Knowing the Lay of the Land and Following by Faith - Purity 1146

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 ethnoecologist Justin Wexler and his wife Anna leading the way across the Siegel-Kline Kill Public Conservation Area under ethereal blue skies comes to us from yours truly, as I decided to take a step off the beaten path path of the regular workweek routine to participate in Columbia Land Conservancy's Native History Walk with Wild Hudson Valley yesterday in Ghent. I'm sharing the links for CLC and Wild Hudson Valley for those who may want to go wild like I did. Uh, Wexler led a group of us over the Meadow Loop Trail to talk about the land and its fauna and how the original indigenous people Utilized God's natural resources to live, and although I wondered why I signed up for this thing after a rather trying day at work, I was glad I did, as I appreciated the things I learned about— how plants that I had no knowledge of could be used as food, fashioned into rope, fishing line, or clothing, and even used as herbal remedies for various diseases or conditions. As impressed as I was with Wexler's presentation and how the indigenous people utilized the things of the land to live, I didn't forget that God was the one who had provided these things for us and that our survival is dependent on us doing our part with what God has given us. As I drove home after what proved to be a welcome break from my regular routine with the fading light of day disappearing over the Catskill Mountains towards the west, I just thank God for all he has provided us with and how he gave me a new life when I put my faith in Jesus and did my part in following him to be led out of the darkness of my past. Just like Wexler showed us the way of the land and pointed out the things that were useful The Lord has shown me the necessity of faith in Jesus to survive and how to walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to live. Just as a backpacker will show you how to lighten your load and teach you how to choose to only carry what is necessary to make your journey easier, the Lord has shown me the things, uh, shown me things, how to lighten my burdens in life by releasing the wasteful, heavy, and unnecessary things I was holding on to from my past— things like sin, addiction, depression, anxiety, fear, and anger. When the Lord teaches you how you don't have to carry those things anymore, you truly understand how God has given us a new abundant life of peace when we put our faith in Jesus and how to— and choose to follow his direction. And just like Wexler is undoubtedly teaching to others what some— someone taught to him, I, I feel it is part of my purpose in Christ to teach others about who they are in Christ, how to experience their freedom in Christ, and how they can walk in the Spirit to discover peace, love, joy, and purpose for their lives. And amazingly, the Lord continues to provide me with opportunities to do just that. If you're local to the Capital District, I hereby invite you to join the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Starpoint Church in Clifton Park, New York, where I teach and encourage people to trust God to help them with their hurts, habits, and hang-ups, and to grow into the victory and freedom that God has for them when they choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, a student and a follower of our Lord and Savior. Just like Wes— Wexler actually experimented, tried, and even tasted the things he learned about from the land, about the land from his instructors, we as followers of Jesus are to apply Christ's teachings and example for living to our lives. It's one thing to know about the ways of Jesus, but it's, it's necessary to actually do our part and practice them to experience the benefits of walking in the Spirit. So be a good student, learn what you can from the Word of God and from the faithful men and women who have followed Jesus's lead in the past. But be sure to put those lessons into practice. To be a quote-unquote "real Christian" and to experience the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we have to follow the ways of Jesus with the way we live our lives. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come to us from the section on anger and comma hot temper. The first, the verse today comes from James chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. From the English Standard Version, the word of the Lord says, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Today's verses fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guides resource section on anger, and that second point is: Be slow to become angry. Today's verse is the third and final passage that our resource provides to encourage us to be slow in becoming angry. Our resource provided us with three passages to support this point, and rather than giving them one giving them all in one day, I decided to take it slow by presenting them one at a time. This passage of Scripture has been the focal point of many a sermon because of the wisdom that is inherent in its advice. Christians are to be peacemakers, and if we actually practice being quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, we will at least be sure to not cause unnecessary strife based on our part. Many arguments and disagreements come from the parties not hearing what one another is saying, or from assuming you know what each other are going to say before they say it. So this passage in James tells us to not do those things by actually listening and taking our time before we offer a verbal response, and to act patiently, to be slow to become angry. Um, while we can