Knowing and Living the Truth - Purity 1411

Good morning, 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 you can watch us on YouTube. Um, good morning. Today's photo of a pine tree-lined parking lot underneath a pleasant cloud-filled blue sky comes to us from yours truly as I captured this tranquil scene yesterday afternoon near the end of the workday. The workday was done. I contemplated one of my life coaching clients' problems as I prepared for our meeting later that evening when I suddenly stopped to recognize the beautiful day I had run through that was waiting to be appreciated right outside my window. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and Um, one of the things I teach my clients, discipleship students, and anyone I minister to is the power of practicing gratitude, quieting, and appreciation. Uh, gratitude is dry— is giving thanks to God for what we have. The word of God tells us that giving thanks is God's will for our lives. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 directs us to, and everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So we should do that. Uh, quieting is simply taking a bre— uh, a break, uh, where we stop, uh, what we are doing to pause, to focus on our breath, to let thoughts fade away as we rest in the present moment. We model this practice at Celebrate Freedom to teach people to find a moment's peace, because it could be the difference between giving into temptation or remaining free of the things that keep us in bondage. Quieting builds our capacity for experiencing joy and develops our emotional resilience. Appreciation is similar in that we rest in the present moment of our experience to appreciate where we're, where we are and what we are experiencing, be it a cup of coffee, a pleasant view like today's photo, a comfortable chair, or just a reflection on our life or a memory that gives us joy. Appreciation is pressing into the joy of the exper— experience, feeling our feelings, enjoying our joy. This practice builds our capacity to experience joy and gives us emotional resilience too. But the thing is, you not only have to know the truth that these things help you intellectually, you also have to practice them to reap their benefits. James 1:22-25 tells us, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. So we have to do the things that the truth of God's word reveals to us. While quieting and appreciation may— appreciating may not be spelled out specifically in scripture, they set us up to be able to rejoice always, 1 Thessalonians 5:16, and give thanks in everything, 1 Thessalonians 5:18. We experience the fruit of joy and peace when we practice what God's truth teaches. So it's important to live in God's truth. Today's Turning Point, um, devotional with David Jeremiah— David Jeremiah, uh, from Turning Point, um, touches on truth today. And so I'm sharing it on the podcast, uh, today, where David Jeremiah writes, um, the truth about truth. Um, which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? John 8:46. And David Jeremiah writes, John used the word truth more than 20 times in his gospel. He told us that Jesus is full of grace and truth, John 1:14, that truth comes through him, 1:17, and that the truth will make us free. 8:32. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, 8:45, and I am the truth in 14:6. He promised to send us the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all truth, 16:13. When he prayed for us, he asked his Father to sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth, 17:17. Pontius Pilate scoffed at him, saying, what is truth, in 18:38. That's what people are saying today too. When we hear phrases like your truth, my truth, and his truth, it comes from a belief that there is no absolute truth. Everything is subject to opinions. Everything is relative. A world in which everyone thinks their opinions, however mistaken, represent for them the truth— well, that's a world of absurdity. Don't be fooled by the world's version of truth. Stay close to him who is the truth and continually study the book that is true and trustworthy, the Bible. And then David Jeremiah shares a quote from Steve Hamm which says, God's claim of absolute truth is so essential that man's ideas should never intrude upon it. Amen. And today's, you know, the recommended reading for that devotion is John 14:15-18, which says, if you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. So you can see that our love for God is shown with agreeing and living by his truth. We keep his— we love him, so we keep his commandments. When we put our faith in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and he will guide us into all truth. Um, God comes to dwell in us, to teach us and guide us in his one truth. So amen. There is only one truth, God's truth. While everything else will pass away, God will remain for all eternity. He determines what is right and wrong. He decides who will be separated from him in eternal torment and who will live with him forever as members of his royal family and kingdom. While we can think what we wish or do what we like, we will give an account for the life that God has given us. And unless we align ourselves to Jesus, the truth, the way, and the life, we will be subject to God's wrath for willfully rejecting his truth and love. But as Christians, we need not be afraid. We know the truth, and the truth has given us eternal life and set us free. While we should enjoy our new life in Christ by walking and talking with God, we should also share the wonders of God's love by telling others the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help us God. Today's Bible verses come from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on false teachers and prophets— false prophets and teachers. And today's verses come from 2 Peter 2, uh, and they are 17 through 22. The word of God says, these are, are waterless springs and mist driven by a storm. For them The gloom of utter darkness has been reserved for speaking loud boasts of folly. They entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For If after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them. The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after, uh, washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. Today's verses fall under the 15th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on