very long time. I mean it says they're living six, seven, eight, 900 years and to me I'm like c'mon that's like scientifically impossible with what I understand. And so there's different conversations and theories about this. I used to kind of think, well, that must be hyperbole, meaning it's kind of an overstatement to make a point.
Scott Rodgers: 11:14 Like we might say it this way and say, you know, Scott Rogers is a thousand years old and all we're really saying is the brother is getting old kind of a thing, right? This wasn't hyperbole. I'll just say it that way because it was specific. It was saying this person was 783 years old. This person was 800 and some odd years old and this person was 962 years old. It was very specific, which to me says it's not hyperbole and we see later in Genesis and for whatever reason how they live this long, I don't know. But later in the book of Genesis, God basically says we're going to cap this thing off at around 120 years Max , if you read later on. And so I'm like, oh, I'm over 120 so we don't know how and why exactly they lived so long, but they did.
Scott Rodgers: 12:01 So here's what it says, Enoch lived 65 years. He became the father of Methuselah. In verse 22, after he became the father of Methuselah, which by the way, can I just throw out my idea about the age thing because maybe you're stuck on it? Maybe they live so long because they were using essential oils. Just want to get that uh. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Three hundred years. In Verse 23, all together Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God and then he was no more because God took him away. What is up with that? Well, we're going to mention that in just a few minutes, but what I want to focus on right now is the whole thing that Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and then he was no more. He walked faithfully with God. What's that mean? What does it mean to walk with God? It kind of sounds appealing to me, if you asked for my opinion. Maybe the better question before we try to answer it is why would we even want to walk with God? Why?
Scott Rodgers: 13:25 Well, I want to suggest this because walking with God is being a friend of God. Walking with God is being a friend of God. Do you realize? I want to point out a few scriptures here and maybe just notate them down. They will be on the screen, but dig into them later.
Scott Rodgers: 13:44 Exodus 33:11 says that God spoke to Moses, face to face as a man speaks with a friend. And then we see in James Chapter 2 in the New Testament, let me read this to you. It says, in Verse 23, and the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. And Jesus takes it even further, this whole thing about friendship with God.
Scott Rodgers: 14:13 Here's what he says in John 15:13 in the New Testament, greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are (this is Jesus speaking), you are my friends. If you do what I command, I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know His master's business. Instead, I've called you friends for everything I've learned from my Father, I've made known to you, even the religious leaders of the day. The people who despised Jesus and everything that He was representing accused him of being a friend to everyday people like you and me.
Scott Rodgers: 14:47 Here's what Jesus says in their perspective. Luke 7:34, he says, the son of man came eating and drinking and you say, here's a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Even those who hated Jesus accused him of being a friend, and I know that the deal that maybe if it was like, hold on Scott. Okay. The whole being a friend with God, I mean that seems too casual to me. After all, God's Almighty, and it seems irreverent to be considered like yeah God's my friend.
Scott Rodgers: 15:29 I agree. He is the Almighty. He is the creator. He is holy. He is the judge of human kinds. And make no mistake, God requires our submission to his Lordship, but He also covets our friendship. He wants us to walk with him by being a friend with Him, and I would suggest to this side of Heaven that the goal of our faith is to foster this friendship with God. So how do we do this? Okay, what's walking with God mean and how do I do that? Well, let me just first kind of throw this out at you. I think we overcomplicate it. We make it much more difficult than it has to be. In fact, I'll say it this way: we add so much complexity to walking with God like we've got to be so fine-tuned with where God is, who He is, like in the moment, like stand exactly so I can be tuned into the God frequency and walk with Him. And you know, religion is the perfect science of making easy things difficult.
Scott Rodgers: 16:49 It's so much, it's not always easy, but this is more simple than we make it. So what we tend to do is like, okay, if I'm going to walk with God okay, I've got to be in church. And don't hear me wrong, churches is good. We're here, right? But I've got to be in church in order to be walking with God in the moment because that's where God. So, at the right service time, at the right location, at the right campus [unintelligible], and then the music. It's got to be just right. You know, two fast songs, one slow song and another fast song. It's got to be like new music but not to new so I don't know it, and a little old in the middle there in the tempo has to be [inaudible]. And it can't be too loud. It's gonna be just goosebumps right? I'm walking with God. And then we add to that we're like, and, and, and I got to know a lot more about God to walk with Him. So I'm going to go. I'm going to take 16 classes this month, learning more about God. Yeah take a class, but 16? And then I've got to make sure all my behavior is just right and now I can walk with God and be friends. Bologna. We over complicate this thing.
