Living the Dream and Fall Out From the Past - Purity 1510

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 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 watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of the sun shining over a tree line on the horizon and a large expanse of fields of green comes to us from yours truly as I capture the scene while walking along Freedom Road back on the afternoon of October 26th. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and I am rejoicing because it's the last day of the work week. And when quitting time comes, I will be driving up to spend the weekend with my wife Tammy Lynn at our countryside home in Easton, where I undoubtedly will be out walking the dog a few times this weekend. Uh, when I first got together with Tammy Lynn, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the dog in her care. Harley was undisciplined, barked at and jumped on anyone who walked through the door, and I didn't like him. Uh, early on I even said that Tammy Lynn shouldn't think that I was some guy who would be out walking the dog. But as our relationship grew and as the both of us matured, Harley and I, uh, have become friends, and I thankful for the walks we take. Um, I never would have thought I would be some guy out walking the dog, but I am. I was further reminded of how much things have changed in my life yesterday because I discovered an old note on my iPhone from March of 2019 where I had— I was trying— I had a list where I was trying to face the truth of my bad situation and what I had to do to start a new life in the wake of my impending divorce. I had listed around 50 statements, uh, that told the hard truth of my situation, and most of them were not flattering to me or the people in my life. Uh, they spoke of the harsh realities that I had to face as a divorced dad of two and of the need to find a new place to live. They also looked at the prospect of ever finding love again, with the Christian wife unlikely. Uh, little did I know at the time that many of the situations I detailed, uh, were going to be worse than I thought, and it would take a long time to be resolved. However, at the end of these mostly negative statements of harsh truths, I started a second list where, among other things, I declared, anything is possible with God. If it is God's will, it will happen. And it is only God's will that I want to do. While I won't reveal all the things that I was thinking about on this list of harsh truths and hopes, I can tell you now that I am living the dream. All those negative situations have been resolved. As impossible as I thought it might be to find love again and to find an actual Christian wife who would love me for me, I'm happy to confess that because I sought only to do the will of the Lord, God did the impossible and answered my prayers with Tammy Lynn. Not only did God take me away from all my troubles and resolve all those issues of the past to move me into a new life, God gave me the life I've always dreamed where I'm increasingly becoming the person he created me to be. The fallout of the past has been cleared away, and now I live in peace, freedom, victory, and joy. Getting past the fallout of our past can take time. Today's Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah's devotional talks about fallout, so I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us., where Dr. David Jeremiah writes Fallout, and he shares a verse from Joel 2:25, which says, so I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust. And David Jeremiah writes, in the late 1940s, when people began to consider the consequences of atomic weapons, a new word came into our vocabulary fallout. Billions of airborne particles ejected into the atmosphere by a nuclear explosion would settle on Earth and contaminate it. The word fallout soon came to be used to describe the results of any kind of problem. Christians began to talk about the fallout of their sins, the effect— aftereffects of hurt and pain that follow disobedience. When we sin and ask God's forgiveness, he is happy to give it. The blood doesn't lose its power., but that doesn't mean we're exempt from the fallout of sin. Often our sin bears consequences and we reap what we sow. If you have sin in your life, go to God for forgiveness, then trust him to manage the repercussions. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good for those who love God, or for those who love the Lord. Even though the fallout of sin is painful, God can even use that in time for his purposes and his glory. He can restore what the locusts have eaten. And that was from David Jeremiah. But he also shared a quote from Thomas Watson, which said, uh, repentance breaks the abscess of sin, and then the soul is at ease.

Amen.

Uh, what is the fallout of a life lived in the pursuit of selfishly satisfying the flesh and one's own desires? Brokenness. Uh, when I finally stopped running from the Lord and surrendered, quote unquote, all to him by going into recovery in 2015, Pastor Bob Costello explained to me that our actions sow seeds that later grow into consequences. And as much as he wanted to praise and encourage those of us who went into recovery, he also wanted to warn us that it would take time to see our, quote unquote, good seeds of right action grow, and that even though we had turned over a new leaf, we had to be aware, uh, that the consequences of the bad seeds we had previously sown might sprout up, causing trials, loss, and discouragement. Many of us are dealing with the fallout of our sins, and some bad crops seem to be still popping up from time to time to remind us of our current struggles or the darkness of our past. But let me encourage you to keep sowing those good seeds of faith and right action, because if you keep walking and talking with God and follow his leads, uh, things will get better as the consequences of your good choices will grow into a life of peace and joy. You know, farming is hard work and it requires patience, but if you are faithful to do, to do good, the Lord will cause your new life to grow and flourish as you become the person that God made you to be. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on giving, and today's verses are from 1 John 3:16-18. From the New Living Translation, the word of God says, we know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us, so we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live is well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion, how can God's love be in that person? Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other. Let us show the truth by our actions. Today's verses fall under the 11th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on giving, and that 11th point is mere talk is not enough. And today's Bible verses tell us to literally put our money where our mouths are by not just talking about doing good but actually doing it. We show the truth of who we are by our actions. And if we want to be a disciple of Jesus, we should live like it. We should not only do the spiritual practices that Jesus did, we should also invest our time, treasure, and service to do good works that God prepares for us to do. So just don't talk about doing good or being more giving. Show you really— show you really mean it by doing it. 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 Day by Day Along the Way by J.E.