false prophets and teachers, which states: don't allow false teachers to entice you back into slavery to sin. And today's verses warn us not to go back to the defilements of the world once we have escaped them, to know the truth and then to throw it away for the lust of the flesh is perhaps worse or more damning than to have never known the truth at all. The word tells us, uh, the word tells us to know, uh, to know what is good and to not do it is sin. James 4:17. And so when we know that something isn't good for us or is wrong according to God's word— usually they are one and the same— and do it anyway, We are more like Satan than Jesus as we tell the Lord, not your will be done, but my will be done. So don't let your hearts be hardened and don't rest on God's grace and continue in your sins. God calls us to a new life of righteousness, and when we blatantly go the other way, denigrating obedience for license, we are revealing what we really believe and who we really No, when we live like a devil, we may spend eternally with him in hell. So repent and don't go back to the defilements of the world that you have escaped. As always, we encourage all to go to mt4christ.org or .com, either one, uh, the same place, uh, as we always share insights and prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk uh, with their walk. Um, today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And today Alford directs us to read chapter 2 of Ephesians. And from chapter 2 of Ephesians, he shares a portion of verse 10, which says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And Stephen Alford writes, there are three very important truths revealed in this verse, and each is related to the believer. The believer's life is a purposeful life. Some seem to think that this is not the case. They live life aimlessly. But no, there is a purpose in every Christian's life. It is for good works. His own special people, zealous for good works. Titus 2:14. And Alfred also writes, the believer's life is a planned life. Just as our blessed Lord's life, so the Christian's is a planned life, and it is for the believer to seek to know the plan that he might follow it. The believer's life is a possible life. The words that we should walk in them would not be there if this life were impossible. With God, all things are possible. Matthew 19:26. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, the closer I walk with you, Lord, the more I understand the work you have purposed for me. Amen. And you know, that's one of the, the big questions of our Christian's life. What is our purpose? Um, our purpose is good works, so that's pretty wide open in terms of what our purpose could be. But the, the quality of, of our purpose is good in terms of doing that for God. And we have to have our plan, you know, what God's plan is for your life. Well, he's put you in places and, uh, and, and environments where you're to, uh, you know, shine a light for, for Jesus, um, and to realize that, um, there will be challenges, that some things may seem impossible, but if we walk and talk with God and lean on him and his strength and wisdom for guidance, we can, we can overcome and do some things that are impossible. So let that be an encouragement to you, that our life has meaning and purpose in Christ. And how do we find it? Well, we fully surrender to God. We, we say, instead of my will, Lord, let your will be done. I surrender to you. Guide me. And teach me your way of truth. And we consult as good students or disciples of Jesus. We consult the word of God and listen to, uh, the teachings, uh, and apply them to our lives. We do them. We not only think about what God says about us or what we think about God, we take what God's word says and we do something with it. Uh, we follow, um, the leading of Jesus. And what does it lead us to? Like I said, good works. And a good work that we do, uh, on a weekly basis is is we oversee, uh, so the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which is available to the public. Uh, anyone who wants to come can come. You can even register to let us know you're coming by going to the Starpoint Church's website where there's support groups. The support group link, you'll see Celebrate Freedom, and you can sign up to be a part of a Christian Recovery slash discipleship group that focuses on practicing what we preach by living by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit and living according to the truth of God's word, by being sober and by getting past our hurts, habits, and hang-ups and becoming more and more like Jesus. We fight the good fight of spiritual warfare, and we promote our identity and live by our identity in Christ. So that's what we do with Celebrate Freedom. Uh, that's for anyone local in the Upstate New York region of Clifton Park. Um, we also encourage good teaching, uh, to learn and to do, um, what God tells us about ourselves, um, by, by joining online classes, uh, from Freedom in Christ Ministries. Um, they're available, um, right now to register for, and they begin in the fall shortly. After Labor Day. I am leading one of the classes for Freedom in Christ online for men on Tuesday evenings at 6:30. So if you'd like to join me, go to ficm.org and sign up today. All right, well, that's all of our announcements for today. And we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? If so, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, you know, empty yourself, to be filled with God's Spirit and to be filled with the purpose that he has for your life. And, um, you'll see just what God has, you know, what that plan is that God has for you. Um, that's all we got today, but we, we always pray, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do for us. We, we thank you for our salvation, our freedom in Christ, and, um, the things we can give thanks for and appreciate, and the peace we can find when we quiet and listen, listen to you. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or, or watching or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and bless them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, because we all need your help, Lord, and I need it as well. So we pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord, and we need your 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.