Discipleship - Accountability, Personal Responsibility, and Boundaries - Purity 1154-

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a fiery sunset over the shores of an unknown beach comes to us from, uh, comes to us from a currently unknown friend who shared this photo on or around August 29th of this year. Yep, my memory and efforts to discover our mystery photography have failed me this morning, But I felt compelled to share it all the same because of its beauty and hope that my unknown friend will forgive me and give me a heads up so I can give credit to where credit is due and possibly find out where this scene was captured. Wherever it is, it looks nice and I wouldn't mind seeing it in person. So if this is your photo and you would like to enlighten us, let us know, let me know, and I'll update the blog afterwards. Anyway, it's Saturday, and as much as I was looking forward to getting into my countryside home last night, my joy had to be tempered by the fact that my wife, Tammy Lynn, is very much on the mend. Although her pain has decreased, she has to be gentle with herself because the sites, um, of her wounds from dental surgery are delicate in healing, uh, and if she overly exerts herself, she could inadvertently open up her wounds. My enthusiasm for Friday night was also tempered by the fact that I had a frustrating day at work as equipment failures, inexperienced assumptions, and well-meaning interference caused what should have been a relatively simple task to be, to be complicated, turning a 3-hour job into a 7-hour learning experience. When your equipment fails to work after multiple replacements You have to realize that the equipment isn't the problem, and the variable that should— surely can't be the problem is the problem. In troubleshooting, sometimes you encounter the mystery of things that work in some ways but mysteriously don't work over time or in the ways they should. In those incident instances, you are confronted with the "it works but it doesn't work" paradox. And even though you have the evidence that it works, the fact that it inexplicably falls apart and doesn't stay working forces you to accept that what looks good is actually bad. But I eventually got her done and now see the error of my ways and how I could have avoided spinning my wheels for so long. But the effect of the learning experience of my no good, very bad, terrible day at work was that I was exhausted. And went to sleep around 8:30 PM last night, causing me to fail to be accountable by not reporting my food plan success to my accountability partner, as I am in my 5th week of overcoming my food addiction. I fell asleep and forgot the text, and when I awoke this morning, I realized my failure because my accountability partner sent me a text after, after the time I normally check in stating Alexa, hello! Because I failed to remember before and have actually set a routine to have my electronic personal assistant to help me be accountable, to tell me to text Scott at 9 PM each day. But that doesn't help when Alexa is down at River House in Stuyvesant and I am asleep at Tammy Lynn's countryside home in Easton. So I texted Scott to let him know that the food plan was a success, and I appreciated his faithfulness in keeping me accountable. I'll have to set a reminder on my phone for the weekends, I guess. Anyway, although I like to report what is happening in my life, sometimes it can be a mouthful to write out, and I can veer off course from where I wanted to go in terms of writing the blog. I sat down initially to write about accountability, responsibility, family, boundaries, and discipleship because of something else that happened yesterday. I am currently in a discipleship/friendship relationship with a man that I met through the Celebrate Freedom growth group that I lead on Wednesday nights. Um, Sam is what I'll call him, uh, is an older gentleman and is sought by counsel and prayer on a few occasions. Because I'm training to be a Deeper Walk certified prayer minister, we've agreed in principle to enter into a discipleship/prayer prayer ministry relationship where I intend to lead Sam through the Freedom in Christ course material to prepare him to go through the Steps to Freedom in Christ and possibly other forms of freedom prayer or healing prayer ministry. As he attempts to walk by faith, Sam is encountering difficulty in his interpersonal relationships and has come to me for support, advice, and prayer. Yesterday, acting on my advice, he had a discussion with his significant other that turned contentious. And afterward, while I was struggling through my work day, Sam sent me a text asking if we could pray about it. I didn't see the text until the work day was done and responded that I was sorry to hear that this talk didn't go well as I got in my car to head north to Tammy Lynn's house. While I drove, Sam texted back asking if we could talk. When I got to Countryside, I decided to— that I could call Sam while I was— while I took Harley for a walk down Waite Road, something we do when I arrive at my Countryside home. But when I called Sam to check in, he didn't pick up, and there was no room to leave a message in his voicemail. At that moment, I made the decision that I had to set a boundary on my personal time with my wife. And texted Sam back telling him to lean on the Lord and that I wouldn't be able to speak to him until Monday because I was with my wife for the weekend. In that short walk down Waite Road, I came to the realization that now that I'm going to move into the phase of my life where I begin to establish myself as a quote-unquote life coach, I was going to have to make some clear limits on my time in terms of when I can provide