Walking Like Jesus in Your Everyday Life

Faith without works is dead. You need to exercise your faith. Love activates your faith. But today, we're going deeper. We're talking about godliness: the quality that makes people look at your life and see God reflected in your actions.

Let me break down this word for you. God-likeness. God. Like. Ness. It's not just believing in God. It's becoming like Him in how you walk, talk, and respond to life.

Remember those WWJD bracelets? "What Would Jesus Do?" That's the essence of godliness. As believers, we have to walk things out in God-likeness. When they cut you off in traffic, His grace is sufficient. When they cuss you out, count it all joy. When they lie on you, this too shall pass.

Godliness is God-likeness in action.

Trust God With Total Obedience

Psalm 37:3 says, "Trust, rely on, and have confidence in the Lord and do good."

Trusting God means total obedience without total understanding. Let me help you understand this. This is what we tell our kids to do. They say "why?" and we say "do what I say."

I used to play catch with my babies when they were younger. You throw them in the air, catch them, throw them in the air, catch them. But then they get to a certain weight where you realize you can't catch them anymore and they realize they cannot be caught anymore. Their faith in you catching them changes at a certain point.

But there was a time where they had total confidence that daddy and mommy would not drop them.

That's trust: reliability, consistency, confidence.

Then it says "do good." Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

We were created to do good.

A couple weeks ago, my son Josiah wanted to stop by Hole in One (a donut shop that I'm convinced puts crack in their croissants). I asked him what he was doing. He said, "Dad, I want to buy my class breakfast."

I said, "Time out. You ain't rolling like that. You don't have a job. What you mean you're buying everybody breakfast?"

He said, "Well, Dad, some of the kids don't eat, and I want to be a blessing."

I always ask him questions because I want him to think. I said, "Josiah, why are you buying all this?"

He said, "Dad, I want to be a blessing."

I said, "Who's going to pay for it?"

He said, "Oh, I got it."

I know exactly where he got that from. Been milking that cow for a long time.

But here's what matters: What will he be known for? Doing good.

So the question you must ask yourself: Do I help or do I hurt? When a person talks about you, are you more help or more hurt? When a person encounters you, do they feel better or worse?

That's your fruit. That is how they will know you.

Delight Yourself in the Lord

Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires and the petitions of your heart."

Highlight this. Circle this. Memorize this. Bubble this. Confess this every day. This is a life scripture.

When I delight myself in Him, there's no mountain high enough, no valley low enough, no situation big enough.

Back in the day, I would frequent clubs. I see how y'all self-righteous people just decided to judge me. I can't believe he was in the club. I was with you. Don't play them games with me. You were right there with me.

When I would go with certain people that had higher status, I would pay for nothing because everything was covered. Why? Because I was with the right person.

When you understand who you're rolling with, when you understand that the disciples had to bring nothing with them: just go with Him. They got to church and needed money. Jesus said, "Go down to the fishing rod, pull up the first fish. In the fish will be gold. Enough gold to cover all this."

When they ran out of food, He said, "Bring me two fish, five loaves. Let me do what I do."

When you're walking with God, there is no issue that He is surprised by, and He'll supply all your needs.

So when you delight yourself in Him, there is no issue. You know how many flights I should have missed? The last one, the lady called me and said, "I've never done this before, but something told me to call you. Where are you, sir?"

I said, "I'm on I-275."

She said, "How are you going to get here?"

I said, "Listen, we're on two wheels right now."

I get there and they held a plane for me. She said, "I've never done this before. Who are you?"

I said, "Listen, I got the hookup."

When you are walking with God, He can move His hand and change situations. People may say no to you, but God will say yes to you.

Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first and most importantly His kingdom, His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

That's the house, the car, all the stuff you think is important. He'll give it to you. It's nothing to Him. He just wants to make sure that you have Him as a priority.

God has no problem with you having stuff. Here's the problem: Stuff has you.

Commit Your Way to the Lord

After I delight in Him, Psalm 37:5 says, "Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him also and He will do it."

