I Don’t Have to Sing – Lies of the Enemy #10– Purity 1022

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Uh, today's stunning photo of a blue cumulus cloud-filled sky over a pathway cutting through the maj— the majesty of the Grand Canyon comes to us from Nick Harang, who shared this scene from his recent 3-day soul retreat on social media yesterday. Nick is the director of operations for Deeper Walk International and the leader of the third cohort of Deeper Walk School of Prayer Ministry, and he not only talks the talk but actually walks the deeper walk of Christian discipleship as he took, uh, as he dedicated— yeah, I gotta watch myself— as he dedicated 3 days at the Grand Canyon to hike, pray, rest, and reflect. Nick's passion for helping Christians experiencing, experiencing the deeper walk of heart-focused discipleship is clearly demonstrated and his work and how he lives his life. Well, it's Thursday again, and as is my habit, I share our next photo of a pathway through the Grand Canyon because of its stunning beauty and as a visual reminder or encouragement to stay on or to get on the path of Christian discipleship. Who takes 3 days to hike, pray, rest, and reflect? While we could answer that question in a number of ways, I will merely offer that more Christians should. Of course, I don't mean to make that suggestion a command, but I would offer the idea of taking a soul retreat as an invitation to a possible way to draw closer to the Lord. However, I can already hear objections in my imagination from Christians that would tell me I don't have to do, do that to be a Christian, or I don't have to try harder to be a Christian. The last thing I want to suggest is that you must do certain things to be a Christian, but I would suggest that doing the disciplines that are highlighted in the Bible could help us to transform our minds and hearts and cause us to mature in our faith. I don't know what benefits Nick may have gotten from his 3-day soul retreat through the Grand Canyon, but I can assuredly tell you that that he wouldn't have experienced them if he didn't go there. We only benefit from the things we believe and do on this pathway, and while we should be discerning in what path we follow when answering the Lord's call on our life and will go through periods of waiting on God, we rarely regret the results of our efforts of stepping out in faith. So I suggest a lifestyle of Christian discipleship that could very well include a periodic pilgrimage or restful retreat because I have benefited from, from these practices. Part of my daily spiritual practice includes physical exercise while listening to Christian worship music. It's something that I don't have to do, but I receive physical and spiritual benefits of when I choose to do them. As I correct my text, our walk is about freedom and making good choices, as my sister-in-law Megan reminds my nieces and nephews— my niece and nephews— as she tries to lead them in the way they should go. So while we can and should exercise our freedom to say no to trying harder from time to time, we should also realize that exercising our freedom to not do that could be part of the reason why we don't feel fulfilled in, in our faith or feel that we aren't growing in maturity. One of the things I discovered through my Christian walk is the immense value of expressing my love for the Lord through song. I feel that singing to the Lord in worship can be used by the Lord to take your head knowledge of him and put it into your heart. You don't have to do that, of course, but I would suggest you should. Just this morning I was reminded of an— it's not really an old worship song— of a worship song we sang at my church, "I Surrender" by Jesus Culture. And while I wasn't enamored with the live version I listened to while working out, later I found myself erupting in spontaneous song. In my version of it, and it goes a little something like this: All to you I surrender everything, every part of me. All to you I surrender, all of my dreams and all of me. I surrender. And then, and then the bridge goes Your love makes it worth it. Your love makes it worth it all. Your love makes it worth it all. And then it goes, all to you. You know, it just— it's awesome. And then I felt compelled to repeat that, um, that the chorus and that bridge several times because it just— it wasn't just a song, it was the truth. Uh, it was a way to express my desire to surrender to the Lord and my appreciation of his love. But in our culture, even in enthusiastic churches, there are some people who just don't sing. And I know that's their choice, but today I'm suggesting that social awkwardness and lack of musical talent— it doesn't stop me— might not be all there is in someone's decision to remain silent during corporate praise and worship. I think that the last thing the enemy wants you to do is to sing God's praises, and that he may be influencing those who don't. So that brings us to our current series, which is an examination of some of the common lies that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, steal our peace, or to influence us to choose not to follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. And I know that some may object, but today's big lie is Lie #10: I don't have to sing. Okay, I'm putting forth this as a lie of the enemy, uh, and you know I'm going to use the word of God to show that Christians are encouraged, if not commanded, to sing. First off, I would point to the book of Psalms, which has been literally referred to as the songbook of the Bible by some, as more than enough evidence to make this point. There are 150 Psalms in the Bible, and many of them have little instructions like to the chief musician, or with stringed instruments, like Psalm 4, for instance. While you can pray through the Psalms, you can and probably should also sing through them, apparently. As Britannica.com tells us, Psalms, the book of the Old Testament, is composed of sacred songs, or of sacred poems meant to be sung. I didn't say it, Britannica did. Meant to be sung, so sing with me. And of course, I'm going to, to my friends at openbible.info and sharing a link on the blog today for 100 Bible verses about singing, uh, to provide those