In this episode of the MT for Christ 247 podcast, host M.T. Clark opens with a photo of a Misty Mountain sunrise and announces the start of “Freedom Season,” a men’s “Freedom in Christ” course he is leading despite battling pneumonia. He recounts the logistical challenges of the first session, the diverse backgrounds of the nine participants, and his prayer for the group’s growth. Clark then shares a devotional on “delighting in the Lord,” drawing on Charles Stanley’s definition of delight and urging listeners to commit their ways to God. He reads 1 John 1:7, emphasizing the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood, and reflects on his own Catholic upbringing, his earlier misunderstanding of the blood of Christ, and how the gospel’s message of grace transformed his view. The conversation shifts to a study of Titus 1, highlighting Paul’s instructions to rebuke false teachers and the importance of church order. Clark promotes his various YouTube podcast classes (Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, Victory Over the Darkness, Celebrate Freedom) and invites listeners to local recovery/disciple groups such as Celebrate Freedom at Starpoint Church. Throughout, he intersperses personal testimony, theological exposition, and calls to action, concluding with a prayer for bold rebuke of unfaithful believers and an invitation for listeners to seek freedom in Christ.
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Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 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, um, watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of an incredible Misty Mountain sunrise comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this view from atop Panther Mountain, uh, Panther Top Mountain near Murphy, North Carolina, on social media back on August 28th. Well, it's Wednesday. As I share Fred's photo as a visual reminder of our arrival to another midweek summit— happy hump day— I am rejoicing over the official beginning of freedom season as the men's Freedom in Christ course that I lead as a volunteer for Freedom in Christ Ministries kicked off last night, uh, despite still being sidelined from my day job with pneumonia and battling chest and sinus congestion, rolling waves of fever, and bouts of exhaustion. The Lord provided me with enough healing and strength last night to keep things lively and encouraging as I did my best to establish a community of the Christian band of brothers as I simultaneously delivered my testimony and the introductory session material on why we believe the Bible to 9 men from all across the, uh, the USA, one of which was faithful enough to attend the meeting from outside our Zoom circle, uh, by being dialed indirectly in through my cell phone, uh, call on my cell phone. It was a mess. Anyway, when I was— while I never want to leave a man behind, there was a communication technology problem that I couldn't immediately resolve at the beginning of the group. Uh, it was an email issue, but rather than being offended, this gentleman agreed to hold the line on my cell phone and just, and listen in because he was just, he was just as fired up for freedom season as I was. Uh, as I later learned, the man on the phone had been through the Steps to Freedom in Christ over 10 times in the past but was attending the group because he, even though he knew how they could be used to help Christians get free, he didn't have the confidence to proactively offer to disciple and lead anyone through them himself, um, something we won't be encouraging him to do in earnest. Uh, the group was, uh, had a mix of varying degrees of experience with struggles that are common to man that keep us stuck. Um, they had degrees of differences with their exposure to Christianity and their exposure to the teachings of, um, Dr. Neil Anderson. But although Some were relatively inexperienced and others were seeking to learn to be better equipped to help or teach others about freedom in Christ. I got a real sense of community forming, and it is my prayer that the Lord will use our gatherings to bring us all closer to him and to becoming the men that he created us to be. By evening's end, I was covered in sweat because of the pneumonia or because of the stress of having one group member lost in space.
I'm not sure.
But I was delighted over being able to do what I do, um, that I was able to share my testimony and share the Freedom in Christ message that with God, freedom, healing, and overcoming are possible once again to 9 other men who seemed willing to answer the disciples' call to come and see what the Lord could do for them when they start walking and talking with him. Um, today's In Touch devotional talks about finding our delight in the Lord, so I'm sharing it on the blog today. And Dr. Charles Stanley writes, uh, Delighting in the Lord, um, I believe is the title. The word delight— and Dr. Charles Stanley writes, the word delight means to gain great satisfaction and happiness. Wouldn't you like that to, to describe your relationship with God? Good news, he wants that kind of relationship with each of us, and it develops when When we commit our ways to God, this means that we invite the Lord to examine our desires and intentions and to change whatever does not fit his purpose for our life. Trust him. Who is more worthy of our faith than the Father who gave Jesus Christ to save sinners? The one who would not spare his only godly Son will certainly provide all that his children need.
