Confession and Revolution - Purity 1373

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's rev— uh, today's photo of a sailboat on the open seas at sunset comes to us from Tara McKeever O'Sullivan, who shared this scene from a family vacation on social media back on March 6th earlier this year. Well, it's Wednesday, and I thought the sailboat's mast in this photo were enough of a peak to visually represent our arrival to another midweek summit. So happy hump day. Anyway, I am happy to report having a day of food plan success on Tuesday after unexpectedly going off the rails into a candy and carb-laden, um, food binge on my commute home Monday evening. I tend to learn things the hard way and have to do so repeatedly before conviction to not do that again kicks in. And I am hopeful that I added another lesson to my extensive course of studies in the school of hard knocks. I am not the person I used to be, but I am still a work in progress. But I am increasingly learning that my old comfort-eating ways of the past are no longer a part no longer a part of my true self. My body and mind have been changed, and those old habits seem to cause increased levels of pain that wasn't— that I wasn't as aware of or sensitive to in the past. Yesterday, the morning after I ate several candy bars, a few slices of cake, some cookies, an ice cream cookie sandwich, and some crackers and cheese dip, A full confession can be a long list. Yikes. I felt physically ill as I was trying to mentally soothe myself and not beat myself up for the previous day's failure. I reminded myself of the victory I had over other addictions of the past and tried to comfort myself by pointing that out, that at least I was at least not suffering from a drinking binge hangover. Like I used to in days gone by. But as I suffered from my body readjusting to life and meeting the demands of the workday, I realized that I, I was hungover. I was suffering from a food binge hangover. My feelings of sickness that almost caused me to call it a day and go running home for rest was the response of my body shaking off the effects of infusing it with the junk food, uh, junk food nutritious equivalent of an all-night bender. I had the sugar shakes. Uh, I, I was only— it was only after I drank copious amounts of water, had some wholesome vegetables, and went through most of the day that I feel like I was okay again. Uh, just like the alcohol— alcoholic who realizes that the booze he continues to drink is killing him. I realized in a new way how these sugar carb-rich food binges are not good for my body and really need to stop. So I confess my fall, suffering, and victory as I did not add insult to injury by making similar mistakes nutritionally last night. On the contrary, I was positively comforted by the vegetables and protein that I had last night that are, that are on plan, reminding me that I know the truth that can set me free for good. If I just make the revolutionary choice to choose it. Speaking of revolutions, The Chosen's "Get Used to It" different study— student guide that I'm reading had some great points about following Jesus that I want to share with you today. And addressing how Jesus' Sermon on the Mount wasn't the message people may have expected, The Chosen team writes, quoting the show's dialogue: Jesus clarified, 'I said revolution, not revolt. I'm talking about a radical shift.' Indeed, and the authors go on to write, indeed, Jesus came to establish the new kingdom and nation of Israel, the nation of Israel was waiting for, but not the one they were expecting. People do indeed sometimes reduce Jesus's message to a nice manageable checklist that goes something like this: pray a prayer, get saved, go to church, go to heaven. But life in Jesus's kingdom is so much more, so much more. Following Jesus cannot be reduced to a simple checklist. In fact, it includes being willing to do things that are new, even contrary to what you were expecting, like loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. And Jesus never said to just pray a prayer, get saved, and then keep living the same— living the way you had been before you met him. Instead, he says, follow me, follow me, and you'll experience a life worth living. Follow me and I'll show you the beauty of turning the other cheek. Follow me and you'll see the power of forgiving those who've wronged you. Follow me and you'll know the peace of giving and receiving unconditional love. Follow me and you'll gain strength that comes from surrender. Follow me and you'll have joy in the midst of suffering. That is what life is like in Jesus's kingdom. And it's revolutionary. That was from the authors of the Get Used to Different student guide, The Chosen Team. Yes, it is, uh, it is, it's revolutionary to see the error of your ways, to see the sins of your former ways of life, and to choose to turn from them, to find a new way that may not be easy, but that will lead to peace and joy and to be to you becoming the person you always wanted to be, the person that God made you to be, your true self. But it is not easy. We need God's help, and The Chosen team even offered this prayer to help us to ask God for his help. So let's pray it together. Jesus, I desperately want to follow you and be part of your kingdom. Help me join Your revolution here and now. I admit that change is scary and it's sometimes really hard, but deep down I know living in your kingdom is the life I've always wanted. Help me live it today. Amen. That prayer was also from the team at The Chosen, and that's the Get Used to Different student guide. And we move along to today's Bible verse, which comes to us from the Quick Scripture Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on divorce, and today's verse is Malachi 2:16 from the New American Standard Bible. The word of God says, for I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with wrong, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously. Today's verse falls under the third point of God— our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on divorce, which is simply: God hates divorce. Today's verse spells it out pretty clearly: God hates divorce. So if you are in a contentious marriage, try to not to deal treacherously with one another and instead choose to love and serve one another. I recommend Gary Thomas's Sacred Marriage to those who need wisdom in this area. It's a Christian book on marriage that helps us to understand that marriage may have been intended by God to help make us holy rather than happy. And it just may help couples in trouble to see the value of what they have in each other and in their marriage. And it just may help save what seems to be lost, and that can help heal what is broken. As always, we invite you 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. Allford. And then in Allford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture. Today's chapter is Romans 16, and from Romans 16, he shares a portion of 18, which says, "For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." And