ministry. I have to value my family time and encourage those I counsel to be personally responsible for their walk by realizing that there will be times that they will have to practice what I'm encouraging them to do. Walking in the Spirit, which is the remedy to all life's problems that I prescribe, requires you to lean on the Lord by reminding yourself what God's Word says, agreeing that it is true and applies to you, uh, and going to the Lord in prayer to seek his presence and help, and making the decision to not enter into sin or to linger in negative mind states that contradict God's Word. So when your accountability partner, sponsor, mentor, discipler, family, or friends are not available when you encounter a crisis, you practice being a disciple by going to God in prayer to find the comfort, strength, and guidance to overcome. You turn from the world and its problems and fleshly solutions, and you turn to the Lord for His wisdom, love, and pathway to peace. The pathway of Christian discipleship can and will be a lonely road at times, but with the Lord, you are never alone. And have to accept that we do not base our success on some other person's presence or faithfulness. We rely on the faithfulness and presence of the LORD to lead us to victory and freedom. While other people may not be there for you when you need them, the LORD is with us always, and it is from Him where we receive the help we need. Early on in this latest chapter of the Celebrate Freedom ministry at Starpoint Church, one of the people shared a testimony of how in the past they relied on their sponsor to maintain their sobriety and confessed how their sponsor relapsed and was unavailable when they began to struggle. Rather than standing on his own or going to his higher power for support, this person took his sponsor's absence as an excuse to relapse himself. They weren't there, so I relapsed. May sound like an understandable excuse, but it reveals a real immaturity in that person and exposes a lack of personal responsibility that will invariably lead to failure. Another participant, in talking about his alcoholism and decision to come to a recovery meeting, said, now that I'm not allowed to drink anymore, which caused me, caused me to respond that unless they were going to choose sobriety for themselves, they would invariably fail to stay sober. No one can force you to clean up your life, and as far as I am concerned, unless you decide to surrender your life to the Lord and pursue progressive sanctification, there really is no point in even, even trying to change without God's peace through faith in Jesus Christ. Whether you succeed in getting sober or not it won't make much difference when you end up in hell. Without God, you might as well stay a drunk or addict, because although your addiction may cause you to suffer here on earth, it will pale in comparison to the anguish you can, uh, you condemn yourself to in eternity. I encourage Christian disciple— discipleship, not just because it makes you a better person Um, I encourage people to follow Jesus because it saves your life and gives you meaning and purpose. If you fall short of following Jesus, it doesn't really matter what you do, you were doomed. Personal responsibility and a commitment to follow the Lord is a fundamental aspect of a life lived in the spirit. So as much as I want to be there to support and encourage others in their walk and struggles, there has to be an understanding that while I will do my best to encourage others in their walk, it is their walk, not mine, and they will have to walk it out for themselves. So yesterday I made the decision to make my time with my wife on the weekend sacred, to put a hedge that will protect my relationship with my wife and demand that those I seek to help be responsible to put into practice what I teach and to develop a deeper relationship with the Lord for support. Um, walking in the Spirit isn't just a list of rules and principles to follow. It's a living relationship with God himself, who is always present and always faithful to help those who rely on him. So enjoy the weekend and be sure to put up appropriate boundaries to keep your life balanced and to encourage others to lean on the Lord rather than just leaning on me. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on anger, hot temper. Today's verse is Proverbs 15:1 from the NIV. The Word of God says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Today's verse falls under the 6th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on anger. And that 6th point is: Hot words stir up strife. Today's verse points to a fundamental truth on de-escalation and keeping contentious exchanges from becoming volatile or violent. God's Word encourages us to answer in a gentle manner when confronted with anger and warns us that if we speak harshly, we can cause others to be angry. As disciples of the Prince of Peace, we are, as much as it depends on us, to walk in peace with others. So, we do not fight fire with fire or return evil with evil. Instead, we respond to evil with good. And respond with a gentle word rather than a harsh response when we encounter someone else's wrath. A gentle word could calm someone down and establish a ground where peace can be negotiated and found. So be wise and follow God's word to move from anger to peace. As always, I encourage all to go to M.t. Clark.org where I always share share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit as we continue sharing from chapter 26 on the Spirit interceding, and today's section is entitled How the Spirit Intercedes. So if you want to know how the Holy Spirit intercedes, um, go to mt4christ.org and you'll see that resource at the end of