In this Christmas‑day devotional podcast, host M.t. Clark reflects on the joy of relational gifts from family, contrasts them with material gifts, and underscores the spiritual gift of Jesus. He shares a personal photo of Christmas lights, reads Proverbs 16:5 on pride, and a devotional excerpt from J.E. Adams on 1 John 1:7, emphasizing walking in the light of Christ versus darkness. Clark promotes the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church (in‑person Wednesdays in Clifton Park and an online 25‑week Celebrate Recovery coaching series starting early January), and points listeners to his website mt4christ.com for additional resources and free podcast classes. The episode concludes with a call to examine one’s surrender to Christ, an invitation to prayer, and a closing prayer thanking God for the Christmas gifts of salvation and hope.
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Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 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 watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a row of Christmas trees created by the skillful placement of Christmas lights illuminating the darkness just off of Wade Road comes to us from here, surely, as I captured this display created by my countryside neighbors back on December 9th, 2022. Well, it's Christmas morning and I'm rejoicing, uh, because of the gifts I received last night and because of the anticipation of the ones yet to be opened later this morning. While the material gifts I received, uh, last night at my parents' place are appreciated, I was more thankful for the relational gifts that I have in my parents, my brothers, and my kids. Although I might not be skillful in expressing it and may be quick in my goodbyes, I really appreciated the time I had last night with my family because of the love that was expressed in our gifts to one another and in our gathering. As we age and life moves us through different transitions, we may not always be together, but we were last night and I'm thankful for it. I love my mom and dad. I love my brothers and I love my kids. And we were all together. We should never take the gift of our families for granted. Um, prior to the Christmas Eve gathering at my parents' house, my wife and I attended Starpoint's candlelight Christmas Eve service, and where the message of the gift we have in Jesus was preached. It was, uh, a good service, and I'm sharing a link to it, uh, to the video of it on the blog today for those who want to check it out, or for those who couldn't make it to church. The opportunity to worship the Lord freely is another gift we shouldn't take for granted. Uh, I would share more, but it's Christmas, so I think I'll just relax. I pray that anyone who hears or reads this message will, uh, have a very Merry Christmas. That said, I— we still share Bible verses. Um, this— today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on humility or pride, and today's verse verse is Proverbs 16:5, which says, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not go unpunished. And today's verse is the second of 5 passages of scripture that fall under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on humility or pride. And that first point is humility is a virtue most pleasing to God. Pride is a grievous sin in his sight. Now, the whole idea behind Christmas is that we need a savior. When we are proud, we become an abomination to the Lord because we mistakenly think that we did or possess something that wasn't given to us by God. Our pride can blind our eyes and harden our hearts to the one person who can give us life everlasting. There are no self-made men, and if we are deceived into believing that We can take care of ourselves and deny the need of Jesus as Savior and Lord. Our arrogance and ignorance will not go unpunished. So if you know Jesus is Lord, thank God and stay humble. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mt4christ.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 37, and where J. Adams shares from 1 John 1:7, which says, if we walk in the light as he is in the light. And J. E. Adams writes, you need not walk alone. So long as you continue to walk in the light, you will be walking with Jesus. He never walks in darkness but always in the light. If you desire his fellowship, you must walk where he walks. As we have seen, light in the scripture stands for truth, righteousness, and life. These are the things that characterize our— your Lord. Uh, they are his concern. So long as your roads are also his, you will have fellowship with him. You find agreement with the Lord. But if you walk in darkness, you leave the pathway of light and leave the fellowship of the Lord. Darkness typifies sin, error, and death. As one who has been enlightened by the light of the world, you have no part with darkness. Darkness is the— it is the realm in which the world walks. All its roads are dark. You are the— you are of the light and are privileged to walk in light. There is nothing on the dark roads but those things that hinder a Christian's spiritual growth, testimony, and service. They lead only to stumbling. Falling, sin, and despair. Avoid them and walk in fellowship with the Lord. He beckons you. Uh, I say amen. And, uh, you know, we can't walk in the darkness and claim to know the Lord. Um, we all need to be forgiven of our sins, but after we come to faith in Jesus, he really calls us to walk in the light, to walk out of our darkness, and God gives us the power to do that. And that's why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Because you can know Jesus as Savior. He, he also wants to be your Lord, and he would command you to follow him. Uh, that would lead you out of the darkness of your sin and your past and into the new life that you have in Christ. So we encourage everyone, you know, to walk with the Lord into the, the light of a new life that he has for you, um, to really open up that gift of Jesus and the gift of Christmas, um, and to experience it every day. And, uh, when you do that, things change, and he gives you a purpose, um, to share his light. And part of my purpose is to share the light at Celebrate Freedom. It's a support group at Starpoint Church. We meet on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. We're taking a break for the holidays right now, but we'll resuming our support meetings, uh, basically on January 8th. And we invite anybody in the Capital District, uh, of New York State to, uh, to come, who can make it to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night, to come out and join us for our Christian Recovery and Discipleship support group. Um, if you're not in Upstate New York, there's, there's good news. We're, we're actually offering the support group as an online group coaching event, uh, for anyone who wants to sign up Um, Lord's put on my heart to, to get these, the teachings of Celebrate Recovery, um, you know, on video. And so we're going to be recording, um, the 25 lessons of Celebrate Recovery along with, you know, what my insights and testimony and, and things I've learned from Deeper Walk International and Freedom in Christ as a, as a group coaching event, which will be Mondays, uh, starting on January 6th. Um, so if you wanted to join me, uh, for that, you can go to mt4christ.com and our group coaching events page to register, um, to get the whole battery of teachings that'll last for more than, you know, it's 25 weeks. So what is that? It's more than 4 months, you know, basically, uh, of teachings. Um, and we hope— we're encouraged to do it, and we're hoping people will join us. But, uh, yeah, anyway, uh, beyond that, if, uh, if those things don't, you know, um, meet your needs, we, we suggest you find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our free podcast classes on YouTube. We've done teachings based on The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom, uh, Celebrate Freedom discipleship course. Uh, we encourage you to check those out because they'll— for me, these materials really increased my faith and, uh, helped me to walk a bit further into victory and to the love of the Lord. So, I mean, church, and check those out. As I said, it is Christmas, so we're just going to end today by asking the question we always ask: are you empty for Christ too? Uh, are you living for the Lord? Uh, have you made yourself available for the Holy Spirit to fill you and move you into the way— in the way you should go. Um, if so, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray. We know prayer works, and, um, through it God can reveal himself to you, and, um, he can give you eternal life when you put your faith in Jesus. So, um, we know prayer works, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for this Christmas Day. Lord, we thank you for the gifts you've given us, uh, to pull us out of the darkness and to give us hope and joy and peace on a continual basis when we remember to abide with you, Lord. And so today we just pray for your rest, Lord, and that we can rejoice in the fact that you've saved us and, um, that we're not done yet. One day we'll be in your kingdom with you face to face. And until then, we can trust you and lean on you to help us walk through life. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