Scott Rodgers: 18:16 I want to simplify it. First step in walking with God is take this off and never wear it in public because you look like a dunce. Okay? I was talking about me, not you. Don't take it personal. Well, maybe you should. Anyway, keep going. Stop the complexity. Walking with God, fostering our friendship with Him, it isn't complex. It's simple. Okay, Scott, well, how do we do that? Okay, here's where I'm going to frustrate some of us, because I'm going to share with you what you already know. But I hope there's a bunch of us that you might say, Scott, thank you for saying that because I now realize that walking with God is a whole lot more simple than I was making it out to be and you can just relax a little bit and enjoy the journey. Here's what I want to say. And I'm not going to unpack these. Just take them and run with it. Okay? Because here's the deal, it's easier for you and for me to walk with God than it was for Enoch. Scott, you're crazy.
Scott Rodgers: 19:23 Enoch didn't have an iPhone in his face all day long and Netflix on the TV, and all the distractions that we have today. And Enoch didn't live in a world where there was so much sin and all this temptation, all this stuff. Well, he probably didn't have an iPhone. Maybe he had an Android, no iPhone, and he certainly lived in a world full of sin. Because, if you're familiar with Genesis, there was a point back then and God's like maybe I should just wipe them all out and start over because it's one big mess. So it has just continued.
Scott Rodgers: 19:50 But here's why I want to suggest it's easier for you, for me to walk with God then was for Enoch. Because for us, God has revealed himself to us in writing. He's given us the holy scriptures, and if you're a follower of Christ, if you're a Christian, God has given His spirit to dwell within you. And as far as I can tell and understand when I study my Bible, Enoch didn't have either of those yet. He walked with God faithfully for 300 years.
Scott Rodgers: 20:25 So here's some practical things that I think you and I can do to walk with God. First, I've already alluded to it. Meet with God in His word. I think we should have a very high view of scripture because as we dig into it, we realize it says of itself that it's inspired by God, that its author is God himself through human vessels. Think about it this way. God is infinite in capacity. He is infinite in power. He's infinite in presence. He is a spirit and He has chosen to give us the gift because He's so gracious of revealing himself to us what He wants to get done on this earth, in our lives, and bringing us into a relationship with Him. He's revealed that through a written form and He's given that to us as a sure foundation to stand on. It's clear. And one of the ways to meet, to walk with God is to meet with Him in His word
Scott Rodgers: 21:26 Scripture also says that it's, the word of God. It's living. It's powerful. It's active. God is speaking to you and me through His written word, and that's the foundation of walking with Him, engage in scripture. That's the first thing.
Scott Rodgers: 21:41 Here's the next thing, okay? Are you guys ready for it? Two of us are. Give God the worship He deserves. Just let worship be a lifestyle, not only at the San Tan campus, and Scottsdale, and here in Chandler or whatever church you may frequent. Not only in worshiping God through music, but let it be our whole lifestyle. Let Monday morning when we go to work be something we say, God, I'm going to work. I'm going to give this to you as the act of worship. I'm going to work as unto the Lord. My life is yours. My very breath comes from you. Everything in my life you provide God. My life is about you and your big story and how I fit in it, and my life is all worship. And then when we gather together on the weekends and we worship God through song like Scripture says, you know, Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It's just one more expression of a lifestyle of worship. One more expression. Make worship our lifestyle.
Scott Rodgers: 22:42 And then, I'm going to go deep. You guys know me where I go way deep. Talk with God in prayer. Just talk with Him, not just before we eat the bacon and eggs in the morning like God thank you for chickens. Let it be part of a rhythm of our day. Share our concerns with Him. Express gratitude and thankfulness to Him. Pray for people that you know who could really use a touch from God. Let Him know the needs that He knows already, right, but reminding Him of the need, and let the conversation with God just be part of our rhythm. Don't sequester it or silo it off into a little segment of life before we eat a meal or on the weekend at church. Let it be a part of the rhythm of our life, conversing with God.
Scott Rodgers: 23:37 And then here's the fourth one. It's just do what He says. Just do what He says. When we're meeting with Him in His word, and we're living a lifestyle of worship and talking to God, and bringing our requests before Him, expressing gratitude. When you see something in scripture that you know God wants you to do, just do it. Don't complicate it. Just go for it.
Scott Rodgers: 23:56 Well maybe you say, well Scott I don't know everything that the Bible says and I don't want to mess it up. Just walk in the light that you have. Just do the next thing God's put on your heart to do. That's walking with God. My apologies that it's not rocket science. Enoch walked with God 300 years.
