Freedom in Christ Prayer Minister - Purity 1487

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm 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 maple tree displaying an array of autumn colors between pines and over a forest stream comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this scene on social media on October 20th, 2021. This hiking memory is yours. Let us know and we will photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Saturday, and as much as I might relish the idea of taking a hike to see some fall forest and draw into the peace of God's creation, uh, today the Lord has called me to make a different journey, uh, today, as I will be leading a fellow traveler on the path of Christian discipleship through the Steps to Freedom in Christ this morning. Uh, so pray for me and this brave soul as we will be going to God in prayer to ask for his help to resolve the spiritual conflicts of this man's past. Um, the Steps to Freedom in Christ is a prayerful repentance process that covers 7 areas of, of our lives: the occult, false religions, uh, or false religions, pride, truth, rebellion, sin, ancestral sins, and unforgiveness that can cause us to in conflict with God's word and, uh, will for our lives, and the enemy can use them to keep us stuck in sin, bondage, and torment. The Steps to Freedom in Christ gives us a framework to go to God in prayer, to confess sins, renounce any sinful involvements or lies we have believed, break soul bonds and curses, and commit ourselves to follow the Lord and to walk in the freedom we have and should experience in Christ. God used this process to set me free, and I now consider sharing it with others as a part of my purpose for living. Uh, unfortunately, many people who call themselves Christians don't really know what it means to have a relationship with God, and even fewer know that God can set them free from sin and negative mind states. I know I didn't, so I feel compelled to speak, uh, the message and do the work of a Freedom in Christ Prayer Minister And sometimes that means you spend your off hours on a Saturday leading people through the steps rather than going out for a hike. But that's okay. Uh, the joy I receive from doing the Lord's work and helping to set the captives free more than makes up for any time spent away from earthly leisure time pursuits. If you don't know what it means to be free in Christ, I recommend that you sign up for an online course at Freedom in Christ Ministries. Um, uh, or check out some of their free resources to learn about who you are in Christ and how you can go to God to radically transform your life. Registration for, uh, Freedom in Christ Ministries 2025 courses is now open, and I am happy to announce that I am once again, uh, will be leading another Freedom in Christ course for men on Tuesday evenings in 2025, beginning on January 7th. Uh, and, uh, my classes will be at 6:30 PM Eastern time, and they begin— they'll be beginning on January 7th. So you can register now, uh, on the— I've included a link on the blog this morning so you can go and see all the courses, and mine would be the men's course for Freedom in Christ at 6:30 PM Eastern time. Uh, the Steps to Freedom in Christ is just one way that the Lord has used, uh, has used to help Christians to experience transformation. Living a life with joy and peace is possible for every person who has put their faith in Jesus Christ. If you aren't experiencing a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit, we encourage you to seek the Lord, ask him for help, and to walk in the Spirit to find the abundant life of joy, peace, and love that Christ has for you. Short message today. Uh, anyway, uh, that brings us to today's Bible verse, which is brought to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on friendships, and today's verse is from Proverbs 27:6 from the New American Standard Bible. The word of God says, faithful are the words of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Today's verses, uh, verse— today's verse is the second of two passages that fall under the sixth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on friendships. And that sixth point is: a true friend is one who may hurt you at times for your good. Today's verse, uh, Bible verse speaks about goodness coming from pain and pleasure being used for evil. Uh, the pleasures of sin, although enjoyable, are not worth it. Um, giving into the lust of the flesh may feel good, but they are rebellion against God's word and will for our lives, uh, because they separate us from him, lead to bad consequences here on earth, and cause us to fall into bondage. Those, uh, thus those kisses from the enemy may seem sweet, but they are only covering up the big lie that sin is not good for you and leads to death. On the contrary, the hard truths from scripture spoken to us by friends may cause us pain as it hurts our pride and rebukes our foolish actions, but they are considered faithful, uh, because they will lead us to truth, repentance, and healing. So even if it hurts your pride or takes you away from sinful pleasures, listen to the words of a fa— of faithful friends whose words will lead you out of the darkness and into the light of God's truth and peace. 