Everyone’s a Child at Christmas - A Season of New Beginnings - Purity 1518

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 winding wooden staircase descending to a magnificent beach scene comes to us from the land down under and Dave Bond Photography. Dave shared today's photo on social media yesterday to begin December with a swarm summer vibe, stating that he wouldn't mind kicking back and relaxing on the beach for a few hours. I hear you, Dave. I hear you, brother. Well, it's Monday here in upstate New York, and while today's temperatures are forecasted to be only a couple of degrees above freezing, I'm going to allow that— I am not going to allow The circumstances of the weather dictate my mood. While seasonal affective disorder is a real concern for the denizens of the Northeast, our moods are, are, our moods or emotions are mostly affected by the content of our thoughts. As we share and celebrate freedom each week, when our thought life is out of control, our emotions are generally out of control as well. Learning how to dwell on life-giving thoughts and truth from Scripture is a crucial skill for renewing the mind experiencing peace and maintaining freedom. So in spite of the change, the chilling of the weather, or any disappointments with how November may have went, I am declaring a season of new beginnings on the first Monday of December and am going to focus on the good and do my best to direct my thoughts to dwell on the reason for the season, Jesus Christ, and enter into the days and weeks leading up to Christmas with peace and joy. When I was a kid, I was absolutely, I absolutely was abuzz with the holiday spirit as I anticipated the joy of opening my presents on Christmas morning. And while I know the truth about the presents' origins and the deception I was led into in the name of fun now, it doesn't mean I have to have any less joy at Christmas time now that I know the truth about Santa Claus. In fact, now that I understand what Christmas is really about, the gift of Jesus Christ and the joy of our salvation when we put our faith in him, I have an even better reason to rejoice. Uh, my relationship with God and the full assurance of my acceptance, security, and significance in Christ is the gift that keeps on giving and is far better than any presents under a tree. After we come to faith in Jesus and walk with the Lord a while and, and suffer the ups and downs of life, it could be really difficult to maintain our joy. The things we suffer and the seeming lack of progress in our growth can make us forget how blessed we are. But to recapture our joy over Christmas, over life, over our relationship with God only requires our intention to dwell on the hope, peace, love, and joy that is ours every day when we are in Christ. So I'm entering a season of new beginnings, and I'm going to ignore the references to Santa Claus but agree be with the sentiments in that old Gene Autry Christmas classic, "Everyone's a Child at Christmas." Understanding we are loved by our Heavenly Father and that we are children of God when we put our faith in Jesus can be an unending source of joy for our lives. And so I will be wishing you a Merry Christmas from now until the day we open up our presents under that old Christmas tree. Speaking of the love of God and the joy that it brings, today's In Touch, uh, with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion, uh, addresses the love of God. And so I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to love the Lord and praise his name at this most wonderful time of the year. And Dr. Charles Stanley writes, praise, an expression of love. Spend time today praising God for his abundant love and goodness. Most of us know what it feels like to love someone. We think about him or her often. We share stories and describe attributes so others know how remarkable, remarkable the person is. In a word, we praise the one we love. In the Book of Psalms, that's exactly how David talked about God. His writings are filled with worship and sentiments such as, because your favor is better than life, my lips will 'Praise you,' Psalm 63:3. He also danced with abandon, expressing his passion and devotion before the Lord. He didn't care what others, others would think, and that was in 2 Samuel 6:14. Uh, do we love God with the same enthusiasm David had? Some of us may be less prone to fervent emotional displays than others are, but we should never allow embarrassment or timidity to stifle our praise. The Lord is worthy of acclaim. He is our friend, our rock, and our protector. What's more, he saved us from death. We let ourselves get caught up in others' opinions. We could forget that God's viewpoint is the only one that matters. Ever since creation, the Lord has deserved and received praise offerings. Don't let fear or discomfort keep you from expressing your love and appreciation. How can you glorify him today? And that was all. That's a question mark. How can you glorify him today? And that was from Dr. Charles Stanley. You know, the idea of loving the Lord could challenge us. How do you love God? Surely any efforts on our part