Having a Vision for the New Life God Has For You - Purity 1245

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 view of what was to become my backyard down by the river comes to us from April 17th, 2020, and yours truly, as I decided to take a look back into my phone's photo archive and decided to share this scene from my first visit to the property that was to become my home. And eventually be called River House. To those who— of you who may be admiring those manicured levels that go up the hill toward the back of my property, I regret to say that my thumb isn't as green as the previous owner's, and I only clear that first level beyond the big tree to the right. And that big evergreen bush in the foreground and that quaint white bed frame sticking out of the ground, they're gone. I'm somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to yard work, and because I had no intention of maintaining a flower bed, that metal bed frame was extracted and recycled. And that big bush was an annoyance and was ripped up by the roots. Just because something has been there for years doesn't mean they have to stay. And if they serve no purpose or get in your way of what you want to do, there's no reason to continue to work to maintain them or to keep someone else's dream alive. Well, it's Thursday, and I normally share pathway photos to encourage us to get on or to stay— well, to get on or to keep walking on the path of Christian discipleship. But I decided to share this one because it represented a destination, a dream, a hope. And when we start walking and talking with God, we should have a vision for for where we want to go. On that day back in 2020, I was doing a walkthrough of the property at 1788 State Route 9J alone because of COVID-19 restrictions and looking to see if it could serve as an adequate home for me and my children to go to as the terms of my divorce agreement called for the selling of our former home. I looked at the property with a critical eye, but I loved the view of the river, the garage, the backyard, basement and the first floor, and although I recognized that there would have to be some renovations to change the layout upstairs to suit my children's needs, I was overcome with a realization that this could work and that I wanted it and was going to make an offer immediately. I was working two jobs at the time, and after that initial visit, I changed my commuting route to my second job in Hudson to drive past what I hoped would be my house at every time I went to work. Each time I rounded the bend of State Route 9J and drove past the house, I was filled with hope that someday it would be mine, and I saw each and every drive-by as an act of faith that was declaring my belief that it would be. My offer was accepted. I made arrangements with a contractor to do the work to make the repairs and renovate what needed to be done to make the house what I needed it to be after the sale was final. On June 22nd, 2020, the closing was completed and the house was mine. My contractor finished the work a few days later and I moved into my new home on June 25th, my birthday, and rejoiced. Things may have changed a little bit since, since 2020, but the house at 1788 State Route 9J in Stuyvesant is still mine and it continues to fill my heart with joy when I think about how it all came to pass. And how it became my house down by the river, and how my wife, Tammy Lynn, later named it River House. It was my hope, and it became my reality, and it represents overcoming and freedom. It required hard work, sacrifice, faith in the Lord's blessing, but it came to pass. When we follow the Lord, we can hope for good things. We can hope for a new life, and we can hope for freedom. So although we walk with the Lord day by day and just try to do our best to follow him, remember to pick your head up and to have a vision for where you want to go. Things don't have to stay the same just because they have been that way for years. You don't have to live according to someone else's demands or dreams that keep you in bondage. Jesus came to set us free. And to change the things that aren't right. And when we trust in him and set our eyes on the life that he has for us, nothing is impossible. So keep walking and talking with God, and he will empower you and guide you to live the life you always wanted to live but didn't think you could. We have a good, good father in the Lord, and he gives good gifts to his children. And rewards those who repent and diligently seek him. You can be free of your bad habits, character defects, addictions, and bad relationships, but you have to have a vision for the life you want, and you have to follow the Lord's ways to make sure you're on the right path to find it with peace, love, and joy. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Comfort, and today's verses are Revelation 21:1-4. From the New American Standard Bible, the Word of God says: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming out— coming down out of heaven from from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. Today's verses fall under the 15th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on comfort, and that 15th point is: One day this life of suffering will be over and all will be made new. Today's verses tell us about the culmination of the coming of God's kingdom in the future, and it speaks of a hope that we can hardly imagine. No death, no mourning, no crying, and no pain. How can this be? God, the Creator of all things, who has always existed, will make it so. And only those who have been blessed by his grace to put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior will experience the eternal glory of life with him. How's that for a vision? I don't know what is— what it's going to be like, but I have had some close encounters with the manifest presence of the Lord, with the baptism of the His Spirit's infilling at times, and I can tell you that a moment, a few moments in His presence were heavy with the abundance of His love and filled with euphoric experiences of joy that have been unmatched by anything this world has to offer. Scripture gives us scenes of God's throne room in Revelation 4, and the creatures and people there are depicted as giving God continuous praise with with a resounding chorus that proclaims, in Revelation 4:8, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come." And in Revelation 4:11, "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased." No pain, no death, and eternal glory with the Lord is the destiny of all who put their faith in Jesus. So let us rejoice now because our names are written in heaven, and no matter what trials we may face on earth, God is with us, and nothing can separate us from his love and his plan to give us a new, eternal, and abundant life. Praise God, for he is worthy, he is holy, and he is so good. 