who are curious to see more evidence for the fact, for the fact of an implied command to sing to the Lord. One of the verses, um, uh, they share is Colossians 3:16, which says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Uh, I love this one because it not only encourages Bible study but tells us to teach and admonish or advise in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Come on, sing with me. Uh, in the verses leading up to, uh, the spiritual warfare verses in Ephesians 6, Paul encourages Christians by telling them to not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Here we have the injunction against drunkenness, uh, for a Spirit-filled life, uh, that includes gratitude and singing. I think I made my point, but if you'd like, check out that link, uh, to see even more Bible verses that tell us to sing of the goodness of God and to praise the Lord in song. So open your hearts, minds, and mouths to combat this lie of the enemy that I don't have to sing. And by raising your minds, wills, emotions, and voice in singing to the Lord— um, sing to the Lord— not only singing to the Lord not only sends the enemy running— praise is a weapon of spiritual warfare— but it can also raise your love for the Lord and be used by the Holy Spirit to that elevate you to new heights of joy and spiritual maturity, as the heartfelt singing can be a vehicle for a major breakthrough in your faith life. And if that's not— you know, that's— as all during this series, I'm also providing a link to Frank Turek's website for more evidence on Christianity, uh, if you like apologetics. So you can check that out in the blog as well. Anyway, that brings us to the Bible verse of the day. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Proverbs 12:19, and it tells us, truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed. Today's verse assures us that all lies will be exposed and that words of truth will stand the test of time. God's word is the word of truth. It tells us about the facts of life and the spiritual realities that God rules and governs the universe by. It tells us about what really matters and invites us to believe it and apply its wisdom to our lives to prosper. It also presents the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gives us the invitation to eternal life by placing our faith in him. The truth of the Bible has been proved by archaeology and by the fulfilled prophecy it contains. Uh, the Word of God is the truth by which everything will be judged. And if what we say or do doesn't align with its truth, it will be exposed as foolishness. And because it opposes the truth, it will ultimately be shown to be a lie. So stand on the truth of God's Word and live by it. Because no matter how convincing the world, the flesh, or the devil may be, their philosophies, theories, and temptations will one day be shown to be a pack of lies. 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 The Sovereignty of God, and And, uh, we're through the book, but, uh, my version has an appendix, um, and— or two— and we're sharing that as well on the, uh, the blog today. So if you want, we're sharing Appendix 1, uh, The Will of God, and we're going to share that in two parts. So this will be the first part of Appendix 1, uh, based on, uh, which is about the will of God. So if you want to see what A.W. Pink has to say about the will of God, go to mtforchrist.org to check out that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we always point to the end of the blog because there's a bunch of links down there, and we invite you to join our Victory Over the Darkness, the Bondage Breaker, or Freedom in Christ series of discipleship classes that we offer through the podcast and through our YouTube channel. And if you wanted to, you can contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com under to receive the class materials that, that I handed out when I taught these, uh, lessons originally back in 2021. So, um, they're all about who you are in Christ, the spiritual forces of darkness, and experiencing your freedom in Christ. So if you're interested, check them out. As always, we also encourage the study of the Bible, and we do that on our little podcast here by doing a weekly Bible study with Arthur and Susanna Kaddi. And all of those are also on the podcast and the YouTube channel. So we invite you to— if you need a Bible study to be a part of, you can join our topical Bible study by checking out and searching for Bible study with the Zinkadis, as we have all of our studies that go back to April of 2021 on the podcast and on the YouTube channel. And on the YouTube channel, we actually have videos of us, So, um, you can actually see us if you, if you care to. Um, so that's that. Well, today is Thursday and it's another day, uh, in the kingdom of God, but it's another day of work, uh, so I have to rush you off to work. And but before I do that, um, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all the things you do for us, and we thank you for the gift of singing your praises, Lord. It has elevated my love for you and, and, and really made a major breakthrough in my life. And I know it really annoys the enemy. So we thank you for a song and praise and all the people who do worship at our local congregations and throughout the world, because Lord, we should sing as your word tells us. So help us to sing your praises today. As we go about our business. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message. We pray for you to bless them, and we pray for you to come alongside their prayer requests and their walk of faith, uh, Lord, because we all need you desperately to guide us and teach us and lead us in the way we should go. Um, Lord, all we want to do, uh, is represent your kingdom and encourage others to, to find, uh, the abundant life that Christ has for them. And, um, and so, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, set things up. Um, we know you're sovereign and in control, and we like it when you make good things happen. Um, but Lord, just show us the things you want us to see today and lead us in the way we should go. Um, because all we want to do is follow you. And, uh, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.