to love the Lord would fall short of what he's worthy of. But if we think that way, we think of this: we love God because he first loves us. We didn't have to earn his love. We only have to accept it by putting our faith in Jesus, and after we do that, we should simply walk in the joy and peace of the love we already have. On Sundays, I usually do a Bible study podcast with Arthur Cinkati, who prepares the study. This week, Arthur was traveling, so we took the week off. In the past, when this happened, I would sit down and prepare a study for myself and podcast that. Yesterday I was sluggish and didn't have anything prepared, or more or less decided, and more or less decided to let it go and take a day off from my 24/7 ministry of encouragement. So I spent time praying and reading God's word just for me, enjoying the peace of his presence. In that session, and from the word I read, I understood again that I wasn't accepted by God because of my performance. I have God's love regardless of what I do. Ironically, knowing I didn't have to perform for the Lord, my love for him drove me to do an impromptu study— uh, two podcasts on Romans 3, the text I had read. It was completely unplanned and spontaneous, but I hope that it expressed the simplicity of what Bible study is— just reading and reacting to the word— and the simplicity of our relationship with God. The text highlighted, we were made right with God by faith. We only need to accept God's love through Jesus and live in it. My love for God then sent me to church where I sang his praises without fear or shame. That's a couple of examples of how we love God. We seek his presence through his words and prayer, and we spr— and we respond to it with peace and joy. So think about the love we have received and let his love work through you to give you peace. Tell the Lord you love him. He loves to hear it, and it's the most appropriate thing we can do as his beloved. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis, and this morning's meditation verses come from the section on homosexuality. And today's verses are Genesis 18:20-21 from the New International Version. The word of God says, Then the Lord said, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grievous that I will go down and see, see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know. Today's verses fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on homosexuality. That second point is God condemns Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexuality. It is sin. This, uh, today's Bible verses remind us that our sin causes the Lord grief. Uh, regardless of how much we may have been deceived and have come to identify ourselves by our sinful lifestyles, the truth of God's word convicts us that some things that may feel good and may and feel right aren't right or good for us. Today's passage shows us that God not only is grieved by our sin, but that he will come to us in the depths of the depths of our sins to see it, see it for himself. God knows what we do when we do wrong. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah teaches us that his wrath will be poured out against us unless we repent. So whatever your sin of the flesh is, go to God, confess it, repent of it, and walk with him out of the darkness of your sin into his light and life of righteousness that is made possible through faith in Jesus Christ. As always, we encourage everyone 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 Day by Day Along the Way by Jay Adams. It's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 17. And so, uh, where, where Adams shares a portion of Ephesians 5:15, which says, see to that you are careful about how you walk, not as unwise but as wise. And Jay Adam writes, evidently Paul thought it important to stress the thought and care that needs to be taken if one is to walk wisely. We have already seen that wisdom is the practical use of God's truth in the affairs of life, but to take care, one must determine to see to it that he wisely conducts himself in all that he does. There are many who walk unwisely. Seeing to it means we take care to distinguish wisdom from foolhardiness. You must be able to properly compare and contrast wise and unwise behavior. The Bible is the standard by which you must do so. That which is wise accords with it. That which does not is unwise. How wise are you determined— how wise you are determined to be. How wise are you? Sorry, how wise are you determined to be for Jesus's sake? If you lack wisdom, it is perhaps because you lack an adequate understanding of scripture. Do you study the Bible daily? If not, you are not wise now and will fail to be so in the future. Amen. And there you go. I mean, Jay Adams puts it pretty clearly: our wisdom comes from the word of God. So do we care what the world says? To some extent, yes. But what ultimately matters has to be in accord with what the word of God says. So even though the world will say something is acceptable or right or, you know, fine, if the word of God says it's not, The word of God indicates it's sin. It's something we should not, you know, walk