In this devotional sermon, M.t. Clark opens with a photo of a fisherman on a cross‑shaped pier and uses it as a visual metaphor for the Christian’s security in Christ and the often‑unrealized reality of living in God’s kingdom. He repeatedly asks whether believers truly understand that they have been set free in Christ, citing John 16:33, John 8:36, and John 10:10 to underscore the promise of peace, freedom, and abundant life. Clark emphasizes that true freedom is experienced through actively seeking the Lord—through Bible study, prayer, and spiritual disciplines—rather than merely attending church. He shares his role leading the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Star Point Church, noting that consistent attendance and personal application of biblical truth correlate with transformation, while lack of attendance and reliance on quick fixes hinder growth. The sermon references recovery and discipleship resources such as Celebrate Recovery, Freedom in Christ Ministries, Deeper Walk International, and personal testimony of overcoming chronic drunkenness after confronting Galatians 5:19‑21’s list of the acts of the flesh. Clark teaches that bitterness, hatred, and related sins must be repented of and replaced with forgiveness, drawing on counseling references and A.W. Pink’s teaching on the Holy Spirit. He promotes additional discipleship content—Victory Over the Darkness series, podcasts, and online resources—encouraging listeners to surrender, witness, and pursue an abundant, Christ‑centered life. The message concludes with a prayer for seekers to experience God’s guidance, freedom, and joy.
Chapters
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 solitary fisherman on a cross-like fishing pier with the heavens reflected on the surface of the waters that surround him comes to us from Fred Dimick, who captured the scene during his visit to Shar— Cherokee Lake in Murphy, North Carolina on Saturday, October 14th. Well, it's Tuesday, and I guess that's why I see two ways, uh, this photo can visually represent our walk of faith. Okay, it is more of a T than a perfect cross, but first, just like this fisherman is safely held out of the water by clinging to this fishing pier, we are held in the ultimate safety of life everlasting in God's kingdom by clinging to the cross of Jesus. Putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Secondly, from this fisherman's perspective, he is probably completely unaware of the glory of the heavens that he is surrounded by on the surface of the waters. And likewise, this visually represents the fact that we put our faith— when we put our faith in Jesus, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ and are not aware of the fact that we are sitting in the splendor of God's Kingdom right now. The reality that Christians are living in God's Kingdom is often lost on those who it is supposed to benefit the most— Christians. Seeing Christians stuck in their negative mind states, addictions, hurts, habits, and hangups makes me wonder, don't they know? Don't they know what the Lord has done for them? They don't realize they have— don't they realize they have been given eternal life? Don't they know that God's Word and their new life in Christ give them everything they need to overcome the things of the world? Don't they know they have been set free? Don't they believe? Well, here we go. Don't believe me? Believe the words of Jesus. Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 8:36, Jesus said, therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. And Jesus also said in John 10:10, the thief does not come to come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. The Word tells us that Jesus never sinned. And so His words are true, but have you experienced the truth of His words in your life? Do you know, uh, do you, do you have an idea, uh, what it's like to overcome the world? Do you know what it means to be free in Christ? Have you experienced life more abundantly through your faith in Christ? My number one instruction that I give to those I encourage in Christian discipleship is to seek the Lord. Because it is within the process of seeking to know God more, to be in relationship with him, and to apply his will to your life where you will discover the experiential reality of overcoming the world, knowing your freedom in Christ, and living a more abundant life. I currently lead the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Star Point Church, which I use to encourage people in the body of Christ to overcome their hearts, habits, and hangups by asking the Lord to help them to change how they live by using the materials from Christian resources and ministries such as Celebrate Recovery, Freedom in Christ Ministries, and Deeper Walk International to assist them to learn and to apply what the Bible says about who they are in Christ and how to live in freedom and victory. I am blessed to say that in the span of a few months, I have witnessed some real transformation in some of our group members' lives. But at the same time, and in the same group, I have witnessed people stumble, fall, and get back up, and others who have, uh, who have seemed to make— to have made little