Romans 8:23— 8: 32.
Um, then rest in the Lord. When we fret, we are neither committing ourselves to the Lord nor trusting in him. Because our human viewpoint is limited, waiting patiently isn't easy. God, however, has infinite wisdom and knows when circumstances are perfectly aligned for his will to be done. Through a growing relationship with the Lord, um, Though a growing relationship with the Lord can involve hard work, it is a labor of love. We are designed to derive joy and fulfillment from being in God's presence.
Walking alongside a Father who adores us is the greatest pleasure we can experience in life. Charles Stanley. And, uh, I say amen to that. And, you know, upon the disciples' return from their first, uh, missionary journeys where they went out two by two, Um, Jesus told them, you know, to rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And we should never lose sight— lose our delight over our salvation and new relationship with the Lord as his beloved children.
So let's delight in him as we seek to demonstrate our love for God by committing our ways to his way, trusting him, and continually finding rest for our souls in his presence. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruz. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on the forgiveness of sins, and today's verse is 1 John 1:7, uh, which says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. Today's verse falls under the 17th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sin, and that 17th point is: The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Today's verse tells us that the blood of Jesus— it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us of our, of our sins. Um, I have to admit that even though I was raised in the Catholic Church and knew that I quote unquote knew, um, that Jesus died for our sins, that we— and that we drank wine at the communion to remember his sacrifice, and that the wine represented his blood.
Yeah, I don't think transubstantiation, that in the Catholic faith the elements mysteriously become the actual body and blood of Jesus, was either fully understood or accepted by second grade me.
Um, I remember being— so I didn't know, you know, I, I knew those things about the blood. Uh, I, I do remember this. I remember being distinctly freaked out as a wayward adult by all the focus on the blood when my stepdaughter Jeanette got born again while at her father's in Florida one summer and came back with Christian CDs that seemed packed with songs about the blood, the blood, the glorious blood of Jesus. Honestly, I was grossed out by how, by how they could be happy and be singing about Jesus's blood being spilled for us. Weren't they ashamed like I was that Jesus had to die for us? But I didn't understand grace and salvation by faith alone. In my old tradition, Jesus's death was more, more of an incidental tragedy that Jesus didn't have to die if we could have all just been good and followed his example. But he spoke the truth and the world hated him and he had to kill him. And so now we had to try to be like him because Jesus died for us and He was God, and if we want to be with God, we had to try to live a sinless life, otherwise we were going to hell.
Um, but that was all wrong.
The reason Christians can rejoice over the blood of Jesus is because it was shed to save us, and it does save us and cleanses us from our sins. Born-again Christians aren't happy Jesus died and had to bleed. They are happy because they look past the pain and sacrifice to see the salvation it brought to those who were without hope. And to the God who loved them so much to die for them. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, past, present, and future, and there is no condemnation for those in Christ, and his blood made it so. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights and, um, insights, yeah, 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 Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture. Today's chapter is Titus 1, and from Titus 1, he shares a portion of verse 13, which says, 'Repuke them sharply.' And Stephen Alford writes, 'Like the epistle to Timothy, this letter is an epistle to Titus,' uh, giving teaching on the order, ordination, and organization in the church. Titus was a young man. He was not as retiring and nervous as Timothy. In fact, he was of a more earnest, enthusiastic temperament. He was just the man for the Cretans and Corinthians to whom he was sent. The Cretans in particular were always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons, and it was among such people that Titus ministered for God. Paul, however, was confident in this young man of God and told him to go with all the authority of the Lord. No one was to despise his youth. He was to rebuke sharply if need be.