today's blog post. You'll also see an encouragement at the end of today's blog post to enter into our discipleship series of classes for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. Those teachings are all based on the Word of God and the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson, and they're all available on the podcast or our YouTube channel. And I'm happy to say I still You know, I'm getting feedback from people that they're actually listening to those, those messages and they're being encouraged by what they say. So I thank those, those who have reached out or just, you know, responded, uh, on YouTube to let me know that, um, they're listening. And that's sort of great, you know, that, uh, lessons I, I did back in 2021 are out there and that people have the ability, if the Lord leads them to it, to find them and listen to them and be encouraged in their faith walk. Because that's all I want to do. I've discovered my freedom in Christ, and I can't help but point to it and to encourage people to say, you can experience this in your life as well. It just requires you to know who you are in Christ, and it requires you to repent, to resolve your personal and spiritual conflicts by going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, and by deciding to follow the Lord with the way you live your life. It doesn't have to be complicated or ultra-religious, but I would say it definitely requires some, some commitment and some personal responsibility. No one's going to believe for you. No one's going to repent for you. You have to decide for yourself. Do you want to follow the Lord? And, you know, it's a wide open— you know, that's a wide open decision to make and how you want to live your life. But honestly, the consequences of not doing that, you know, are disastrous. You know, how much faith is enough faith? I don't know, you have to have enough faith that Jesus knows you. As His word points out, you know, people can do all kinds of good deeds and then discover in eternity that He never knew them. So I encourage more faithfulness rather than less, and what that looks like, I don't know, but I know, you know, I know when I'm not walking You know, according to how the Lord would have me walk. It convicts my heart, you know, as the Holy Spirit convicts you and leads you into repentance. And unless you're continually seeking truth and seeking to be sanctified, you might live in the shadows of darkness that you didn't even know about. But the Lord is good to reveal the truth. Unto you when you seek him and are in relationship with him. And that's why I say stay close to the Lord, um, to echo John 15, you know, abide, abide in him. Anyway, we're abiding in him for our weekend, and we're, we're very thankful for what the Lord has done. He's, uh, he's, he's brought my wife through this medical crisis, and we're just waiting for a complete healing to come. It's on the horizon and we're looking forward to it. And we're going to a Christian concert this weekend, uh, see the Newsboys on Sunday night where we will praise the Lord. And although Tammy Lynn's recovering, um, she is very enthusiastic about going. So, um, we're gonna praise the Lord. Um, that's what we do, um, no matter how we feel. And, um, you know, God bless her for that. So, so yeah, life's just— life, life has its challenges, but, uh, the Lord is with us and he can help us through. So, um, I don't know what else we're doing. I think it's going to be a rather relaxed weekend. Um, we have the concert on Sunday night, but I pray that anyone listening or reading this message today has a good weekend too. And, you know, really pointed out the importance of setting those boundaries. As much as I want to help people, in the past I would just help everybody whenever they call, whenever they needed me. And, you know, ironically, a lot of those relationships are now over. As much as I made myself available, I was in discipleship relationships with people who didn't know how to spell my name. Or didn't know my address after visiting my house several times. Like, really? Like, I don't know, our relationship was, you know, apparently it didn't, you know, I thought we were in a deeper relationship than that. You wouldn't know how to spell my name. That's why I go by M.t. You know, it's pretty easy to spell that. But yeah, my first name is Mark with a C. And if you spell my name with a K, It sort of tells me that we're not exactly as close as I thought we were. You know what I'm saying? A little disrespect there. A little lack of intimacy there. But I try to make it easy with M.t. Clark, but some people refuse to call me that. But that's okay. I forgive you. And that's what we do in our relationships. We forgive each other for what we don't know and what we don't do, but it does reveal, you know, how deeply we're invested in people or what the relationship's about, where the focus lies—on us or you, you know. So establish those boundaries and value your relationships and let people know you appreciate them. That's it for today, I think. I think we should pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for what you've done in our lives, and we just pray for you to go before us today, to, uh, open our eyes to what you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go. Lord, we pray for anyone listening or reading today's message, that you would come alongside them and their prayer requests, their walk of faith, uh, to empower them and encourage them as they go, and to and to bless them, uh, Lord, because we all need your help. And, um, all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom. So we thank you, Lord, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.