Ask the Question, Open the Door - Purity 1356 – I Can Do All Things #1

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of the rising sun over what appears to be violent crashing waves on a rocky seashore comes to us from Fred Dimmick, who captured what is actually a sea of clouds over the peaks of mountains as he rose early and got high on top of Brasstown Bald, just south of Haiwasi to say good morning and share his view with his friends on social media on Monday. Well, it's Wednesday, and Fred's photo gives us a small idea of the wonders that are available to us to experience when we are intentional about being bold, about overcoming obstacles and rising to new heights in our lives. Just the other day, I shared a sunrise scene that I experienced on Saturday at High Point Camp in Hillsborough, PA, and even though there was nearly 200 men at the Band of Brothers boot camp, I was the only one there who rose early enough and was in the right place at the right time to see it. It seems that the world holds beauty for man to see in the early morning hours, but just like the wonders of God's love and presence, we must be willing to seek them to find them. I am particularly inspired this hump day morning because even though I'm still sore from the stress of yesterday's upper body workout because I'm carrying the extra weight that unbridled mindless feasting can pack on in a few days' time, I am on day 3 of being back on track with my food plan. And I know from experience that if I just continue to stay the course, the negative consequences of abandoning my sanity and my health goals goals over the weekend can and will be overcome. Knowing and doing, of course, can be two different things, but because of the pain I'm experiencing to my, my body and mind, I'm hopeful that this latest intentional relapse will result in genuine heartfelt repentance that fuels a fire for change and cements my resolves not to step off the path anytime soon. If not ever again. Walking in the Spirit is an exercise of the will, an experiential— experimental process where we not only test the spirits by examining the content of our thought life to make sure we are not being influenced by the spiritual forces of darkness, but where we also test our spirit or soul as we give ourselves the freedom to choose what we wish and and learn from our mistakes when we choose poorly. The freedom to fail is what grace is all about, but it's a freedom that we should be careful in exercising, as it can give ground to the world, the flesh, and the devil to lead us back into the darkness of denial or the insanity of living independently from God's will and thus plan for our lives. One of the biggest obstacles we have to overcoming Yeah, one of the biggest obstacles we have to overcoming and when we, when we try to change our lives and live according to God's wisdom is simply knowing it's possible to do so. This morning I read the last chapter of Neil Anderson's Who I Am in Christ, a devotional, and I found it to be so jam-packed of wisdom and inspiration that I'm going to share all of its content contents over the next few days as part of a new series, the I Can Do All Things series, to encourage myself and those who read or listen to this message that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and to take a close look at how that is possible. So our first portion from chapter 36 of Neil Anderson's book tells us, I can do all things through through Christ who strengthens me. And, uh, he shared the word of God, Philippians 4:11-13, which says, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do everything through him who gives me strength. And Neil Anderson writes, if God wants it done, can it be done? Does the Bible say with God most things are possible? No, it says everything is possible for him who believes, Mark 9:23. If God tells us to do something, can we do it? I can't imagine God issuing a command that cannot be carried out. That would be like God saying, "Son, this is what I want you to do. You won't really be able to do it, but give it your best shot anyway." That's ludicrous. Even secular research and theory has ascertained that authority will be undermined if an order is given that cannot be obeyed. Obeyed. That was all from Neil Anderson's devotional. And, uh, here your— Anderson presents the word of God and asks the simple questions: if God wants it done, can it be done? If God tells us to do something, can we do it? Anderson rightly indicates that it would be ludicrous to think that God would command us to do something that we're incapable of doing. And thus we begin to ponder how we can do all things through Christ who who strengthens us. Do you believe this? Do you really? I tell you, I tell you that I know that the Word of God is true because I've experienced God's power working through me and operating through my faith in His Word. But I can't believe for you, but you can believe for you, but you can believe for you, and if you do, you can see the impossible done in your life through your faith in God. But it starts with a question: Do I believe this? Will God help me to do the impossible in my life? When we ask the question, it opens the door to possibilities we never imagined before. And when we say yes to God and His Word, amazing things can happen. So step out in faith and seek God to help you to believe and to achieve what you never dreamed would be possible. Because all things, yes, all things are possible to those who believe. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on decision-making, and we're sharing from Joshua 24:19-27 from the NIV, um, where The word of God says, Joshua said to the people, you are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you after he has been good to you. But the people said to Joshua, no, we will serve the Lord. Then Joshua said, you are witnesses against yourselves that you can that you have chosen to serve the Lord? Yes, we are witnesses, they replied. Now then, said Joshua, throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, we will serve the Lord our God and obey him. On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord. See, he said to all the people, this stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words of the Lord, all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against them, against you, if you are untrue to your God. Today's verses fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide resource section on decision-making. And that second point is: God's people make a covenantal commitment. Today's verses show us the initial commitment that the nation of Israel makes when challenged by Joshua to serve the Lord and obey Him. God's people had an impossible challenge before them. To go and to take the Promised Land from wicked pagan nations. But when they obeyed and believed the LORD, they were able to make their dreams come true. They rose out of the wilderness and with the LORD's help were able to win the battles before them and to establish a nation. As long as they believed and obeyed God, they would prosper. And as soon as they compromised their faith and commitment to Him, they would fall away, suffer, and reap the consequences of, for their disobedience. So let's learn from their faith and their failures by making a commitment to believe and serve the Lord and to not turn away from his wisdom and ways and the safety of living in his presence. As always, I, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com 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 According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of Scripture from the New Testament. Today's chapter is Acts 27, and from Acts 27, he shares a portion of verse 25, which says, "I believe God." And Stephen Alford writes, this amazing statement of Paul's was no mere platitude. Neither was it said when circumstances around were particularly congenial. On the contrary, Paul gave utterance to these words when everything spoke of utter hopelessness, desperation, and despondency. Having not eaten for a fortnight, Paul was now faced, humanly speaking, with death through sheer weakness, death by the sword, or death by drowning. But he who never fails nor forsakes had stood by Paul in the dark hour, strengthening and inspiring him with hope, so that Paul could say in the light of utter hopelessness, 'I believe God.' And Stephen Alford ends with prayer by writing, uh, praying, 'Oh Lord, I know that I belong to you. Moreover, I find my greatest delight in serving you.' Therefore, Lord, I believe you. The waves of conflict are rolling over me. It seems almost as if there is no hope. And yet this morning you told me that you had sent me to turn men from the power of Satan unto God. As you did for Paul of old, you can do today, even now, in my peculiar predicament. Therefore, I believe you, O Lord. My, uh, help my unbelief. Amen. Amen. And yes, I believe God. And if you believe God, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. And yes, it is, you know, it does point to contentment, you know, just to, to suffer want and to to abound and to endure, really. That's what the promise is. It's not like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound just because you believe in Jesus, but you can overcome things that you never thought you could. That is true, you know. And, you know, after he comes back and maybe anything Like those things could be possible. But for now, it's overcoming and moving the mountains in our lives of the things that we never thought we could accomplish. And what we can accomplish and what we can't accomplish will be up to the Lord. And whether or not we can obey will be a challenge to face. And it's a challenge we can overcome when we rely on the Lord's strength, or, you know, He'll use the trials to change us and to show us things that we need to know. And so, I, you know, but believing is where it begins. Asking the question, do I believe this? Will the Lord help me? Is where that comes from. I believe God. And it shows, you know, it's funny how the Lord uses these messages to, to point to different things. That in the midst of great suffering, um, you can believe God and persevere like Paul did. Or, uh, in the midst of the beginning of a great challenge like the nation of Israel felt when they rose out of the wilderness and had had to go into the Promised Land and take it. Seemed probably like an insurmountable obstacle to overcome, all these battles to fight. But they believed in the Lord and they did overcome. They prospered. So whether or not it was for prosperity or just endurance, the Lord operates through our faith. And when we believe in him and his word and what it says, we can overcome. The devotional that I'll be sharing from over the next couple of days, bit by bit, little by little, really inspired me this morning. And at one point it literally brought me to tears because of how it speaks of who we can do it. And you'll see that in the next couple of days as I share, like I said, one portion after another. You'll have to guess which portion I cried over. But it was— it's been part of my life as a disciple of Jesus that he's led me through the fires of adversity and changing and overcoming the things of this world that I was locked in bondage to. And it was only through believing in him and relying on his strength that I overcame. It wasn't me pulling myself up by my own bootstraps. You know, before coming to Christ, I tried to change some things. I'd have a level of success for a time and then would fall away. I couldn't maintain that self-discipline in myself. But when I started to follow the Lord, He gave me the power to overcome and to not fall back into temptation. Of the things I escaped from. And that's the thing, we have the free will to choose the things we want, but we'll have to exercise wisdom to believe what the Lord says and follow His wisdom for living. And when we do that, we experience the joy and the peace that comes from knowing