Adams.

It's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 9. Where Adams shares a portion of Proverbs 14:12, which says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but at its end are the ways of death." And J. Adams writes, "I can easily make that curve. This drug won't hurt me. No one will ever know." By many such words, men encourage themselves to take wrong ways. Multitudes do what seems right to them, and die. Far more serious than physical death is eternal death in hell. Yet many continue to do what seems right to them. But our ways are not God's ways. So unless your ways are brought into conformity with his, his, by repentance and faith, you will die the second death. The psalmist says, the way of the wicked shall perish. Sinful man's ways always lead astray and ultimately to death. That is why you must become wary of the ways of this world. That is why God wanted you to look straight ahead, turning neither to the right nor to the left. Choose life, not death. That was from J.E.

Adams.

And that's the— yeah, that's the way it is, you know. The world tells us a story about what makes you happy and what a good life is about, and it's all based on lies. It'll tell you to, you know, do what you want whenever you want and don't worry about anybody else, just look out for number one. Or, you know, you don't need religion, you don't need— you know, there is no God. There's all kinds of lies in the world, and if we listen to them and go that way, um, we'll go astray, you know. So, um, we encourage people to put their faith in Jesus. And not only that, like the passage in 1 John, we, we encourage you to actually you know, live like a disciple of Jesus Christ. And that is why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? And, um, if you have, that's great. Um, as you'll— as you continue to follow the Lord, you'll have to— you'll realize there's more to surrender.

Um, but it's, it's making Jesus our Lord and Savior and determining the will by God's will alone., is the way to, uh, the way to transformation and peace and, uh, you know, and into purpose for our lives.

And part of my purpose, uh, one of them anyway, is, uh, I've been, you know, blessed with the leadership that, uh, the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which is a Christian Recovery and Discipleship group, support group. We meet on Wednesday, 6:30 PM. However, we won't be meeting again until the first Wednesday in December, which is December 4th. Um, so think about it. And, uh, December 4th, we hope to see you there. Uh, we're not meeting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

People usually are with their families or, or whatnot. Um, but we do encourage people to check us out, uh, on Wednesday nights at the first Wednesday in December.

Uh, beyond that, uh, we are meeting online, uh, with men, uh, for an online teaching and support group called Grace for the Holidays on Monday, 6:30 PM. Uh, it's not too late to register, so if you want, you can join us, uh, because I'm recording the sessions, so you can always play catch up. Um, basically, we're studying, um, Freedom in Christ Ministries' original Grace course and encouraging each other, um, as we move into the holiday season on these Mondays.

Um, we're going to go from now, um, uh,, you know, this Monday before Thanksgiving all the way to the Monday before Christmas, just to encourage each other, keep praising Christmas, and to keep walking and talking with God.

Beyond that, we're looking toward— forward to the new year as we are scheduled to lead the Freedom in Christ men's course, basically online, Tuesdays at 6:30 PM Eastern time through Freedom in Christ Ministries. You can register now by going to freedominchristministries.org. Um, where, um, where you can look at all the different courses that are available. But if you're a man and you want to be in my course, it's Tuesday night, 6:30 PM. Um, let's see, beyond that, well, we always encourage you to check out our— well, to find or increase your freedom, uh, in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube.

We have playlists for Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, the Freedom in Christ course, and, uh, many more, uh, You can check out all our, all our offerings at our playlist page on YouTube, or you can go to mtforchrist.com where we have a page dedicated to our playlists that you can get to a little quicker.

Um, anyway, beyond that, you know, it is Friday and we do have to work and we're running out the door. But before we run out the door, we always ask the question: are you empty for Christ too? Have you surrendered to the Lord? Are you making yourself available to be filled by the Holy Spirit, uh, to move you in the way he should—

you should go?

Um, if so, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God.

If not, we encourage you to, to pray and ask the Lord to reveal himself to you, to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. Um, that makes a big difference. It's called life everlasting. And we know because we prayed a prayer like that in the past, and the Lord did reveal himself, and we made made our commitment to follow the Lord the rest of our days. So we're here to encourage you that a life of peace and joy is possible through faith in Jesus Christ.

So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you that it's Friday and, um, that you've given us a job that provides for our needs, and you give us weekends off, um, through the job that you provided.

So, uh, we'll take it. And, um, Lord, we just pray for you to be with us as we go through our day today. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and, uh, move me in the way I should go, um, because all I want to do is represent you in your kingdom. And, uh, don't always do that well, so I need as much help, uh, as you can give me.

And, uh, Lord, we also pray for anyone reading or listening or watching today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests.

And, uh, Help them, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.