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Episode 9 | Walk Upright
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Join us for our next episode of Grace Talk with Elder Domonic Ray. This episode will discuss Walking Upright, how do you walk?
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Transcript
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Hello, everyone.
Introducing Grace Talk Podcast
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Welcome to Grace Talk, a podcast developed by Grace Temple Church Louisville to share godly devotionals and interviews to help save the lost and encouraged to save. Let's go down to our presenter and listen with an open heart and an open mind.
Episode Nine: Encouragement for Uprightness
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Hello and welcome to Grace Talk, a podcast by Grace Temple Church Louisville. My name is Elder Dominic Ray, and we are so excited that you chose to join us for
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episode number nine. We want to take the time to encourage you today to walk upright.
Understanding 'Walking Upright': A Biblical Metaphor
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How do you walk? If you are enjoying these podcasts, please remember to follow Grace Temple Church on all of our social media, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. You can also listen to our podcasts, Grace Talk,
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on all of the platforms, Spotify, Apple, Zincaster, Google. So we want to put that in your remembrance. Again, we want to encourage you today, walk upright. How do you walk? Have you ever been in your local store, maybe the Walmart, maybe the mall and you're stopped
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by an individual that you know, are you running to someone that you haven't seen in a while and they say, hey, I saw you from afar and I knew it was you by the way you were walking. You have a walk that stands out. It's distinct.
Lessons from Hosea: Repentance and Return
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The Bible uses the metaphor of walking throughout all scripture. The meaning of walking is more than just posture.
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It also means doing the right thing and going in the right direction. Israel in the book of Hosea had wandered off of the path of doing right. They had stumbled, they fell and got lost. And Hosea reminds us in the 14th chapter that God brought them back from falling. They were to repent.
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turn back to God and to walk in righteousness or walk upright, unless they stumble again. And we can learn lessons from that story in Hosea. We can learn several lessons on walking upright before God and the benefits and the rewards of walking upright, because it's the Bible that many times uses the terms
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walk, walking, walked in the Bible to speak to physical acts of walking. You know, simply put one foot in front of the other and moving ourselves from one place to the other. For instance, you remember in Genesis that God spoke to Abraham and told him to arise and walk in the land.
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in its length and in its width, talking about putting one foot in front of the other. In John, we read where Jesus walked in Galilee for he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him.
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Simply physical movement putting one foot in front of the other and we can relate to this putting one foot in front of the other because naturally we learn to walk as we grow from infants to toddlers and it's something that we continue to do throughout our lives walking the Bible also describes walking though in
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The manner of life are our characteristic habitual conduct. For instance, in the 84th Division of Psalm, they're speaking of those who walk uprightly. The psalmist isn't speaking about posture here. The psalmist is speaking of
Divine Guidance vs. Self-Reliance
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character. We are told in the Bible many times that
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You should walk upright those that walk upright before him and it's speaking to the character of The person and not the posture the one foot in front of the other But how do you walk? Who taught you to? walk well Jeremiah tells us that even though man attempts to instruct himself to
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He doesn't have the knowledge to instruct himself in the path that he should go. But our steps should be ordered by the Lord. We should be instructed by the Lord. We need instruction from God. His instruction teaches us how to walk and how to conduct our lives.
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I'm so glad that we have several examples in scripture about walking with God. You remember the patriarchs, some of the patriarchs, they had that testimony that they walked with God. For instance, it was Enoch who walked with God. So did Noah walked with God. And this walking with God suggests they had fellowship with God.
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closeness to him. I want to encourage you
Walking with God: Examples from Enoch and Noah
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today. This isn't something that only Enoch, and Noah, and the patriarchs could do, but we can do that also. We can walk with God also.
Walking in the Light: Fellowship and Truth
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For it was 1st John 1, 5 through 7 that picked it up and says this, this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
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and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. If we are ever going to walk in closeness with God, we must walk in a manner
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that God instructs us. That manner is upright, uprightly distinct, not in the way of the evil path. Our walk must be different. Our walk has to be distinct and different from the walk of the world. The life of the world and our life shouldn't be comparable.
God's Nature and Reconciliation through Christ
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It's a different type of walk. I want to encourage you
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that we can learn to walk upright before the Lord through the word of God. The word of God teaches us how to walk uprightly. Through God's word, we read that not only how to walk uprightly, but that we have a model of uprightness. God himself, in Deuteronomy 32 for Isaiah 26 and seven, we read that God is upright.