or no progress at all. But you know what? I am even— I, I'm even encouraged by those who keep showing up and seem to keep struggling, because there are others who have stopped coming at all. And still others who have registered for the group and never come to the meetings. I am not there to judge anyone's progress and only serve the group to encourage people to become overcomers and to experience the freedom and abundant life that God has for them. So what's the difference between those who have found a measure of freedom and victory and those who have seemed to stay stuck or have, or who have stumbled and fallen? Unfortunately, I'm not involved in the intimate details of everyone's lives, so I can't tell you with absolute certainty the reasons why a particular person hasn't overcome. But based on— but let's see, but I can tell you one factor that seems to be consistent attribute of those who seem to be thriving: attendance. The ones who thrive and seem to be transformed have nearly perfect 'perfect attendance.' They show up. They come every week to receive the benefits of the teaching, support, and fellowship that is available through our community. Those who stay stuck, struggle, or who have fallen have less than perfect attendance in common. Beyond their physical presence at our meetings each week, I have observed that those who have been transformed and given the peace and joy of the Lord may not even have perfect attendance, are the ones who seem to have allowed the truth of God's word to enter into their hearts, minds, and lives. They not only believe, but they also seem to be following the Lord, or as I encourage, they seem to be seeking the Lord. While I can't attest to know all the details of the group members' private lives and, and know how, you know, know who has a robust life of private practice of spiritual disciplines, the ones experiencing freedom, victory, and the abundant life in Christ have at one time or another testified to the fact of how they have acted on their faith by either engaging in the study of the Bible, choosing to serve the church in some way, or even simply trusting in prayer. They don't just show up to the meetings. They are showing up in their relationship with God. They seem to be renewing their minds with the truth of God's word and seeking the Lord's presence and purpose in their lives. The ones who have stumbled and fallen or remain stuck seem to doubt more than believe, focus on their problems more than the Problem Solver, and by their own testimony or absence, do little or nothing to act on their faith. They may have expected a quick fix or even worse, don't and don't believe they can be fixed at all. Um, but even among the less than thriving, I have hope that if they keep coming and start to act on their faith, they too will increase in their experience of the goodness of God. So are you seeking the Lord? Uh, through Bible study, prayer, meditating, and changing the way we live to agree with God's word, we seek God's guidance, wisdom, and presence. If we want the freedom and abundant life that God indicates we can have, we have to show up to receive it. We have to form, maintain, and improve our relationship with the Lord by continually seeking him. So keep walking and talking with God, because when you follow him, he will lead you to experience your freedom in Christ and know what it's like to live a life more abundantly. 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 bitterness, resentment, and hate. And today's verses are Galatians 5:19-21. And the word of God says in the NIV: The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy. And drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Today's verses fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on bitterness, resentment, and hate. That third point is: Bitterness belongs to the sinful nature. Today's verses detail the acts of the flesh, of which hatred, dissensions and discord, aka attitudes and actions of bitterness, are clearly listed. This is not the to-do list. This is the "if I do these things regularly, I'm going to hell" list. The conviction of this verse and verses like 1 Corinthians 6:10 caused me to reconsider my lifestyle of periodic and regular drunkenness and to go into recovery permanently back in 2015. My drunkenness would separate me from the Lord? I knew what had to go. The booze. Bye-bye. Similarly, these bitterness attributes: rage, hatred, jealous— jealousy, discord, dissensions, and envy that all make us bitter need to be repented of. If we are walking around with bitterness in our hearts, we have to go into bitterness recovery. As stated many times before, the antidote to anger or bitterness is forgiveness. What we have been given by the Lord should be freely given to others. When we give forgiveness to others, we no longer have the raw materials to build bitterness. So look at your heart, and if you find bitterness there, repent and forgive those who make you bitter. Not only will forgiveness dispel your bitterness, but it will also draw you closer to God as you become more like Jesus. As always, I encourage everyone to go to mt4christ.org, where I 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 