in. To do so would be unwise. And, um, and so the word of God directs us to obey God's law, but most importantly, put our faith in Jesus Christ so we can overcome the power of sin and the grave. It's through faith alone, in Christ alone, that we can, that we can be saved. Be forgiven of our sins and overcome them by walking in the Spirit. And so we encourage walking in the Spirit. So we ask the question every day: Have you fully surrendered to God? Have you put your faith in Jesus? Are you living by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit? We encourage it because the Lord was gracious and revealed himself to us, showed him— showed us the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he led us out of the darkness of our sins, our sexual sin and our sin addiction to alcohol and drugs are a thing of the past, uh, because the Lord led us out of the darkness. And, um, when we follow him, he gives us a hope and a future. And part of my hope and future and my present, quite frankly, is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesdays, Wednesday evenings. Happy to report we had 2 new registrations over the weekend, and, uh, we'll be meeting Wednesday. So we pray that those 2 new registrations will will show up to receive the encouragement and support they need. Ours is a Christian recovery and discipleship group, and we don't fix you, but we give you a place where you can come and walk with the Lord and learn how to live by faith in a new life that's free of your hurts, habits, and hangups. So if you're in the Capital District of New York State, you can show up to our meetings too. They're Wednesdays at Starpoint Church at 6:30. And they're in the K-3, third grade classroom. You can check out more information at, uh, Starpoint Church's website, and you can even register for our group so we'll know you're coming. Um, beyond that, it is the holiday season, so right now I'm doing a support group for men called Grace for the Holidays as we are walking through, uh, Freedom in Christ's Grace Course, um, the original Grace Course, 6 lessons of fun all about God's grace and experiencing it in your life. If you're a man who needs support this holiday season, you can jump on, jump on in and join us this evening by going to mtforchrist.com and registering for the group, uh, through our, um, uh, group events page at mtforchrist.com. And, uh, all our sessions are recorded, so you can join us tonight and catch up on what you missed, uh, previously. We're leaving it open. I'm not sure if I'll have any latecomers, but The door's open to come in if you need it. Beyond that, if you're looking ahead to the new year like I am, you're looking to live in the freedom in Christ, we offer a group for men online Tuesday nights at 6:30 starting on January 7th. You have to go to ficm.org if you want to register for that group. Happy to report that we already have people signed up, so join, join the party before the door is shut. There's only, uh, I only allow so many people in the group, um, And, um, we're beyond the halfway, halfway point, uh, in terms of registration. And there's a— if that wasn't enough, there's a deadline. Um, I believe registration closes on December 10th or December 9th, which is next week. So get it done and get registered so we can encourage you in the new year. Beyond that, if you miss the deadline, you can't get to our groups, uh, wherever we are, we, we know that we— you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. We offer the Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom Discipleship, among many other playlists that you can watch on YouTube to be encouraged in your faith. So we invite you to check out our playlist page on YouTube or go to mtforchrist.com. We got a page with all our playlists listed there. And that's that. But we end every day by asking the question: Are you empty for Christ too? And what does that mean? Well, it just means you're making yourself available to do the will of the Lord in your life, allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and to encourage you. And if you are, well, you know, empty for Christ too, we say good, keep on walking and talking with God. And if not, we encourage you to pray, ask for the Lord to reveal himself to you and to lead you in the way you should go. And because we know prayer makes a difference, we seek the Lord, he will, uh, we will find him. If we ask him for help, we will receive it. Um, so that's why we pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you for the new beginnings of a new month as we enter into the first Monday of December. We're asking, Lord, that you go before us, uh, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us the way we should go, Lord, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom while we're here on Earth. Uh, we need a lot of help with that, Lord. And, um, well, we also ask for you to bless anyone who's reading or listening to today's message. Um, Lord, we pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests, their walk of faith, and to help them too. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.