In this solo devotional episode of the MT for Christ 247 podcast, host M.t. Clark opens with a vivid description of a September afternoon photo he captured on Freedom Road, using the scene to express gratitude to God. He then explores what it means to be "great in the eyes of the Lord" by examining Luke 1:15‑17, where John the Baptist is portrayed as great because of his sobriety, being filled with the Holy Spirit, evangelistic zeal, prophetic boldness, relational stewardship, and repentance. Clark connects these qualities to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:14‑16 about being a light for the world. He further underscores the necessity of transformation by citing 1 Corinthians 6:9‑11, sharing his own testimony of overcoming sin (addiction, sexual immorality, etc.) after a bout of pneumonia and a binge‑watch of The Chosen, emphasizing that the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers. The episode includes a brief devotional excerpt from Stephen F. Alford on Philemon 1:12‑19, highlighting Christ’s love and the call to receive others as we receive Christ. Clark then invites listeners to practical discipleship avenues: Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, Dr. Neil Anderson’s teaching series, and his own podcast classes on YouTube. He concludes with a heartfelt prayer asking God to help listeners become great in His eyes and to walk in the Spirit.
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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 you can see it on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a pile of clouds in a crisp blue September late afternoon sky over a dirt and gravel road and freshly mown green fields on either side comes to us from yours truly as I captured the scene yesterday afternoon as I made my way down to the end of Freedom Road. Well, it's the first Saturday of September, and while today's forecast indicates that there will be clouds and rainstorms later in the afternoon, I can at least point to today's photo to tell you what I think of when I think of a great September afternoon. Yesterday, um, yesterday, yesterday, this yesterday afternoon, sorry, uh, the sun was out but it wasn't too hot. And I, I, and as I walked under the magnificent blue sky and admired the miles of freshly mown farmlands from Freedom Road, I naturally gave my thanks to God for the day that he made and proclaimed my love for him and my life because of the pure beauty I was experiencing. The magic of the moment was such that I didn't want the afternoon to end. Um, I appreciated my walk on Freedom Road yesterday so much that I may have lingered too long as my untethered canine friend, um, Hurley, went back home without me. I guess he didn't think, uh, the afternoon was as great as I did. Anyway, speaking of greatness and the differences between what we can consider to be great in this world of subjective experiences, opinions vary. So when we as Christians want to evaluate ourselves and determine whether or not we are achieving greatness, we want to consider what the Bible has to say about the matter. We want to know what God sees as great, and we want to do our best to reflect that. To be seen as great in the eyes of the Lord. Yesterday I began reading the Book of Luke during my morning Bible reading, and I was struck by what the word of God has had to say about John the Baptist and how he was prophesied to be great in the eyes of the Lord before he was even born. The word of God tells us in Luke 1:15-17, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth, and he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He may be a man— he will be a man with the spirit of and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly. John's prophecy, we can glean that to be great in the eyes of the Lord, a person will be sober. They'll never touch wine, alcoholic drinks, or other things that cause intoxication. You know, being a drunk isn't, isn't great. They'll be filled with the Holy Spirit. That means they'll have faith in Jesus Christ and live a Christian life. We are first filled with the Holy Spirit through our faith in Jesus, and we are refilled with the Spirit when through our close personal relationship with God and being empowered by him to be more like him, to do good and to do good works for his glory. Means we'll also, we'll be an evangelist and a discipler. Someone great in the eyes of the Lord will turn many Israelites and presumably Gentiles to the Lord. They will share the gospel, teach others to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. Somebody great in the eyes of the Lord will also be, be in the power, be in the power and spirit of Elijah. You know, Elijah lived by faith. He trusted in the Lord. He allowed the Lord to work through him. To be great in the eyes of the Lord, we should do likewise. It also means we'll be prophetic. You know, Elijah was a prophet, which means he spoke the truth of God's word and warned others of the consequences of the of, of not obeying him. This indicates that someone great in the eyes of the Lord will share the hard truths of the Bible with its view of the future, with its prophecies of a future tribulation and the return of Christ, and its view of the reality of eternity where all will be judged by God for their choices they've made to prepare people for the coming of the Lord, whether he comes to us or we go to him. And it also means we'll be relational. Someone great in the eyes of the Lord will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. They will do their best to reflect and counsel others in healthy relationships based on God's truth and love, and will, as much as it depends on them, live in and promote peace in relationships. And it means they'll be repentant. Someone great in the eyes of the Lord will cause the rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly. So they'll not only encourage others to repent and obey God's word, they will be a living example, like John the Baptist was, of someone who lives a holy life. So there we have it. Within the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, in a handful of verses, we can see what it means to be great in the eyes of the Lord. And even though these words would describe John the Baptist's life, there's no reason why they can't describe us too. Jesus tells us that we are special, that we should shine a light for the whole world to see. And Matthew 5:14-16, where he says, you are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. So let's try to follow John the Baptist's example and do