Can You See It,? Open My Eyes - Purity 1498

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a sun— of us— of the sun shining its rays of light in the sign of the cross over the skeletal silhouettes of treetops in a clear blue sky comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who this view of the sky on social media on May 6th, 2021. If this memory is yours, give us a heads up and we'll photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Friday, thank God. And while I can see the cross in this photo, not everyone will, and even less will see it as a sign from God to remind us of how Jesus died for us to give us life. And of that subset, there would probably be a split on whether that revelation would bring feelings of sorrow or joy. Everybody looks at the world from their own perspective, and while I can see a lot in today's photo when I look, look with my heart, mind, soul, and spirit, not everybody sees this way. Um, some things have to be spiritually discerned, and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us a new eternal and spiritual life is hidden hidden from many. The Apostle Paul testified to such in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, where God's word says, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves You are bondservants for Jesus's sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of the darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And this pass— this passage tells us that the god of this age, Satan, somehow prevents those who don't believe in Jesus from seeing the truth. And it reveals that we believers didn't figure out salvation by ourselves, but we're given the help of God's mercy and grace to show us the truth in our hearts, to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Somehow, through the use of his word contained in a gospel message, the Lord took our blinders off and caused us to see the truth of the gospel in a way that we never had before. Before making Jesus our Lord and Savior, we may have known about Jesus and that he supposedly died for our sins, But on the day that we made a profession of faith, uh, from our hearts, we were struck by the truth of Jesus and knew that the gospel wasn't just a myth or a story. We somehow understood on a heart level that God was really real and Jesus's work on the cross actually meant something more than just a martyr's death. We somehow realized that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and if we put our faith in him, all our sins would be forgiven. And he would give us a new and eternal life. We finally were able to see that we didn't have to earn our salvation and that we could actually be forgiven for all the bad things we ever did through God's free gift of grace. As the song Amazing Grace so aptly puts it, I was— I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. So don't be harsh with those who don't believe and who may even hate us or mock us for our faith in Jesus. Instead, forgive them and pray that the Lord would bless them with the ability to see the truth of the gospel. Pray for the Lord to save them. And as for us, those who know the truth, keep looking because God has more to show you. Our spiritual eyes are open at salvation, but there is more to know about God, ourselves, and our purpose in his kingdom that we may not see immediately when we first believe. We should always pray for the Lord to open my eyes to his wisdom and will for our lives. As it turns out, David Jeremiah's Turning Point devotion for today inspired this message, and so I'm sharing it on the blog today to help us all to see more of what God has for us. David Jeremiah writes Open my eyes. And he shares Psalm 119:18, which says, on my eyes, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law. And David Jeremiah writes, there is a difference between seeing physically and seeing spiritually. Most people can see physically with their eyes, but not all can see spiritually with their heart. God pronounced the closing of Israel's spiritual eyes due to their sin, and Jesus confirmed the problem remained in his day. The psalmist was aware of this problem, causing him to ask God to open his eyes that he may see wondrous things from God's law. Even as a Christian, we may approach God's word with biases, prejudices, and preconceived notions, failing to see what God needs us to see. Hebrews 4:12 explains that God's word is living and powerful and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If we truly want God to search our heart, we should imitate the psalmist's prayer when we read the Bible: Open my eyes. We will change over time as we imitate the psalmist's practice of meditating on God's word day and night and take to heart what God shows us. It is the only way we can become complete, thoroughly equipped to please God. That was from David Jeremiah, and he also shares a quote from St. Augustine, uh, who wrote or said, it is no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed. Amen. There are none so blind as those who will not see, and there is more to, to see than meets the eye, as there is a spiritual reality that is unseen. But God gives us a glimpse into that reality as he has revealed himself through the history of man and came to live among us in the person of Jesus Christ. But some people couldn't see it, and instead of welcoming, uh, him as the Messiah, they were blinded by ignorance and pride and killed him instead. For much of my life, I was blinded to the truth about Jesus. But God was gracious to open my eyes to the truth of the gospel. And after he saved me, the Lord has invited me to keep seeking the Lord in his word, where he has revealed much more about life, death, and his kingdom. If you seek the Lord in his word, he will open your eyes to more of the mystery of our faith. Hebrews 4:12 basically tells us that the word, the word of God is alive, and that when we go to read it, It reads us. So ask the Lord to reveal himself to you more today, and whenever you hear his invitation to read his word, ask him to open your eyes. 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 giving, and today's verses come from the NIV, um, and are 1 Timothy 6:17-19, where the word of God It says, command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Today's verses fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on giving, and that third point is: Those who are rich must give accordingly. Today's Bible verses instruct us to put our hope in God and not in the wealth that we have been blessed with, but to use our wealth to be rich in good deeds, generous and willing to share. While we can't take our earthly treasures to heaven with us, when we give our give ourselves and our money to do, to good works, we somehow will be rewarded with treasures in heaven. So give, because as Ephesians 2:10 tells us, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So let's not worry about being rich in the material sense. Instead, let's walk into the good works that God prepares for us to do. And be rich in them. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.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. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture. Today's chapter is Revelation 19. From that chapter, he shares a portion of verse 1, which says I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Revelation 19:1. Uh, yeah. And then Stephen Alford writes, the word hallelujah comes both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The 4 times the word is used in the New Testament are all in this passage. Hallelujah means praise ye Jehovah. And it is a very apt note of praise in the light of this passage. The harlot will have been defeated and destroyed, the marriage supper of the Lamb spread, and the partakers thereof, full of the joy of God's salvation, will proclaim Alleluia. This is a word which should give expression to the experience that follows every defeat of the devil in the believer's life, in trial or in pain, in joy or in triumph. The true believer ought to say hallelujah. And Alfred ends by praying, oh, to know more of the hallelujah life. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Yeah, uh, anyway, we do say hallelujah, which is, you know, what does that mean? It means praise the Lord, praise the Lord. And you know, you know, um, and yeah, we praise the Lord because he sets us free. Praise the Lord, I've been forgiven of all my sins. Praise the Lord, he's led me out darkness into a new life. Praise the Lord for the victories he's given me over my addictions and, you know, bad mental states.

