By the Words of Your Testimony - Celebrate Your Freedom - Purity 1379

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 a bright full moon casting its light upon the darkness of an unknown coastline comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this scene on social media back on June 24th, 2021. This nighttime delight is yours. Give us a heads up and we will photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Wednesday, and while today's photo doesn't display a mountain, uh, the moon's reflected rays do form a peak of sorts, and so I thought it fit the bill for visually representing our arrival at the midpoint of another work week. So, happy hump day! Besides, tonight is the last night of the Celebrate Freedom support group's first season of teaching for 2024, And so we could say that the lack of a mountain is the whole point. Just as the light of the moon has dispelled the darkness and created a scene of beauty in today's photo, we at Celebrate Freedom know how God's light can cause our darkness to disappear, taking with it all of the strongholds and "mountains" that used to be permanent fixtures in our lives. So tonight we will worship the Lord and celebrate our freedom. Tonight we will take a look back over what has happened over the last 6 months in our lives and at our meetings, and we will celebrate the freedoms we have maintained, the new victories we have won, and even the battles we are still in the midst of. We will celebrate our lives in Christ and celebrate the goodness of God. When you trust in God and get set free from addictions, bad relationships, negative mind states, and the traumas of the past, uh, the way you can stay free is by continuing to bear witness to what God has done for you and to encourage others to follow you as you follow Christ. When you receive your freedom from God, you give credit where credit is due, even if people would rather give you all the credit for your change of life rather than God. Whenever I talk about my sobriety or mark another milestone of another year of freedom from alcohol and drugs with a social media post, invariably there will be a well-meaning friend from the past who unwittingly or perhaps quite purposely will seek to temper my witness for Christ by giving me the credit for all the quote-unquote hard work I've done with quote-unquote my recovery. But to that I would have to object, because what has happened to me was no work of my own doing. I would have never willfully chosen to quit drugs and alcohol in my own strength, because A) I didn't want to, and B) I didn't think I could even if I, even if I did want to. I know because I tried and failed, and quite frankly, before coming to Christ I didn't see any point in sobriety. I was either an unbeliever, agnostic, atheist, carnal quote-unquote churchgoer, or a Buddhist before I was born again in 2010. And in any or in any or all of those faiths or philosophical systems, I didn't see any point or moral imperative to avoid drunkenness. And all the time before being born again, I could fashion a justification forge a rationalization, or forego reason and common sense in some way or some form to allow for it and demand my own rights to drunkenness. But that all changed after I put my faith in Jesus. Granted, I was desperately ignorant of the simple truths of holiness and repentance at first, but as I studied God's Word and sought to follow the Lord's will for my life, the Lord through His Word and the Holy Spirit in me, caused me to turn from my former ways of darkness. As Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Jesus speaks the truth, and if you sincerely follow Him, you will not walk in darkness. If you are really following Jesus, Eventually you will repent, or at least you can and should. Unfortunately, the world, the flesh, and the spiritual forces of darkness don't want Christians to be free, and they will do everything to keep you in bondage to your sins. And that is why I speak out. That's why I blog and podcast. That is why I do recovery ministry. That is why I teach Freedom in Christ and lead people through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. That is why I have answered the call to become a Christian life coach. I know that God will set you free when you seek him and decide to follow him into the new life he has for you. I know it's possible. I'm living it. I've overcome such great bondages and I ain't going back. And because of my freedom and life in Christ, I will testify until my dying breath is expelled of the goodness of God, the truth of Christ, and the power in his name. So tonight we will celebrate another season of recovery ministry and the freedom we have won. But when we do, when we do that, we will be clear that it wasn't just because of us. We will testify that we have overcome because of God, and we will fulfill what the word says in Revelations 12: 11, we are speaking of the devil. It says, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. It was because of Jesus that we have been saved and set free, and we will continue to overcome by testifying of him. So enjoy your day, uh, if you know— if and if you know him, testify of God's goodness and, and how you have overcome by the blood of the Lamb. And of course, keep on walking and talking with God. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on divorce, and today's verse is 1 Corinthians 7:15. From the NIV, the Word of God says, but if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or sister is not bound in such circumstances. God has called us to live in peace. Today's verse falls under the 8th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on divorce, and that 8th point is: If the unbelieving spouse wants to depart, he or she may do so. Today's verse reiterates the fact that Christians are not bound in an unequally yoked marriage if the unbelieving spouse decides to leave or abandon their believing spouse. This is the word of God, and like so often, it can be used for our good or be used against us. So we really have to go, go to the Lord in prayer if we are married to an unbeliever and we are contemplating divorce, regardless of whether or not they are physically present. I examine this quote-unquote principle of permission to divorce because frankly, I am divorced and remarried, and I know how hard divorce can be. And I know that someone can be physically present and still abandon you. In other words, I don't think this is a letter of the law issue, i.e., they must be physically out of your house to claim this permission. Honestly, I believe that if you're walking with the Lord and your unbelieving spouse is rejecting you and asking for a divorce, you can seriously consider, consider letting them have it. Regardless of whether they are physically, physically present or whether or not they will be proactive enough to actually file for divorce. I think of Jesus' words to the apostles regarding those who reject the gospel and the way of life, and Jesus' ways of life, where he said in Matthew 10:13-14, "If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it." But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. If your unbelieving, non-practicing, quote-unquote, non-practicing spouse has become hostile to you, your attempts to live by faith, and your attempts to be reconciled to one another, You may have to shake the dust off your feet and make the hard decision to make an exodus. But with that said, the previous verses in this passage of Scripture do encourage us to stay with the unbeliever because our faith could be a catalyst for change in their lives. So pray about it. If there is peace in the household, stay and fight the good fight of faith by living as a faithful Christian spouse. But if there is no peace and and there is constant rejection of the things of God in the household, ask the Lord if it's time for him to let his people go. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.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. Walford. And today is first— he's sharing from 1 Corinthians 6 as he prompts us to read a chapter of the New Testament every day. And from 1 Corinthians 6, he shares a portion of verses 14 and 15, and which say, God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. And Stephen Alford writes, "All things," says the apostle, "are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." Verse 12: The power he speaks about here is not in himself, but the power of God which raised the Lord. The Lord Jesus voluntarily took upon himself the load of sin. It bore him down to death, even the death of the cross, the lower depths. But from such depths Christ was raised by the power of God. Is it difficult then to see that with that same power God can and will raise me up from the burdens, depths, and bondage that sin would bring? How much more to the very things that are lawful, which can and do sometimes bind with their power. God can bring such things to naught. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, What power and love! Praise his name. Amen. And yeah, um, the power, you know, some things are lawful for me. Marijuana is lawful, it's legal in some places to smoke. So some carnal Christians, I would say, would claim that as their liberty. But it sort of goes against the principles of drunkenness. I've been high and I know being high and being drunk are more or less the same thing. A little different, but you're seeking euphoric experience through a substance. You're not seeking the peace and joy of the Lord in prayer and fellowship or even in, you know, through the presence of the Lord. You're not seeking your comfort from God or the things of God. You're seeking from a substance, a substance that'll, you know, basically might relieve your stress but certainly will take away your motivation and possibly cause you to gain weight because of the munchies. So there's a commentary on marijuana. Don't do it. And, you know, so yeah. And if you're arguing for a substance more than faith, you know, you're arguing from a place where you're gonna, in my opinion, gonna lose the argument. Like, you know, if you're making an impassioned plea to do drugs or alcohol, medicinally or otherwise, I gotta really worry about your affliction. Chronic pain is one thing. You know, I don't know. You know, go to the Lord. I don't have chronic pain. Thankfully. I have some pains, but they're manageable without any pain relievers, and so I'm very happy about that. So I'm not saying you can't have marijuana for medicinal purposes if you have pain, but if your pain is you're bored or depressed, there might be other