The word commitment means sincere fixity of purpose: binding oneself intellectually and emotionally to a course of action. You're locked in.

Some people are involved but not committed.

Right now we're in this new building project. Good idea. But if I just said we're going to build it and I don't commit the plan to the permitting office, they're going to shut it down.

So what is God saying? I give you an idea. I give you a concept. He says commit it to Me. Present your plan to Me so I can seal it and it's done.

You know what we do? We call God on the way. "Hey God, I got a plan." You didn't commit it to God. You already had your plan. You already down the street picking Jesus up. "Hey Jesus, we riding."

"Where we going?"

"I'm taking you down the street."

That's like the person who says, "Jesus is my co-pilot." I ain't getting in the car with you if Jesus is the co-pilot. Who's the pilot? You. No way.

Proverbs 16:3 says, "Commit your works to the Lord, submit and trust in Him, and your plans will succeed if you respond to His will and guidance."

You give God the plan and He will tweak it for you so you can win. But if you don't talk to Him, then this is what we do: We get mad when it doesn't work out and then we pray for God to get us out of what He never put us in.

You had a great plan. You didn't talk to God about nothing. You all up in your plan. "Lord, will You bless it? Lord, make a way."

God didn't tell you to do that.

"Well, pastor, I saw him and I knew I could just work with him." But guess what? He worked with you.

You saw her and you thought you were going to fix her. You got fixed.

Did God tell you to do that or was that you? And then when you start doing it, you ask God for help with something He never told you to do.

I commit my works to God. He'll give me instructions. Tweak this, fix this, seal it. It's going to win every time. Because I've committed it to who? He is the author and the finisher. The word finisher also means the editor. He can rewrite the story for me.

But I have to commit it to Him.

Be Still Before the Lord

Psalm 37:7 says, "Be still before the Lord."

Here's the challenge: You commit the plan to God, but then you start acting before He talks. He says, "Commit it and then be still."

It's hard to be still. It's really hard because we often think activity means progress. Activity doesn't mean progress. You could be really active going nowhere. It's called a treadmill. You ran miles, but when you get off, you're in the same spot.

The Bible says those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles.

Notice this: By waiting, your transportation changed. Those who wait on the Lord will mount up on wings like eagles. So now you went from walking to flying. By waiting you got more. You got further by waiting on God.

Often times when we do it in our own strength, we have to do it three times. You keep doing it over and over again, it still doesn't work. That's your way.

Be still. Wait patiently for Him and trust Him. Do not fret, whine, or agonize.

Here's street vernacular, urban culture translation:

Number one: Don't whine. Don't complain about what you're going through. The children of Israel had a journey to the promised land and they started whining. God said, "Okay, since you're going to whine, what should be 12 days is now going to be 40 years because you're complaining too much."

Why should I complain? Everything you're going through, God already knows. If God's allowing you to go through it, stop crying about it and say, "Lord, how can I grow from it?"

Number two: Don't try to shine. Stop trying to shine. You start to think it's you. You want the glory. You want everyone to see you. You are about to get your head split open. Let God get all the glory.

Number three: Don't recline. The Bible says David, when kings went to battle, reclined. He got comfortable and got caught slipping. You need to keep working. If you stop working, you start doing stupid stuff. When you get too much money too quick, you do something stupid. When you have too much time on your hands, you watch stuff you shouldn't watch.

Cease From Anger

Psalm 37:8 says, "Cease from anger. Abandon wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil."

If you put a D in front of anger, it becomes danger. So every time you get angry, you're one letter from danger.

When you think about the stupidest things you ever done in your life, one common denominator is you were angry. When you get angry, you do stupid stuff.

The Bible says, "Cease anger because it will not take you to the right place."

So when I get angry, I start praying. I can tell when I get angry. My chest starts to get hot. I start to sweat right here on the side. I know I'm getting hot, so I need to start praying.

