Jesus on Baywatch! - Purity1413

Hello, welcome to the MT for Christ 247 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 you can watch it on YouTube. Uh, good morning. Today's photo of the sun rising or setting on the horizon of an unknown sea comes to us from Roberta Fox Boone, who shared this view on social social media yesterday from her voyage on a Symphony of the Seas cruise ship, reporting, reporting to her friends that she and a traveling friend were having the time of our life. Well, it's Monday, and I hope all my friends enjoyed the weekend and are taking advantage of the summer season, because by the end of this week we will be into August, and it won't be long after that that we can expect pumpkin spice flavored everything to be offered to us to remind us that autumn is on the horizon. Some friends have already shared photos from various retailers showing that they have already gone beyond promoting back to school and are selling things for Halloween. So I just wanted to give you a heads up to seize the day, evening, or next weekend to make some summertime memories of 2024 as we begin to roll into the 8th month of the year. As for me, I have had a few instances of summer fun so far, but on Saturday I inadvertently lacerated— you can't see it, there we go— lacerated my left index finger, uh, right across the middle knuckle while at work on Saturday, um, requiring stitches that will keep me out of work and, and the water for a few days until it heals. I might not be the most tooly guy in the world, but ironically, I do work with my hands and, and the location and severity of the injury requires me to rest and heal. Uh, mine is a minor trial, of course, but it causes me to think of others who might not be having the time of their lives this summer in the sense of fun as they suffer injuries and losses that might not be as easy to see as a bandaged and splinted index finger. Pain, loss, and suffering aren't reserved for certain seasons. And so I realize that people might be grieving right now, losses recent or ones that have— that others would feel are distant. I was reminded of this possibility not by my finger but by a social media post that I saw recently and this morning's Bible study. The social media post was from someone who suffered serious losses over the last couple of years, and although it was sharing a positive message of good luck with imagery from a false religion. I wasn't offended as much as I was saddened by the pain that this positive affirmation was coming from, and from the fact that this person who was supposedly raised in a Christian tradition wasn't taught how to find comfort in healing from Jesus and the Christian faith. So I said a prayer that they would receive from the Lord to provide healing and truth, because calling on false gods to give good luck is no way for a Christian to live. The word says that we suffer for a lack of knowledge, and if we never sought the truth about our Christian faith by reading the Bible for ourselves, it will be no surprise when we look to other things than God to help us when things get bad. I myself rejected, uh, rejected my Christian tradition when I suffered the loss of my son and 2002. And it was only by God's mercy and grace that I was led out of the darkness of a false religion myself in 2010, uh, in my lifestyle of the flesh in the years since. When I came to faith in Jesus in 2010, the Lord put the desire to know him more in me, which drove me to read the Bible and learn from him as much as possible. I'm still learning, uh, that's what a disciple is. A student who applies his teacher's lessons to his life. And this morning, I got a new lesson about grief and about Jesus. We have to read the Bible continually because the Lord uses it continually to show us more. I was reading Matthew 14 this morning and realized that Jesus was operating from a place of grief when he performed some of his biggest miracles. Matthew 14 tells us of John the Baptist's death. And Jesus's immediate response in Matthew 14:13, where it tells us, when Jesus heard it, he departed from there by boat to be deserted, uh, to a deserted place by himself. Upon hearing the news of John's death, Jesus wanted to be alone. Jesus was grieving. His testifying of no one being born, no one born being greater than John the Baptist in Matthew 11 shows us that he loved John. And his murder caused him to want to be alone. But as Matthew 14 tells us, the multitudes found him, and instead of demanding his privacy, in Matthew 14:14, uh, the word tells us he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. Not only that, but Jesus followed up— and Jesus followed up the miraculous healing with the miracle of the loaves and the fishes feeding, as Matthew 14:21 tells us. 5,000 men besides women and children. That's a multitude. But Jesus, in his grief, served them all. Afterwards, he and his disciples got away from the crowd, and Jesus again sought to be alone in his grief. Remember, John had just been killed. Matthew 14:23 tells us, and when he, when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. Now when evening came, he was alone there, and Jesus knew where to go in his brief prayer. He went to God the Father. But then, as the New Living Translation made clear to me this morning in Matthew 14:24, meanwhile the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. The disciples were in trouble in that boat at 3, 3 in the morning. Jesus got the news about his friends from his Father, undoubtedly. Humanly, he would have had no other way of knowing, right? That's listening prayer. God told Jesus about his friends in spite of his grief. Well, he told him about his friends in trouble, and in spite of his grief or the lateness of the hours, Jesus sprang into action. Matthew 14:25 tells us, about 3 o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. Now, the big revelation for me today was Jesus was walking— Jesus walking on the water was a rescue mission. You know, Jesus was the inspiration for Baywatch. We all know the rest of the story, of course. Peter boldly goes out of the boat, but fear causes him to sink, and Jesus saves him. And the storm stops. Now that's a lifeguard. Just saying. And if the disciples ever doubted, you know, who they were learning from, this episode on the high seas changed that. As Matthew 14:33 tells us, then those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Yeah, Jesus isn't just a lifeguard. With a special technique for traversing water. He is fully man, he is fully God, and he shows us the way to grieve, and he shows us the way to live. So do as Jesus did, our teacher. Let's see, actually share that on slide. Yeah. So do as Jesus did. Our teacher, our friend, Savior, and Lord showed us to go to the Father in our grief. To pray, but to also show compassion and to give care to those around us. He taught us to trust in the Lord only and to step out in faith to be with him. So don't look to false religions for good luck. They, they seem nice and may even, may even seem wise to those without knowledge, but they are all demonically driven and lead you astray. Instead, keep on walking and talking with God. And read his word to know him more. So, so you can stand in your grief and know that your life is guarded here on Earth and forevermore. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick, uh, Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Crowes. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on fear, and today's verse is Romans 8:15, which says For you did— did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.' Today's verse is the first of two passages of scripture that falls under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on fear. And that first point is: Believers need not be slaves to fear. Today's verse reminds us not to fear because of our adoption as sons and daughters of God. And if we are comfortable with it, we can call him Daddy or Abba, as the God— as the God— the Lord God Almighty has made us his own through our faith in Jesus. Our knowledge of who we are in Christ and the fact of our salvation and eternal life through Christ is the antidote for fear. Nothing can separate us from, from God, and we should not fear anything because God is with us. So get to know God more so we can fear a whole lot less. God has given us a new life and set us free, so you don't have to be a slave to fear. As always, we encourage you to go to mtforchrist.com, uh, as 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. Alford. And Alford directs us to read a chapter of scripture in the morning and the evening, and today's chapter is Ephesians 4. And from Ephesians 4, he shares a portion of Ephesians 4:29, which says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but what is good for necessary edification. And Stephen, Stephen Alford writes, what a standard, and yet one that is obviously possible, or else it would not be an injunction to believers. Just what corrupt speech means is best explained in Ephesians 5:3-4. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be named among you, as is fitting for saints. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting. This is the negative side. And Stephen Alfred also writes, as to the positive, positive speech should be good for necessary edification. Ephesians 4:29. If this were the one object in a Christian's life, what a power for God he would be, setting watch upon his lips, guarding the tongue, meeting every need with words that edify. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, oh, for grace to do this, Lord. Amen. Amen. Yeah, don't let foul speech come into your mouth. And he tells us, you know, that it's, you know, quote-unquote, you know, from the Bible, foolish— not foolish talking, coarse jesting, filthiness, or anything to do with uncleanness, fornication, or covetousness. You can't talk about sex a bunch, or being envious, and anything gross, uh, that would be included, I guess. So yeah, we don't want to do that. And when we fully surrender to God, um, we, we realize that we have to live, uh, live according to who we are in Christ. And one of the things we need to do is put a a bar over our mouths. And, uh, I am guilty of that myself. So, oh, give me the grace to, to live with that one. Let no foul words coming out of my mouth in my frustrations, or maybe when I cut my finger or someone cuts me off in traffic, or I just get frustrated. Uh, yeah. And I don't want to, you know, be aggressive and, and how I debate or talk to others, uh, because that can be, uh, seen as, yeah, aggressive, I guess. Anyway, um, yeah, I only seek to encourage people to follow the Lord, and, um, because it's the most important thing about us, and what we do with God's word will make all the difference in how we live. And, um, you know, it'll lead us to do good works. Um, for instance, uh, in my case, um, we, we need to celebrate Freedom Support Group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday evenings, and you're invited to join our Christian Recovery and Discipleship Group. Um, if you're in the Capital District of New York, you're welcome. You don't have to be a member of Starpoint Church to attend. Um, you just have to let us know you're coming, and you don't even have to do that. Alexa, please stop that. And that's my alarm, uh, for normally going to work. Um, Yeah, anyway, uh, we invite you— I hope you heard the alarm— to go to Celebrate Freedom, because we invite you to go there. We'll be there Wednesday at 6:30 PM for anyone in the Capital District of New York State, and we're in Clifton Park, New York. Look us up, look up the support group, uh, at Starpoint Church's website. And, uh, beyond that, we offer our Freedom in Christ online men's course for Tuesdays, uh, at 6:30 PM Eastern time for anyone nationwide, even internationally, if you want to get up whatever time you have to be there at 6:30 PM Eastern time in the United States. That starts on September 3rd, but you have to register before August 25th, I think. But so register now. We have some, a few students registered already, so I'm excited that we're definitely doing this.. And, uh, we invite you to go to ficm.org to join my class. Or hey, if you're not a guy, uh, they have women's classes too, and they have co-ed classes, uh, different, different courses. So go to ficm.org and see what's available. Uh, beyond that, um, you know, are you— we always ask, are you empty for Christ too? If so, keep on walking, talking with God. Otherwise, surrender. Um, you know, come out with your hands up, surrender yourself to the Lord and his, his plan for your life. Because believe me, brother and sister, that's the best way you can go. Um, it'll, it'll cause you to change, um, the way you look at life and cause you to change the way you live. But, um, it'll lead to the fruit of the Spirit, which are joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, love, patience and self-control. And, um, if you want those things in your life, following the Lord is the way to do it. Start with making Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, and then you follow after him, and you read the Bible to, to learn more and more about him. Anyway, that's what we're intending to do, uh, is to encourage you in your walk, and, uh, we do that by praying. Uh, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done for us. Thank you for showing us that, uh, even in our grief, we can do amazing things as we help others. Um, we look past our pain and look to others to help them. And, um, Lord, that's what you've done in our lives, and we thank you for helping us in our pain in the past too. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone who's, uh, watching, reading, or, or listening to this message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Because we all need your help, Lord. And, um, we just want to represent your kingdom. We need your guidance, uh, to show us the way. So, so as we go out today, uh, wherever we are, um, go before us, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, lead us in the way we should go, and, um, help us. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.