I’ll be Home for Christmas and 5 Steps to Holiday Sanity - Purity 1524

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am 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 watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a multicolored lighted artificial Christmas tree, undecorated but all aglow, comes to us from yours truly as I captured this sight of the Christmas tree at my place down Down by the River late last Sunday afternoon as I scrambled to get ready for the big holiday that would be upon us before we can blink. Well, it's Monday, and with Christmas Eve Eve only 2 weeks away, I am happy to report that I finished wrapping up all the presents I plan to distribute this year just last night. Last week I got the tree up, check, and this week I somehow managed to get all the presents I purchased for my friends and family wrapped up and ready ready to go. Big check. But even though getting the house decorated and the presents ready is a big part of our Christmas celebration, there are some things that you can't prepare for. And sometimes that's a good thing, and other times not so much. For example, my wife Tammy Lynn is currently getting ready for the holiday season with the added burden of a severely pulled muscle in her leg, which has caused her to slow down and to be out of work for the foreseeable future. Teacher. Even though she is less mobile than she would like to be, it doesn't mean that she's going to shrivel up and stop being the kind of caring person that— the kind and caring person that God created her to be. She is a special education teacher by profession, and even though she can't be in class, she has continued to produce the lesson plans for her students while she is out. And on Saturday, she spent a considerable amount of time preparing special Christmas treats for all the students in her school. It's a small school, granted, 37 students, but still, um, she's an amazing woman and I'm not worthy of her, but I did my best to help her make the 74 treats because one per student wouldn't be enough. She had to make two. On Saturday, as we watched some old Bing Crosby, uh, movies— White Christmas, Holiday Inn, and The Bells of St. Mary's— Bing Crosby's Christmas songs are all classics, but one of his best has to be the 1943 wartime tearjerker I'll Be Home for Christmas. And as it turned out, as Tammy Lynn and I were watching Bing Crosby and creating Christmas treats for the students at of Tammy Lynn's school, the Lord was working on bringing my wife a Christmas treat of her very own. Uh, as I stated, Tammy Lynn is somewhat hobbled by her injury, but when I suggested the possibility of doing church remotely on Sunday, she wasn't hearing it. Uh, we would be going in person. Uh, this worked out just fine because as we were recording yesterday's Bible study with Arthur Sincotti, I received a text from my sister-in-law stating that I had to make sure Tammy Lynn and my stepdaughter Elizabeth, uh, I got to church yesterday because Megan said that her kids had something to give them. So we got to church and we got a big surprise. Tammy Lynn's daughter Rachel, who is currently stationed in Okinawa while serving her country in the United States Marine Corps, had arrived in the wee hours of the night before to surprise her family. My wife got an answer to a prayer she didn't think to pray. Rachel will be home for Christmas this year. And we were all very happy to welcome her back home yesterday. You know, as much as we try to plan to make Christmas special, some of the best things about the holidays are the things we are surprised by. But similarly, sometimes our expectations of a happy holiday can cause us to be disappointed when the reality of what we experience doesn't compare to, uh, compare to our dreams of Yuletide joy. So, um, this morning I came across a 2014 Liz Hulls article on DesiringGod.com about managing holiday expectations, uh, and I'm— I decided to share a portion from it as a guide to guide us and the ways we should go to help us keep our holiday sanity. Liz Hulls writes, um, The 5 steps to holiday sanity. Number 1: Holiday expectations can become holiday idols. Um, are there dangerous idols hiding in your holiday expectations? Question. To begin with, I needed to be mindful that my expectations were becoming idols. I was replacing true thanksgiving to God and all the mercies he has shown with turkey and pumpkin pie. Celebrating the birth of Jesus, the real reason for Christmas, was being replaced with glittery trees and presents. Those things are good gifts, but they are not meant to take first place in my heart. I needed to remind myself of the simple truth in 1 John 5:21: Keep yourselves from idols. Good advice. Number 2: Be honest about your holiday fears, weaknesses, and insecurities. Communicating to others clearly that this can be a hard time of the year for me was the first— was the next step. Being honest and vulnerable wasn't easy, but opening up the dialogue with my husband, my friends, or my coworkers proved to be an amazing blessing. I found often that by communicating my angst, I found someone who was more than willing to