It Won’t Work! – Lies of the Enemy #26– Purity 1038

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a stormy sunset, gulfside scene comes to us from Dave Bond Photography, as Dave shared this photo of what I know to be the Brighton Beach Jetty on St. Vincent's Gulf in Adelaide, South Australia, back on April April 24th as his first offering to a friend's My Life Is Good challenge, uh, where he was tested to share photos of things that give Dave joy for 10 days without explanation. Even though Dave didn't give an explanation and I have never been to the land down under before, I know this is the Brighton Jetty in South Adelaide because Dave has shared photos from this location before. I have never met Dave in the flesh or even spoken to him before, but his joy has become my joy because he was willing to share it. And while I don't have any plans as of yet to travel to Australia, the likelihood of me going there is increased because of what Dave has shared. Well, it's Tuesday and I'm awash in restless anticipation of what will happen tomorrow. As I have been preparing for the first meeting of the Celebrate Freedom Recovery/Discipleship Growth Group that is scheduled for tomorrow at 6:30 PM at Star Point Church in Clifton Park. While I have to admit to being a little nervous about this new ministry opportunity, I am hopeful that the testimony, teaching, and encouragements that I offer will encourage others to go there in terms of pursuing their freedom in Christ and a deeper relationship with the Lord. The purpose of this blog and podcast is to share the joy that I have found from walking in the Spirit, living the lifestyle of a Christian discipleship, or being a follower of Jesus, in hopes that my joy will become someone else's joy, uh, that my constant testimony and encouragements regarding the goodness of God will increase the chances of others to go there with their faith life. But I understand that this lifestyle of faith may be foreign territory to many and realize that they don't only have to get over their fears of the unknown, they may also have to fight the good fight of faith, uh, to silence the voices that discourage them from going there. Just yesterday, one of the people who signed up for the new group weeks ago, one of the first to register, contacted me to tell me that they can't they can't make Wednesdays right now. And while I understand things change and anything could lie behind this decision to go— to not go to a recovery group, I also know that there is someone who doesn't want this person to go— the enemy. And they will be diligent to convince this person that there is no day that will work for them right now or ever. And this brings us to our current series, The Lies of the Enemy, which is an examination of some of the common lies sometimes those sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person statements that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So with this current situation in mind, I present today's big lie is Lie Number 26: It won't work. This is the lie that the enemy will use to stop us from getting free. Uh, what won't work? What do you got? Because the enemy will use this lie about any and all aspects that surround the things that you can do to increase your joy, freedom, or spiritual, mental, or physical health. The enemy is out to kill, steal, or destroy our joy, our peace, or our very lives, after all. So he considers it his job to convince us of how the solutions that come to our attention just won't work. The time is no good. It won't work. The place is no good. It's too far away. The building's layout bothers me. The room temperature is no good. It won't work. The program is too restrictive. It won't work. I'm too busy. It won't work. There's always tomorrow for freedom to come true. Ha ha ha! That won't work either. The enemy knows as he maniacally laughs at your attempts to free yourself. It won't work for a while, or actually he might admit it might work for a while, but it won't work. So the enemy keeps at it and keeps us from experiencing the new life that God has for us. And that's the key here, guys, the life that God has for you. This isn't a plan to get fit or to get— or to clean up your own act or to pull ourselves up by, uh, by the bootstraps. A life of freedom in Christ is a lifestyle of surrendering to the Lord's wisdom and ways to live. And it's not a— it's not for a time or a season, it's forever. And while that may seem daunting at first, when we realize, uh, that that because our life in Christ is a continuous, never-ending journey, we can find peace because we don't have to strive or chase after it. We can take it one day at a time and receive what the Lord has for us one step at a time. And even though we are well versed about all the ways things haven't worked before, we can relax because the decision to follow the Lord puts the results on him. We agree to follow him one day at a time and keep going in his direction, trusting that we can have peace each day in his presence and be assured that he is progressively leading us to a better place from where we started. So don't believe the enemy's lie that it won't work. We are not working it anymore. We're just following God's ways now, knowing his way is the way we should have should have went in the first place, and that while we might not get everything right as we go, we can have peace knowing the Lord will faithfully guide us to his plans and purposes for us. When we get there, we can testify how the Lord's way works. Uh, today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is John 12:26. And the word of God says, or Jesus says in this instance, anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me because my servants must be where I am, and the Father will honor anyone who serves me. Today's verse encourages us that we must follow Jesus. We have to be where he is. So that means church on Sundays, I would think. Uh, but perhaps more importantly, it means we are on the same page with Jesus, in terms of what we believe and how we live our lives. Jesus promises us that God will honor us if we follow and serve Jesus's causes. So let's not just believe in Jesus, let's choose to follow him, to be in his presence, and to receive the honor that comes from walking with him. 