Charmaine gets a vein right here. I say, "Oh Lord, here we go. Come on. Let's pray."

If you know somebody you love, you know exactly when they're about to get angry. "Okay, let's pray. I see it coming."

Cease anger. Can't do it. It's not going to help you.

Stay Humble

Psalm 37:11 says, "But the humble will at last inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity and peace."

Notice there was another prosperity mentioned. But this one? I got peace.

Stay humble.

I'll go around the city and people ask me questions like, "Man, you're so humble with it."

I say, "What you mean?"

"I know if I were you, I'd have my Rolls out there."

I say, "I know."

For about 10 years here, I drove used cars. People would say, "Pastor, when you getting a car?"

I said, "Brother, I ain't trying to shine."

Because I know what I'm working on. You won't find other churches with two debt-free buildings in seven years. Why? Because the mindset is it's not about me. It's about the kingdom.

Yes, I could do stuff. I could. But God said, "Jomo, if I can't trust you with $700,000, why would I trust you with $7 million?"

He tests you to see your ability to handle it because if it changes you, He has to cut off the faucet.

If He gives you too much and you start tripping and start shining and whining and reclining, He says, "Well, that's too much for them." So then He cuts back what He's trying to give you because you've proven you can't handle it.

How you handle the little is reflective of how He'll give you much.

You can't allow stuff to change you. You have to be consistent and then God will increase you. He says, "I can trust you."

God Will Direct Your Steps

Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a good man are directed and established by the Lord, and He delights in his way and blesses his path."

If I trust Him, I wait on Him, I commit my way to Him, He gives me instructions.

I was driving on 301. My son used to do taekwondo off of Big Bend. I'm driving and God says, "Go down Dixon Drive."

I said, "Lord, what am I doing?"

I heard: Go down Dixon Drive.

I go down Dixon Drive. I see a church at the back. I pull into the parking lot. I said, "Okay, Lord, what You trying to show me?"

I walk in there. My son's in his karate outfit. "Daddy, what we doing?"

"I don't know."

A pastor comes out, a Latino brother. He says, "Brother, can I help you?"

I said, "Man, I don't know."

He says, "Oh, you're a pastor? Well, if you are a pastor, this church is available for rent on Sunday morning and Wednesday night."

What church in America is available for rent on Sunday morning and Wednesday night?

I ran out of there and said, "No, Lord."

You know, sometimes you ask God for an answer, He gives you an answer, and you don't want the answer.

Within about six months, I knew we were about to get kicked out of our location. God said, "You're about to be put out." And sure enough, we were.

I put my name on the list at Riverview High School. The principal said, "You're third in line, so they probably won't call you."

I said, "No problem."

They called and said, "The people ahead of you in line said they cannot afford it. It is yours."

Third in line. Often times you may not be first in line, but when God is for you, the people in front of you will end up behind you.

We moved into Riverview High School on July 4th: Independence Day.

My point to you is every time God has said move, Jomo stepped in it. All these buildings are just obedience. Every breakthrough you have is on the other side of "Yes, Lord."

Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has in store for those who walk uprightly.

If you can hear His voice, He will give you instructions and things will start to lay out in your life like, "Man, how'd I get here?" All I did was obey God.

Five Keys to Walking in Godliness

Let me give you five practical keys:

1. Pursue It

You will not accidentally become godly. You're going to have to make some choices.

1 Timothy 6:11 says, "But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things. Aim at and pursue righteousness, true goodness, moral conformity to the character of God, godliness (the fear of God), faith, love, steadfastness."

Notice: Flee. Aim. Pursue. Those are all action words. You're not going to accidentally become godly. There are some choices you got to make.

Flee, brother. Run. Woman of God, run. It didn't say walk away. It said run.

2. Immerse Yourself in God's Word

Psalm 119:11 says, "Your word have I treasured and stored in my heart that I may not sin against You."

The more Word you have, the harder it is to sin. The conviction hits you. You know it's not right.