Alford writes, "Oh, to be faithful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Oh, to be so acquainted with the Word of God that I shall never be deceived by by smooth words and flattering speech. Lord, hear my prayer to you. Such serve their own belly. This applies to anyone who takes the name of Christian for ulterior motives, base interest, or sensual indulgence. Smooth words and flattering speech. Is it any wonder that the apostle declares, my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5. The hearts of the simple, the unsuspecting, those who do not test the spirits to see whether they are of God. 1 John 4:1. And Alfred ends his pithy sharing by praying, Lord, help me to be always alert to the wiles of the devil. Amen. And amen. You know, yes, the altar, you know, bending, uh, bending the, the word of God to, you know, satisfy your own belly, um, or using flattering speech, um, you know, show us, show us we're not getting it right. Um, you know, we're not to, to use the— our forgiveness as license to sin. And that's what I think this is speaking of, you know, to be indulgent. Oh, live the way you want, you're forgiven of everything you do. You are, but, um, you know, Jesus told us to follow him and his example, and that's not how he lived. He didn't live a sinful life. He was without sin. We're to follow him we're to turn from our sins. And some of our sins are just, you know, doing the wrong thing. And it's not necessarily, you know, one of the Ten Commandments to overindulge in the flesh like I do at times with a food binge, but it's not right for us. Um, I was just sharing with one of my clients basically how, um, we're, we're talking about Romans 12:1 where we're to be living sacrifices to the Lord. And one of the ways we can sacrifice our, you know, one of the things that's covered by that is living rightly with our bodies, you know, by not giving into lust or giving into gluttony or sloth. And to, you know, the way we treat our minds, the things we dwell on in our thoughts. Our minds are, you know, our brains, our minds are part of our body. And when we have them turned in a negative disposition or angry or are covered in anxiety. It's, it's not the way the Lord wants us to live. Um, so we're to exercise and utilize our bodies and our minds, the way we think, to align with what God would have us do. To be good stewards to our bodies, to eat nutritious food, to exercise and get plenty of rest, and then to give our minds a rest, um, and to exercise our mind, to put it in a positive direction, to problem-solve, and to be hopeful, and to look for solutions to life's problems, to accept the things we cannot change, and to change the things we can. You know, that's from the Serenity Prayer, and it'll give you serenity when you accept, as the Serenity Prayer says, hardship as a pathway to peace. Um, that's the, the life we have, um, here on Earth, that there will be hardship. But when we have God, the Prince of Peace, Jesus, in our life, we can have peace knowing that Jesus has overcome the world, that this world is not all there is, that we're not going into nothingness, that there is a life beyond this one, and that God has revealed it to us and given us a hope and a future. So Even though we'll grow old and die, unless Jesus comes back before we perish, you know, before we die, there'll be— there's hope. Even though we'll age and die, there's hope beyond this life. And so we work on our character, you know, we seek patience and peace and goodness and faithfulness and kindness as the way we live. When we focus on those things, that's stuff we can take into the kingdom with us. That's where we'll fit in better into God's kingdom. You know, we won't have to be corrected by the word of God, you know, when we go into God's heavenly kingdom. That we'll already be conditioned to live with God by trying to follow him and his example that's given to us in Jesus. And, you know, we're not perfect. We make mistakes. We'll give into the flesh and we'll get angry or we'll get depressed, and then we might actually, you know, take those emotions and, you know, seek comfort from the things of the world and fall into, you know, overindulgence of the flesh or even sin, you know. Um, and when we do that, we should realize that we are forgiven. And that there's a better way for us. We could pick ourselves up, ask God to forgive us and to lead us in the way we should go. And, uh, that's what I seem to be doing on a continual basis. Um, but the good news is you can grow and learn from your mistakes, and you don't have to go around, you know, be fighting the same battles over and over again. All I do struggle with the comfort eating and the food stuff, um, here, I've made great progress in that battle. And I'm hopeful that for every mistake I make, I'll learn a new way to overcome. And that's my hope for myself, and that's a hope I have for you. Because I, you know, this might be a daunting problem, but as I stated, I have victory over other areas of sin that I had in my life that aren't even on the radar anymore. The alcohol, the sex addiction, you know, the drugs, it's all gone. So, you know, we'll take the struggle we have because we have victory over the things that we've overcome. So yeah, I didn't stop. We just moved it into a new area. And, you know, that, that, you know, the food thing was always there. It's just, it's the last thing. Well, it's the last thing I can see. We'll see what else is left afterwards. But, you know, I'm so much healthier now, and even in spite of my mistakes, I'm thriving because of it, you know, because of what I've learned. And that's all we can hope to do, is to follow the Lord into who he wants us to be and learn little by little until we get it. He will help us when we ask. So we join his revolution by praying that prayer today. It's a revolution to change everything. You know, it's a radical shift, as the, uh, as the writers at The Chosen said. It's not a revolt, it's a revolution. And, uh, the radical shift happens in our hearts and minds as we follow God's way. So that's it for today. Uh, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the things you given us a new life, forgiveness, and hope. And, uh, Lord, we just need— we need your strength and your love to help us as we move forward. We just want to be more and more like you, and we want to put away the old things that aren't a part of us anymore, that were never intended to satisfy us like we thought they could. And, uh, we instead choose your way today. Uh, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Help them, Lord. And while you're at it, you can help us too. We ask for you to open our eyes to things you would want us to see today and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord, and be more and more like Jesus. And we need a lot of help with that. And we appreciate your grace and mercy and your strength, um, that you'll give to us today. And, uh, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.