Israel - History in the Headlines - Responding with Faith - Purity 1466

Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 podcast, or M247 podcast. Uh, I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. Uh, 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 vivid blue sky above a mountain valley view comes to us from Fred Dimmick, I believe, or an unknown Facebook friend who shared the scene on social media back on October 5th, 2021. If I am mistaken and this isn't a Fred Dimmick original and this is your memory, let me know and I can update the blog after the fact. Well, it's Wednesday and I share this mountain view not to cause controversy. I'm not, I'm not positive, but this looks like, uh, one of Fred's photos. But to just visually represent our arrival at another hump day and to clean out my, uh, out the closet of my iPhone's photo archive. I used to be on social media a lot more than I am these days, and in the process collected a lot of photos from friends that I didn't get around to sharing or noting who they belong to. Uh, even these days when I see photos from friends, I will save them for the Lord's use but can very quickly forget where they came from. My disclaimer, spoken before, is that if you are a Facebook friend of mine, I may share your work on the blog to give God glory. Anyway, I believe today's photo is Fred's because he has shared similar views in the past, and as much as I could just sit and appreciate the peaceful, easy feeling that this photo gives me, uh, just breathe in that crisp mountain air, Last night, after I finished hosting an online Freedom in Christ Course discipleship group, I was taken out of my post-ministry bliss zone by the disturbing news that there was a missile attack launched on Israel from Iran. Last night, Fox News reporter Stephanie Price shared a story that stated Donald Trump was blaming the current administration's weak leadership for the escalating crisis in the Middle East. And last evening's historic attack on Israel. Israel was reporting that Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at their country last night, making it the largest missile attack in history. I have to be completely honest, I didn't— I don't follow the news regularly, and I was made aware of this attack through a video on YouTube posted by The Real Exorcist Bob Larson. who shared his thoughts about this disturbing development. Um, Larson stated that in all his 80 years of life, that he and none of us has ever seen anything like this latest attack against Israel. But instead of fueling the fires of fear, Larson encouraged a faithful response, uh, to what many prophetic— quote unquote prophetic— preachers may predict to be the coming tribulation and the beginning of the entrance of the Antichrist on the scene of world history. Larson cautioned his audience to not give into fear and to be wise and discerning when it comes to listening to, quote unquote, prophetic preachers who will claim to have insights about last night's attack and the end times ahead. Instead, he encouraged people to keep— or to put their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and to trust our sovereign Lord to help us. Um, Larson directed his audience to pray for peace in the Middle East, peace in Jerusalem, and to pray for wise leadership in our country to guide a situation that could affect millions of— million— million— the lives of millions. Um, to our nation's credit, the US did intervene in the situation and, along with British forces, joined Israeli defense air defense units and firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. Although Israel's missile attack was the largest in history, the US's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was defeated and ineffective and that no deaths were reported on the Israeli side. Praise the Lord. You know, God uses people to do his sovereign will on Earth. And many have pointed at the nation of Israel's continual existence throughout history and their seemingly divine protection as evidence that God is real and Israel is his chosen and highly favored people. Their protection last night is another piece of evidence of this sentiment. As disturbing as these events may be, I believe that God is in control and that we should follow Bob Larson's advice to pray for peace and to exercise our right as citizens this November to vote for the people that we believe will be best equipped to guide our nation and to continue to be a protective partner of Israel. We should cast our anxieties on the Lord by drawing close to him in prayer and in following his will in our lives on the path of Christian discipleship, to nurture the peace and other divine fruit that comes from walking in the Spirit. Our God knows what's coming in the future, and we need not fear when we are walking and talking with him. As always— well, not as always— today's Bible verses come to us from The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from this section on forgiving others. Today's verses come from Luke 17, which— and we're in verses 3 and 4, where Jesus said, be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you 7 times a day and returns to you 7 times saying, I repent, forgive him. Today's verses are the second of 2 passages of scripture that fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiving others. And the third point is Jesus says we must forgive often. And so, uh, you know, we say today's Bible verses are the words of warning from Jesus himself that tell us, his disciples, to rebuke our brothers when they fall into sin and to continually offer our forgiveness when people sin against us and repent. Jesus once again tells us to forgive those who are, who repent, and indicates that even if we are offended to the point of Simon Peter's suggested 7-time number of perfection forgiveness limit, to forgive even then. But I also like the fact that Jesus tells us, um, here to be bold and to rebuke one another when we sin. We need to show our love for our brothers and sisters by letting them know that their sins are causing them to not be the people that God made them to be, because if they listen, they will repent and grow in their faith and there will be a lot less to forgive in the future. 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 their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alpert. And in Alpert's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture. Today's chapter is 1 Peter 3. And from that chapter, he shares a portion of verse 15, which says, be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. And Stephen Alford writes, the blessed man of Psalm 1 is said to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth its fruit in its season, always ready to give an answer concerning the hope that is in him. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Readiness to witness of the indwelling spirit will be seen in a zeal, that which is good, that which is good. It could be said that the Lord, of the Lord Jesus, zeal for your house has eaten me up. A willingness to suffer for righteousness' sake, walk in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, sanctifying the Lord as Christ in the heart. Making Christ supreme in life, owning him as Lord, sanctifying or setting him aside as the only one worthy to reign supreme in the heart, undivided allegiance. Stephen Alford ends by praying, Lord, help me to be ever prepared. The next person I meet may need you. Amen. And so we give a reason, our, uh, for our defense. That reason is Jesus. Our— the reason, our defense for our hope is Jesus, right? Um, and, um, you know, we, we make Jesus the Lord of our life. That means our allegiance and our loyalties are to him first and foremost, above the world governments, above all other, other, um, other authorities or institutions Christ is our Lord. We follow him, uh, you know, above an individual church building or individual pastor. We follow the Lord. So, um, you know, and so we do that, and we get— when we trust in the Lord, we know he'll protect us and that he'll move things according to his will. Follow him, we'll discover peace even in trying times like these where we have a national election and you know, war in the Middle East. Um, but those headlines, you know, even though these latest headlines are, you know, different and historic, um, you know, rumors of wars in the Middle East, and that's pretty common. And so really, Jesus can come back at any moment. Um, you know, so many prophetic guys will tell you that. Um, so We'll be prepared. And how do we prepare for the coming of the Lord? Well, we walk in faith. And so we ask you the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Um, when Christ comes back, you know, one of the things he said, he wondered if he'd find faith when he came back and, and to the earth. Um, and so let's, let's give him something to find when he gets here. Let's be faithful. Um, let's do something with that word of God. Let's apply it to our lives and live it. And, uh, show people the love of Christ by sharing the gospel and doing good works. And let's not be afraid. Let's have confidence in the Lord and trust in him always. Uh, when we follow him, he'll give us, uh, he'll give us peace, and he'll give us other things to do like ministry. And, uh, I've been blessed by, uh, the opportunity to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at my local church, Starpoint Church in Clifton Park. On Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM. So if you need a fellowship where you can be real and walk in the Spirit and overcome hurts, habits, and hangups, we can give you a victory. You know, well, we're not going to give any victory. You'll find it though when you come with us, join our fellowship, and follow the Lord. Most importantly, he's the one who can help you. But we're there to provide a space for Christian recovery and discipleship on Wednesday nights, and it's available to anybody in the Capital District that can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night. So we invite you out there for that. Also, for any men in the Capital District, yeehaw, there is a roundup men's ministry event at my local church, Starpoint Church in Clifton Park, on Friday night this week, October 4th. Guest speaker Granger Smith um, country western recording artist, will be there to speak and give his testimony about the Lord's goodness. And there will also be inflating— inflatable bull riding and free barbecue. So go to the Starpoint Church website and sign up, uh, to reserve your spot, uh, for free barbecue, um, Christian fellowship. And, um, it should be an amazing night. Of, uh, entertainment and, um, fellowship. Anyway, um, and for those of who are not in the Capital District of New York, who can't get to Clifton Park, um, we believe you can still find your— find or increase your freedom too, um, by going to our, our YouTube channel, M.t. Clark 247, and looking up our playlist for The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom Discipleship, among our many other playlists. Some feature, you know, other, other preachers than me— not that I'm a preacher— but we offer all those to encourage you and build up your faith and to possibly help you to resolve your spiritual and personal conflicts of the past and move forward in freedom. So we encourage you to go check those out. And so we ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? Being empty for Christ is nothing fancy. It just means that we surrender our will, allowing for the Holy Spirit to fill us and to guide us through life. And so we ask that question, and if the answer to that question is yes, we say, great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we highly suggest and encourage you to pray. And ask the Lord to reveal himself to you. And, uh, if you get that feeling, if you get that feeling that Jesus really is who he said he is, just say a prayer to make him your Lord and Savior and start to follow him. And, um, we know things change, um, through prayer. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just pray for, um, peace and guidance, uh, know, as we go about our day today, um, we pray for peace in the, uh, peace in Jerusalem. We pray for your will to be done there, Lord. We pray for, uh, good leadership, uh, to rise up this, uh, November, um, one way or the other, Lord, uh, put the right person in the office, uh, according to your will, um, that'll, that'll guide our country, uh, in the future and, uh, prayerfully be of the support and a help to, uh, your people, the nation of Israel. Um, beyond that, Lord, we need, we need help here in our lives too. Um, we, we need you to help us, uh, to find your peace. And we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, Lord, that you'd help them find their peace and that you'd come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, because we all need your help, whether we're in a war zone or we're just here in the United States, uh, doing another day. Um, we need your guidance and your protection to, to show us the way. Uh, Lord, so we just pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, move us in the way we should go, and, uh, help us, Lord. All we want to do is represent you and your kingdom. We need a lot of help with that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.