Generously Sharing God’s Freedom - Purity 960

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 the ice-packed shoreline of Lake Ontario underneath a sunset-painted sky comes to us from Rocco, Rocco Saya of Celestial Blue Photography, who shared this photo from his February 4th trip to the Sterling Nature Center on social media. Commenting that the recent cold temperatures brought with them the first significant ice pack and that the results of the contrast of the ice below and the sunset above was awe-inspiring. Rocco also reported that he had the additional pleasure of experiencing this moment in peaceful solitude, as the forbidding circumstances of the day provided him with the opportunity to have the Sterling Nature Center all to himself. Even though we couldn't have been there with Rocco in the bitter cold to see this scene in the flesh, we benefit from his boldness to go there and his generosity to share with his friends. Thanks, Rocco! Well, it's Tuesday, and just like Rocco, who experienced something fantastic and generously shared it with his friends, I am looking forward to the Freedom in Christ course that I will facilitate on Zoom this evening because I experience something fantastic and seek to be generous by sharing the beauty of what I received, by encouraging the participants of the course to embrace the new life that the Lord gives to everyone who puts their faith in Jesus. All of the men in the course I lead, uh, have received the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, but they come to the Freedom in Christ course to understand how to appreciate what they have in Christ, to grow and mature in their Christian faith, and to establish or deepen their freedom in Christ. These men understand that Christ came to set the captives free and to give them an abundant life, and so they, so they come to the course to know the truth that will set them free or that will make them more mature or fruitful in their faith. These men understand Well, after— sorry, I'm going to repeat the same thing. Um, yeah, more mature in their faith. After I spent most of my life living independently from God and seeking meaning and purpose from the things of this world, the Lord graciously pulled me out of the darkness by revealing me, uh, to me the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then showed me the truth of the freedom and new life that we have when we know who we are in Christ and when we make the decision to follow him with the way we live our lives. But this is more than just following rules or just holding some the— general theological convictions. Our freedom in Christ comes through our relationship with God through his Son, and by knowing experientially, um, that we are his adopted children, that we are connected to the Lord relationally, personally, and have been forever changed by our surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. We are spiritually alive in Christ, but we need to know it and show we know it by living it. The Freedom in Christ course teaches a lot about God, the spiritual forces of darkness, and Christian discipleship in general, but the power of the course comes from the faith that the participants have and in their application of God's wisdom to their lives. The Freedom in Christ course is not an academic course to learn facts and figures. It is a 10-week life-changing discipleship course because it directs the participants to go there, to come boldly before their God honestly, to receive what he has for them. The freedom to be found in the process of the course doesn't come from me. And unfortunately, God doesn't just zap people with a newfound freedom for just signing up. The freedom comes from the participant learning about the truth of reality, the way things really are as revealed to us by God and His word, and choosing to agree with it personally by coming into relationship with the Author of Life through Jesus and by choosing to live for Him and his kingdom. The course isn't just about God, it's about us. And I am excited about tonight's session because the focus will be on the truth of what God has done to those who put their faith in Jesus. When the truth of who we are in Christ is understood in our minds and embraced by our hearts, it changes everything. So tonight and every day, I will seek to be gener— a generous friend by trying to share all that I know about the beauty of a life that is lived with God. That starts the moment we put our faith in Jesus. If your faith hasn't changed you, something is missing. Either your understanding, your heart, your seeking, or your surrender isn't complete. This might sound harsh, but that's on you. Our part is to seek the Lord and to trust him enough to give our lives to him. If we aren't experiencing our freedom in Christ, it's because we have been deceived or because we are holding something back. Although God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness to experience the abundant life of freedom that he has for us, we might not be experiencing it because of our ignorance, our rebellion, our fear, or our unwillingness to surrender all to God. But don't worry, God is gracious, merciful, loving, and patient. He is not going to drag you into anything that you won't, won't freely give. But let me encourage you to start the dialogue with the Lord where you learn to trust him and allow him to help you to receive all that he has for you. That's right, start walking and talking with God. Seek his truth and come discover his abundant love and power that will pour into your life when you wholeheartedly accept what he has done for you and who he has made you to be. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Ephesians 4:29, and the verse says, don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Today's Bible verse encourages us to let everything we say to be good and helpful, to be an encouragement to others. I point out this part of the verse first to combat the tendency of our faith to be turned into a religion of prohibition, a system that points out the things we can't don't or shouldn't do. Christians don't use foul or abusive language, and no, we shouldn't use foul or abusive language. We shouldn't swear or curse. Before I say— before I say we should only say good and helpful things and go on to talk about how life and death are in the power of the tongue, let's pump the brakes and look beyond the tongue or the mouth, and let's discern the heart behind the Apostle Paul's intent with this advice. However we speak, the Apostle Paul is encouraging us to check our hearts and minds here more than to worry about the syllables coming out of our mouth. Christians are to act in love. Christians are made holy by God and are to represent God. Foul or abusive language or actions don't represent the Lord's holiness and love. They don't result in the fruit of the Spirit of peace, love, and joy. So we should, we should repent and turn from these foul, abusive, and unprofitable ways that we were, uh, that we were well-versed in before coming to Christ. Instead, we are to be encouragers. We are to show God's love by being good. A fruit of the Spirit, and helpful to encourage people to know the Lord and his ways of peace. So certainly know the content of today's verse and practice it, but don't fall into the trap of the enemy to reduce your faith to the dos and don'ts of behavior that will fill you with conceit when you are successful and that will condemn and shame you when you, you are less than perfect. Uh, our actions or speech don't determine who we are. God defines us, and our performance, good or bad, does not change our relationship to God when we put our faith in Jesus. So represent the kingdom of God by trying to show God's love in the way we speak to and treat one another, but never fall into the trap of judging yourself righteous or condemned because of slip of the tongue. 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 A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God, and, uh, today we continue in chapter 5, the never-ending chapter on the sovereignty of God in reprobation. And A.W. Pink's text now considers a number of passages that are often quoted with the purpose of showing that God has not fitted certain vessels to destruction or ordained certain ones to condemnation. So, yeah, like some theological strains basically say that, you know, he selects some people to be saved and some people to go to hell. And so, uh, A.W. Pink is going to share verses that shows that he doesn't necessarily, you know, consign, uh, people to hell. Um, so if you'd like some biblical, um, teaching, uh, to, to assure you that he doesn't necessarily, um, you know, God doesn't necessarily, uh you know, make people damned. Go to, go to thetforchrist.org and check out what A.W. Pink has to say about that based on the word of God. As always, we stand in the truth of what the word, the word of the Lord says, not in how we feel or how we behave. We stand by the truth of of God's word, and that's where we find our self-worth, through the Lord and his truth. And so we encourage people to know what the word of God says, what it means about you and your position, your relationship with him. And, um, and to try to come into agreement with what the word of God says, to, to, to first of all come to peace with the Lord by By being convinced that Jesus is the Savior, He is the Messiah, and that it was through Him alone that we're saved. That's the big lesson of the Bible. And then by, you know, after coming into faith, to experience the abundant life of freedom that comes from that knowledge of God's grace and through the actions of living out our lives of faith here on the earth. Earth, to be encouragers and not to abuse people and to speak foul language. When we do that, when we walk in the Spirit by knowing the truth of the Word and following the Lord's guidance and the way we should live our lives, we find the fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives. Our connection to God is stronger. It's not interrupted by our sins, and we're not, we're not lost in condemnation when we, um, know who we are and we, we, we seek to follow the Lord out of the love we have for him, what he's done for us. So we encourage people to, you know, discover their freedom in Christ. And, well, I didn't sign up for this Freedom in Christ course. Um, well, The good news is, if you're listening to this podcast, you have access to everything. You have access to our previous teachings that we've done for Victory Over the Darkness, the Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ, which are the discipleship courses that are all based on the Word of God and the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson's. And I recorded them so you could learn and be Encouraged on our podcast and our YouTube channel. So they're available to you, and we encourage you to check those out to really experience your freedom in Christ. It's a great way to seek the Lord and his truth and the, the life that he has, has for you. So we encourage that. And as we stated, we encourage Bible study. We share a Bible study that we do every week with Arthur and Susanna Sankhadi and wife sits in too. So if you wanted to, to watch or listen to us, you'll find all our Bible studies under the general heading of Bible Study with the Sincaidis. Last week we did one called Bound by Freedom. So if you want to see what we had to say about that topic and what the Word of the Lord has to say and how— what passages we drew out of the Word of God in our discussion discussions. Go to the M.t. for Christ 247 podcast or the M.t. for Christ 247 YouTube channel and check them out. Well, it's Tuesday. I'm on the road in Syracuse, and I've adapted pretty well to the new routine. I'm not running as late this morning, and I'm, I'm at peace with what we are and what we're doing. I'm fully surrendered to the training that my employer has signed me up for, and we're gonna make the best of the situation. And that's what we do in life. As Christians, we seek to come into harmony with all that we experience because we know who we are in Christ, and we can have peace that goes beyond understanding. Peace of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is our strength. And so let's, let's walk in it as we pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you for all that you do for us, Lord, for who you made us to be, and for, for giving us the new life that comes through faith in your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for anyone who might be listening or reading today's message. Lord, that you would come alongside them and their prayer requests and bless them as they go, uh, and help them with their walk. Lord, as always, we pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things that you want us to see and to lead our steps into the things you would have us do. Lord, all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom. And even though we know we won't be able to do it perfectly, we know that when we keep walking and talking with you that you will be there to, to guide us along the way. Well, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.