help me. What a gift! What a sweet provision from God, which I would have missed out had I not been honest. Number 3, Ask where your holiday expectations come from. Being aware of who and/or what was defining my expectation was another hurdle to get over. Was it my husband, my children, extended family, guilt, the media, fear of man? The still small voice of the Holy Spirit continues to help us when those expectations gone awry begin to surface in this way. Then number 4, plan ahead for holiday health, maybe way ahead. Being proactive planning was next. Knowing what I can and cannot do is one of the most helpful things I have discovered. Determining healthy boundaries before Thanksgiving and December is an ongoing practice at our house. One year, after a particularly bad holiday season, I wrote a letter to myself outlining what I would say yes to the following year. I gave the letter to a dear friend who held it for me until the following October. I received it in the mail on November 1st. To this day, I'm thankful for my godly friend who had the wisdom to suggest this plan of action. And then 5, God is the hope of every holiday, however sweet or hard. Finally, and most importantly, it is essential to remember that we have a loving Savior whose plan is perfect, whether it includes a large gathering of friends and family at Thanksgiving or a happy Christian Christmas celebration with squeals of delight, or perhaps even deep, deep tears of deep sorrow, it is exactly what God planned. He doesn't make mistakes. It may be hard to weather the holidays, yet we are not without hope. Ephesians 3:20 reminds us that he is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. Knowing that, We can ask for healthy and happy expectations, anticipating that because God is sovereignly and lovingly directing all that happens, it may actually be the most wonderful time of the year. And that was from Liz Holtz. And, you know, I say amen. You know, there's some good advice from Liz Holtz. Uh, you know, we should, we should do a little more to prepare for Christmas than just putting up a tree and wrapping presents. We should recognize the condition of our our hearts, question our motives, be wise and discerning about our interactions, and be diligent in remembering the reason for the season and what really matters. You know, God is with us. If we abide in his presence, he will show us the pathway to peace even when holiday stress threatens to steal our joy. Today's Bible verses, verses come from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on homosexuality. Today they share Romans 1:26-27 that says, that is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men. As a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Today's verses fall under the sixth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on homosexuality, and that sixth point is: Paul describes homosexuality as a wicked perversion of God's gift. Today's Bible verses make it clear that homosexuality is a deviation from God's plan for human sexuality. God doesn't change, and even though the advent of Christ really shook up the expectations of the established religious orders of the day, Jesus was clear that he didn't come to abandon the law but to fulfill it. While he gave grace and forgiveness to the sexually immoral in his time, he also directed them to go and sin no more, to repent, to change, and to do things according to God's word. So here in Romans, Paul describes the depravity of homosexuality as being shameful and the opposite of normal. The people he is describing aren't redeemed saints. The people proper Perpetrating these sexual sins are worthy of punishment, and the implication is that such actions are of a depraved mind, and unless they repent, they will suffer and not inherit the kingdom of God. So we keep it real, um, tell everyone what God's word says about sexual sin and how we are to be holy as God is holy. We must turn from any sexual sin whether solo, hetero, or homo, and answer the call to follow Jesus and to go and sin no more. The sinful pleasures of the flesh are not worth our souls and the eternal torment of hell. God has a better way for us. We must seek and follow it to be saved. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian counselors and theologians to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional. We're on day 23, where Adams shares a portion of Proverbs 4:26, which says, consider the tracks of your feet and your ways will be established. And Adams writes, when you are hiking along a rugged trail or attempting to climb a mountain, You are always looking for a firm footing. You are always looking down at your feet. In treading your way along the path to glory, there are many slippery spots. Unless you pay attention to your footing, you may fall and injure yourself. It is easy to take a misstep. It is wiser not to do so. You may be sure that your ways are established or secure, only when you have carefully considered them in the light of God's word. If God considers your ways, as you saw in the last section, then surely you also should— should— you also should do so. Along