Action Plan For Freedom – Wisdom from Dr Charles Stanley - Purity 1268

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a view of a, of blue skies over green mountain majesty that seems to stretch on forever comes to us from Fred Dimmick, who spent the last day of January hiking up the Appalachian Trail via Wayagap to summit on Wayabald, in the Nantahala National Forest near Franklin, North Carolina. Well, it's Wednesday, and I share Fred's photo to visually represent our arrival at another hump day and to encourage my friends to look higher, to pursue the upward call of God on their lives, and to take the path of Christian discipleship into new heights of freedom and victory in their lives. I was surprised yesterday to discover that I forgot I had the day off from work. My shift and tour at my day job has me working Saturday, and as I started to head into work at the normal time, my phone buzzed to remind me that I had the day off. So I turned the car around and went back to River House, where I proceeded to use the time off to clean up my PC, send out a bunch of overdue or timely emails, and rest. I also was blessed with the opportunity to disciple and encourage one of the participants from my Freedom in Christ course, and spent the evening hours giving my testimony and encouraging men in a friend's online Conqueror Series support group. So, it was a day off from the day job, but it was filled with kingdom work, and it impressed upon me all the more to continue to walk towards formally becoming a Christian life coach, albeit in a part-time capacity for the time being. I'm already doing the work, so I might as well begin to proactively offer it to those who need it. Are looking for it. People in the body of Christ need to know who they are in Christ, and they need to learn how to walk in the Spirit. While I am far from perfect, I have made significant progress along the path, and I feel I owe it to God to help others to know him more and to show them the way to seek and follow him into the abundant life of freedom that he has for them. Not only is freedom possible, but I can— I But I can instruct people to follow the way I found it and support them while they find it for themselves. As if a sign from God, one of the guys from the Freedom in Christ course reached out and asked for a meeting to ask for accountability without fully knowing what he wanted to be accountable to or for. So in our discussions, I laid out an action plan to transform his life by introducing a holistic plan that would simultaneously minister to his body, mind, and spirit. This man has been diagnosed manic-depressive, so this is an experiment of sorts. He will remain on his medications as he is now, but we are going to introduce him to the path of Christian discipleship, and I will be his guide along the way for 21 days. His action plan will include prayer, Bible study, a healthy diet, exercise, meditation, quieting, appreciation, resting, and checking in daily to report his progress. His plan will challenge him to reach out to the Lord for help and to follow Him with the way he lives his life. I know that if this man is true to seek the Lord, he will find Him, and if he is true to follow Him, God will lead him into the peace that goes beyond the limitations of a diagnosis and into a peace that goes beyond understanding. It's never too late to follow the Lord or to make a resolution and, and commitment to God to change. When we lean on him, God will help us. I am going to share some words of wisdom from the late Dr. Charles Stanley that I received last month in the mail from In Touch Ministries. About making a new start that I found to be encouraging and may cause you to renew your broken New Year's resolutions or to follow the Lord into a new life. Stanley's messages states: What's your outlook on the beginning of a new year? Some people think making New Year's resolutions is foolish, and it's true that many are quickly forgotten or abandoned, but that doesn't mean the whole practice is a waste of time. It's a way of setting your course in the right direction for the coming months. If you don't make plans for improvement, the only alternative is to drift along doing the same things you've done before, whether or not they're fruitful. As the old year transitions to the new, take some time to evaluate your life. Try asking yourself the following questions: What did I achieve last year? Have they done anything that will outlive— have I done anything that, that will outlive me or have eternal significance? Did I spend time, energy, and resources accomplishing what I wanted or what God desired? Have I grown in my relationship with Christ? These questions relate to the most important aspect of your life and the key to anything you hope to experience in the future. Let's consider Paul's example in Philippians 3:7-16. First, Paul had one desire that superseded all others. In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul wrote, "Whatever things were gained in me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." That's a challenging standard, isn't it? Are our career, family, financial, material, or social goals more important to you than gaining deeper, uh, gaining deeper knowledge of and intimacy with your Savior? There's nothing wrong with pursuing other things, but they need to take second place to your relationship with the Lord. That means you have to make time to spend with him in his word and prayer. Second, Paul had a primary goal in life. In Philippians 3:10, Paul writes, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. This wasn't a just a superficial familiarity. Paul wanted to know Christ personally and experientially by one 1. Joyful daily surrender to His resurrection power. 2. Suffering for righteousness as He did. 3. Being continually conformed to Christ by putting sin to death in his life. Is knowing God better honestly your primary goal? Most Christians would like to say yes, but the way they invest their time and effort indicates otherwise. The desire may be there, but the action is not. There is no follow-through. No one ever drifts into fulfilling a goal. Without expending effort, you have a wish, not a goal, and no progress is made without a plan to fulfill it. Third, Paul wholeheartedly pursued his goal. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul says, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul uses the imagery of a race. To make forward progress, you can't carry baggage from the past. Former accomplishments trip you up with pride, while failures and regret drag you down. Instead, run unencumbered, stretching forward with all your might to reach the finish line. Did Paul succeed in achieving his goal? Listen to his last recorded words in 2 Timothy 4:7 8, where he wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness." Wouldn't you like to finish life like this, setting a goal for eternal value that you pursued with all your heart from year to year? It's possible, and it's never too late to begin. Ask God for a fresh start. Relinquish any old baggage and let this new year spur you on to know the Lord above all else. Yeah, and, and that's the end of Charles Stanley's message. Um, what a great preacher. I have to love Charles Stanley. He had a heart for God and sought to encourage the body of Christ to let go of the past and to press into the future with a determination to follow the Lord with the way they— the way we live. I read this message an hour after crafting an action plan for a man who wants to know freedom and peace, and I believe it was given to me to encourage myself to step onto new ground and to encourage you to do the same. So it might be 7 days into February and in the middle of another work week, but if the Lord is calling you to resolve to follow him, it's a wonderful place to start. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling, uh, uh, Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on communication, gossip, and lying. And today's verse is John 8:44 from the NIV. Uh, the word of God says, you belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Today's verse falls under the 9th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Communication, Gossip, and Lying. And that 9th point is: All lying is of the devil, the father of all lies. Today's verse reminds us of who we are like when we lie. The devil. So if you pride yourself on being a grifter or someone who can pull the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting or trusting people of this world, take a good look into the mirror of God's word and see that your lying ways don't represent the kingdom of God. They are demonically inspired and come from the father of lies, Satan. Once again, I consider the first rule of Christian discipleship to be to always tell the truth, or more simply, stop lying. Our lies kill our integrity and murder people's trust when our deception is discovered. So stop working for evil, stop lying, and start telling the truth in all your dealings to represent God's kingdom. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. It's a collection of devotional journals from 1940 and '41, and in this devotional, uh, Alford walks through the New Testament, encouraging us to read a chapter a day in the morning, in the evening. This, this morning's entry is for evening reading of Matthew 28, the last chapter in Matthew. And from that chapter, Alford shares verse 18, which says, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.' And Stephen Alford writes, 'These are the words of the risen Christ. They are the words of the one who could say, I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the kings of Hades and of death. Revelation 1:18. And then he goes on to write, all authority— this comprehends every power and principality— given to me, the exalted and ever-living Savior, in heaven and on earth. The angels and millions of heavenly hosts are not only to see the demonstration of that power but also the thousands of people upon earth. Therefore, says the risen Lord, all authority has been given to me. Go. Matthew 28:18-19. In other words, I have the power, I'll impart the power, you, comma, go. And finally, I offered praise: Teach me daily how to appropriate this power. Amen. Yeah, we, we have the power and authority of Jesus Christ, but we have to know it, we have to, we have to exercise it. What do we do with that power? We go therefore into the world and we share the good news and make disciples, teaching others to do the things that Jesus taught. And that's the lifestyle we, we, we, and we try to live, and we try to instruct other people to live. We encourage people to, you know, start your day, every day, with a daily spiritual practice of prayer, Bible study, meditation, and drawing close to God, practicing gratitude, and just giving Him, you know, giving Him thanks for all He's done for us, and trying to live according to His word. We stop running our own agenda and start living simply, and authentically as Christians. We've discovered that it was the pathway to peace, and it required surrender of the sin in my life and the pain of the past and forgiving others. But that was a small price to pay for the freedom and victory that I have now and the peace and joy I have. Last night, my good friend Peter McCavich invited me to speak at a group that he leads for Conqueror series, and I gave the testimony of how I was set free, how I was saved and eventually encouraged to walk out of the darkness of my carnal Christianity into freedom, freedom from addiction, freedom from, you know, freedom from addiction to a bunch of different things, including sexual immorality, which which is a conqueror series purpose. And I'm one of the impressed about the men that were there that, you know, freedom is possible, but we have to surrender and live for God. As Charles Stanley encourages us in his message, it's never too late to change, but you have to make a plan and put forth effort to get there. So if you need help, you can contact me at M.t. Clark for Christ. 247@gmail.com, and I'll send you a 21-day action plan that I just composed yesterday for this other gentleman. Get it now because after I become a life coach, I won't be giving it away for free. But I might, you never know. I don't know. Anyway, I do have that day job to prepare for. And, uh, to walk into. And so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do for us. We thank you for the life you've given us in Christ. Thank you for showing us the truth and leading us to follow you, and for, uh, for the help that you've given us, the strength and guidance that, that's led to this point in our lives that, and that is, that are good. It's It's a good place, and we thank You for it. Oh Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message that You'd come alongside them in their prayer request and their walk of faith because we all need Your help, Lord. And so we ask You to help them, and we ask You to help us too. We need You to go before us to open our eyes to the things You want us to see and lead our steps into the things You would have us do, Lord, because we desperately need Your guidance and help. If we want to try to represent you in this world. And that's what we want. Well, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.