In Christ, I Am Alive! Listen to God. - Purity 1434

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 watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a roaring fire, a rustic barn, and a prodigious pine tree with a spectacular sunset sky in the background comes to us from yours truly as I was moved to capture the Lord's blessings on my life while burning up branches in my backyard back on August 29th, 2023. Well, let's thank God it's Friday and rejoice together as we choose to face the day, the last day of the work week, uh, with enthusiasm and enter the gates of the weekend with praise. You know, part of my daily spiritual practice involves physical exercise. And this morning I was delighted to be encouraged by Beartooth's secular life-affirming alternative anthem, "I Was Alive." And I'm sharing a video, a lyric video of it on YouTube on the blog today. Its chorus boldly declares, "When I die, I'll know I didn't just live, I was alive." I'll know I didn't just live, I was a person that you were proud of. Took chances and didn't doubt them. No need to fear the end, 'cause I'll know I didn't just live, I was alive. Live. Anyway, um, you have to keep your ears open, uh, to the new music out there. This is 2023, of course, but, uh, well, it's a 2023 song. It's 2024, so not exactly brand new. But, uh, you have to keep your ears open to new music that's out there because every once in a while you can find something that will touch your heart or speak to, uh, to some basic, uh, basic truth about life and love. And if it's true in a general sense about all of us, how much more true is it about us who are in Christ? Through Christ alone, when I die, I'll know I did— I just didn't— I just didn't just live. I didn't just live. I was, am, and will be alive with him forever. And him, I'll know I didn't just live. I am alive. You know, through Christ alone, I became and am still becoming the person he could be proud of. Um, through Christ alone, I took chances and didn't doubt him. Um, not too much. Trust in the Lord. Through Christ alone, there is no need to fear the end because there isn't one. And if I shall pass before he returns, when I die, I'll know I didn't just live, I was alive. I am alive in Christ. You know, this is a reminder we need to remember to and to rejoice in. We are alive in Christ, and God is with us through the indwelling person of the Holy Spirit. And God is alive and talks to us through his Spirit and his word. The only question is, will we live for him, and will we listen to his voice to guide us? Uh, the In Touch devotional, um, today, for today, from today, speaks about listening to God. And I'm sharing it on the blog today because it's the straight— it's that straight truth truth we need to remember to live in. You know, Dr. Charles Stanley writes— what does he write? He writes, How to Listen to God. Most of us are better at talking than listening, but communicating with God involves both. The Lord intends for his children to hear his voice. Scripture is one of the main instruments our Father uses to speak to us. For this reason, studying the Bible is incredibly important. When we regularly spend time in God's word, we'll develop a discerning spirit. Regardless of how loudly God speaks, we won't hear unless, unless listening is a priority. We must ask the Lord to teach us to hear and then practice having a quiet attitude. An internal receiver tuned to the Father develops only through committed prayer, meditation, and practice at listening. In addition, we need a spirit of submission to obey his commands. God's goal for us is a lifestyle of sensitivity so we can hear him in both noisy and calm situations. Listening is a critical skill for ensuring that our hearts are open to divine guidance in every circumstance. Regularly spending time reading and meditating on scripture has many blessings, including that we more readily recognize our Father's voice. That was from the good Dr. Charles Stanley, um, and I say amen. You know, let's remember to turn our attention to the Lord today and listen to what he is trying to tell us. His word and the Holy Spirit will guide us. So seek his voice and his ways and listen to his advice and instructions. If you follow him, you'll know that you aren't just living, you are alive in Christ. Today's Bible verses come to us from this Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on forgiveness, on the forgiveness of sins. And while our resources does share Luke 15:11-32, the parable of the prodigal son, for brevity's sake, we're going to share just a portion of it. Luke 15:20-24, where the word of God says, and he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Today's verses fall under the 13th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sins. That 13th point is: Sinners are forgiven when they repent and believe in Jesus. Today's verses are the moment of truth in the prodigal story. At this point in the story, he has lost it all. And he has hit rock bottom. He saw the error of his ways and sought to humble himself and to be made a servant in his father's house, not daring to hope for anything better. But the father welcomes his son back with open arms and fully restores him with all benefits and privileges and with celebratory joy. This is our Heavenly Father. This is how our Heavenly Father responds when we repent and place our faith in Jesus. We are made spiritually alive and adopted as God's children. We become alive in Christ and not only get hope and get a hope in a future, uh, we also receive a family and a kingdom to live in forever. This is— this life in Christ is very good. Let's experience the joy of our salvation continually by living with and for God every day. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with our walk. Um, today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture each day uh, twice a day actually, but, um, we, we break it up in one-day bits. Um, and, uh, today's chapter is 1 Timothy 3, and from that he shares a portion of verse 1 which says, 'A good work.' And Stephen Alford writes, 'Paul calls the office of a bishop or overseer a good work. The qualifications for this office are interesting and important to know.' Positive: without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, able to teach, ruling his house well, having a good testimony from those without, gentle. And then the negative: not given to wine, not violent, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, and not a novice. There are 10 positive qualifications and 5 negative. Truly a high standard, yet it is God's standard. The secret of a well-behaved church lies in the moral qualities as well as spiritual qualities of the, of the oversight. God calls the work, this work, a good work. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, no matter, no matter my role in the church, Lord, let me always demonstrate these godly characteristics. Amen. Amen. And yeah, um, you know, we're— when we're— when we come into the kingdom, we are for— we are, you know, when we begin with being no good sinner saved by grace, but it doesn't mean we stay that way. Um, you know, God calls us to repentance, and he calls us to live a certain way. And when we We do that, we represent the kingdom, we represent his family, we become the people that he can be proud of, um, we become the people that he created us to be. And quite frankly, we become the people we can be proud of, you know. Um, I, I— one of the definitions I give for freedom is becoming the person you always wanted, you always wanted to be, but not you know, the person you never thought you could be. And that's the person you can become in Christ. And, um, you know, how do you do that? Well, you, you fully surrender to the Lord and his will for your life. And he's a gentleman, you know. The prodigal's father didn't seek him out and drag him back home. He let him go his way. And, you know, he The hope was that, you know, the son would discover just how much, how good he had it. Um, he would remember his father's love and his kindness and his generosity and, you know, and realize that there's nothing out in the world that's better than, than what he had in his father's house. And that's what God does with us. He lets us go our way to just try to discover a way, a truth in this life. But he puts enough of himself in creation through, you know, the good— his goodness, and by providing things like his word, the church, and the, you know, the presence of holy— you know, the Holy Spirit and the story of Jesus Christ for all of us to consider, to find him and to realize how good God is. And, you know, when we seek him, we'll find him. When we think about him, you know, it should draw us to him. And when we discover the truth, you know, it's decision time. Will I surrender to God? Will I make him my Lord and Savior? Will I become the person he calls me to be? Or will I go my own way and risk, you know, eternity without him? These are the, these are the questions we have to respond to. And we've been given great grace. By God for revealing these things to us. So, uh, when we, when we see the truth, we have to respond to it. And when we do, um, God gives us things to do. And for me, one of the things he's done is, uh, he's given me the, the privilege of leading the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church. It's a Christian recovery discipleship group. And if you're anywhere in the Capital District of upstate New York, we invite you to go to Clifton Park on Wednesday evenings to join us. You can go to Pointe Church's website and find us under support groups, uh, to register for the course, uh, you know, for the group. Or you can just show up, um, we'll be there and, uh, we'll encourage you and, and how to, uh, walk in the Spirit. We'll encourage you to find out who you are in Christ and how to, you know, become free from all those hurts, habits, and hangups that separated you from God. Um, so we invite you to do that. And, you know, if you're not local and can't get, get there, that's okay. Um, there's a lot of the stuff we teach from or encourage from is— could— can be found in the Freedom in Christ course, which is available from Freedom in Christ Ministries at ficm.org. You go to their bookstore and get the materials and the videos on your own. Um, there are also currently online classes still registering there. I think they're You know, the availability is, is very scarce at this point. Um, but you should go and see. You never know where you can— you might be able to find an online course. Um, I think I have one opening in my class, um, because we had, uh, someone switch time frames on the West Coast and they had to switch classes. And so there might be an opening for one guy to sign up, um, for my Tuesday night class that I'll be leading online via Zoom.. So if you want to go register, go to ficm.org, look up courses, and see if you can register for the men's group, uh, which is available on Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM Eastern Time. Uh, I'm on the East Coast, so that's the time I teach. Anyway, um, God is good. It is Friday. I don't have to work today. I'm actually on vacation. Um, but I rejoice with those who, you know, there's nothing like a Friday because, you know, by the end of the day You got that freedom on the weekend generally, um, you know. So let's pray, you know. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for Friday. We thank you for Friday, Lord. We thank you for every day because you made us alive in Christ. You set us free and, um, you've given us a new life, and we thank you so much for that, Lord. And we just pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Because we all need help, uh, to do this thing. Uh, if we really want to be surrendered to your will and be a Christian and follow you, we need your help and guidance. So we're listening to your voice today. We pray for you to speak to us through your word and through your spirit or through somebody else in the kingdom. And Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.