I praise the Lord for freeing me from bad relationships and leading me in a new way through this life. And, you know, praise the Lord that he called me out of the darkness to surrender to his will. And, um, that's why we always ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? Um, Have you made Jesus your Lord and Savior? Are you following him with the way you live your life, or are you just doing church? Um, we, we, we encourage you to get on the path of Christian discipleship and to follow Jesus and to follow the Lord and the Holy Spirit, all three in one, uh, into the new life that he has for you. Um, not only will it mean that he'll turn you away from the darkness that you live in, he'll also turn you on to your purpose for living.

And for me, part of that purpose is leading the Celebrate Freedom support group at, uh, Starpoint Church on Wednesday evenings.

It's a recovery and, uh, discipleship, uh, support group, um, and we'd love to give our testimony of how God set us free, and we love to watch other people get set free too. So if you're near— you're in the Upstate New York region and can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night, we encourage you to join us, um, for, for that meeting.

Um, beyond that, we're, we're encouraging all men basically anywhere in the, anywhere in the U.S. who has an internet connection to join us for Grace for the Holidays, our online teaching and support group. Um, we will be going through the Grace, the original Grace course by Steve Gloss and Rich Miller, um, basically from Freedom in Christ Ministries, um, for 6 weeks.

We'll be going through the lessons to encourage us ourselves in our faith, to experience God's grace as we go through the holiday season and to encourage one another to keep on walking and talking with God.

Um, if you'd like to sign up for that, go to mt4christ.com and look for the groups group coaching event page, and you'll be able to register.

Um, and we look forward to that.

Let's see, and beyond that, we're looking even further ahead into the new year, uh, God willing, that we'll be getting a new Freedom in Christ course starting on January 7th. Uh, to sign up for that, go to ficm.org, check out their online courses.

And if you're a man, you can sign up for the Freedom in Christ meeting on Tuesday nights at 6:30 Eastern, and I'll see you there as your, your facilitator.

Beyond that, we encourage people always to go to our YouTube channel, M.t. Clark for Christ 24/7, where you can check out various playlists of our creation, uh, including a teaching on The Bondage Breaker, The Victory Over Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and Celebrate Freedom, our, my very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course.

And, um, so we check, we encourage you to check out the YouTube channel and subscribe and share, as they say.

Um, beyond that, we ask the question always, um, are you empty for Christ too?

Have you fully surrendered to God?

If so, great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, well ask for the Lord to open your eyes and to ask him to reveal himself to you.

And ask, ask him to, to reveal the truth of the Gospel and say a prayer to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. Um, the blinders come off when you make Jesus your Lord and Savior, and your whole new life begins. So we, we pray for that to, uh, to happen for you.

And we're going to pray today. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we pray for the unbelievers out there that that, uh, you would open their eyes today to see the truth of the Gospel so they could put their faith in you and experience the new and eternal life that you've given us, Lord.

But, um, just because we're in the kingdom doesn't mean life is necessarily easy. So we're asking for your help and guidance today, Lord. We pray 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 and your kingdom, and I definitely need help with that. And Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading or watching today's message, that you come alongside them, their prayer request, their walk of faith. Lord, um, sure they need your help too, so we're praying for them too. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we say hallelujah. And, um, we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.