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 our walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word by Stephen F. Alford, and in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture every day Um, actually twice a day. Um, and today's chapter is Revelation 8:1, uh, Revelation 8, and he shares a portion of verse 1 which says, when he opened the seventh seal. And Stephen Alford writes, this chapter, like the many to come, reveals a portion of what is actually going to take place on Earth when God judges the rebellious people. The writer to the Hebrews tells his readers two things in particular about God in one of the— oh, one of the chapters. First, that God is a consuming fire. His holiness and righteous judgment on all sin demands this aspect of his nature, and thus it is not remarkable that such a chapter as this is written to illustrate our best— or better demonstrate what God is going to do with, with and among those who deliberately leave him out of their lives now. Secondly, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. This, of course, is a judicial hand. And Alfred ends by praying, I do praise you, Father, that I will never have to be judged for sin. Amen. Amen. Yeah, the Book of Revelation talks about judgment on the earth, and those who don't stand with Christ don't do so well.. And although we'll be— we'll be— we will be held accountable for everything we say and do by the Lord, um, and if you believe in Christ, if you put your faith in Jesus, um, you won't be judged for them. Um, your sins will be forgiven, and the judgment that'll be made from your life will be in terms of what rewards you receive, not what punishments you get. Punishments for the unbeliever and those who reject Jesus Christ, not for his children. And thus Alfred can, you know, easily pray that he'll never have to be judged for sin because his sin's been covered by Jesus Christ's blood. And that's the great, the great benefit of our faith is that we receive eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. And, um, this should cause us to love the Lord and to want to follow him. And thus, every day we ask the question: Have you, uh, fully surrendered to God now that you've received the new life in Christ and forgiveness of sins? Are you following him? Um, we encourage you to do that because otherwise you are conflicted and have to go through processes like the Steps to Freedom in Christ to get free. Um, because when we leave sin in our lives and don't follow God's will for us, the enemy comes in to torment us. Accuse us, condemn us, and attempt us again to do it all over again, that vicious cycle. And so we encourage a life of faith, um, where you, you know, follow where the Lord leads, um, and leads to freedom, peace, and purpose. And, uh, you know, that's what we discovered, uh, as part of our purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group on Wednesday evenings at Starpoint Church. It's for Christian recovery and discipleship, is available to anybody in Upstate New York, uh, that can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night. Um, if, if that's, if that's you, we invite you to come out, um, so you can learn how to walk in the spirit and overcome those hurts, habits, and hangups that keep you stuck. Um, that's Wednesdays in the Upstate New York. Um, for those who aren't available on Wednesdays in the Upstate New York, um, you know, very soon we'll be launching, uh, a new set of, uh, teachings basically. Well, it'll be a group of sorts, uh, we're calling it Grace for the Holidays, as we'll be reviewing material from the Grace course from Freedom in Christ Ministries, and just getting together to, you know, summarize, uh, what the Grace Church teaches and to try to put it in terms of a holiday context of getting ready for Thanksgiving and, and getting ready for Christmas, as we'll be, um, meeting on the 18th of November through December 23rd. Uh, if you're interested in joining our group and learning about grace, um, we encourage you to go to m.t. for christ.com to the group event page and, um, sign up. Uh, basically give us your name and information and we'll get you registered and signed up for it. So, uh, it'll be 6 weeks of, you know, Christian life coaching, discipleship group, uh, support, you know. So we encourage you to check that out. That's online. Um, but, uh, if you're not available Monday nights, we, we do believe that you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by simply joining one of our podcast classes that are on the YouTube channel, uh, under our playlist you can find classes for Bondage Breaker, Victor Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and Celebrate Freedom Discipleship Course. Um, basically they're all available to you for free on YouTube. Um, you know, we can't be free if we don't know how, and these, these classes are here to, you know, teach about who you are in Christ and how to overcome, um, the enemy. Anyway, And we always end by asking, are you empty for Christ too? Being empty for Christ simply means being available for the Lord to do work in your life, to let the Holy Spirit come in and guide your life. And, um, we just— and if that's you, we say keep on walking and talking with God. But if you don't know what I'm talking about, we just simply ask you to pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you and to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. And you'll have the Holy Spirit come in and really begin to guide you and, uh, to move you through this life according to God's will, not your own. Um, that'll lead to freedom and peace. So we encourage all of that. Um, yeah, so we got the big freedom appointment coming up in a couple of hours, and so we're gonna just pray and get it done. So let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you so much for all you've done for us, Lord. We pray for today's freedom appointment, Lord, that you'd work through me and work through the process to help this man, uh, overcome, uh, the hurt and traumas of the past and to break any bonds that are holding them back for everything you have for them, Lord. We just pray for you to be with us today with that. We also pray for you to be with anyone who's reading or listening to today's message. Lord, inspire them to follow you, and, uh, we ask for you to come alongside them in their prayer requests as well, because we all need your help, Lord, and, um, we're asking for it today, Lord. So, uh, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.