There's a new study that came out: You need to read the Bible at least four days a week for it to change you. Three days a week is not enough. Three days and one day is the same. But once you do four days, your health gets better, your testimony gets better, your life gets better.

Four days of Bible reading changes you.

3. Pray Regularly

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always. Delight in your faith. Be unceasing and persistent in prayer. In every situation, no matter what the circumstances, be thankful and continually give thanks to God, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

You may not like the season you're in. But thank God for Him in the season. If you don't thank Him in the season, He prolongs the season.

If you want to get out of a season, thank Him in it and you'll get out of it. But if you complain in it, you stay in it longer.

4. Depend on the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is probably the most confused aspect of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is the God of Now. Jesus said, "I must go so the Holy Spirit can come."

The Bible calls Him the Helper, the Paraclete, the Standby, the Guide. The Bible says He will lead you into all righteousness.

If you have an internal GPS system telling you where to go, would you listen? You do have it. But you never talk to it.

The GPS system in your car does not work until you put something in it. Some of you have not heard from the Holy Spirit because you have never asked Him anything.

911 doesn't come to your house unless you call. You call when you need something. So when you're not calling on the Holy Spirit, you're telling Him you don't need Him.

Holy Spirit, I need help. Holy Spirit, I lost my keys. Holy Spirit, help me with my daughter. Holy Spirit, I need strength right now. Holy Spirit, this needs to work out for me. I'm calling on the Holy Spirit all day long.

Why not? He's my helper.

Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say, walk habitually in the Holy Spirit, seek Him and be responsive to His guidance, and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature."

Your first response is flesh. You cut me, I cut you. You cuss me, I cuss you. Holy Spirit says slow down. Slow down. It's all right. He didn't touch you, did he? No. Well, breathe. Let's talk about this.

5. Reflect Christ in Your Actions

1 John 2:6 says, "Whoever says he lives in Christ ought, as a moral obligation, to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself."

I got to walk like Jesus walked.

You Can't Do It in Your Own Strength

Let me close with an illustration. Imagine this is me. This is sin. And this is Jesus.

Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned." As a baby, we come out like, "Oh, he's so cute. She's so cute." But don't worry, they're going to do something stupid.

And now we're not as clear as we used to be because we have some sin. Live a little longer, you do some more sin.

Then Jesus says, "You know what? I want to save them from their sin nature. Give Me all your sins and put it on My back."

After He cleanses us, He says, "Now let Me fill you with My Spirit."

So now you're filled with a different nature. Even though you still sin, it has no effect on you because it's covered in the blood.

Then He says, "You know what? I know you've got some friends. Call your friends. I'll take their sins too."

When you understand that Jesus says, "Give Me your sin. Give Me all your problems. I'll clean you up." Sometimes you try to do it in your own strength. But Jesus says, "I died so I can clean you up. You couldn't do it by yourself."

The goal is, believer: You can't do it in your own strength. Truth be told, if you could stop doing what you're trying to stop doing by yourself, you would have stopped by now.

It's not in you to stop. You have to get a new nature. You got to allow God to help you with you.

Paul said, "The things I don't want to do, I do. I struggle. I still struggle." I still struggle. But something on the inside changed me. And though I struggle, greater is He that's in me than he that's in the world.

When you allow God to fill you up, what used to bother you doesn't bother you anymore. What used to trap you doesn't trap you anymore. It's amazing how He can change your taste buds.

The music I used to listen to starts to scratch at me. I say, "What's going on with me?" God says, "I'm changing you."

David said, "Create in me a clean heart." When you allow God to start cleansing you, oh, taste and see the Lord is good.

My brother and my sister, if you could do it by yourself, you would have done it by now. The reason why He died for you is you can't do it in your own strength.

Jesus says, "I see my sons and daughters can't win this battle. So let Me take their sins and I'll give them My Spirit."

When you mess up, God doesn't see you. He sees the God in you. He doesn't see your sin nature anymore. He sees Jesus. "Well, I guess I got to help them because I see My Son in them."