Scott Rodgers: 24:20 We can walk with God every day of our life, and here's the benefit. At least here's what I think, like if I'm in your seat and I'm sitting in Scottsdale right now, I'm like, okay dude, that is so God centric walking with Him. I mean, you told me, meet with Him in his word right? I'm reading my Bible. Give Him he worship he deserves. Talk with Him in prayer. Now, I don't know about you, but the audio I hear in my prayers are mostly mine, not his. And then do what He says. God, that's pretty much centered on you. So is this relationship kind of like all about you? It's not because Jesus makes it really clear the benefit that you and I have. Like, but what's in it for me of walking with God is really clear.
Scott Rodgers: 25:11 Let me show you. It's in John Chapter 15 in the New Testament, and we were just there a minute ago and let me show you what Jesus says. He says in verse seven, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, now a lot of folks would say or call that abiding in Christ, just living in a relationship with him. I wouldn't say it's the same thing as this walking with God, walking with Christ. Jesus says, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. In verse eight He says, this is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. Do you realize that God takes great pleasure and is glorified when you bear spiritual fruit in your life, that when your, your life is the outflow of the working of God in you? God gets the glory and takes great pleasure in that whole deal.
Scott Rodgers: 26:15 Uh, the book of Galatians described some of those fruits of our spiritual walk, It says as we walk with Him, we'll have a love that's sincere and genuine and real, and it's just deeper our love for people and a love for God. That we will have a joy. In the midst of the challenges of life, we can actually experience a joy within that's solid, that stands firm. And it's just like man, it might be going crazy on the outside, but on the inside, man, I'm doing good. Another fruit would be being patient, being patient with people, patient with ourselves because we know God's at work. In the bigger picture here, I mean there's a lot of fruit described - gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. God is glorified when you and I are, are, um, this fruit is growing in our life. And it doesn't come from like gritting our teeth and going to 16 classes and reading a dozen books on prayer and going to church 42 times in one week and all this stuff and then trying to behave perfectly. It's just walking with God because He's our friend. That's it.
Scott Rodgers: 27:38 You know, as a dad, many of you guys' and I'm sure in some of my stories, you know, we have three kids, Shelly and I. We now have now Ashley who is a senior this year at GCU. Our daughter Morgan is a junior at a school in South Florida and our son Dylan is a senior at high school where we live near Sacramento. And the relationship dynamic is changing. And what's becoming really cool for me is that my desire for my kids to be friends with my kids as their dad is like red hot and it starting to happen. I mean we're kind of past the days when we're saying don't run across the street. Don't stick your finger in the socket. Pick up after yourself. Clean up. Well, we still have a senior in high school, so we're doing all that still, like pick up after yourself, boy. What do you think this is?
Scott Rodgers: 28:39 But the relationship is changing. And so what's been really cool the last couple of years is, for instance, like last summer, uh, Dylan and I, we did a road trip up to Portland and just spent a few days away and just had a great time, and it really wasn't this father son dynamic as much as it was just like buds. Two guys hanging out, having a good time. My uh, my daughter Morgan, she and I had been hiking a bit this summer in the Sierra Nevadas. She loves the outdoors and it's just awesome. And it's not as much like I'm your dad, you're my daughter. It's more like just friends hanging out together, having a great time. Our daughter Ashley, who's the senior at GCU this year, she stayed in Phoenix this summer because she's doing an internship in Scottsdale plus she wanted to enjoy the mild summer out here in the valley. But usually she would come home and what would had been a three year tradition is that I'd drive back with her to GCU in August. So we would drive down, you know, through the beautiful lush, plush Central Valley of California over through the desert. You know it's a beautiful ride, right?
Scott Rodgers: 29:47 But that was kind of our deal. And last summer we're in the drive and just hanging, friends, just friends. And I told her, I brought something up in conversation that I had actually spoke to my kids probably more times than they want to hear it in the last few years. And what it was was, um, you know, I tell them my greatest regret as a dad and I, yeah, I tell him, I said, hey guys, try to live your life so that you have fewer regrets, but we all have them. And I just told them because I just felt so bad about this. I said, my greatest regret as your dad was when we relocated a couple of times for ministry, and it's just always bothered me.
Scott Rodgers: 30:43 And Ashley and I are driving here to Phoenix and I just bring it up. It's on my mind, on my heart still after all these years.
