Natural Disasters, Manning Up, and Asking For Help - Purity 1403

Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. Good morning. Today's photo of a mammoth tree split down to the base of its trunk comes to us from yours truly as I captured this photographic evidence of what can happen when the wind blows and when there is hidden corruption riding away from within. I'm no tree guy, but I'm guessing that the, that musty dark center of the core isn't a good, isn't a sign of a robust and healthy tree. And I am thanking God for having things fall the way they did, uh, because I think, uh, that the tree was tall enough to hit my car and the back of my house if it had pushed forward rather than backward. Well, it's Wednesday, and although this tree split in my, uh, tree split tree in my backyard and my neighbor's backyard is a problem that to be dealt with, I suppose I have already shifted my perspective a bit by deciding to use, um, the photo of my natural disaster to usher, uh, us into another hump day. So happy hump day, everybody. Um, Oh, heads up, um, just so everyone knows, uh, today is the last day of the 2-day Prime Day shopping extravaganza on Amazon.com. And although I resisted the urge yesterday to just buy something to save, uh, to save money on yesterday mostly, uh, I was happy to take advantage of the sale to purchase a couple of chainsaws, uh, that I plan on using to clean up my natural disasters in the days ahead.

Um, let's go back. There we go.

Um, this morning I'm still dealing with the trauma of having a problem that in principle must be dealt with, um, thrust upon me. And if the tree in the backyard could be ignored or forgotten in the early hours this morning, the remnant of residual flooding in my basement couldn't, and brought with it the realization that there is a big mess in the backyard that will demand attention, time, labor, labor and money over the next few days, if not weeks or months. My basement is a dry basement for the most part, but when we get hit with a good deal of rain, um, water, um, let's see, when we get hit with a good deal of rain, the outside edges of my basement do flood and require me to squeegee the residual water that rose above the drainage trough back into it. So that was a small task to take care of this morning, but as I finished that minor maintenance, the fact that I had a huge tree in my backyard split down middle dawned on me again and caused me to panic, uh, as dealing with it will demand a response that will not only cause me to deviate from my normal routine but will cost me something. Uh, I was in my office bedroom at the back of my house, um, down by the river, when the, when the storm came roaring in yesterday afternoon, and I heard the wind shake, um, that tree and cause it to crack. Causing me to immediately call on the Lord in prayer to protect my home. And I'm happy to say that prayer was answered, as the storm passed very quickly, and no additional damage other than to this mammoth tree seemed to have— seems to have befallen me. I'm not sure whether or not my homeowner's insurance will cover a natural disaster which didn't damage my house like this, but the sheer shock of the trees. Total devastation yesterday caused, uh, yesterday afternoon caused me to call in a claim and Google tree removal businesses, as it all seemed too overwhelming to deal with myself. This is pretty uncharacteristic of me because I don't like to ask for help. In fact, I am somewhat aghast because my wife, Tammy Lynn, has already informed her brothers. Of my tree problem and they have already offered to help. I'm not used to that due to past experiences of being let down. Uh, I have issues with rejection and have diagnosed myself as having an insecure attachment style. Um, basically, what does that mean? I don't trust you in general, and it means I could have difficulty connecting with others emotionally, can be unpredictable, and have a dismissive attitude. Uh, my dramatic processing of this problem this morning, I have cycled between just calling someone to do it for me and manning up, um, by buying those discounted chainsaws on Amazon and doing it myself. At first, I didn't know what to do and still don't know what, uh, know completely what will happen, but I have already started working the problem in my head by making it smaller. As they say, my failure to be prepared does not necessarily constitute an emergency. So instead of doing a Chicken Little by running around demanding an immediate and speedy response to resolve the problem, I decided to look at the huge tree as a problem that could be dealt with in stages. Stage 1, deal with the portion of the tree on my neighbor's property. I will attempt to do that today after work. I have a quote-unquote regular size chainsaw, uh, that will at least make the problem smaller and could have some, if not all, the tree remnant removed in a relatively short time on that one side. Um, stage 2, deal with the rest. Um, if by some miracle the insurance company will cover my tree removal, I will, you know, seek out a tree contractor to pay, take take it all away. If not, I will utilize my regular size chainsaw and the bigger chainsaws that will be arriving on Monday thanks to Amazon Prime, uh, to deal with the rest. I might even break down and accept the help of others to do so too.

