God Won’t Drag You Kicking and Screaming into A Transformed Life– Purity 1087

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 sun shining through the tops of the trees lining us— lining the sides of a forest pathway going into the distance comes to us from a presently unknown Facebook friend who shared the scene from a recent hike in upstate New York, I'm fairly certain, on social media back on or around June 3rd. If this is your photo and you would like credit, give me a heads up and I'll update the blog post after the fact. Other than my faulty recollections, I am also hobbled by an inconsistent internet connection that has limited my ability to confirm what I think I know. I have two suspects in mind for today's photographer, but I can't confirm or deny either one. I have been known to be— to have gone on wild goose chases before looking for friends whose photos I have saved and forgotten about later. A massive thunderstorm blew through my neck of the woods Tuesday night, causing downed trees and utility lines up and down State Route 9J. And as I sat down to write today's message, my Generac generator was finally given a rest this morning as grid has restored our power, but Spectrum still hasn't opened up the information superhighway yet. And I'll be uploading the message on the road again. But as a disciple of Jesus Christ who walks by the Spirit, I have learned to be content with what is and have learned to adapt and overcome with the Lord's help, facing situations as they are but with a mind and heart to solve problems and accomplish what needs to get done. As the Serenity Prayer states, I seek the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And that may not always be easy, but we keep walking and talking with God to receive his strength and guidance to follow the path he would have us take. When the opportunity to lead a recovery growth group was offered to me by my pastor at my local church, I sought the Lord's guidance in prayer of what to do. And all the signs, those spiritual leanings or intuitions that I have come to known, uh, come to know as the Holy Spirit's guidance, told me to do this. And almost immediately I received confirmation of having Debbie Deo agree to lead the women's discussion group, and Scott Salvador volunteered to lead the men's group. While we may have to walk the path of Christian discipleship solo during various times and seasons, The Lord will also put faithful people on the path with us to encourage us as we go. And last night, the certainty of the call to lead the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Star Point Church was further confirmed as our attendance was at an all-time high, as we were able to welcome new— more newcomers and welcome back a few regulars who had missed last week. Our little growth group has become a community. And the community is getting larger as the Lord is strengthening and guiding those who have decided to trust him with their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. The group's members testified of an increased ability to manage problems and find peace through what they have experienced and learned during their time at Celebrate. And I know that the Lord will be faithful to keep on helping and guiding those who continue to follow where he leads them. Last night I decided to share a couple of photos of myself in the past to demonstrate the difference the Lord can make in your life. I shared the first photo of me at my largest from 2008 and shared a photo of me when I got my associate's degree in biblical studies in 2015, shortly after I started recovery, uh, to show that while I had improved from one to the next I still wasn't where I was today to show that A) faith makes a big difference, B) God will transform us, and C) our walk is progressive. I also presented a thought from Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart where he said something to the effect of God is not going to drag you kicking and screaming into a transformed life, but I encouraged that If we are faithful to follow Him, the Lord will bless our efforts and lead us to become the people He created us to be. We just have to keep on walking with God and practicing our faith. I shared the graduation photo to show that even though I had some biblical knowledge, I still had to practice repentance, to live according to who I am in Christ, renew my mind, and repent of my former behaviors and ways of thinking. I had shared my Virtuous Cycle model of walking in the Spirit and pointed out that while truth is at its center, we personally had to pursue and stand in God's truth to know it and to apply it to our lives, and to keep doing that if we wanted to experience the fruit of living in the Spirit. And last night's lesson on inventory complemented these thoughts. As I presented one of the purposes of the moral inventory to be a way of acknowledging the truth of our past lives of brokenness as "that was then" and setting the intention to live a new life "now." The members of the group are learning to walk in the spirit and the transformations have begun, but I know that diligence to the path that the Lord has guided them to is required to experience the lasting freedom and victory of an abundant life that the Lord has for them. I was faithful to answer the call to lead the group, but now it is up to the members to decide how much they will surrender and how far they are willing to go into the life that the Lord calls every Christian to know. I am truly blessed to be a part of it, and because of the transformation the Lord has worked in me, I have no choice but but to tell others that the Lord will do it for them too. So wherever you are, keep walking and talking with God, and watch your whole life, your whole world change as he changes you from the inside out. Today's Bible verses, uh, verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. And this morning's meditation verse comes from the section on adultery. There are 19 points, so, so get ready. Um, today's Bible verse is Proverbs 22:14, and, um, the word of God says, the mouth of an— and this is from the NASB, um, the New American Standard Bible. It has been ESV, but this one's different. The mouth of an adulterous— adulteress is a deep pit. He who is cursed of the Lord will fall into it. Today's verse falls under the 7th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery, number 7: The adulteress's snare is a deep pit. Today's verse indicates that The seductive and deceptive speech of an adulterous woman or man is a deep pit, or a dangerous trap, as the NLT says, that we may fall into when we are on the outs with God, according to the Message Bible, or under his wrath, according to the NIV, or curse, as our NASB says. This pithy verse from Proverbs 22 is one of