Scott Rodgers: 30:52 And I said, "Hey, um, do you remember that big regret I told you about before about when I moved the family?"
Scott Rodgers: 30:52 And she says, "Yeah."
Scott Rodgers: 31:01 And I said, "Yeah, I'll never forget that that day." Because when I let her know she, made the high school cheer team as a freshman in high school. It was a big deal to her. What's actually kind of cool about it is that she had never cheered before. She never did the tumbling stuff until like six or eight months before. Started going to some training for tumbling and she made the cheer team in high school. So it was kind of an accomplishment, if you're familiar with all that stuff. And right before her freshman year in high school starts, I'm like, hey, um, we're going to move. It was horrible.
Scott Rodgers: 31:43 It just ripped her heart out of her chest as it did for our other kids. Like, what about my friend or my school? And at that point in time I was just kind of like, yeah, you know, but you know, this is my career and I'm serving God and dragging my family with me. It was really immature on my behalf.
Scott Rodgers: 32:02 And so we're sitting in the car and I said, "Yeah, you know, it's the biggest regret of my life is doing that to you guys. It just still aches my heart."
Scott Rodgers: 32:14 And Ashley says, "Dad, I forgive you. It's good." She said, "In fact, I'm kind of glad that we moved because we love where we are now and we've gotten to do so many different things and see so many things. And, and you know, I have a lot of friends who didn't have the struggle of a relocation a couple times and they're kind of like, you know, small world thinking. And I liked that I have a more expansive viewpoint on the world."
Scott Rodgers: 32:44 And I'm sitting in the car and I'm just like, I'm wanting to sob. I'm like, ah, don't do this right now. That would look good. You know, dad's crying. But it was like in that moment I'm like, the ball and chain just fell off like, man, I'm free of that regret. It came in a moment of friendship. When we let the guard down, walking with one another, doing life as friends, I felt safe enough to bring it up again and she just like, "It's done and we're good. Let's move on."
Scott Rodgers: 33:28 And guys, I want to tell you, when you choose to walk with God, you will have moments with Him that will rock your world. You'll have moments with God where your soul comes alive, where the shame is gone, and we have joy because man, God is real. He's my friend. Yes, He requires our submission to his Lordship, but man, He covets our friendship. Let's walk with Him.
Scott Rodgers: 34:08 Let me show you what you what Enoch did. In Hebrews 11, in the new testament it says this, you know the hall of faith, you know, Hebrews 11:5, by Faith Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him away. Well, it just is what it says. You know, all throughout the Bible there was only two people that it says this happened to, that God took them and removed them from this life without dying first, and that was Enoch and Elijah.
Scott Rodgers: 34:55 Why? I don't know. Maybe Pastor Linn will dig into that someday, but here's what I want to get to. It says this, for before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And the verse after that is one of the famous verses that without faith it's impossible to please God. Because he comes to God must believe that He exists. Enoch pleased God. Jesus hadn't gone to the cross. His sin was not paid for.
Scott Rodgers: 35:28 God had yet to reveal himself in writing, and the spirit of God was not poured out on the earth dwelling in people who surrender to Jesus. Enoch was just a guy whose heart was for God, and it says that he pleased God and it certainly wasn't because his behavior was perfect because he was a sinner just like us. He pleased God. How awesome would it be for you and for me that at some point down the road, someone looks at our life and they say, oh, [unintelligible] Scott. That dude was not perfect. He did some crazy things. He probably regretted he made a bunch of mistakes, but here's one thing I knew about Scott or Sally or Jim or any of us. Man, the dude walked with God. The dude just walked with God.
Scott Rodgers: 36:20 Let's stand up. I want to pray for us. San Tan, Scottsdale, let's just pray together. We get to walk with God as a friend, and here's what I'll say before I pray. I hope that some of us are like, what? Come on, man. God Almighty, a friend? We read it in scripture. Embrace it. It's kind of fun. Let's pray. Father God, we are so grateful that you created us, that you are holy. You are the almighty God and we with reverence and respect speak to you right now. God, we want to honor your desires and be friends with you. God we want to walk with you. Lord, I pray that you would encourage us, inspire us to either continue walking with you or to start walking with you. Lord, wherever we are in life right now, for those of us in Chandler or Scottsdale or San Tan or online, God, Christian, non-Christian, personal faith, someone who's not sure what we believe, may every single one of us walk out of here today knowing that God, our maker wants to be our friend and to walk with Him. Can we thank you for that God? May we be one who walks faithfully with you for the rest of the days of our life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.
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