Intentionality and Trusting God for Results - Purity 1382

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse at sunset comes to us from Celestial Blue Photography, as Rocco Seja shared the scene on social media back on May 1st to honor a departed fellow Oswego photographer, Dave Clark, and to raise funds for a memorial park bench dedicated to his memory. I'm sharing the link to the original post on the blog today for any generous souls who would like to contribute to the cause. Well, it's Saturday, and as we are on the other side of the first run of our recovery ministry work at Starpoint Church, as the Celebrate Freedom support group is on hiatus until July 24th, I'm on— I am reflecting on how the first 6 months of the year has gone and am busying myself with the busy work of data management as I am not sure what to do with myself. So currently I am preparing resources for possible future use by myself, my current life coaching clients, or future— possible future clients. When you don't know what to do, do something that may prove helpful someday rather than doing something that is selfish or indulgent is the rationale, I guess. The work I do today may or may not prove to be helpful in the future, but if I don't do it, there is no way it can be helpful to someone in the future. Uh, just like I really don't know what the current or future impact of our work in ministry over the last 6 months has been, I know that if the Celebrate Freedom support group wasn't there over the last 6 months, the positive changes that have occurred through the group wouldn't have happened, and the future results that will come as a result of the work we have done wouldn't be possible without us. So, you know, seeds of change can't grow unless we plant them. So even though we can be frustrated by a perceived lack of results in ministry work at times, God plays the long game. And moves everything together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And so we should continue to do the things we feel called to do for the possibility that it will be used by God for his glory and someone else's and maybe our own benefit. Um, intentionality is defined as the fact of being deliberate or purposeful. As children of God, we should be intentional about what we are thinking about and what we are doing and steer our mental states and behaviors into active— into activities that will further our journey of personal sanctification and in doing good works for others as an expression of our faith and as an evangelistic means to point people to Jesus and the reality of God's kingdom. Of course, we can't be certain of the outcomes of our best efforts for God, but we can be fairly certain that living for ourselves and being consumed with selfish or sinful desires will probably not bring God glory, as the Word of God describes such activities as what we need to repent of. Loving God, loving others, and doing good is antithetical to looking out for number one. So even though I don't know if what I am doing today will prove to be useful, I, I still am going to do them with the hope that they will be, rather than doing nothing or doing things that will temporarily entertain myself or satisfy my flesh. This is living in the Spirit— doing what we need to for each day, making plans and doing actions that could be used for good in the future, while never knowing if we will see good results from our efforts. Because we trust that God will use some, if not all, of what we do for his purposes. Rocco Seiya's efforts to honor his departed friend with a memorial bench may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but something like that can be— can have unexpected and unseen results. Rocco's gesture could inspire us to remember our departed loved ones, cause us to appreciate the friends we do have, who are still living and may move us to do something similar for departed loved ones or to do something with loved ones who are still with us because we appreciate the fact that they won't always be. Memorial Park benches give people a place to rest and to appreciate God and man's cooperative efforts to enjoy his creation. Parks are nice places, and benches allow us to stay there a while. Memorial park benches can give us pause and cause us to question our own mortality or our course through life. And those philosophical ponderings could cause us to reach out and search for answers to the questions of meaning and purpose that could lead someone to finding the Lord. We are all interconnected in God's creation, with one life touching another. And so, as we go into the first weekend of summer, let's enjoy our lives and the things and people God has brought into our path. And let's be intentional about doing things that could be used for good as an expression of our faith and our appreciation of the gift that God has given us. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on divorce. And today's verses are from Matthew 18:15-17. In the New Living Translation, the Bible says, if another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then, if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. Today's verses are the third of three passages of scriptures that fall under the ninth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on divorce. And the ninth point is: the believing spouse must seek reconciliation when trouble arises. Today's verses highlight the process of church discipline and reconciling ourselves to one another and to encouraging others to get right with God. Confronting others for their sinful actions, when done in the context of loving relationships, can be the means to make peace. We have to communicate our concerns and show we care in order to possibly avoid relational separation. In our marriages, we have to communicate our displeasure but need to do so with love and in a way that will bring us closer together and to God to be at peace. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist 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. And in Alford's devotional, um, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture, and today's chapter is 1 Corinthians 9. And from 1 Corinthians 9, he shares a portion of verse 27, which says I, I buff it, bruise my body, and bring it into bondage, lest by any means after that I preach to others I myself should be rejected. And Stephen Alford writes, the apostle presents a dreadful possibility in this verse by way of warning. The possibility is to preach to others, i.e., run in the race, then be rejected for a reward. The great danger is implied in the words, "I bruise my body." In other words, the supremacy of the flesh can disqualify a man in the race of service. The flesh, that "I" or self, the great enemy of every believer. "I bruise my body," he says. To bruise is to sap the life out of anything. My blessed Lord was bruised for me . On the cross of Calvary, and that is just where this body must hang by faith if it is to be crucified. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, may my testimony be that I have been crucified with Christ. Amen. Amen. Yeah, and so we— and so he's pointing to the fact that the self can get in the way of our work if we don't You know, we don't have to beat ourselves, but we do have to crucify the flesh. You know, these are metaphors. You don't have to actually physically beat yourself or physically crucify yourselves, although some people in the Christian faith stream have done things like that in efforts to be more self-controlled or more faithful. And, um, it may have helped, but I think it's a little misguided. And, uh, but, but do what you want. Um, but the idea is to, is to put, put aside our selfish desires to do what God requires, right? He wants us to share and show the love of God to other people. And if we're selfishly, you know, taking care of ourselves we're not going to be concerned about doing good, and that could impact others. So quite unwittingly, um, Alfred's devotional, devotional, uh, message that happens to do with what I was saying, um, that we do, we do good things today not knowing what, you know, what they will lead to in the future, but we do them, we do them anyway. Because they could be. Whereas we do something selfish that's, you know, I don't know how much we're going to benefit from, you know, well, you know, sinning and, you know, being slothful. However, we do need rest, so we need to temper things, you know. I never want to— we have to be intentional about doing It's about following the Lord, you know, and we can do that in many different ways. It's not about— I'm not trying to whip people into shape through a performance-based mentality here, but, you know, consider the big pictures of what you're doing today and how it'll have impact in the future. If you can't see any possible good from what you're doing today in the future, then, you know, maybe you need to change what you're doing. You know, as long as we're— while we have to take care of our physical needs and whatnot, we should try to follow the Lord and let Him lead us in the way we should go. To be kind, to be loving, to point people to Jesus in some way, to be responsible, to be holy. If you're, you know, at a loss for what you should do, think about it and, you know, consider it. There's— the word of God can lead you in all kinds of directions, whether it's, you know, taking care of yourself and physically, um, to be a good steward to your body and your mental health and, you know, your spiritual health by turning away from sins that drag you into guilt and shame, or whether it's, um, you know, encouraging others to follow the Lord and to do— doing kind things for others to reflect his love. There's always something to do. Or if there's— do preparation work for— like I am, I'm preparing Christian resources that I might be able to give to someone someday to encourage them at a future date. And if I don't have them ready to distribute or give out, you know, I won't have those things to encourage people. You know, I have this great resource for you. I'll get it to you someday, as opposed to I'll give it to you now. So I'm not doing much this morning, so we're gonna prepare things that could possibly be used by someone in the future and bless their walk, and they could bless me. So we're gonna do that. Anyway, not sure what today is going to bring. Um, the weather here at Upstate went from a heat wave to what's proved to be thunderstorms today, I guess. So we might be doing a lot of preparation work, um, and data management. Um, to bless someone at a future date. But we'll see. But one way or the other, I'm going to enjoy my life and enjoy the fact that the Lord has redeemed it. Something we can always do every day, even if it's just to give thanks and worship the Lord for the good he's done. So I encourage you to do the same. Um, anyway, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Well, we don't know what we're doing or, or how you're going to use it, but we're trusting that you will. We're going to be intentional about following you and representing your kingdom as best we can, and we pray for you to bless it. Uh, Lord, we also pray for you to bless anyone who's reading or listening today's message, that you would come alongside them and their prayer requests and help their walk of faith, help them, show them, call them to do something good. That could be used by you. Well, we thank you for that, and we pray for you to lead us today. Show us the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go. That is all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, and we desperately need your help with that sometimes, all the time. Anyway, we love you, we thank you, we praise you, Lord, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.