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and we are told in scripture that he has pleasure in uprightness. We see that not only
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is God upright, but God created us in uprightness. In Ecclesiastes 7.29, we learned that God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many inventions or schemes. And because of this, and because of man's crooked schemes, man has become far from the creator's purpose, but God,
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That's a good place for you to say, but God, but God has not given up on man. God has not given up on mankind. For we read throughout scripture that God desires relationship with his creature. Uh, and we find that God has given us a way to be reconciled back to himself.
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It was second Corinthians 5 18 that says, and all things are of God who had to reconcile us to himself by Jesus Christ. Oh man. I know it's a podcast and I know some of you may be watching on YouTube, but right there, somebody should think.
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God for Jesus Christ. Oh, I thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. What Jesus, what a model of uprightness we have in the example of Jesus Christ.
Characteristics of the Upright: Fear and Integrity
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Not only is Jesus an example for a brightness, but because of Jesus being in our lives, we should be marked as upright.
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We should have marks of an upright person. Uh, marks of an upright person are, uh, this are not all of them, but some of them godly fear. You should have a godly fear. He who walks in uprightness fears, the Lord proverbs 14 and two, uh, this definition of fear, uh, is a deep respect reverence there in all of God. I want you to be encouraged.
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be encouraged to have a great respect for God and for his commandments. Another mark of an upright person is that the upright, they are secure in their walk. They're confident. They know the life that they are living is a life that is pleasing to the Lord. So they're confident about their walk. Not only is that a mark, but the upright are guided by integrity. They are
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honorable and honest people. Proverbs 11 and 3. They avoid crooked paths. That's another mark of an upright person. The upright person has understanding and they walk in the way of God's wisdom.
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That's Proverbs 15, 21. And also another mark of the upright person is that the upright prays God. You know, the scripture tells us it's calmly, praises calmly for the upright. It's fitting, it's beautiful for the upright to praise God. That's the 33rd division of Psalm. And because of these and many more things, the upright person is approved of God
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and becomes a blessing to other people. The upright person blesses other people. Proverbs 11 and 11. But not only all of that, but also the upright is an abomination.
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The upright is an abomination. One thing for sure about the upright person is that they will always be an abomination to the evil workers. Proverbs 29, 27 tells us that the upright shame the world and the world disgraces those that walk upright.
Rewards for the Upright: Divine Closeness and Salvation
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But we can find encouragement
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in walking upright because there are godly rewards to walking upright and there are several rewards that scripture tell us about and that i mentioned in scripture you know being close to god that god delights in the upright that he watches over the upright that the prayer of the upright
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pleases God, that God defends them and saves them, that when everything around us seems grossly dark, there is light for the upright.
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that we are kept because of our walk in uprightness, that we find strength in God's way, and in the end we're saved, that the generation of the upright are blessed, wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. The Bible assures us many times over
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that God will not withhold any good thing from those who walk upright before him. The upright shall enter into peace and they shall possess the
The Ultimate Promise: Dwelling with God
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land. And with all these wonderful and great promises to the upright, the greatest one, the greatest hope and joy that the upright will have is that the upright will be with the Lord forever.
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Yes, the upright will dwell with God forever. Yes. Yes. Dwell with God forever. They, the, and will delight themselves in him. Uh, that's the 37th division of Psalm verses 18. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever. I leave you with Proverbs two.
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21 and it reads this way for the upright shall dwell in the land and Shall remain in it The upright shall dwell in the land and shall remain in it. So be encouraged today Walk upright before the Lord. Let that be your distinction To the world that I'm walking upright. I'm walking in the instructions of
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and in the commandments of God's word. God bless you. Thank you for your time today.
Closing and Contact Information
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If you are enjoying these podcasts and would like to send us comments or have questions, please send those to our email, uh, grace talk at effective grace.org. And we will reply either by email or on a separate podcast. Again, we thank you for joining grace talk. We thank you for your time.
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Grace Talk, a podcast by Grace Temple Church Louisville, Kentucky, and Grace Temple, where effective grace is changing lives. Grace and peace. This concludes our segment. We pray in the hope that what you just heard blesses and encourages you. Please join us next time on Grace Talk. Until then, God speed.