Death’s Reward and Your Purpose for Existing - Purity 1546

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am 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 solitary tree on the edge of a sunlit sandy pathway comes to us from yours truly as I captured this moment while visiting Picnic Island Park near Tampa, Florida on the last day of my Moon with Tammy Lynn, back on February 24th, 2022. Well, it's Friday, thank God. And while I was blessed with a super short work week, uh, this week, I am sharing today's photo to encourage us all to get her done today with a smile on our face, uh, because the weekend is waiting for us on the other side of today's work. After the day is done, we can rest again. Speaking of rest, this morning I learned of the passing of a brother in Christ who was known for his kindness in the service to his church. He was a Facebook friend, but I didn't know him well. But what I did know about him was that he was a Christian who regularly served at his church. I also know that it was only very recently that he reported that he had been diagnosed with a serious disease. In a December 27th social media post, he thanked his friends for their prayers and support, and he believed that he would be healed, stating that he knew that God has had this. But now, less than a week later, we know that God has him in his eternal kingdom. While we may be shaken by news like this, at the loss of a faithful member of the body of Christ, and wonder why God didn't bring healing We have to realize that it's far better to be with the Lord. In this case, the diagnosis and death was relatively quick, and because of his faith in Jesus, we have the assurance of our friend's final destination. He may have suffered from his illness, but our friend now has been released from it to experience the rewards of heaven. Christians should have this eternal view and not fear death. They should understand that their Heavenly Father is waiting for them, and that when they are called home, it isn't a punishment, it's a reward. They see the mystery, you know, they get to see the mysterious kingdom of God in the spirit and will experience the reality of their new eternal life. Um, our friend knew Jesus and knew that part of his purpose for living was to give him, you know, glory through acts of service. And now he's experienced his rewards for being a good and faithful servant. Speaking of purpose, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion for today addresses the question of our purpose for living. I'm sharing it to encourage us to know that we are here for a reason and that the Lord invites us to meet our purpose in him. Dr. Charles Stanley writes, um, created to praise. Make it a habit to notice the many reasons you have for loving the Lord. Do you ever wonder why you exist? Day-to-day activities and worries pull us into so many directions that most of us seldom think about the goal of life, but our Creator made us with a purpose: to glorify him. In His Word, God tells us to testify to His faithfulness and His mighty works. Jesus considered this important as well. When teaching His disciples how to communicate with God, He began His prayer with adoration of His Father. That is why we should give as much attention to praising the Lord as we do to making petitions. It can be challenging to prioritize worship when we sit down to pray. In fact, doing so might even feel awkward now and then. Yet, Psalm 103:2 tells us to remember God's benefits so we will glorify him. This Psalm also shows us how to lift the Father up with our words. Specifically, we should praise God for his character and his work. When's the last time you simply praised the Lord? Observe how the Father is exalted in the Psalms and throughout the scriptures. Then worship him with praise as you spend time basking in his presence. And I say amen. You know, the, the question of our existence has an answer. We exist to glorify God. That's it. You can stop looking for something else. I'm serious. But the question is, can you accept this answer? And can you— can your life reflect that you know it? When we realize this is the truth, we have to look at our lives and ask, what am I doing to meet my purpose? What am I doing to glorify God? While I believe that Christians should seek to do good works and find some way to serve the body of Christ at their local church or in their local community, Stanley doesn't go there. But if you are doing little or nothing for God's kingdom, perhaps you should. Anyway, no, Stanley rightly points to a relationship with God of prayer and praise to give God, to give glory to God. God wants our hearts, and Stanley encourages us to give them to him by meditating on God's person, attributes, and activities, and to let the truth of his goodness lead us to come into his presence in prayer worship and praise. Praise is a spiritual discipline that should be practiced because it's not— it not only gives God glory, but it also is used by God to mature our relationship with him. As we give him praise or sing, his, his spirit communicates with us in our spirit, affirming the truth of what we sing and our part in God's kingdom. So in terms of worship and music, you know, lose or decrease the secular music in your life. It's, it's nice, but ultimately it has no purpose and at its worst gives glory to men and sometimes lust and degradation rather than God. Singing praises to the Lord helps to meet our purpose for living, but you'll never know it unless you get, get over yourself, praise the Lord and sing. Of course, there are other ways to glorify God, so we shouldn't neglect them in lieu of praise. But Stanley points out the praise for a reason. Many Christians are stifled in their worship and would rather do good works, uh, to look good in the eyes of men rather than to perhaps look silly proclaiming their love for God. Jesus preached against that. You know, making sure our good works are seen. So make sure your heart is right and offer it to the Lord in praise to glorify the Lord. It's what you are here for. Amen. And, uh, when we move along to today's Bible verses, uh, come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on humility or pride, and Today's verses come from John 13, and they're 12 through 15, where the word of God says, so when he had washed their feet and taken his garments and reclined at the table again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Today's verses fall under the fifth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on humility, and that fifth point is: On the night before he was nailed to the cross, Jesus, the Lord and Master, gave his disciples a practical lesson by humbly washing their feet. Today's Bible verses remind us that loving our neighbor might mean getting our hands dirty, as we are given Christ's example of service to his disciples. Jesus humbled himself to become man, and when he was here on earth, his life was a living example of compassionate service and love that sought to give God glory. So we should learn from Jesus's example and do more than just serve ourselves. We should seek to glorify God through worship and through acts of kindness and service done in his name. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, uh, 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 Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional. We're on day 45, uh, where Adams shares from 1 John 3:24, which says, whoever keeps his commandments remains in him. And J.E. Adams writes, as we learned from 2 John, one may lose the reward for which he worked hard by helping false teachers to flourish in the community. One may go beyond the message that the apostles taught by helping these teachers and by becoming enamored with their teaching. Gnostic teachers were abroad who claimed to have additional knowledge. That claim can be tempting for those who are dissatisfied with their Christian life. Siren voices can be heard today on every hand, but the key is to remain in the truth of Scripture. When there is dissatisfaction, the key to discovering why is not to question truth but to re-examine your life. Almost always, such dissatisfaction is self-induced by failure to learn and then practice his commandments. Be sure You never trade them for some other teacher. How faithfully are you walking in the truth? What is missing from your life? How can you be more fruitful, walk more earnestly, live more fully for the truth? Yes, you must go beyond your own efforts, but never beyond the truth. Amen. Amen. And yeah, I don't have any special knowledge. I point to the word of God and what it says, and I don't have any hocus-pocus magic healing ministry or anything like that. Although the prayer ministry I do would be considered, you know, questionable, as I lead people to an encounter with the Lord and see what he does to help them resolve their personal and spiritual conflicts through the Steps to Freedom in Christ and other forms of prayer ministry. But with that said, all I'm asking is for you to seek the Lord and to follow him. And as Adam points to, you know, his truth is enough. We shouldn't look beyond. If we get bored with the Bible, it's because we aren't practicing it, is what I'm— my guess. And you're not stepping out to help, you know, grab a couple feet and wash them, you know what I'm saying? The Lord calls us to service and to glorify him and to enjoy his presence. If we do those things Um, we'll, we'll discover a new life. Um, that's what Jesus told us about, life more abundantly. And so we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Um, have you, have you given your heart to the Lord? Uh, did you make Jesus your Lord and Savior? Are you trying to be his disciples by learning his word and practicing it? Are you seeking to love your neighbor as yourself and doing acts of service for your church and in your local community or your family, uh, in his name? Um, have you turned away from your sin, you know, uh, to, to be holy as he is holy? Um, these are the questions that will, if answered correctly, will lead to a new life, uh, you know, that enjoys your faith and, um, that gives you hope and peace and, and, uh, everything that the Holy Spirit brings when you walk in the Spirit. So we encourage people to do that, um, because we know that part of our purpose is worshiping and glorifying the Lord in prayer and, and song. But he gives you other purposes. And part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church. They start on Wednesday night, January 8th, and, um, be there, 6:30 PM. If you're in Upstate New York, uh, you're invited to come to our Christian recovery and discipleship community. Where we, you know, help you to overcome your first habits and hangups by telling you to ask God for help and to lean not on your own understanding and to start walking according to your faith. We discover that when you do that, he sets you free. And God is good. And God is so good that we decided to, you know, take the teaching that we give at Celebrate Freedom, which is the Celebrate Recovery material, plus a little stuff from what I've learned through Christian counseling and, you know, all the other ministries I'm involved in, um, to share it online, uh, not to just keep it under a bushel and keep it in the four walls of Starpoint Church. But, uh, we're going to take that teaching and put it on, on, on YouTube. And, uh, we're doing that, um, next week we begin. We're going to start a broad— we're going to record and broadcast on YouTube, uh, Celebrate Freedom Lesson 1, um, basically on Monday Uh, so it's coming soon. Um, I was going to do this as a group teaching, but, um, as we— it's, it's still a group teaching, it's just basically we're leaving the group outside. We're just presenting the teaching as I'll be teaching the material and trying to encourage as if I was just talking to you. And, um, we'll see how that goes. If you'd like to support this work, we are taking donations basically on our website, um, under our group coaching events page, basically. The suggested donation is $10 per session, you know. So if you're getting anything from it, that's it. But we would certainly suggest, you know, take more than $10 if you felt moved. Anyway, we move along, you know. And if you don't like— or if you don't like— if you don't want to be in that, that teaching. We have other ones that are on the online, they're on YouTube as well, um, and we believe you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by, you know, watching them. Um, we encourage you to go to mtforchrist.com, our YouTube playlist page, um, there, or on, or our playlist list on, on YouTube, um, to find all our teachings and many other playlists that we put out there that we believe will encourage you in your faith. Anyway, as we move into Friday, we ask the final question: Are you empty for Christ too? And all that means is clever play on words to make yourself available for the Lord to come into your life and to move you to follow him and do good things and to live a good and righteous life. That's it. It doesn't have to be complicated. It's just, it's easy to follow the Lord. It's just It might not be simple, it might be challenging, but it's the pathway that leads to peace. And so we invite people to do it. And I say, if you're walking in that already, so you say, great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, pray and ask God for help, because we know he does. And we're going to pray right now, as we always do, because we do receive his help. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you so much for the blessings of this life. We thank you for our faithful brother. Who passed, um, just, you know, very recently, and how he served the church and he represented you. You know, he was there a lot, um, you know, just doing the work that you put before him. And now we get to testify of his faithfulness and his faithful service to our church and, um, your body of Christ. So, um, we thank you for his faithful witness and, uh, example And we just pray for you to one day reward us in the same way. Um, but in the meantime, we'd love to stay here and, and encourage the body of Christ or help people to overcome the things they need to overcome in your name, Lord, to give you glory. And we need your help with that. Um, in fact, we just need your help to get through the day. So, Lord, we'd love for you to go before us today, 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, and we definitely need your help with that. And I also pray for, uh, anyone who's reading and listening or watching this message, Lord, that you come alongside them and their prayer request and help them. Um, yeah, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.