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 According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford, a collection of devotional journals from 1940 and 1941. And in this resource, basically it's sort of a Bible study of sorts. It tells you to read a certain section of scripture, and then there's a few comments from Alford regarding some of the text. So today they recommend you read Matthew 4, and it references Jesus saying, "It is written," in Matthew 4:4, 4:7, and 4:10. And as we recall, that's when he was tempted by the devil. Jesus rebuked the devil by using the word of God. And Alford writes, how wonderfully the word— the Lord Jesus wielded the sword of the Spirit on this occasion. There is obviously great significance in the fact that Christ met this temptation and the tempter with the word of God. The Apostle John in his first epistle writes to the young men because they were strong the word of God abode in them, and they had overcome the wicked one. Revelation 12:11 says they overcome him, the devil, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Here in Matthew, in 3 instances at least, where the word of God is definitely regarded as the only successful weapon against the devil— notice also Ephesians 6— the blood of the Lamb, of course, is the only basis upon which the Word can be rightly used. And Alford closes with this small prayer: Lord, may the Word abide in me. Amen. That concludes our sharing from, uh, Alford's devotional. Basically, that encourages us to read the Bible and to understand what it says and to apply its teachings. We can be inspired Jesus overcame temptation from the evil one himself, Satan the devil, by using the Word of God. He models the way that we can overcome temptation. And to be encouraged in our walk of faith is to know God's Word and to speak it and to live it. And, you know, we overcome, as Revelation 12:11 says, by the blood of the Lamb. That means Jesus' sacrifice for us and by the word of our testimony. That second part is us telling about, you know, telling people about what God did for us. We can overcome through our testimony. That's why I do this vlog, is I give testimony of what the Lord has done in my life and what he's done for all of us who put our faith in Jesus, that he can deliver us from bad situations, bad mental states, bad habits, bad character defects. Everything bad and dark and evil. He delivers us, but we have to put our faith in Jesus and seek the Lord by knowing His Word and living according to it. So we recommend a daily spiritual practice of Bible study and prayer and just trying to do what's right according to God's Word and to share that. You know, we got to share it too. By the blood of— by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, we got to speak it. And I was blessed last night at the Celebrate Freedom Recovery discipleship meeting that we do at Starpoint Church as I handed over the torch of leadership to Scott Salvador and Debbie Deo. They did a great job in presenting the independent lesson they made themselves to prepare people to go through, you know, the 12 steps or the 8 principles of Celebrate Recovery and to, uh, to be set free by putting their trust in God. And last night, they, you know, I just love them because last night they pointed to scriptural memorization as a tool. You know, that was the lesson. It was basically introducing people to these are the recovery books that we're going to be teaching from, and they're Christian, and we're following Christ, and A big part of this is knowing the Word of God and, you know, speaking it. And so last night we were looking at Matthew 5:3, which said, you know, blessed— where Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit. And Scott talked about how he had always thought, like, we were— that means we were spiritually poor, that means we didn't really know anything about you know, um, God's kingdom. And, you know, we were, we were deficient. Um, but he came to understand rightly that that's not necessarily the case. Um, that, that, you know, why are we blessed? You're not blessed if you, if you don't know anything. Um, you're blessed if you know you need a savior. That's where we, the spiritually poor, know they can't do it on their own. They can't be approved They can't do it in their own strength, and that's why they're poor. They need the riches of God's love and his grace. And, you know, when we, when we put our faith in Jesus, he pays the cost. So even though we're spiritually poor, he pays the cost for us, and he fulfills us completely. So it was very encouraging, and it was a big, you know, It was a blessing all the way around. My schedule is pretty crazy with the Freedom in Christ course, and tonight I start advanced encourager training with Freedom in Christ Ministries. So, you know, I got ministry more or less 3 nights every week, and so in one form or another. So it was good to be able to take a back seat and just to observe and, you know, offer comments when asked. Whatever, but, uh, but to just sort of let them, let them grow in their gifting of leadership and encouragement. And, uh, you know, you can see the confidence grow in them, uh, confidence they should have always had. But, uh, you know, until you step out in faith and, and do it, you never, you know, you never feel confident. And so that's what we recommend here is living the life of faith, actually doing it. You know, going to church, serving, finding a purpose, encouraging people to follow the Lord, you know, boldly speaking the truth and helping people, you know, and doing, you know, trusting the Lord. God, I'm praying for this, help me to achieve it. And he'll do that, he'll help us. So we encourage you to follow the Lord and do it every day. And, uh, one big part of that is prayer. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do for us. We thank you for the eternal glory that we'll know someday, where there'll be no pain, no crying, no mourning, and no death, and we'll live with you forever. And so, Lord, we can't wait to see what that's like. But you know what? We're going to enjoy our lives right now because you're with us right now, and We can rejoice right now in the Lord. So we pray for anyone who's listening, uh, or reading today's message, that they'd be blessed and that you'd come alongside them and their prayer request so they can experience the glories, uh, glory of living with you, uh, continuously. And, uh, Lord, we also pray for ourselves, that you go before us today, 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, Lord, is represent you in your kingdom and live with you forever. So we need your help every day to do that. Um, so that's what we're praying for. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.