many verses from from that chapter in Proverbs that indicate the negative, the negative consequences for behaviors that ignore the Lord's wisdom, and indicates that falling into sin may be a consequence of the Lord's judgment for those not in a harmonious relationship with Him. The Lord reveals His wisdom in the Word of God and through the natural consequences of cause and effect relationships in His creation, and today's verse provides possible insight of why some fall into sin and why some avoid it. When we heed God's wisdom and have an engaged relationship with him, we not only know what is good and evil, we under— also understand sin to be against God. And the nature of sin and addiction shows us that once we choose to ignore God's counsel and go our own way, the more we go into darkness. When we open the door of doing evil in one area of our life, suddenly going against God's word in other areas doesn't seem quite as unthinkable as it once was. Our actions have consequences in the spiritual realm, and our decision to not follow the Lord may result in our being more susceptible to temptation. Romans 1:28 agrees with this and says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. When we forsake the Lord and his wisdom, the word indicates he allows us to go our own way, giving us over to a debased mind that is primed to sin and vulnerable to the deep pit of the adulterous woman. So, or man. So follow the Lord. When we pray to him to lead us not into temptation, he will deliver us from the evil one. And we will avoid his wrath, his curse, and keep us out of the deep pits of adultery. 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, uh, The Holy Spirit, as we continue in chapter 12, uh, this Spirit Enlightening. And today's section is on Enlightenment Presupposes Turning from Self. And so if you want to read of what A.W. Pink has to say about that, go to mt4christ.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. And, uh, yeah, when we turn away from our selfishness, it's sort of, uh, enlight— that's where enlightenment is, you know. And we When we acknowledge the wisdom of our Heavenly Father and say, hey, his way is better than mine, that's— I think that's sort of a definition of enlightenment, that we see the light, you know, from our world of darkness, and we should follow that light. And when we do, the Lord is faithful to come along and help us and to guide us further into our freedom. Progressively into victory. The more we trust God for, the more we can expect to change and to, to, you know, to, to move ahead, um, you know, to do the things that we thought would have been impossible. Those chains that kept us in bondage fall off, and then you realize that there's more ground to take, more more of our, our selfish lives to give over to God and to live according to his way, to discover the peace, um, that we have in Christ. So that's what we do here at mt4christ.org. If you want some more information on how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, about who you are in Christ, and about how to get set free, well, we recommend our discipleship teachings: Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. Um, that we taught back in our local church in 2021. Those teachings, of course, are based on the work of Dr. Neil Anderson and the Word of God. They were personally transforming in my life, and thus I became certified to be a, um, Communi— Freedom Ministry Associate for Freedom in Christ Ministries, uh, to lead people through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. And, uh, I highly recommend that for all Christians, as it gives you a systematized way of prayer and repentance to, you know, cut off all the ground the enemy may have in your life and to make the intention to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit, we'll experience the fruit of the Spirit, and we will not, you know, fall into the, the works of the flesh when we walk in the the Spirit. So, uh, who the Son sets free is free indeed. And but you have to follow him and believe what his word says about you and live according to it. So that's what we do here. We encourage it. And obviously, if we need to know the word, we encourage Bible study. That's what we are really selling here. We're not selling anything, of course, um, so I'm not receiving donations or anything like that. I only seek to encourage people to follow the Lord, to read the Word of God daily, and to do a spiritual practice of every day practicing gratitude, every day praying to the Lord, and every day reading his Word. This is the way the transformation happens, by taking that truth and living according to it in a small way, and then letting it, you know, permeate all of your life as you continue throughout your day to walk and talk with God literally, to turn aside and say, "Lord, I need your help with this. Lord, what do I do here?" Seek his guidance and you will find him, and he will guide you into, into all truth, as the Holy Spirit is in us and ready to lead us when we surrender to the Lord's will and purposes for our lives. So we encourage you to check out— if you want, you can check out our Bible study that we do once a week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti called Bible Study with the Sincottis. And we encourage you, of course, to check out those discipleship classes. They've had a far reach, more, and it humbles me. So check them out on YouTube and or the podcast to get equipped and transformed when you, when you follow the Lord into repentance and into the new life he has for you. Well, today is Thursday and I have to go on the road to upload this message, and, uh, so we're gonna have to move it along here as things are so uncertain. Anyway, um, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've done in our lives and how you've changed us. The difference is like night and day because we've entered into the way of your light by following your truth and applying it to ourselves. So Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading this message today, that you come alongside them and their, their prayer request and their, their walk of faith. Um, Lord, we just pray for you to help them. And, uh, while we're at it, we'll pray for you to help us too because we need your help. We need you to open our eyes to the things we need to see and lead us into the things we should do, Lord, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and just to, to find the purpose that you have for us, because we've discovered that what you have for us is best, and we humbly submit to your leadership as, uh, as we enter another day. So we just pray for you to go before us, set things up according to your will, and help us to be a part of it. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.