Buildings, Systems, and Communities – Finding Authentic Faith – Purity 760

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Today's photo of a sunset just over the horizon under a canopy of clouds comes to us from a friend who captured this scene from their rural home in Saugerties, New York. You know, even though I was raised in a small town that was more urban and suburban than rural, I have learned to appreciate the reason why so many people have chosen to live away from the cities and nearby suburbs. It's peaceful and pretty out in the country. Not only is there the natural beauty of the landscape and wildlife, there is also the beauty of what is not there— the noise and problems that comes from our fellow man. So as much as I may gripe about the lack of optimal technology— technological conditions at my countryside home, I often remind myself when I walk with my canine companion Harley down Waite Road that the country sure is peaceful, and the views of the big sky out there bring things into their proper perspective. The problems and dramas we face in life can consume our thoughts and emotions, but there is a great big world all around us that was made by a great God who has more for us to see than just what is right before us. The heavens, the setting sun, and nature declare there is a God. And when we look to them, we can find peace and realize there are other things to consider other than our immediate pressing problems. There is a big picture, and if we are focusing on our immediate concerns too much, we might not see it and be blinded to its wonder and beauty. Last night, one of the participants in the Freedom in Christ course commented on the difficulty he had coming he had coming to live out his faith in Jesus Christ because of all the various systems, denominations, and expressions of Christianity that are out there. He also said that he noticed that often the members of the different systems of Christianity would deride other groups for not having— for having differing practices or traditions, or would make claims to be the one true faith system of the Christian faith. In his search for truth, this man wondered who people, you know, who people, he wondered how people, um, could, who, who all claim to be followers of Jesus could all have such different beliefs and practices and be so divided if they were all representing the same Lord. In my long search for truth and a personal relationship with my Lord, I encountered many of the same concerns and issues. When I came to faith in Christ in 2010, the last thing I wanted to do in my new life in Christ was to make a mistake and be led astray by an apostate church system or false teacher. I knew I was really saved by faith in Christ and now had a deep desire to be real, be a real Christian, and so I was very concerned of not being blind in my newfound faith. Like this man, I was confused about which church I should go to and what I should make of all the different views on different points of doctrine. Thankfully, the Lord was with me, and I credit the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit for giving me a deep desire to read God's Word, to read the Bible, to know the truth about the Christian faith. I wasn't content to just believe or to quote-unquote take it on faith. That a church system or pastor would be— could be blindly obeyed or trusted without my knowing what they said, taught, and performed was right according to the Bible. I had seen sketchy people who quoted Bible verses or claimed religion, but their faith didn't give them a compassionate disposition or didn't seem to change the way they lived. So I wanted to be able to discern if what people were preaching or teaching was consistent with God's will. The only way to spot a counterfeit was to know the real article. The only way to spot a lie was to be familiar with the truth. While I listened to tons of sermons and Christian teachings from various pastors and Christian teachers to learn about my Christian faith, I read the Word of God for myself so I would be able to spot a phony or be able to see that the Word of God was being twisted to support a particular view or to buttress someone else's personal agenda. Arthur C. Cotty, that one was for you— buttress. So to be safe and to not be led astray, I encourage everyone who are— who is seeking a close relationship with God to read his word so they can— so they can know what they believe and why they believe it. You know, do your research. Choosing a church shouldn't be a blind decision because the idea behind a local church is that you will worship and serve the Lord in that community. We aren't looking for a system or a building. We are looking for a body of believers that respects God's word and attempt— and who attempts to live by it. Uh, we want to be part of a community that seeks to do the Lord's will and to represent him on the earth. We should be discerning in what church we decide to go to. We don't have to give them all a chance. Some are based in error. Some churches support a modern view of what is acceptable or allowable for a Christian that contradicts what the Bible says. Some are called churches. Some so-called churches don't revere the Bible as the only source of truth for our faith. They don't consider the Bible to be God's infallible and inerrant word, or they put views of men or church tradition on equal footing with Holy Scriptures, which basically says that you know, only these divinely appointed servants can interpret what the Bible really means, and that "laymen" need not concern themselves with reading the Bible, and that reading the Bible could be dangerous in some way because these "laymen" may be deceived and develop an interpretation of the Bible's content that differs from what the Church Fathers have determined to be true. This is a problem. God comes to us personally to show us the truth of who Christ is, and he wants us to come to him personally. So be wise in discerning when you decide to follow a system of faith, a group, or a person, to make sure that the path you are taking is based on God's Word and the will— and his will for your life. The best way to do that is to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. By reading His Word and by applying what it says to your life. Don't worry about making mistakes. We are forgiven by God through our faith in Jesus Christ. When we pursue the Lord through His Word, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free and lead us to experience the fruit of the Spirit as we walk and talk with God. We can run into trouble when we are lazy in our responsibility to be authentic in our faith. Or decide to trust a system, a group, or a person without question and without confirming what they say and how they say it against the letter and the principles established in God's word. With that said, we also have to be humble. The people serving in church have dedicated their lives to the work of ministry and should be given our trust and service. If we are going to be real in our faith, we also have to be real in our support of the good work that Christians are doing by joining their efforts. So rather than a building, a system, or a charismatic leader, seek to join a community of believers that are seeking to bring more people into God's kingdom, who believe in and practice what the Bible teaches, and who are concerned with serving others, and who are attempting to help one another grow in their relationship with God. It is my prayer that my friends find a community of Christians where they can grow and find their purpose in Christ. So keep walking and talking with God, and he will show you the way to go. Trust and follow where he leads you to worship. When you get there, worship and serve the Lord with your whole heart, mind, spirit, and body. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible, Parámos Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is 1 John 4:19, and it says: We love each other because he loved us first. Today's Bible verse indicates that we are given the capability to love because of the Lord. As Creator, God loved us enough to make us fearfully and wonderfully made. In our bodies, we have the capability to do so many things to affect change and to accomplish tasks. In our minds, God gave us the capability of imagining new things to create solutions, to problems or just to inspire us with creative works of beauty. In our hearts, he gave us the capacity to love. So God first loved us by creating us, but because of the free will God gave us, we could also choose to not fulfill our purpose in life by rejecting God and his ways for us. Adam's decision to disobey caused mankind to fall into sin and to be cursed with death as the consequence. Of sin. But God loved us enough to make a way to restore us through Jesus Christ. So God loved us again to save us. And when we are redeemed, we realize our value and are given eternal life with God. And now, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can also love in the deepest sense of the word. We can love others by sharing the truth of the gospel that will bring them from death to life. We love because God first loved us through creating us and saving us. So love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, and share that love that we received by loving others as yourself. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, uh, 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 Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, as, uh, and we turn to a new section of the book. Basically, it's describing different aspects of the first century and different spiritual beliefs, and it, and it really looks at some of the those old beliefs that involve other gods like Hades and the god of healing and the goddess of witchcraft and sorcery to round out these resources that we're sharing. There are names to those gods, but the pronunciation of those gods might be beyond my verbal abilities at this morning. So if you want to know what those names of those gods that you shouldn't follow are, uh, go to mtforchrist.org and read that excerpt from Clinton Arnold's book on the powers of darkness. Um, you know, these other gods were, were what Christians had to contend with. And, you know, in order to know the, the counterfeit, uh, you know, you had to know the real— you had to know the real God. So why don't we follow the God of witchcraft and sorcery, or the god of healing, or all these, you know, those old, those many pantheon of Greek gods, because we knew the one true God. And we know that those things are not, you know, real. And, or if they do have any spiritual reality, they're actually, you know, demons. You know, the Bible says basically in in several points, you know, people that would be led astray by believing the doctrines of demons. And that's the origin for other religions. If it's not Christ, it's Antichrist. If it's not pointing us to the Savior, it's leading us away from him. So as nice or as quaint or as spiritual as other faith systems may be, if they're not leading you to salvation in Jesus Christ, you have to realize that the, the origins of those are purely demonic, as they are leading us away from God. So we need to know, uh, you know, what we believe and why we believe it so we won't be led astray. And we want to make sure we're following the Lord. And that's why we, we are committed to, uh, you know, encourage people to walk out their faith and to read the Word of God. We, we share our weekly Bible study to show that we live according to faith in, in Jesus Christ and by his, his word. You know, we learned everything we know about Jesus Christ through the Bible. And, um, as much as you might not have read the Bible, anything you've heard about Jesus usually has— usually, uh, it's not twisted, uh, comes from the Bible. And that's why we read the Bible, so we can really know what, you know, uh, know who Jesus is. Jesus and, and what he said and how we should live as disciples of Christ. So we, we encourage you, if you don't have a Bible study, to, you know, watch or listen to ours on the podcast or our YouTube channel. But we really do encourage you to study the word. I always say this, you know, if you're new to the word, start in the New Testament, read all that, and if you want, read it twice. Read it more than once. You know, the Bible's not a book you read and put on a shelf. The Bible's something you're supposed to study because it's got spiritual power to renew your mind and, and, uh, you know, teach you the way to go. You know, you want to, you want to be right with God, you have to be right with his word. So we encourage that today and every day, and we encourage this life of discipleship. And if you want to know more about that, that helps take the wisdom of the word We discovered the teachings of Freedom in Christ Ministries' Dr. Neil Anderson, who rightly divides the Word of Truth and uses Scripture to show us who we are in Christ and how we are to live and how we are to resist the enemy. And to have him— and to— his work basically helps us to resolve our personal and spiritual conflicts by by renouncing the things of the enemy and proclaiming who we are in Christ and living by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. And if you want to know how, how to do that, well, I provided some lessons based on, uh, Dr. Neil Anderson's work. Uh, we've released, uh, Victory Over the Darkness, uh, The Bondage Breaker and Freedom in Christ. Those, those classes I taught in person in 2021 at my local church, uh, basically are now available, uh, on the podcast and on YouTube. The audio recordings have been recorded and kept to be shared with anybody who's seeking, seeking that truth and, and to resolve the issues they may have even though they've come to faith in Christ. They haven't experienced their freedom. So, um, you don't know what that is? Check out the teachings and apply, apply the wisdom of the word to your life, and you'll have freedom and peace. That's it for today. I gotta, you know, run. I gotta run to my countryside home this evening, evening, and work today. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for all that you've done for us. We thank you for loving us first so we can love. You gave us a heart and mind and body so we can, you know, know one another and love one another on the earth. And beyond that, you, you showed us the, the errors of fallen humanity and, and made a way for us to be with you forever through Jesus Christ. And so you've showed us the love when we discovered that truth and applied it to our lives, Lord. So we love you. For loving us first, and we can love one another because you loved us first. And so, Lord, we just want to say we love you. And Lord, I love the people who listen to the podcast. Um, we, we, we know they're, they're following you. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to come beside them and their requests, uh, whatever the situations they're going for. We pray for you to give them strength and give them blessings. And healings, if, if that's in your will, um, to affect their lives today. Um, Lord, we pray for you to go before all of us, to open our eyes to the things we need to see, and, um, lead us and help lead us into the things you would have us do, uh, for this day. Lord, we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.