Belonging to God Purity 1369

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 sun setting over the ocean and an unknown beach comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this scene on social media on or around June 6, 2021. If this memory is yours, let us know and we'll update the blog after the fact to give you the photo credit you you so richly deserve. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and as we enter into the last day of the work week and the last day of my 5-day fast, I am truly thankful for my relationship with God and the fact that I've been given a new life of adventure, joy, and peace in Christ. Last night I met with one of my life coaching clients, and I was so encouraged by his decision to set goals that should prove to draw him closer to God and to significantly improve the quality of his life as he, even though he is in the midst of a major life transition, is choosing to increasingly seek God's will and purpose for his life. He admittedly has just been focused on his career and physical health and realized that something was missing. And I've been honored to ask to encourage and advise him, or coach, uh, coach him as he has decided to develop his relationship with God and repent in areas of his life where he knew he was outside of God's good, acceptable, and perfect will for his life. As a Christian, my client is realizing that he belongs to God and wants to be more authentic in his walk of faith and surrender to doing things God's way. I've recently been watching an apologetics class by Frank Turek, who among other things stresses that Jesus didn't tell us to go out and make believers in the Great Commission, but to make disciples, disciplined followers and students of our Lord, teaching them to obey everything he commanded. Of course, as someone who offers encouragement to the— on the path of Christian discipleship, I knew this, but it's good to hear someone else say it because often it can feel like no one else gets this. That after we put our faith in Jesus, we belong to God and are supposed to be transformed into the people that he created us to be. This morning I was reading The Chosen's, uh, Get Used to Different student guide, and this youth-based, youth-focused devotional addressed the idea of belonging to God. And I felt moved to share some of what it— what they wrote because it is good teaching and is a fundamental key to our life in Christ that can easily be forgotten in our current church society's penchant for easy-believism, or as Bonhoeffer said, cheap grace. The Chosen Team's authors write, what does it mean to belong to God instead? Well, let's start with what belonging to God doesn't mean. It doesn't mean you become a religious robot void of personality, and it doesn't mean you become a religious puppet of some heavenly force pulling your strings. Ironically, belonging to God does mean you've been set free. When Jesus tried to help the disciples understand this idea, he said it this way: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32. Which actually means you're free from being a robot who mindlessly follows others. You are free from being a puppet controlled by your self-focused desires and drives and desires. You are free from being enslaved by sin. John 8:34. Jesus doesn't just show up, give you a hug, and then leave you alone. He is inviting you into a way of life, a way of learning how to live with him at the center instead of you. And it starts with admitting a couple of things. One, your self-centered life is a dead end because living without God doesn't get you where you truly want to go. And two, you were created to belong to and be in relationship with God. Of course, these admin— admissions aren't a magic wand that fixes everything that's broken. Life, as you already know, is way messier than that. Changing your mind and heart from being self-focused to being God-focused—believing you belong to him instead of yourself—takes time. In fact, throughout the New Testament, we see that even the disciples didn't get it right away, and they had Jesus right in front of them. They didn't automatically figure it all out when they started following him. Neither will you. But life change begins with knowing who you belong to and that he loves you enough to call you his own. I love that because it is so true. And that was from the authors of the Get Used to Different student guide, The Chosen Team. And life change begins with knowing who you belong to. When Jesus calls you to put your trust in him, you belong to God. So keep walking and talking with him, and he will lead you out of the darkness and into a life of adventure, joy, and peace, even if life can be pretty messy at times. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on depression. And today's verses are from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, from the NIV version. The Word of God says, therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are becoming renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. Today's verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the seventh point of our Counseling Reference Guides resource section on depression. And that seventh point is: we may experience, uh, tough situations, but we can avoid deep depression. Today's verses are a great encouragement for those of us who are in a dry and dusty season of affliction, or who have just lost their zeal on this sometimes trying path of faith through life. So life is hard, that is a given. Since sin came into the world after the fall, there is pain, death, disease, and disappointments aplenty. So should we focus on that aspect of our lives? No, we should fix our eyes on what is unseen, the Lord and the fact that God's kingdom will be fully realized as someday Jesus will come back to reclaim the earth. In the meantime, we can draw close to God through our spiritual disciplines and by the way we view life and choose to direct our thoughts and actions. When we focus on God, there is hope and we can avoid depression. The gospel isn't called good news for nothing. In Christ, we are God's beloved children. God is with us right now, even if we can't see him. And one day we will be with him in a new heaven and a new earth forever. So grin and bear it, bear the trial you face, knowing that God works all things together for good. To, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. As always, we invite you to go to mt4christ.com where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our 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. Allford, which is a devotional that that prompts us to read a chapter of the New Testament every day. And today's chapter is Romans 12. And from Romans 12, Alfred