that we're doing things God's way now. And they lead to all the fruit of the Spirit growing in our lives, which includes patience and self-control and goodness, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, and love. And that's why we follow, because the Lord has given us life. And it's only— you know, our lives on earth is only a small part of that life. We get to live forever. We can do so with, with or without the Lord. And the descriptions of hell that Jesus talked about are not where I want to be. And luckily, He woke me up to my desperate need for Him as a Savior and as a Lord. And He's led me out of the fire of where I was heading and put me on a high— on high ground, basically, to enjoy His presence and His peace. And that's why we vlog, and that's why we podcast, is to share this message of hope and freedom that comes through Christ alone. So that's that. And when we do the wrong thing, we suffer for it. Oh boy, you wouldn't think only a couple days of eating like a pig would matter, but man, I am sore today because of the extra weight I had to work, work with in my work. Out yesterday morning. I feel better after a couple of days of eating right again. And, you know, we're free to do whatever we want, but man, when we choose wisdom, when we choose God's way, that's when we prosper. It's best not to fall away at all. But when— if we should fall or fail, the good news is we can repent and get up and follow Jesus again and do what's right through his power and his wisdom. And so that's what we encourage you to do. Don't stop suffering by following the Lord. And we're a work in progress ourselves with that, so believe me when I say I can understand your struggles, and, um, but I can, I can encourage you that you can overcome them. Um, and it's the best way to do that is to follow, follow what the word of God says and believe it and live according to it. Yeah, that's it. Okay, today, that's, um, if you're in the local area of upstate New York, you can meet me in person at the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church tonight at 6:30. To overcome any hurts, habits, or hangups, or to join into a fellowship of recovery and discipleship where we live by faith and encourage one another. So that's an open invitation. If you're not local and need guidance, I am a Christian life coach, and if you go to my website, mtforchrist.com, you can look up our, our services and click click on, click to make an appointment with me to talk about, you know, achieving your goals, whatever they may be. I do everything from mental health coaching, recovery coaching, purity coaching, spiritual formation, or really anything. You know, if you just need someone to stand beside you to see your blind spots and to encourage you to accomplish the things you want to accomplish, that's what a life coach does. And a Christian life coach will point you to the wisdom of God's Word. That's what I would do. So that's what we do. That's what we do in the part-time anyway. The good news, I got over the last evening as the national coordinator for Freedom in Christ online courses contacted me to ask if I was interested in doing a class this fall, and I have agreed in principle to doing a Freedom in Christ course again for men. Sorry, ladies, um, it's men's ministry that I do, um, but, um, I'll be doing that Tuesdays beginning in the fall after Labor Day, Tuesday evening, 6:30 to 8:30, Freedom in Christ. Um, when we're ready to share the registration link, we'll share it on the blog the podcast to let you know about it. But, um, yeah, I've decided that, uh, we're going to continue to do that pro bono work, volunteer work, for Freedom in Christ Ministries on Tuesday evenings in the fall. And, you know, it's, it's a— if you've never done the Freedom in Christ course, I certainly recommend it. And we could walk it through, we could walk you through its material individually through life coaching if needed. But if you wanted to join a fellowship of other men, we can— we're going to be doing that in the fall. And it really is the most wonderful time of the year for repentance because it's back to school. We start after Labor Day and we lead you right up to Thanksgiving. Um, we lead you through the material of Freedom in Christ course and through the Steps to Freedom in Christ before the holiday season. And it is, you know, really the best. I mean, if you're going to do the Freedom in Christ course and cement your faith before going into the holiday season, there's really no better time than to do it in the fall. You know, I love beginning the year with the Freedom in Christ course because you can set your course for the whole year of faith and repentance and living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. But if you missed the boat and, uh, you know, want to get things right and want to get right with God before the end of the year, oh man, it's not like going back to school in the fall and, uh, coming into the Lord's schoolhouse to, to be set free before, before Christmas. So we'll invite you to join us, uh, when we get those dates cemented and, uh, the registration links sent to us from the national coordinator. But we've agreed principle to do it, and we're, we're ready to do it. We're looking forward to it for sure. Anyway, that's a lot of announcements for today. Um, we gotta work today. Um, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that it is you do for us, Lord, that you show us that all things are possible with him who believes you, uh, Lord, and follows you. And so help us to do that today, Lord. We pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message that you'd come alongside them, their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Bless them, Lord, and help them. Lord, while you're at it, you can help us too. We just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, and we definitely need your help with that. Show us the way and help us, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.