Having a Great Fall, Literally - Purity 864

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 maple trees showing the glory of their autumn colors comes to us from SK Photography and Design, who shared this idyllic seasonal scene that they captured in Shepherd Park in Lake George, New York, and that they shared on Facebook on Saturday. Well, Well, it's Monday again in the season of fall, and unfortunately my urgency to get her done at work on Saturday by myself caused me to take the name of the season quite literally, as I had a rather dramatic tumble from my ladder as the cable strand that I was attempting to ascend decided to allow the only thing holding me up to go sideways all at once, spilling me to the ground with a sudden crash. I landed on my left side and had the wind knocked out of me, and after realizing that I shouldn't be attempting what I did alone, I called it a day, reported the incident, uh, to the duty foreman, to the on-duty foreman, and went to the nearest emergency room to get checked out. And I'm happy to report that the x-rays and CAT scans were negative for any breaks or bleeding on the brain, and that although I am a little sore and embarrassed, I am alive and well and was fully capable of doing my regular morning workout this morning and will be going back to work again today. My fall reminded me of why linemen work in two-man groups when working in backyard cable runs, because you literally need someone to hold you up sometimes when working mid-span. But Saturday, the day was running late. I felt the pressure to get my job done, and moments before my fall, I was confronted by an angry homeowner for being on their property. So instead of properly assessing the lay of the land that had a considerable slope to the left left. I hurried up the ladder that seemed secure, only to discover that my weight would cause the strand to bend as I got near the top, and that the slope allowed my ladder to give way and send the whole thing sliding to the left. Instead of setting at a balance— settling at a balance point, the bend was so extreme that the right hook of the ladder rose above the cable strand and caused the ladder to twist and dump me to the ground. So the fall of 20, uh, 2020, 2022 will now forever be remembered as the season that I had a fall in the fall. I took the fall season quite literally this year, but the Lord was good to me once again, and I am reminded of the passage of scripture that Satan used to tempt Christ regarding the Lord's protection. Psalm 91:11-12 says, for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. So I didn't see any angels, and I did have quite a rough landing as my breath rushed out of me, giving the shock sensation of what I imagine a sudden cardiac arrest would feel like. And I, I felt— and I felt quite disoriented while being evaluated in the ER. But as my wife correctly, uh, corrected me yesterday, I won't just claim that I got lucky. And wasn't seriously injured. Um, I know God is sovereign in my fall, and the extent of my injuries are all under the auspices of his sovereign omnipotence and providence. While some marvel over the near misses and sole survivors of disasters and wonder about impersonal forces like chance or karma, I know who's in charge of the universe. And, um, that's God. Uh, and I know that even though it is difficult to discern God's will or God's plan, uh, in, in light of the things that happen on the earth, I know that we can know God's will to some extent by looking at the things that have happened. This idea offends people, but if something has happened, it didn't happen in a vacuum. The things that happen, uh, the things that happen, um, may not be judged to be good by us, but the things that happen took place with God's full knowledge. And while we don't know why things happen the way they do, God does. And the Christian is tested to believe and still give their trust to the Lord, even when things that don't make sense to our minds take place, even the things that break our hearts or and cause us pain. So in looking at my fall, whether or not it's God's perfect will is debatable, but because it happened— and I know it was avoidable— but because it happened, God knew it and allowed it. That sucks, right? But guess what? God's providence and will also allowed me, allowed, allowed me to walk away from it with 3 things. 1, minor injuries and shame. 2, a conviction to be more careful, to ask for help, and to be more aware of my surroundings, to take steps to try to avoid something similar from ever happening again. And 3, a testimony for others to be warned and educated by, uh, that you won't be following in my footsteps today. So just like everything that happens, God can even take the bad and use them for good. My bad thing, my fall, hurts, but I can learn from it. I can tell other people about it, and they can benefit from my suffering. And we can even give glory to God in the face of this bad thing because it could have been worse, but it wasn't. We who understand God's sovereign sovereignty can truly say, uh, that God protected me, um, and I seek to do— and as I seek to do his will and follow his plan for my life, um, and he will continue to protect me is what I wrote. Uh, the lat— uh, the latest incident is— this latest incident is just another testimony of God's faithfulness. And while I should be feel the shame over my foolishness, I know that God doesn't want me to stay in the shame and condemn myself. God wants me to learn from my mistake and, and to always do what is right in every situation. In my urgency, I made the situation about me, my employer, the angry neighbor, and I forgot about God and his wisdom completely. Ephesians 5:15 tells us, see the— see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. Circumspectly means wary and unwilling to take risks. Well, I was walking like a fool Saturday. I unwittingly took risks and paid for it. If I had walked in wisdom, I wouldn't have fallen. So if you see, our walk with God has two aspects: his part and our part. While God is sovereign, we are also responsible for our actions. If I hadn't been in a rush, I could have addressed the situation properly and avoided my fall. But thankfully, God was gracious enough to allow the results of my foolish ness to not be so harsh. Although there may be more consequences to this that I don't know about yet, uh, but because I trust the Lord, I will face them as my just rewards for my foolish actions. So guys, while