good deeds that will bring the rebellious to order and peace, restore relationships in righteousness and love, and give praise and glory to God. Today's Bible verses are brought to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on the forgiveness of this sins. And today's Bible verses are 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, where the word of God says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Today's verses fall under the 19th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sins. And that 19th point is: God forgives and saves all kinds of sinners. No matter how bad they are, he changes them. Today's Bible verses indicate that when we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God, we will no longer do the fleshly and sinful things that we did in the past before coming to Jesus. This past week, as I was laid up in bed with pneumonia, I binge-watched all of— all 4 seasons of the Christian TV series The Chosen. And in one episode of season 4, Jesus said I make people what they aren't. When I saw that, when I saw that scene again, I real— I recalled when I first heard it in the movie theaters, uh, when it was first released. And now the simple line cut me to the core emotionally as it spoke to my heart, which testified to its truth and magnitude. God, through my faith in Jesus Christ and through my decision to follow him, made me what I wasn't— sober, sexually pure, and faithful. God made me what I wasn't. I was guilty of more than one of the sins of the flesh listed, listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, but God had caused me to repent of them. Even though some of those activities defined what I did for decades of my life, I'm no longer doing them. Such were some of you. Because of our faith in Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, We are set free, and all we have to do to demonstrate our freedom is to walk in the Spirit, to let his sanctification and righteousness live through us. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from, from 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 Testament., uh, by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture, and today it's, um, chapter 1 of Philemon. Um, and from chapter 1, he shares a portion of verse 17, which says, receive him as you would me. Then Stephen Alford writes, this letter presents a wonderful picture of Christ as the sinner's surety. For here Paul pleads for Onesimus on the grounds of his love. I'm sending him back my own heart. Verse 12. The heart was the seat of all affection in those days, and Paul implied in effect, receive him as you would receive my love. His person. Receive him as you would me. Verse 17. The apostle here strips himself of all his righteousness, as it were, and clothes the runaway slave with it. By saying, receive him as you would me. His readiness to repay for anything taken. I will repay, verse 19. Again, like, like my great surety, Paul promises to pay for all the debt that, that was Onesimus's due. And then Alfred ends by praying, how like Christ when we, when he placed his mantle on us, his love, his righteousness, his redemption. Amen. Amen. Yeah, that's what, that's what Jesus has done for us, you know. He, he, he places his readiness to repay for anything that we've taken, you know. He's forgiven our sins, and he, he would have us treat each other like His person, you know, when you see, when you see a Christian, you should see Jesus. And, and the other thing was, uh, his love, you know, basically that what defines our life after we put our faith in Jesus is his love, his person, and his readiness to repay us for anything that we've taken, that, um, he's given us a new life. It's because of his love that he saved us. Made us new and, uh, has forgiven us of all our sins. And so, uh, what do you do with that? Well, we ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? Um, moving away from those things in the past that, you know, made us look more like, uh, Las Vegas than, um, than, than the Lord's kingdom. Um, He doesn't want us to walk in unrighteousness. He forgives us our sins, but he turns us— he asks us to turn. And you know that the 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 really is scary stuff. Um, as former sinners, when we look at that, we go, well, that, that describes my life. If that's the case, the warning is that, you know, in the case that people live like that will not inherit the kingdom of God, meaning that our faith is one of transformation, then it shouldn't— we shouldn't reflect those things. Such were some of you. So when we fully surrender to God, he'll, he'll help us to, to move away from those things and move into things that he has for us. Things like ministry, where my case, he guided me to lead others in their freedom after I received my freedom at places like Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, where we do Christian recovery and discipleship on Wednesday nights. So if you're in the upstate New York Capital District region and get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night, you can join us and we'll help you walk in the Spirit and be transformed. Um, or if you're not available, we, we offer our, uh, we, we offer that you could find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube where we've shared teachings from Dr. Neil Anderson on, um, The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course. We offer these things because we've learned the way to follow the Lord. And so try to be like John the Baptist, teaching you, you know, to take you rebels and show you the orderly way of living that God gives you that leads to not only peace but joy. Um, yeah, so we always ask every day, are you empty for Christ too? If so, good, keep on walking, talking with God. If not, just takes a prayer and a matter of, uh, asking God to help you. And to reveal himself to you and his will for your life, and, um, a life that will be defined by your faith and a faith life, we pray. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the, um, the great things you've done in our lives, Lord. And we just want to be great in your eyes, Lord. And we pray for you to help us and others to, uh, to see your way. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you'd come alongside them and their prayer requests, their walk of faith, um, because we all need your help, Lord, and I most of all, Lord. So we just pray for you to, um, go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go. So all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
