Marching for Freedom, Walking in the Spirit– Purity 1086

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 the peak of the roof of my countryside home over a stand of roadside flowers and underneath a cumulus cloud-filled clear blue sky comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene on the way back home to— well, on the way back to home sweet home while out walking the dog yesterday afternoon. Well, it's Wednesday, or this week's second Monday for those of us who enjoyed a day off for the July 4th holiday. And I chose today's photo because of those flowers, that sky, and I figured that the peak of the roof of our place in the country was enough to visually represent Hump Day. Yesterday was our nation's Independence Day, and I was honored to celebrate my freedom as an American by marching in a parade as a volunteer for Operation Adopt a Soldier. Carrying the flag for the United States Navy, the branch of the military that my father served in as a medic on the USS Sanctuary during the Vietnam War. So while I may not be as hyper patriotic as some, I am proud to be an American, love the freedom we enjoy as its citizens, and respect and appreciate the heroes that have served and died in its service. So marching in a parade to celebrate our country and to honor our servicemen seemed like a small cost to pay and an appropriate way to express my love, gratitude, and appreciation for America. Although yesterday started off with rain and overcast skies, my prayers for no rain during the parade were answered and the sun came out in force, as it was a hot one yesterday. But we got it done, and I am happy to have done something to honor our country and military on the Fourth of July. For many, the Fourth is a day to feed the flesh. While marching in the parade, I saw one man wearing a red, white, and blue t-shirt with "Beer, Barbecue, and Freedom" that demonstrated this fact. Barbecues are an Independence Day tradition, and while I have the penchant to rage against the machine of tradition in general, I may have been influenced by the holiday spirit because I had a craving for burgers and gave into it by stopping at the grocery store to get the fixings for a Fourth of July feast. It was the 4th after all, so I enjoyed some cheeseburgers and hot Italian sausage on lettuce, and a red, white, and blue dessert of blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. I indulged but kept it relatively low carb, and did go on a couple of walks with the dogs, and marched in the parade, so I don't feel like I went too far astray from my health goals. Before the feast, Upon arriving home, I felt the obligation to take my canine pal Harley for a walk, to march in a parade of two with him. And even though I was free to say no, sometimes we choose to surrender our rights to serve others, even canines. And I'm glad I did. Well, I was free to choose— well, I freely chose— yeah, yeah, oh boy. While I freely chose to march in the Fourth of July parade, you can easily slip into negative attitudes towards the things in life that you commit yourself to and lament over the things I have to do now. Our selfish wills or the unseen spiritual forces of darkness can easily take our decision to do something good and try to use it against us by complaining of a loss of our personal freedom to do nothing or to do what I want to do on my day off. So there can be some resistance before we do good things, which we should just push on through by doing what is right. But the selfish— that selfish attitude or those demons can be just as busy at trying to steal our peace or joy on the other side of the good works we do. After doing what we had, had to do, our selfish wills or the enemy can seek to seize control of the rest of our day. The flesh can take over, causing overindulgence and possibly causing offense in our relationships as we want to be left alone. So when I got back to Countryside, I could have scolded the enthusiastic canine and told him to leave me alone as I wanted to rest, but luckily I have been walking in the spirit long enough to freely choose to do what is right in serving others, even doggies. So although I had just returned from marching in a parade, I took the dog for a walk. And despite the afternoon heat, I was glad I did it because little did I know it at the time, but Joy was waiting for me just down the road a piece. After I surrendered to taking the dog for a walk in the afternoon heat, I realized just how absolutely gorgeous the day was and how truly blessed I am to to have a home that is surrounded by the natural beauty of God's creation on every side. So as I walked, I let the dog off his leash. I have trained Harley to walk freely ahead of me as I walk along Waite Road, and he has been good not to go rogue and is obedient to come and stay and to be put back on his leash when commanded. As Harley and I walked down the shady side of Waite Road, I was overcome by the simple blue beauty of our country road. The surrounding forest, and the brilliant blue sky and shining sun above us. I just marveled over the beauty around me and reflected on my journey of life that brought me to that place and rejoiced. I was happy to be where I was and amazed by the goodness of God to guide me to such a time as this. In thinking about these things this morning, I can see the practices of the Christian disciple at work. Service, taking thoughts captive, appreciation, gratitude, contentment, prayer, and self-control to some extent are all, all in the mix here as part of my daily walking in the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit, it's not surprising to experience the fruit of peace and joy along the, along the pathway of Christian discipleship. So let's be mindful today as means we go back to work to remember who we are in Christ and to keep walking and talking with God. Today's Bible verse comes— verses come to our passage, comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. And this morning's meditation verses come from the section on adultery. Um, and today's Bible verses is the entire chapter of of Proverbs chapter 7, verses 1 through 27. And the word of God says, my son, keep my words and treasure up my— and treasure up my commandments with you. Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, You are my sister, and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home. Now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face says to him, 'I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows.' So now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian— from Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight ourselves with love, for my husband is 'Is not at home, he has gone on a long journey. He took a bag of money with him. At full moon he will come home.' With much seductive speech she persuades him, with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver, as a bird rushes into a snare He does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths. For many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol. Going down to the chambers of death. Today's verses fall under the 6th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery. Number 6: The adulterous snare leads to misery. Who knew that Proverbs was filled with warnings against sexual immorality, of the sexual immorality of adultery? Well, anyone who studies them, I guess. And that is why we need to read the Word of God, to know what's right and to receive the wisdom of God that is contrary to the world's wisdom. In the world, there is an attitude that you should take what you want to please you and to live it up as long as you don't hurt people or get caught. But the Word of God tells us different. God warns us of the temptations out there and commands us to steer clear of the evil that looks so desirable. The end of those who fall into adultery and sexual immorality is death. Sheol is hell. So we pursue, so we pursue to please God even with our sex lives by avoiding the easy man or woman that would invite us to sin. 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 A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, and today we're continuing in Chapter 12, The Spirit Enlightening. And today's section is on Inward Darkness: Active Opposition to God, where A.W. Pink will talk about how we actively oppose the Lord and how— how— well, I, I'm not really sure. I haven't read the entire section, um, but, uh we invite you to do so at mt4christ.org, as you can discover that resource at the end of today's blog post. Well, somewhere in the night there was a rainstorm, um, that filled my basement— well, not filled my basement with water, thank God. It's not like my old place on Oak Hill Road, um, but there's dampness downstairs, and you might be able to hear it in the background. There's a rumbling outside. That is my Generac generator, thank the Lord. For giving me wisdom to pay the cost to have that security. But I have no internet connection, so I'm gonna have to— I'm doing this podcast a little earlier because I'm gonna have to go on the road and, you know, basically see if my, uh, my cell, my cell service will be able to allow me to upload today's photo and today's, uh, audio message to, to to the web. So, so that's that. I had a wonderful July 4th with my wife, and, uh, you know, really enjoyed that. Tonight we do Celebrate Freedom, where I'm gonna encourage people to keep walking and talking with God and to trust him with their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. So another way to serve, you know, serve the Lord and to tell my story, really. And so, you know, this— it's not easy, you know. Like I said, even these little things, because you do something good, the flesh has this propensity to like say, okay, now I've done what I had to do, I want to do what I want to do. And sometimes, I know, that can lead to overindulgence and sin, you know, or you can offend your loved ones, you know. You come home and you're in a grumpy mood and tell people to leave you alone. I've done what I had to do, leave me alone! And you can upset people, you know. So we got to be careful at all times to keep walking in the spirit. So that's today's message. Um, our current, you know, the current— well, the past series of the 28 Days to Joy are over, but we continue to practice quieting and appreciation and gratitude on a daily basis. To give us the resilience to notice when we go astray. Yesterday on the way back to River House, I was overcome with temptation to get some ice cream to celebrate the holiday. So great was the temptation that I actually stopped at Stewart's and was in hot temptation of choosing which ice cream to devour. But then I realized no matter what ice cream I purchased, I was going to end up eating the whole half gallon if I purchased anything. And so luckily, you know, I saw the pattern of my struggle in the flesh. Um, the excuse of it's a holiday wasn't enough to, to cause me to fall into temptation, luckily, even though it brought me right to the edge of it. And, um, I'm happy to report that I got out of there. You know, just like the adulterer's house, I ran out of Stewart's because I knew what the temptress wanted me to do— eat that ice cream. And I, you know, not that ice cream's evil, but for me it's a struggle. It's, it's a struggle in the flesh, and, uh, it goes against my goodwill to, to, you know, get healthy, um, to get healthier. And, uh, so we rejected that temptation, luckily, and I'm reporting it today. And to be totally transparent and to show I'm not perfect, that, you know, sometimes you give in to the flesh and we have to be on guard to try to, try to, you know, say no to those things, those habits that we've been doing all our lives that are just sort of automatic. We just sort of fall in and we those old excuses of, "Well, it's the Fourth of July, do what you want," you know, come up. But those, those are lies. You know, we don't have to do what we want. There's no inherent reason to overindulge on a particular day of the year. So, so we have to be true and steadfast in defending ourselves against our own selfish desires and the temptations that are out there. And so we encourage you to keep walking in the Spirit. Today is really upside down as I still need to shower and jump in the, uh, jump in the car to get to somewhere where I can upload today's message. So, uh, I'm gonna pray and, uh, and, uh, move it along here. Um, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you so much for the freedom you've given us in Christ. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that they would be blessed, that you would come alongside them in their prayer request and their walk of faith. Lord, we don't know how the day is going to go. We don't know when our, our power is going to be re-established or our internet service will come back. Um, but we still do what we do because this is our, our life of faith. We, we walk in the Spirit regardless of the circumstances, and we make adjustments. And we fight temptation every step of the way as we try to take the thoughts captive. But Lord, this isn't, you know, easy. We need your help and your wisdom and your strength to guide us every day as we try to walk in the Spirit. So Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and move our feet into the things you would have us do. Lord, we pray for the people— we pray for Celebrate Freedom to be filled with people tonight We pray for the people who've never shown up, who've registered, who admitted, who admitted enough that they might need this growth group for a hurt, habit, or hangup to register, but the enemy or their own fear has stopped them from coming. So we pray for them to be convicted by the Holy Spirit to step out in faith and to seek the help and community they can find in our growth group. Um, so we pray for that today, and we pray for your safety and guidance to lead us to that point, to encourage other people, um, to trust you and to surrender to your will for their lives. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.