“Good News” From Your Sponsor – The Next Step in Recovery Purity 1438

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 tune in and watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of light in a forest at the end of a corrugated metal tunnel comes to us from yours truly, as I captured the scene back on August 17th during my visit to the Severance Mountain trailhead near Spruce Lake, New York. Might not see it at first glance, but this photo doesn't just show a forest at the end of the tunnel. It also reveals that there is another tunnel to go through not too far ahead. Well, it's Thursday, and I share today's pathway photo as a visual reminder and encouragement to either get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship, as I normally do on Thursdays. But I share this photo as a reminder that even though we may begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel of our journey into transformation. It doesn't mean that all our problems are resolved, as we may have more trials to face as we try to move on down the road on the pathway to peace. Last evening, I taught a double lesson at, um, Celebrate Freedom, where we transitioned from Book 1 to Book 2 of the Celebrate Recovery step study, and thus marked the end of one end of our journey into recovery, only to have to deliver the good news that we've only just begun the next phase of our walk towards freedom. The last lesson of Book 1, Action, encouraged participants to finalize their commitment to surrender their wills to God's guidance and care. In Lesson 1 of Book 2, Sponsor, informed those who were bold enough to trust God to help them with their hurts, habits, and hangups that they were going to have to humble themselves a little more because the next phase of recovery, Principle 4, requires that they openly examine and confess my faults to myself, God, and to someone I trust. And that last clause means they can't do it alone. We all need the help of others in life, and the 12 steps or 8 principles of recovery forces you to realize that by selecting a sponsor. A sponsor is a guide who shows you the way through the steps. Hopefully they will possess enough experience and spiritual wisdom to direct you to follow Jesus as your higher power and recommend an authentic relationship and lifestyle with God, a lifestyle of continual growth and repentance. As true disciples of Jesus seek to not only learn what the good teacher says, but also applies the Lord's wisdom to all the areas of their lives. Um, as someone who has been there and done that, I qualify as a sponsor, and I know one of the hardest things to teach to hopeful recoveries is that their best efforts at getting clean and sober may not fix everything. Uh, they may achieve the success of gaining victory over their personal hurt, habit, or hangup, but, uh, they may still suffer the loss suffer loss in their lives. Change means change, and it usually involves saying goodbye to certain people, places, and things. But it also may result in certain people, places, and things that you don't intend to leave saying goodbye to you. That's perhaps one of the hardest truths to accept about choosing to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that you will finally be doing, quote unquote, everything right, only to have things that you can't control go horribly wrong. Um, so when we get to this juncture in the journey, I try to assure participants in our support group that they are on the right course to find the peace and joy of a transformed life, but there will likely be some additional trials and unexpected costs to pay before they get there. Uh, the only thing that a sponsor can guarantee is that the Lord will never leave them or forsake them, and that they will do as, as a— I will, as a sponsor, um, do my best or their best to walk with you until you get there. Um, one misconception about the Christian life is that all problems, you know, all your problems will be fixed instantly when you put your faith in Jesus. But the experienced believer knows that turning to the Lord is, uh, turning the Christ as your Lord and Savior is just the beginning of the repentance process that the Christian life is defined by. Uh, the In Touch devotional with Dr. Charles Stanley, uh, for today actually addresses repentance. So I'm sharing it on the blog today where Dr. Charles Stanley writes, Repentance in the Believer's Life. Is repentance necessary in the Christian's life? Yes, and we can see this truth in 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so that he will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You may say the word repentance isn't in that verse, but let's take a closer look. Remember, to repent simply means to change your mind. For non-Christians, this refers to saving faith, the decision to place trust in Jesus. But for believers, repentance involves a change of heart with regard to behavior or attitude. It is an ongoing decision to lead an obedient, Christlike life. In 1 John, this choice is represented, represented by the word confess, which means to agree with. In other words, if you confess your wrongdoing to God, you are coming into agreement with him about that sin and therefore disagreeing with your previous view. Here, confession isn't a matter of salvation. Rather, it means allowing the Father to continually reform your mind, molding you more and more into the image of his Son. As God continues to work in your life, your mind will gradually reject old thought patterns, and you'll more closely represent his way of thinking. Is there sin in your life that has become too uncomfortable to bear? Confess it and allow God to change your heart today. And I say amen. You know, God gives us the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus, and he begins the process of changing our hearts and minds to become more and more like Jesus in the ways we think and live. The comfort and peace we find in our Christian walk comes from abiding in God's presence and from walking in his ways. But it also reveals that our former ways of darkness are no longer compatible with who we are. So we agree with the Lord and turn from those old ways to discover the new life of meaning, purpose, and joy that God has for us. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes, comes from the section on forgiveness of sins. And today's verses are Romans 8:1-4 from the NIV. The word of God says, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Today's verse— verses are the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the 15th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sins. And that 15th point is we are justified, cleared of all guilt, by faith in Jesus. In him we find peace. And, um, today's combined verses make the conditional promises of not being condemned when you are in Christ clear. Yes, I love Romans 8:1, and I, and explain it, and, and explain to others that when you come to Christ, you are no longer condemned. As I put it, all the bad things you think about yourself are no longer true about you now that you are in Christ. You are a new creation. However, as much as we could just affirm that there is no condemnation for us because we have put our, our faith in Jesus and thus are forgiven, justified, and receive Jesus' imputed righteousness as children of God positionally, it is a whole lot more effective to accept our non-condemned state of existence by ceasing to do— from ceasing doing anything we should be condemned for. Um, if we still live in sin, we should feel convicted that we are not living as we should. While we shouldn't condemn ourselves for our failures, we should repent and start living a life that is free from guilt and shame by not doing the things that produce guilt and shame. We should, as today's combined verse offering suggests, not live according to the flesh but live according to the Spirit. There is no condemnation for those living in the Spirit. So let's stand on the truth that we are no longer condemned, and let's make it a demonstratable reality by living a life that is righteous and holy in the Spirit. 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 According to Your Word, morning and evening through the New New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture from the New Testament every day, um, twice a day actually. And today's chapter is 2 Timothy 1, and from that chapter he shares a portion of verse 11, which says, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. And Stephen Alford writes, it is interesting to note the order in which Paul states his capacity: preacher, apostle, and teacher. He calls this a holy calling according to God's own purpose and grace. 2 Timothy 1:9. And Alfred also writes, as a preacher, Paul could say, necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:16. Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1:17. As an apostle, for you Christians are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more. As a teacher, he was supreme, as evidenced by his epistles. Thus Paul directs Timothy and us all: Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. In faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. And Alfred ends by praying, how unsatisfying my life would be, Lord, were I not to strive to fulfill your calling. Amen. Amen. And, uh, well, I'm hesitant to accept the, uh, the title of apostle. Um, you know, I could be, you know, quite comfortable with the accepting preacher or teacher, because I, I do— I can, I can preach, I— and I do teach. And, uh, you know, I do try to do good works like the apostles did, um, and setting the captives free, and, you know, and telling other people to become disciples of Jesus Christ. But I wouldn't— you know, that's a, that's a whole different bag. I won't like necessarily accept the title of apostle unless I get a divine word from the Lord, um, that I am one. Um, so there, that's my position. Um, but it's, it's, it's good, you know. We should, uh, a truly satisfying life comes from fulfilling our purpose in Christ, whatever it is. Um, we can't all be preachers and teachers, but, uh, we can all be disciples of Jesus and encourage other people to be disciples and to, uh to do good works of a disciple. So that's what we recommend, is fully surrendering to God, um, to discover your purpose, uh, just discovering your purpose in Christ. Um, you know, we should direct our lives to be a reflection of the light that has been poured into us when we put our faith in Jesus. And when you do that, you get directed to do all kinds of things. For me, as I've talked about today, well, I lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which meets on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. We invite you to come out if you're in Upstate New York and you can get to Clifton Park on Wednesday. We'll see you there. Um, we also recommend you— everyone to seek out their freedom in Christ. If you don't know what that is, I really recommend you check out the Freedom in Christ course by, uh, Steve Boss and Dr. Neil Anderson. It's available at ficm.org in their bookstore. And, um, that goes along with a little process called the Steps to Freedom in Christ, which helps you to resolve— it's sort of a spiritual inventory where you resolve the issues of your past through prayer with a, with a little meeting between you and the Lord. Um, so we recommend that. Um, we're teaching a course online, um, in that, which starts next week. And, um, we recommend, uh, if you're interested in the Freedom in Christ course, we do offer it on on our YouTube channel, uh, basically under playlist. You look up Freedom in Christ. We can also look up Victory Over the Darkness or The Bondage Breaker to hear those, those teachings as well. Uh, well, anyway, um, we asked the question: are you empty for Christ too? If so, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we pray for— we, we suggest you pray and ask the Lord to reveal himself to you, um, so you too can put your faith in Jesus and find a life that God intended for you to live. So we recommend that. And one of the things you do in that life is you pray. So we'll pray today. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for leading us through the, the trials of our life to discover a place of peace, meaning, and purpose. And it's all because of, uh, Jesus and what he's done in my life, Lord. So we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that they'd, um, they'd be blessed by you today, Lord, that you'd come alongside them and their prayer requests, and that you'd lead them in the way they should go, uh, because we all need your help, Lord. We need you to save us, we need you to change us, and we need you to give us meaning and a purpose, um, for life today and in, in your kingdom forevermore. So we are— we're asking for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.