And Stephen Alford ends in prayer: Oh Lord, let me be worthy of a similar power for you.
Amen. Amen, Lord, let me sharply rebuke people.
Um, uh, with wisdom, um, if necessary.
And I think a lot of people, you know, in today's society, I think a lot of people are, uh, you know, worthy of rebuke.
But, uh, we'd have to make sure they were like faithful Christians, um, or at least claiming to be Christian, which in our Western society isn't too, uh, common. People aren't too, um, you know, unless they're actually trying to follow the Lord. People aren't really concerned with following the Lord. And, you know, if you say you're not doing what the Lord says you should do, I don't really care. And the reason why is because they don't understand God's grace like me. Um, they either don't want to believe because of the implications that, you know, they'll be judged for their sins. Um, so it's, it's just best to say I don't believe in God at all and I don't believe in religion.
Or, or they believe there is a, you know, immaterial God somewhere, some mystical force that'll, that'll, you know, say they're more, more good than bad and, and be in a decent place, or they'll exit, you know, blink out of existence.
Something where there's either a good consequence or no consequence, um, for the way we live our lives. And, um, I get it because I was there. Um, I didn't understand, and, uh, that's what I did when I understood about sin. Um, I realized that, uh, I couldn't make it for myself, and I, you know, didn't really want to stop or see any reason to. Um, but after I got saved, it was like, yeah, um, God gave me this incredible gift, and I want to—
I want to know him more, and I want to be like—
be like him and, um, do his will. And so that's what happened to me.
And so we asked the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Um, After I understood the grace of the Lord and that all my sins would be forgiven, and when I put my faith in Jesus Christ and the shed blood of Jesus would cleanse me from all my sins, um, I surrendered.
Um, you know, I, I, um, I decided to follow the Lord, and he's made all the difference in my life, and he's really transformed it. And so that's why we do the podcast and blog and the ministry stuff we do. And as we followed him, we've discovered, you know, amazing things and, uh, the freedom that we, we teach about at places like Celebrate Freedom, uh, the support group that meets this evening in Clifton Park, um, at Starpoint Church.
I'm down with pneumonia, so I won't be there this evening, but our team will be there to deliver the message and encourage you to walk in the spirit.
And it's for Christian recovery and discipleship.. And, um, you know, the doors will be open at 6:30, and we encourage you to go, go get, um, uh, encouragement there tonight. Uh, for those not in the Capital District, um, we offer, you know, you to—
we encourage you to find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on the YouTube. Um, um, basically we've done classes for Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, Victory Over the Darkness, and the Celebrate Freedom discipleship course that made up.
Um, so, and we have other playlists as well, so go to playlist and see what we got out there, uh, on our YouTube channel. And, uh, it'll all be Christian material that we believe is, uh, you know, edifying. So we encourage you to check that out.
As you know, these, these teachings, um, are like our highest viewed, uh, stuff on the YouTube channel. It's probably the reason why we continue to do a YouTube thing, uh, because Um, people are out there and they're searching and they're finding stuff, and how much they learn or how much they don't learn, you know, we don't know.
But, um, we're putting it out there to give glory to God. Anyway, we ask the question as always, um, are you empty for Christ too?
If so, great, keep on walking, talking with God.
If not, just do a prayer, um, ask the Lord to reveal himself to you. And, um, follow in the way that he leads you. Because if you seek him, you will find him, and when you find him, it'll be good. Um, yeah. And so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you so much for all you do for us, Lord. Lord, we thank you for the healing that you brought us thus far. We're praying for complete healing, Lord. And, um, we're praying for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that they would, um, find healing and freedom as well, um, Lord, because this life isn't easy and we definitely need your truth and we need your love and, um, we need your direction of what to do with this life. Lord, we pray for you to come alongside all of us today and open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go. Because, uh, we just want to represent and follow you, Lord. We need your help. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