and should be angry at the things that go against God's wisdom and will, we need to be patient with the situations we encounter because our anger won't make people understand where we are coming from and may cause them to stop listening to us. So be quick in hearing what people are trying to say to you. Really listen to them. Ask questions to clarify what they say and validate what they are saying and feeling by repeating back to them what you think they are saying until it is clear to both of you what they are saying, why they are saying it, and what they are trying to accomplish. After you understand their point of view, then you can meticulously explain to them where you are coming from, why, and what you hope to accomplish. When both parties understand one another and put their relationship over and above the problems they face, they can generally find a middle ground where they can live in peace whether the issues at hand are resolved or not. As much as it depends on us, let's try to understand others, make others understood, ourselves understood, and love our neighbors as ourselves. 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. Christ with their walk. And today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit as we dip into chapter 24 on the Spirit's sealing. They say the Holy Spirit's a seal, and what do they mean by that? Well, if you want to know, A.W. Pink wrote a whole chapter on that topic, and we're sharing the first portion of it on the blog today in the If you want to see it, you just go to the end of the blog post to see that resource. And at the end of the blog post, you'll also see an encouragement to join our Victory Over the Darkness: The Bondage Breaker and Freedom in Christ series of discipleship classes via the M.t. for Christ 24/7 podcast. Those, those teachings are all based on the Word of God and the work of Dr. Neil Anderson, and I presented them to my local church back in, uh, 2021. Uh, they're audio recordings, so even though they're on our YouTube channel, there's no video. But basically they're all based on Neil Anderson's work and the word of God. Those teachings were transformative in my walk of faith and really taught me about who I am in Christ and how to experience my freedom in Christ to a level I didn't know at the time. And, you know, basically it caused me to be certified as a Community Freedom Ministry Associate for Freedom in Christ Ministries and to proactively teach those lessons wherever I can. And most importantly, to live by them. I have an amazing amount of peace compared to what I used to be like. And, you know, there's hope. For change when we trust the Lord to help us and follow his lead. And that's what this blog and this podcast is all about, just encourage people to follow, that you can actually live a life of faith. That church, you know, our faith isn't just church on Sunday. Our faith is the way we go about the earth, how we live according to Jesus's ways. And a big part of that comes from knowing what the Word of God says. Unfortunately, in faith circles, there's often a lot of common knowledge or, you know, assumed knowledge where people just listen to what other people say and don't necessarily investigate the scriptures for themselves. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, we're to know what the Word of God says personally— us— by reading it. And so we encourage Bible study, and as a disciple, we encourage a life of faith that includes Bible study and prayer on a regular basis and worshiping and just sort of following the Lord, the Lord's moral principles for living every day. And so we encourage Bible study, and we do that on the podcast and the blog by sharing Bible study every week with Arthur and Susanna Sinckhade. Those studies are called Bible Study with the Sinckhades, and we just did one last weekend. So if you wanted to check that out, you just search Bible Study with the Sinckhades and you'll see. Last weekend's topic was barrenness and talks about how you know, barrenness means without child, and also desert experiences. So if you want to hear us discuss that, um, just check out that, that latest teaching on the, uh, the blog or the podcast or, or their YouTube channel. Um, anyway, it is Wednesday and I am going to celebrate freedom tonight at the Star Point— at Star Point Church, uh, with our growth group. Um, I'm looking forward to it and I pray for everyone to make it. And I'm praying for the Lord to bring in new people, um, as he's always, he's always moving and he's always working. And when we're faithful, we, we get to watch him work. So looking forward to that. But I do have work before that. We're praying for an easy day, so we better actually do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've done and shown us about life and how how you saved us and made us new, and how you encourage us to keep going and growing, uh, in our faith, uh, every day. And Lord, we just pray for anyone who's listening or reading this message, uh, that you would bless them and their walk of faith and come alongside them in their prayer request. Lord, we, we all need your help, and, uh, so we ask, ask for your help today. Um, we just ask for you to reveal to us or show us the things you want us to see and understand and lead us in the way we should go. Help us to do your will on earth and to best represent your kingdom. Guide us by your Holy Spirit. Let us know, you know, move this way, do that. Anything you can do to show us that care and concern that you have for us and that that guidance that you offer to us when we walk in the Spirit. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.