Doing Your Part, Showing Up, and Successful Christian Living – Purity 1240

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 an amazing ethereal blue sky over a stretch of gravel road leading to a lighthouse in the Pacific Ocean in the distance comes to us from Christopher Oswald, who shared this epic scene on social media after his visit to the Point Calibro— Cabrio Lighthouse Museum in Mendocino, California back on December 23rd, 2023. Well, it's Friday and I am excited because, Lord willing, I'll be reunited with my beloved wife Tammy Lynn at the day's end. But I am also excited because I just sent out an email to the 11 men from all over the country and one in Canada that I will be leading through the Freedom in Christ course to encourage them to do their part and to show up to Monday's Zoom meeting. Like any endeavor, you get out what you put into it. And when you do your part and show up in the pursuit of a deeper relationship with God and in seeking your freedom in Christ, God is faithful to meet you there and to bless you. In my preparations for the Freedom in Christ course and my 10-week Advanced Encourager training class with FICM, uh, I have been reviewing Neil Anderson's Discipleship Counseling and have been blessed by being reminded of all that the Lord has done for us when we put our faith in Christ, and by Anderson's practical advice on how to apply the truth of who we are in Christ to our lives. Reviewing Anderson's work reminds me of how The Bondage Breaker and going through the Steps in Freedom in, uh, in Christ led me to experience my freedom in Christ. And to, and to go to FICM's Community Freedom Ministry University to become a trained encourager or community freedom ministry associate with FICM to put me on this path where I can help men go to God to learn experientially who they are in Christ and to resolve their spiritual and personal conflicts through the steps I am blessed by the opportunity to help others, but am positively amazed by how the Lord continues to help me to grow and mature in my faith and to increase my freedom. God is so good, and I am so grateful for Neil Anderson's work that has helped me. Just this morning, my email from FICM delivered the following short devotional teaching from Anderson, and I just have to share it. Anderson writes on successful Christian living, and he shares Galatians 5:1, which says we are to grow up in all aspects into him. Ephesians 4:15, and it was for free— well, yeah, no, sorry, he shares two verses and they're right one right after the other, my apologies. We are to grow up in all aspects into him, Ephesians 4:15, and it was for freedom that Christ set us free, Galatians 5:1. Um, yeah, I gotta separate those two. There we go. Um, and Neil Anderson writes about those verses, there are two concepts that determine the victory and fruitfulness of a Christian. The first concept is maturity. Paul wrote, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 14:15 and 13. God has given us everything we need to grow to maturity in Christ. 2 Peter 1:3. But Satan is opposed to our maturity and will do anything he can to keep us from realizing who we are and what we have in Christ. We must experience victory over, the dark side before we can fully mature. The second concept of the successful Christian life is freedom. Paul declared, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a lo— yoke of slavery." That's Galatians 5:1. This verse not only assures us that God wants us free, but also warns us that we can lose our freedom by returning to the law. Before we received Christ, we were slaves to sin, but because of Christ's work on the cross, sin's power over us has been broken. Satan has no right of ownership or authority over us. He is a defeated foe, but he is committed to keeping us from realizing that. He knows he can block your effectiveness as a Christian if he can deceive you into believing that you are nothing but a product of your past, subject to sin, prone to failure, and controlled by your habits. As long as he can confuse you and blind you with his dark lies, you won't be able to see the chains which once bound you are broken. You are free in Christ, but if the devil can deceive— if the devil can deceive you into believing you're not, you won't experience the freedom which is your inheritance. I don't believe in instant maturity, but I do believe in instant freedom, and I have seen thousands of people set free by the truth. Once a person is free, you would be amazed at how quickly he or she matures. And Anderson offers this little prayer: Lord, I rejoice that it was for my freedom that you came to set me free. Remind me today to walk in your freedom. That was from the good doctor, uh, Neil Anderson. So don't let the enemy deceive you. You can experience your freedom pretty quickly when you agree with what God says about who you are in Christ and decide to start living according to your born-again identity. But you have to do your part by believing it and showing up by living according to it. So do your part and show up. God will meet you, uh, when you step out in faith, and he will guide you in the way you should go to new levels of freedom, victory, peace, love, and joy. Keep walking and talking with God, and he will bring you there. 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 Comfort, and today we're sharing John 10:27-29. And the words of Jesus say, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I see them— I, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. Today's verses are the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the tenth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on comfort. And that tenth point is: Jesus, the Good Shepherd, died for his sheep. He knows, leads, and protects each one. He gives us eternal security. Today's verses impress upon us that there is great safety when we decide to follow the Good Shepherd. These words from Jesus tell us that we will never perish, that He will give us eternal life, and that nothing and nobody can separate us, or snatch us away, from God's love. Eternal security is a thing. Assurance of salvation is a thing. But here is the thing to give us those things. We have to put our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and follow Him. If you know God and Jesus, you will listen to the Good Shepherd's voice and follow Him. You will reap the benefits of eternal security and the fruit of the Spirit. So listen to His voice, walk in the Spirit, and rejoice over being safe and alive in Christ. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, 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 God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And today's message for January 5th is called Morning by Morning He Wakens Me. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, Every new morning is a new beginning of our life. Every day is a completed whole. The present day should be the boundary of our care and striving. It is long enough for us to find God or lose God, to keep the faith or fall into sin and shame. God created day and night so that we might not wander boundlessly, but already in the morning may see the goal of the evening before us. As the old sun rises new every day, so the eternal mercies of God are new every morning. To grasp the old faithfulness of God anew every day, every morning, to be able in the middle of life to begin a new life with God daily, that is the gift that God gives with every new morning. Not fear of the day, not the burden of work that I have to do, but rather the Lord we Awakens me. So says the servant of God. Morning by morning he wakens me, wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. That's from Isaiah 54:4. God wants to open the heart before it opens itself to the world. Before the ears— ear hears the innumerable voices of the day, the early hours are the time to hear the voice of the Creator and Redeemer. God made the stillness of the early morning for himself. It ought to belong to God. Then the next section, uh, is, is from Bonhoeffer's book Life Together. And Bonhoeffer writes this: Because intercession is such an incalculably great gift of God, we should accept it joyfully. The very time we give to intercession will turn out to be a daily source of new joy in God and in the Christian community. For most people, the early morning will prove to be the best time. We have a right to this time even prior to the claims of other people, and we may insist upon having it as a completely undisturbed, quiet time despite all external difficulties. That's from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. Um, and finally, they do share, uh, the verse Isaiah 50:4 And the Word of God says, the Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with the word. Morning by morning he wakens me, he wakens, wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. And that completes our sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's God Is in the Manger for January 5th. Um, and, um, you know, Bonhoeffer is pointing to quiet time. The morning belongs, you know, his mercies are new every morning. So what should we do in the morning? We should rise early and practice gratitude by thanking the Lord for a new day and our life that has continued through the night and the blessings that he's given us in Christ. And then we should pray for other people. That's the intercession he talks about. And, and for ourselves, you know, we can pray for ourselves. And we should, you know, reflect on his voice, his word. You know, we're listening as those who are taught, as Isaiah said, you know, because we want to learn. We're disciples of Christ. You know, we have to hear his voice in order to, you know, take his wisdom and, you know, live according to it. So just, you You know, I just love the way these messages, you know, sort of play out. I don't really do a whole lot of planning with them, and I just sort of want to put out an encouraging word every day for people who want to follow Jesus every day of their life. And the Lord provides again and again and again. I just pull up, you know, I speak about what I've experienced from following the Lord, and I share the information that I, I've, you know, had put before me by other, um, you know, men and women from the body of Christ, you know, Christian counselors and theologians that, you know, have studied the word and, you know, tell us what it means and how you can apply that, you know, to this thing called life. Um, you know, it's— and when you do that, it's an amazing, uh, an amazing journey, uh, because God changes everything and he makes all things new. So keep on walking and talking with God, and you can see what happens. And, you know, talk about, you know, this is about full surrender. You know, that's why the ministry is M.t. for Christ, and not just because my initials are M.t., but it's supposed to be empty, as in to empty ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the good life that God has for us. And when we do that, you know, we get, you know, when we walk by the Spirit, we get filled filled with the fruit of the Spirit. And, uh, it's a good, good life. Um, you know, we might not always— you know, we might suffer and suffer loss and persecution for our belief in Christ, but, uh, the abiding peace that God gives you goes beyond all understanding. And that's why I continue to, you know, throw out a message every day as much as I can. To encourage people to follow him and to know who you are in Christ and experience your freedom. So if you follow me on Facebook, Sue Huber is actually doing— our national coordinator at FICM is doing a course, and apparently she's got spots because she's offering them up. So go to Facebook and seek out Sue Huber, or go to FICM and try to connect with Sue and and see about jumping in her class because she said she'd be taking people up until January 7th. So, there must be spots available. Her and her husband are leading a Freedom in Christ course. So, you're there. My class is closed. But, if the ward wants somebody in, they would work through Sue to make that happen. So, I don't know. There was the possibility of one other person. Being out there. And I demurred, but I said, you know what, pray about it, and if you feel led to put them in my class, you know, do that. Because I don't want my will to be done, I want God's will to be done. So, and sometimes, you know, what we say is, you know, born out of fear or something, and God has got a different— God wants you to go through stuff sometimes. Take you out of your comfort zone or cause you to go through a dry and dark season in your life to, uh, to be closer to him and to grow. So keep on walking and talking with God, see where he takes you. Well, it's Friday, and I want to pray and move along into the, the new day with the hope that I have in Jesus. So let's, let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you so much for the freedom that you've given us um, through your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the new life that we're assured of, that we have in Christ. Lord, we pray for anyone listening, that they'd be encouraged in their faith and that you'd come alongside them in their prayer request, in their walk of faith, to help them, Lord. And Lord, we pray that for us too. We pray for you to go before us like you do, set things up and 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 to the best of our abilities, and we desperately need your help for that. So Lord, we just, uh, we pray for you to help us today. And Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.