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 Satan, Demons, and Satanism: A Sinister Reality by June Hunt. And today we continue in Section 3, which is the Causes of Attraction to Satanic Worship, as June Hunt puts out the root cause there and the wrong beliefs and the right beliefs and the need for salvation. And she offers up a prayer of salvation. So if you've never given your heart to the Lord and need a prayer to pray to, to get her done, um, we direct you to go to mtforchrist.org to check out that resource and to say the prayer that'll put you on the path to a new life, um, in Christ and the freedom that lies when you faithfully follow him. It's not just about believing. We have a lot of Christians who believe but have no peace, they have no fruit of the Spirit in their lives because they're just living according to the world, the world's ways. Um, they believe, but they have their faith as a little part of their life instead of the all-encompassing life that the Lord wants it to be. Um, everything we do should give glory to God, and so we do that. Um, I have to apologize for today's short message as I was having internet issues over last night and this morning, and, uh I was diligently printing out materials now that my printer works for the upcoming ministry. I got a lot of stuff to hand out on for the first meeting, but I figure this might be the only opportunity for some. Some might come and leave, so I want to, you know, put it all on the floor, you know, as they say, you know, do everything I can to encourage people. And to really try to make this, um, this group— even though I'll be teaching from the Celebrate Recovery material, I'm providing materials on Who We Are in Christ, a lot of stuff from the Freedom in Christ course right up front, because that's— I think that's the most important thing, our identity in Christ. That's what leads us to peace. We can overcome any problem that we have through our faith in Jesus, but we have to know who we are, who God is, and how to do this thing. And so I'm trying to provide materials that'll increase people's joy and their knowledge of their identity in Christ, and I'm hoping that this approach will be, you know, better than just the Celebrate Recovery material. Like I said yesterday, I made a couple alterations to change some of the verbiage. I'm not crazy about the 12-step speak sometimes about higher powers. If we're a Christian, we don't have a higher power. We have a Lord and Savior. If we're a Christian, we have a relationship with God, and we're walking in faith. We're not following a higher power. We're following Jesus, you know, some impersonal higher power. I don't think so. I don't like the verbiage, okay? As Christians, there's God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and I just call him Lord because that Trinity stuff sometimes messes you up. Um, but we'll never go astray when we follow the Lord's goodness and, uh, his directions for our lives. So, um, yeah, that's, that's the focus. And I really hope it inspires people and that this group grows. Um, not because I want numbers, but, um, I'm hoping that the, uh, the people that go will say, wow, this is, um This is great teaching. Why don't we know this? Well, the truth is your pastors teach it every Sunday, but you know, they might not make it— you know, you might just take it under advisement, which is really sad because the pastor prepares a message each week for you to apply it to your life generally. Um, you know, there should be some application in there. It should be some exhortation, some encouragement to follow the Lord in some way that I don't necessarily do it, but unfortunately I think people just listen and, uh, or nod or whatever, and they don't, you know, think that the pastor's message doesn't really have anything to do with real life. It's just spiritual niceties. Meanwhile, they're trying to teach and instruct and encourage people to, um, walk by faith. But sometimes in a classroom, you know, that becomes a little more apparent. Maybe not though. We'll see. But yeah, that's it. If we actually do what the Word of God says and follow the Lord in spirit and truth, things happen. You know, that fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives. So that's what my mission is, to show other people that, wow, what they said, it really is true. And follow, follow, follow the Lord. Anyway, follow, follow, follow the Lord. Anyway, um, that's the message for today. I have to work and, uh, get my Bible study in somehow. Um, so we're going to pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for another day, uh, day to live, uh, in the life that you've given us. Uh, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening. We thank you for the answered prayers for Susanna Sincotti's mother as her— as she received her healing and left the hospital yesterday. Um, we thank you for that. Answered prayers happen. So we, we pray for the people who are listening or, or, um, you know, reading today's message, that you come alongside their prayer request, um, and come alongside them in their walk of faith. Lord, we thank you for that. And, uh, Lord, as always, we need your help, we need your guidance, your presence in our lives at all times. Um, so we ask you go before us today, we We ask you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and we ask for you to lead us in the way we should go, uh, Lord, because all we want to do is represent your kingdom and to share the love and knowledge that you've given us, um, and to give it to others so more people understand, um, the truth of who you are and, and, uh, that you have a purpose and a meaning for each and every one of us. But we'll never know it if we, we think it doesn't work. We will never know it unless we step out in faith and, and walk into what you have for us. So, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.