shares a portion of Romans 12:1, which says, "You present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." And Stephen Alfred writes, when the Lord Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria, he said, "Those who worship him must worship in in spirit and truth. John 4:24. In other words, spiritually and according to truth. To worship spiritually is to worship under full control of the Holy Spirit. To worship according to truth is to worship according to the knowledge of the truth. As to the truth, note that there must be the unreserved presentation of the body, a living sacrifice, spiritually living quickened from spiritual death, a holy body separate from all defilement, cleansed and made acceptable for worship. Thus the apostle says, 'Let a man examine himself' , an acceptable body conformed to God's will. And Alfred ends with the following prayer: Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Amen. And, uh, yeah, I'm not sure if that's a prayer or a poem, um, so, but that's what Stephen Alford shares. And, um, again, we point to the path of Christian discipleship, and Alford's devotional today points to giving our bodies as a living sacrifice. When we know we belong to God, we surrender our bodies, minds, and wills to His good plan for our life. And we live according to, you know, what He says is true, even though, you know, the life— life can be messy and disappointing at times and trying at times and painful at times. But when we focus on the Lord, on the things that are unseen, we can avoid depression and have a life of joy. And my life is continually blessed because I follow the Lord and I'm encouraged by others, like my life coaching clients who is following the Lord. I took a step of faith in offering my services as a Christian life coach and I'm happy that God directed men to seek me out and to be my client so I can encourage them in their spiritual development and their repentance or whatever goals they have. I'm truly blessed in knowing other men that earnestly seeking the Lord. And if you need encouragement on the path of Christian discipleship that goes beyond my daily devotionals, you can become a client too. I have limited spaces, but there are spaces available. And even if it was just a per diem check-in where you wanted to, you know, receive encouragement and prayer for one session, You can make an appointment, initial appointment. I do charge $25 for the initial appointment just because I'm going to minister to you one way or the other. And whether or not you want to have a continued coaching relationship, I can certainly do, you know, a one-off where I encourage you, hear what you're going through, encourage you in your faith, and pray for you before we decide whether or not you want to you know, come into relationship with me as a Christian life coach. But if that's your option, you have it. If you're in the Capital District, which is doubtful, you could go to Starpoint Church and get discipled or encouraged once a week at our Celebrate Freedom Recovery discipleship group. With that, we're basically wrapping up the first half of the year, and we'll be doing that for the next 2 weeks, but then after that we're going on vacation. So if you should happen to hear this and it's, you know, somehow relevant, just keep that in mind. Basically, we'll be beginning the new season of Celebrate Freedom at Star Point Church at 6:30 on Wednesday beginning July 24th. So we hope to see you there. You know, that would truly be a God thing, I think, if you heard this message and that was for you. Um, so, uh, anyway, um, today is Friday, thank God, and I am going to my, my countryside home to be with my wife for the weekend. So that's a blessing in itself. I'm not sure what's on the calendar in terms of activities. I think there's stuff to— there's stuff to do. It's her birthday tomorrow, duh. Um, so we're going to be celebrating that for sure, and thus the, the fast. You don't want to have to be fasting during a time of celebration. I've done it in the past and it's difficult, but I don't want to, you know, put my burden on anyone else. And the fast is accomplishing what it's accomplished for sure. It's purified my body, as you know. Not for nothing, try fasting. Try it for 5 days. Try it for 7 days because your body retains food And, you know, even after 5 days of eating, of not eating, you'll be just surprised at the things that leave your body. That there's food still in you. So just as a cleanse, you know, for a physical thing, I think fasting is a good thing. Like, who knew? You know, it's sort of disturbing to discover that there's still food in you after so many days of not eating. But your body tries to hold on to it. And if you really want to, you know, cleanse, cleanse your, your body, I would recommend 7, 14, or 21 days. That's— I've done 20-some, a little more than 21 days in the past, less than 25. I think it was like 23 or something like that, 24 maybe, and I survived. And not for nothing, some pounds came off. It's not going to be permanent weight loss because, you know, your body gets rid of it and then you have to readjust. But it's not a bad way to lose some physical burden on your body. And when you do it, don't do it just for the physical benefits. Take the time you would normally use to eat to pray, to read something spiritual, the Bible or a Christian book. To draw close to the Lord. And when you get home at night, instead of staying up and eating and watching television or something, just, you know, read something or pray or just go to bed. Give your body the rest. You have less energy because you're fasting, and it's, it's the cheat code for long-term fasting. The secret of long-term fasting is you go about your normal day, 9 to 5, and And then after you get home, you basically go to sleep. You check out and, you know, reset and go to the next day. So that's my secrets on fasting. But that's all I got for today, basically. So I should pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you for the blessings of this life. Thank you for showing us the truth and setting us free and giving us a purpose to encourage others to follow you and and to discover these things for themselves. Thank you for claiming us as your possession, that we belong to you, Lord. So help us as we're asking for you to help us to know that and to live according to that truth. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their life of faith. And Lord, while you're at it, we're asking for you to go before us too. And, uh, open our eyes and lead us in the way we should go today, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, and we're going to need your help for that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.