A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit as we begin chapter 31, The Spirit Endowing. So if you want to know what the Spirit's endowing means, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see that short section from that book today at the end of today's blog post. Also, you'll see at the end of today's blog post a short encouragement that says join our Victory Over the Darkness: The Bondage Breaker and Freedom in Christ series of discipleship classes via the M.t. for Christ 24/7 podcast. And that's on our YouTube channel as well. Those classes are discipleship classes I taught back in 2021 and they're available for your edification and education and encouragement. They teach you all about who you are in Christ, the spiritual forces of darkness, and how to overcome your spiritual and personal conflicts by going through the steps to freedom in Christ. Those teachings are based on the Word of God and the work of Dr. Neil Anderson of Freedom in Christ Ministries. So, um, They were transformative in my life, and that's why I taught them, and that's why I share them and encourage people to apply those teachings to their lives. Because if you're not experiencing your freedom in Christ, if you're not living the abundant life that Christ wanted you to live, we may have to change some things. We might have to do a little more than just show up to church once a week. A little more than mentally assenting to agreeing with the Word of God and start to seek, seek the Lord in his truth earnestly, to know him more, to, uh, to know the experience of your freedom in Christ as a reality, not just some sort of theological agreement, um, and that's in the built-your-relationship-with-the-Lord If these concepts are strange to you, I definitely encourage you to check out the Discipleship Teachings and to start looking at your life and to surrender it to God. It's an act of surrender, you know, really putting our faith in God is an act of surrender. I learned this morning that the word witness that's used to describe Christians in the book of Acts indicated that people are willing to die, you know, to— the Greek word means one who dies for his faith because that was commonly the price of witnessing, says John's— John MacArthur's commentary based on the word witness in Acts 1:8. Yeah, the Greek word means one who dies for his faith. Are you willing to die for your faith? Christ died for us, and so when we put our faith in Christ, we die to ourselves and become, you know, we can become the people God created us to be. And when we fail to do that, when we fail to walk in faith, that's when we suffer. That's why we have doubts, because we're not living the life we were supposed to live. We're— I hate to say it— hypocrites. That's a tough word because We're all hypocrites to one extent or another because we are not all perfectly following the Lord. It's not about perfection, it's about, but it's about progress and becoming more and more like Jesus as our, as our mission in life. Why? Because we have work to do for the kingdom, um, and the more we're like Jesus, the more successful we'll be in, in, in our purpose in Christ. So I encourage you to surrender and follow the Lord and to seek him and to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance. If not, you know, baptism and blessing. Um, you seek the Lord and you'll be amazed at what you can find. Um, you'll find life everlasting and peace and joy that go beyond your understanding. Anyway, I don't mean to condemn, just to encourage, because believe me, I was as lost as you can possibly have been. Trial and error just pales, you know, fails to really describe what I went through in life before coming to faith in Jesus and surrendering to his will. But now I have the abundance of joy and freedom in Christ, and so much so that I encourage people to know that this is possible for you too. And to encourage you to, to follow the Lord as much as you can with the way you live, because that's where the peace is found, that's where joy is found, in the presence and purposes of the Lord. So let's pray as we run out the door for work. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for all that you've done for us. We thank you for the revelation of truth that keeps coming, uh, as you show more and more about who you are and how you want us to live through your word and through our experiences as we walk, walk through life day to day. We've discovered that you're with us, and where you are, we want to be. So we just pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you would bless them, Lord, to seek you, and that you come alongside them, their, uh, come alongside them and their prayer requests, and and help them in their walk of faith. And while you're at it, Lord, we're praying for you to help us in our walk of faith. Um, we haven't attained anything and we keep seeking you. Um, so we need to know what you want us to know. Um, we need you to show us, uh, the things you want us to see. And we need you to guide us in the way we should go today, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom and show other people the freedom they can have in Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