the trail, you will discover others who have failed to heed this verse. Consider their spiritual injuries and be sure of your steps. Because he considers your ways, he knows whether or not you have taken the time to consider them in the light His commandments? Have you? Do you know that the path you are on is His? And we hope it is. That's the path we want to take, the path that the Lord has. That's why we give encouragement for the path of Christian discipleship. And it's not, hey, don't worry about your sins, you're forgiven. No, uh, we're to repent of our sins no matter what they are. And, um, you know, we're not perfect people, um, You know, no one is but Jesus, but we're to follow our perfect example and to try to be holy and to not take our sin lightly. And that's why we always ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? You know, it's one thing to believe in Jesus. Are you following him though? It's one thing to recognize that sin is wrong. It's another thing to repent of it. And that's what we encourage. When I came to faith, I had a long history of skepticism and cynicism towards the Christian faith. When I realized it was true, I wanted to be an authentic Christian and, you know, did the hard work of repentance. And we're still repenting, you know, because we're not perfect. But God's given you the victory over alcohol, drugs, and sexual immorality. So I know it's possible, and there's nothing special about me except the Lord called me to follow him, and I decided to do that. And so we encourage you to follow the Lord too. When you do that, he'll do amazing things in your life, one of which was giving me a part of my purpose was to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM. We'll be meeting in 2 days to to discuss Christian recovery and discipleship, to show people how to walk in the Spirit, and, you know, to give you a place to be to get support for any hurt, happen, or hang up. Here in Upstate New York, we invite you to come out to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night. Join us in the K-3rd grade classroom at Starpoint Church for Celebrate Freedom. Beyond that, we're doing Grace for the Holidays. It's an online teaching and support group for men Uh, that's Mondays. That's tonight as we're meeting for session number 4 of 6, um, basically to where we're going to be going through the Grace Course material on Courageous, um, tonight. Um, if, if there's some men out there that wanted to get some support before the holidays, it's not too late. You can sign up, you can join us now, and you can even watch the other sessions we've had because I videotape them all and make make them available for anyone who registers. So, uh, if you want to join us, you go to the group teaching— our group coaching page on our website, mt4christ.com, and register, and we'll, uh, see you tonight. Uh, beyond that, we encourage people to check out the course offerings. I think it's the last day at ficm.org for registration on online courses. We're doing a Freedom in Christ course, uh, on Tuesday, which is full. Um, but we encourage people to check out ficm.org to see what course offerings are left. Um, do it today because it's the last day, I believe. But beyond that, if you missed today, um, you can always check out, um, our offerings on our playlist page on our YouTube channel or mtforchrist.com. Uh, you can find our YouTube playlist page where you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. There's a teaching for Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, and Freedom in Christ, as well as other ones like Celebrate Freedom of Discipleship. All kinds of resources there to encourage you in your walk. So we encourage you to check that out. Beyond that, well, it's Monday, and we always— we end each one, each message, by asking, are you empty for Christ too? It's just another way of asking, are you walking in the Spirit? Are you making yourself available for the Holy Spirit to guide you? If so, we say keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray, ask for the Lord to reveal himself. And, um, because we know if you seek him, you will find him. We know that God answers prayers, sometimes prayers you didn't even pray. Um, you know, hope we've couldn't even hope for. So let's pray, like, right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for bringing Rachel, uh, home from Japan for my wife for Christmas. Um, it was amazing blessing, Lord, and we thank you for that. Uh, we pray that our, our— that Rachel enjoys her time back in the States and, uh, has a very Merry Christmas. And we As for us, we pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go, uh, because we just want to follow you, Jesus. We need your help. Um, we also ask for your help to help anyone who's reading or watching today's message or listening to it, uh, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests, Lord, because, uh, we just want to follow you into your pathways of peace, Lord, and we definitely need your help with that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, And we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.