I would not suggest you take the fall season literally like I did this year, I would definitely suggest that you take God's word literally and that you should follow God's wisdom in the way you live your life. God's word would direct you to put your faith in Jesus and to follow him. You can start there, and then you should read the Bible and know what it says to apply more of God's wisdom to your life, to avoid walking like a fool like I did this weekend. And as Romans 8:1 tells us, that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk according to the who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Um, don't condemn yourself, um, for the mistakes that you make, but instead have the conviction to walk in the Spirit by following the word of God and the example of Christ with the way you walk through this world. Just keep walking and talking with God, and if you follow in his ways, you can avoid a lot of the falls this world would lead you into. And you can be assured that even if bad things happen, he will be with you to help you through them and will eventually show you that when you put your faith in Christ, you have his ultimate protection in his eternal kingdom. Well, this morning I'm running a little late. I'm not sure why. Poor planning, a little, a little longer in a workout because I'm sore, I don't know. Um, but, uh, we're gonna skip the, uh, the Bible promise verse from the for the day from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. Um, it is important to study the Bible. I did read today from Isaiah and 2 Samuel. So just because I'm not providing a Bible verse doesn't get you off the hook. It's your personal responsibility to know the word of God for yourself and not necessarily rely on others to give it to you or spoon-feed it to you. Um, you know, every Sunday at church or even through podcast. So you should, you know, we encourage personal Bible study. And, uh, the way we do it on our blog is by sharing our Bible study, uh, with the Sincatis that we do every week. And if you want a good Bible study, the, the one we produced yesterday was on Psalm 34, which is an awesome Psalm, and we literally went through every verse, which isn't always the case in our topical, uh, study. So, uh, if you say we don't do real Bible study. Well, this one Bible study will prove you wrong, uh, because we did go through each and every verse of Psalm 34 yesterday. So if you want to check that out, it's on the podcast. It's also on our YouTube channel. Um, you know, I don't know the reach of, of the podcast or my, or my blog, but yesterday I was blessed with an email from someone in South Africa who asked for materials on The Bondage Breaker. Um, apparently, if it's to be believed, they listened to my podcast and, uh, wanted— they were requesting the resources that I offered. So, um, they didn't ask for money or anything like that yet, so I don't know. Um, you know, you got to be wary. Like, I have a friend in Nigeria, help me, or, you know, all that stuff. We have to be wise and discerning, not fools. But the only thing I provided were the Word documents from me, uh, the, the lessons I taught in 2021. So, um, you know, no, no risk taken there, I don't think. Anyway, um, so as I, as I, as, as this testimony says, we don't know the impact we have in people's lives, um, and we can only trust that the Lord is going to use the things we do for good, for his glory, and, uh, that they can have far-reaching results. And, um, that's why I podcasted the, uh, the lessons I did in 2021, so people could learn about, uh, their freedom in Christ by studying the, the material on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ that are all, you know, authored by Dr. Neil Anderson and based on the word of God. So he took the truths of the word and presented them in a way that can help people overcome their spiritual and personal conflicts. So check out those teachings, uh, they're on the podcast and our YouTube channel. And if you want the materials for those classes, you can contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com, and I'll email you the documents. And also, if you're interested, on today's blog post, we are continuing to share from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship from Chapter 6 on the Beatitudes, and today we share the last beatitude: Blessed are those who are persecuted persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So that'll conclude the Beatitudes portion of that, uh, that resource. And if you want to see it, it's on, um, mt4christ.org. Um, I am running short on time, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for all the things you do for us, Lord. We thank you for holding us up and protecting us even when we're foolish. Um, Lord, we, we We thank you so much, uh, for the things you've shown us and the way you protect us every day from, you know, all the things that could happen but don't. We know that you hold us together, and we appreciate everything you do. Lord, we appreciate the people listening to the podcast. Um, we pray for them today. We pray for you to bless them with your divine grace. We pray for our friend Bob Griffin, who is going to start chemotherapy treatment soon. I promised to pray for Bob every day. And so, uh, I, I begun that, and I won't always do it on the podcast, but he'll always be— he'll be in my prayers until I hear that the, uh, you know, the cancer treatments are done and that, uh, the cancer is in remission, or until the Lord takes him home. Um, I prayed both ways. So my prayers aren't going to necessarily save you, it's God's sovereign will, but we do pray for the, uh, for good things, and we trust the Lord to provide as, as according to his will. Um, so I pray for him and I pray for others. Uh, whatever concerns you have, I ask the Lord to consider them and to bless you with his divine grace and favor. Um, Lord, we always pray that you go before us, and I'm glad I did Saturday because you did go before me. And even though it could have been avoided, it wasn't, and you, you helped me. You helped me there. I wasn't hurt seriously, and, uh, you helped me, you know, humble— be humbled by it. And, uh, hopefully it'll help someone else be careful in the way they walk today. Lord, we pray for you to go before us, to show us the things we need to see, and protect us when we don't see them, and guide us in the way we should go. Or we thank you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.