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Amazing Facts

Doug Batchelor

Walking in Integrity

This presentation is brought to you by the Friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.

Enoch walked with God during a time when there was great wickedness in the world.

So you can't say, Lord, I'd walk with you, but in this culture we're in today, God needs men who are going to walk with Him no matter what's happening around them, that they're going to stand for the right, though the heavens fall.

Thank you for joining us here at Granite Bay as well as our friends who are watching on television and the internet.

This is a second part in a 4 part series.

We have 3 parts and 1 session of questions and answers dealing with mighty men of God.

And our message today is talking about walking with integrity.

You know the Bible tells us about someone who walked to God about as close as you can.

In the book of Genesis you read about Enoch.

Genesis 5.21, Enoch lived 65 years and he began Methuselah.

And Enoch walked with God after he began Methuselah.

And some people think that after he had a son and he understood how much God must love us and that he was going to send his son, that it did something to his relationship and he was especially close to God after he found out about his love for his children, he realized how much God, our Father loves His children, and he walked with God.

That's 1 day for every...one year for every day.

And it says, he walked with God and he was not, for God took him.

And the Bible says that he had this testimony that he pleased God.

He was the first 1 who was what you would say translated.

Now, through his example of walking with God, we can learn something.

First of all, we want to do what Enoch did because Enoch is where we want to be.

You know, if I ask you who's the oldest man that ever lived, what would you say?

Methuselah is the oldest man who ever died.

The oldest man who ever lived is Methuselah's father Enoch because he's still alive.

And walking with God doesn't just mean that you occasionally think about God, you come to church once a week, it means having a life, a walk of integrity, a walk of honesty.

It's interesting that he walked with God during the time when there was great wickedness in the world.

Just read what it says about his grandson Noah.

During the time of Enoch it says that the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil continually and violence was in the land.

We live with a lot of violence in the world today.

A lot of bloodshed, a lot of dishonesty, a lot of corruption.

So you can't say, Lord I'd walk with you, but in this culture we're in today, God needs men who are going to walk with Him no matter what's happening around them, that they're going to stand for the right though the heavens fall.

Now we're in Genesis 6 verse 9, next chapter.

If Noah could walk with his God just before the end of the world, you know Noah lived through the end of the world back then, we can walk with God before the end of the world now.

He saw from the example of his grandfather Methuselah and his father, because Methuselah died just before the flood, and his great-grandfather Enoch, what it meant to walk with God.

Now, I'm glad I can tell you that there were good examples, like Enoch.

And then Noah modeled his great grandfather's example and he walked with God.

But you know, even some of the men of God failed in areas of integrity.

When you think about the great patriarchs, what are their names?

Abraham, good man, loved the Lord, kept the commandments.

You can read in Genesis 20 verse 2, Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she's my sister.

He went down to Egypt during the time of a famine and Sarah was very good looking.

And she may have, you know, had a unique sparkle because Abraham had come from another country and there were the women in Egypt were a little more swarthy in their appearance.

It's like I remember when Karen and I and the boys went to Tiananmen Square and I figured we'd see a lot of European tourists there in this big famous Chinese square.

I was amazed at how many Chinese tourists went there.

And Nathan and Stephen were walking around and everywhere they walked they were turning heads.

Because you know when they were younger, they both had blue hair and blonde eyes and they just stood out.

But everybody was turning, it was such a spectacle.

And Sarah was very attractive, even though she was older at this point, she still stood out.

And Abraham thought, oh boy, now I'm going to go down to Egypt, gotta go, we're out of food, They got food there, but, you know, I don't know about the ethics of the people down there, and they're going to look at Sarah, and you know, it was pretty barbaric.

They didn't have police force and laws, and it's sort of like every man had his own security team.

And he thought, they're going to kill me and take my wife, so just to play it safe, she is actually my half-sister.

I'll leave out the wife part and I'll just say, yeah, she's my sister.

Well, you know, that didn't go very well because Pharaoh thought, oh good, she's your sister, I'll take her over to my harem.

And then word about that ended up getting to his son Isaac.

There's another famine and Isaac has to go dwell in the land of the Philistines because that's the only place there is bread and he's married to his cousin now, Rebecca, who is also beautiful from the same country as Sarah.

And the men of the place asked about his wife, Isaac, said, oh she's my sister.

And again later he was discovered and he was rebuked by the pagans.

So where do you think Isaac learned that?

You know the Bible says unto the third and fourth generation our example of integrity or our lack of integrity will be reproduced in the lives of those around us.

Our lives of integrity or our lack of integrity.

Now I expect to see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in heaven.

Jacob, you go in and you pretend to be Esau.

And you put on Esau's clothes and say that you're Esau and you'll get the blessing of Esau.

First he says, well, she's actually my sister.

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Walking in Integrity

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