ways around it rather than using a substance. I self-medicated with all kinds of drugs— alcohol, you know, marijuana, you know, whatever I can get my hands on. Granted, I didn't— never tried heroin because I saw a film when I was in 5th grade about a kid who tried heroin. He died, and I didn't want to do that. But anything else, basically, I've tried. But I'm shamefully saying I'm not proud of it because I was lost, and I didn't believe in God. I believed the world was gonna fade away and I was gonna die and there'd be nothing left, so what's the point? You might as well enjoy yourself. But that's not the truth. The truth is God gives us eternal life. You know, he breathes his eternal life into us when we're born, and we're either gonna go with him in eternity or we're gonna go, go to hell. Yeah, we don't fade away into nothingness. We have a final destination, and it's either in God's kingdom or if it's it's going to be in hell. With that reality, there is a point to sobriety because God's Word says, you know, "Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God." That was the verse, one of the verses, that caused me to repent. I knew, you know, alcohol and drugs were bad news, I knew what they did with my life. I knew what they did with my mood, my physical health, my mental health. But I accepted the pain because of the pleasure. It was a trade-off I was willing to make. But when the trade-off became my eternal soul, uh, possibly being lost in the balance, or just the fact that I'd be in disharmony with the Lord and his will for my life, That's when it became a deal breaker. That's when I made the easy decision and tough task of going into recovery. And the Lord was faithful. I leaned on him for strength and he led me through, you know, because my faith and determination and staying with him in prayer and following him with the way I live my life, he blessed my efforts at sobriety, and he continues to bless it. Except for I have to be honest, there's no more effort. After going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, some things changed. A lot of spiritual and personal conflicts were resolved through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. Condemning thoughts that attacked my mind and soul and spirit that brought me down and I thought was low self-esteem were gone. I believe those were demonic interference. That would, you know, basically lead me into temptation and condemnation continually. But after the Steps to Freedom in Christ, I had silence. The spirits were gone, and I've experienced freedom ever since. And really, after that, you know, my sobriety walk really changed because I realized I was set free. I wasn't always going to struggle with this, and My thoughts no longer go there. You know, it's a matter of redirecting your mind, your will, intention to follow the Lord and His will for your life and your sanctification. And when you enter in and follow Jesus, He changes you. Those who follow Jesus will no longer walk in darkness but walk in the light of His life. And that's the truth. By Jesus, you know, that's what He said. And I just was lucky enough to experience it. And it's not about luck or talent, it's about faith and trusting God to help you. And so if you, if you need it, we have teachings on our YouTube channel about Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker Steps to Freedom in Christ, or Freedom in Christ. We even have the Celebrate Freedom discipleship course there available for you to encourage you and different ways to seek out your recovery. I would say look for a Christian recovery program or even go to AA, but make it clear in your heart and mind that Jesus is your higher power and that you're gonna follow him and him only to find your victory and freedom. And I know the Lord will bless it. So, you know, keep seeking after the Lord and good things happen even though you might have to suffer greatly. Before you find your peace. He'll lead you there. So when you do the right thing, you know, God, God blesses it. So that's our encouragement today as we look forward to a day of work and ministry tonight at Celebrate Freedom, where it's our last meeting. We're gonna have a little party, I guess. I gotta bring something. I told everyone to bring something, so I should do that too. And, uh, so I got to think about that. But first, we should pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the freedom you've given us. We thank you for another season of recovery ministry that we're going to cap off tonight. Um, Lord, we just pray for you to bless the people that have come tonight. Um, and thank you for the leadership team that you put around me. Um, you've truly blessed my life through, through through these ministries and the people that you've put into my life through them. Um, Lord, we also pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you bless them in their walk of faith, help them to find the freedom and peace that you have for them, Lord. And, uh, we just also always ask for you to guide us today. We'll ask for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go. Because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. And, uh, we desperately need your help with that, so we're asking for it. Well, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.