“An Astounding, Almost Miraculous Life” - Purity 1161

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Today's— good morning— today's photo of fallen leaves floating on the surface of the pond at the East Greenbush Town Park under a blue cloudless sky comes to us from yours truly as I decided to enjoy the spectacular October weather out outdoors yesterday afternoon. Although I had planned on an early return to River House yesterday, a delay in my grocery order suggested that I do something with the time between the 11:30 AM service at Star Point Church and my 3 PM grocery pickup. And because the weather was sunshiny and bright, I chose to visit East Greenbush— East Greenbush's Town Park for the first time. Where I found a picnic table near the park's red barn to sit and enjoy the autumn view and the opening passages of Tom Kelly's The Eternal Promise, which is the first selection of the Renovare Book Club. Renovare is a Christian nonprofit organization engaged in spiritual— Christian spiritual formation whose stated mission is to resource, fuel, model, and advocate more intentional living among Christians and those wanting a deeper connection with God. I discovered the Renovare through Dallas Willard's teachings there, and because I am also pursuing a deeper connection with God, and because I'm always looking for what's next in that pursuit, and because my Deeper Walk School of Ministry training concludes in December, I joined their book club to try to— to try something new on the path of Christian discipleship, and Kelly's The Eternal Promise seems like a good guide for appreciation and growth. Thomas Kelly was a Quaker and a theological professor of some renown, but what makes him famous in Christian spiritual formation circles are his writings about his experiential spiritual upheaval. Which he described as an astounding, almost miraculous life in the reality of God's presence, writing, "There you will find rest for your souls, and power, and peace, and joy unspeakable and full of glory." While I am cautious about those who refer to themselves as mystics and have never sat in on a Quaker's Friends Meeting, in reading Kelley's work, I recognized a brother who who had an experiential knowledge of God that was similar to mine, which filled me with joy, awe, and wonder as I sat in the October sun enjoying the weather, my life, and my God yesterday afternoon. When you know, you know, and when you have had a life-changing experience with God and put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord as well as Savior, you know that there is no other way but His. And although you may stumble, fall down, and run into the occasional dead end in trying to follow his lead, you are compelled to keep going and staying— and try, try to stay in step with him the best you can. On God's path, there are trials and sufferings, but there is also freedom, peace, and joy. And just when you feel that you may have arrived at some knowledge of the truth or some level of sanctification, You realize that there is more to know and more to surrender to grow even more. When you're on this path that never ends, you don't look to finish. You look to see what's— what is next, because there is more light to allow into your darkness and more love to experience and share. So as we go into a new month and a new work week, let me encourage you to always seek the Lord and and to find what he has for your life. In his presence, there is power and peace and an astounding, almost miraculous life. But you have to keep walking and talking with God to find it. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on anger and Hot Temper. Today's verses are Galatians 5:22-25, and the word of God says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, Let us also walk by the Spirit. Today's verses fall under the 11th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on anger and hot temper. And that 11th point is: Good News: Through the Spirit, You Can Overcome the Sin of a Hot Temper. Today's verses are the first of two passages of scripture that our resource provides to encourage us with this good news. And rather than sharing them all at once, we are doing them one at a time, one day at a time. And today's verses present the fruit of the Spirit, and while it doesn't specifically state that they are a cure for a hot temper, the implication is that a life of walking in the Spirit requires a crucifixion of the flesh and its passions that results in peace, gentleness, patience, and self-control, which are more or less the opposite attributes normally associated with a hot temper. Through His word, the Lord clearly states that He is the Creator, Healer, and Sustainer of all things, and if we are willing to walk in His ways, there is nothing that we can't overcome. Renewing our minds with His truth and adopting a lifestyle consistent with His ways leads to the cultivation of the fruit of the Spirit. So if your temper is hot and anger is a problem, walk in the Spirit and discover the pathway past anger, and that promises patience, joy, love, and peace. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit. As we continue sharing from chapter 27 with a summary. So it sums up the previous sections basically that we were sharing last week. So if you want to— if you don't remember what that is, that's okay. There's a summary, and A.W. Pink shares that today, or we share A.W. Pink's summary today on the blog. So if you want to see that, just go to m.tforchrist.org and you'll see that resource at the end of today's blog post. And as we stated, that's basically on the Spirit transforming us, and that's what this blog is all about, because the Spirit transformed me. I was not a Christian always. I grew up in a liturgical church, and I disbelieved to the point where, you know, maybe I believed and you know, intellectual assent with some of the things that I was taught in my church, but I certainly didn't agree with it in my heart as I sought to sin more than to not sin. And that was for most of my life as I basically ran away from church, even at some points in my life basically I ran away from my traditional church, ended up in a more liberal church, and then after a personal tragedy ended up going away from the church altogether. I was a practicing Buddhist for about 5 years and totally denied the gospel of Jesus Christ until I had an experience of hearing a gospel message from David Jeremiah that opened my mind and heart to the the gospel and saw that I didn't have to earn my salvation, that it was a free gift given to us by, by God through his grace. And I, I knew it to be true suddenly, and I made Jesus my Lord and Savior on a day in March— I think it was the 19th— back in 2010 in a parking lot on Aviation Road in Albany, New York. And nothing's been the same ever since. And that's a good thing. Although there has been trials, loss, and suffering along this path, we've made it through a lot of darkness and are enjoying his magnificent light. And it's an astounding, almost miraculous life that I have now. And I have no regrets as I live to follow the Lord and seek to increase what I surrender to Him and how I serve His kingdom. Because honestly, it's the only thing that matters. It's the only thing that lasts. To quote Scarlett O'Hara's father, "It's not the land, it's God." Um, God is the thing that lasts forever. And when this earth passes away, he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth according to Revelation. So we better, um, we better be in line with him and make sure we're in his kingdom, because otherwise there's simply no hope for us. He's the author of— author and sustainer of life, and when we come into his kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ, we have life everlasting, and that's forever. So we keep going and we keep walking and talking with God and encourage people to, to put their faith in Jesus because there's simply no other way but his. So, so we point to that, and people like Thomas Kelly, um, knew that. You know, they might have known it intellectually, but he knew it experientially near the end of his life. The last 3 years, he had a spiritual breakthrough, which was not— which is no surprise according to the introduction of The Eternal Promise, was after a time of suffering that he found God's presence and peace and the absolutely astounding and a miraculous life that he that he talks about in his books. So you never can stop growing in the Lord and grow, you know, knowing more about him and appreciating him. So we point people to that path and tell you to keep going, keep walking and talking with God because the fruit of the Spirit grows there and it's a good thing to experience. Anyway, today is Monday. I do have to work, which is a joy and a challenge, mostly a challenge. At times, but I'm very happy I have a job because I desperately need it to pay for my needs. Yeah, bills happen, repairs need to be paid for, and that's what we're experiencing this season. But, uh, we're not going under per se, and we just thank God, and it gives us the opportunity to do things like join a book club or to go on a trip. This week I'm going to the Deeper Walk International Breakthrough Conference, um, on Thursday with my wife in Indiana, and it's going to be epic. Just the fact that I get to travel with Tammy Lynn again, uh, in and of itself is awesome. But our final destination is, um, is Indiana, where we get to fellowship with the Christians at Deeper Walk International, and then, you know, on the way home we're gonna visit the city of Chicago and run through the city to see the sights for a day. So it's gonna be great, but we gotta get through today first before we get there. So let's pray for guidance and God's presence. As always, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do and for opening our eyes to the reality that it's not just your— faith in you is not just a book, it's not just a bunch of rules, and it's not just a historical fact. It's an ever-present reality. It's a spiritual reality that transcends everything. And that you're present and you're alive and you're leading us and guiding us if we only listen to you and try to follow you according to your word and according to your spirit. Lord, we just thank you for inviting us into this miraculous life and, uh, for leading others into it as well, so we can, so we can have some company along this path. Of Christian discipleship. So Lord, we pray for the people who might be listening or reading today's message. Lord, we pray for you to bless them and come alongside them at their prayer request and their walk of faith, because Lord, we need your help. We desperately need to know what, what you want us to know and to, to do. So as we go today, we pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and to lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom, Lord, and we need your help to do that. So, Lord, we just— we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.