Whoa.

Um, while taking— uh, while talking about dealing with a— while talking about dealing with a natural disaster like this may not be ultra spiritual, I hope you, you hearing about my pres— Processing the trauma of this event helps you to consider what you would do if you were suddenly hit with an unexpected trial. We all will be. After all, uh, sin has caused the world to be impermanent and to be, and to be reliable source of trouble in our lives. But just because the things go south suddenly or gradually fall apart doesn't mean we have to lose our peace over it. Um, sure, we will be shaken, and yes, we should grieve the losses we suffer, but regardless of the things that fall apart, we are secure in Christ.

God holds us in the palm of his hand, and we will be—

and he will be with us in good times and bad. And when we live in his presence, we need not fear or lose our peace when trials come. This is actually the second tree to fall on the property, my property, in the last 2 years. I cleared up the mess of the first one. To my liking anyway, and I guess I will clear up the mess of the second one too, one way or another. While there is still a good deal of tree number one left to deal with, and the totality of tree number two brings more forestry activities to consider, the one thing I learned about dealing with things that fall apart is choosing what exactly you will do. In a perfect world, all broken things are cleaned up and taken away.

but total perfection costs you something.

And so when we decide upon a response, we have to consider the cost and ask some questions about what we value and what we can live with. Um, a felled tree or any other problem can have a multitude of responses, and we have to decide just how much we care and how much we are willing to spend in time or money to deal with it. No matter what we choose to do with the problems we face, we can rejoice that God is with us, and we can have peace in knowing that whether we work diligently toward a quick solution, deal with them in bite-sized chunks, or just let them be, this too will pass, and God will arrange it all, rearrange it all, when he brings a new heaven and a new earth, when his kingdom comes.

And we move along to today's Bible verse.

Uh, this morning's meditation verse— the verses come from the section, um, come from our Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. Um, and it comes from the section on false prophets and teachers. Today's verses are 2 Peter 2:1-3, um, which say, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will securely bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. Today's verses fall under the seventh point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on false prophets and teachers. And that seventh point is: Peter warns that false teachers will arise within the church and secretly introduce destructive heresies. Yeah, today's, uh, today's verses assure us of false prophets and teachers' destruction. And described them to be known by their sensuality and greed and their lies. Uh, sex and money scandals among ministries give us an idea about the genuineness of the faith of those who fall. Perhaps more than just being led into temptation, the moral failings of prominent, prosperous preachers may indicate that Jesus never knew them. So should we give these fallen pastors grace? Sure, I think we should accept that they were only human and fell into sin and forgive them.. But after failing, I believe they should relinquish the office of pastor and not be the shepherd of the church. Fool me once, shame on you, but let's not let you fool us twice by making you accountable for betraying the trust of the church.

We move along. 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 According Your Word Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allpert. And today's, um, message is that comes from 2 Corinthians 13, and from that chapter Allpert shares, um, verse 10, which says, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. And Stephen Alford writes, Paul speaks here of sharpness and authority which the Lord has given him for edification and not destruction. It is very significant that he definitely says for edification and not for destruction. Paul may have, may have been a severe man of God, one who could exert authority with sharpness, but what he said was also constructive and not destructive. Moreover, there is not a shadow of a doubt that all was done in love, for Paul could never write words like 1 Corinthians 13 and then not practice it. Moreover, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies or builds up, 1 Corinthians 8:1. And Alford ends his devotion by praying, Lord, make me a constructive teacher.

Amen. Amen. Yeah, we don't want to—

oh, you know, I'm dealing with a situation, um, currently where at least the situation's been dealt with, where we had to ask someone to not attend our recovery meetings because of the things they've done in our hiatus between, uh, the first half and the second half of the year. Took, took a vacation And apparently one of the—

one of our participants took a vacation from their senses as, uh, they not only fell, fell into sin, but they rolled around and, uh, rolled around in it and, um, made some inappropriate, uh, actions, uh, that, you know, impacted more than just themselves. And, uh, we have to take those of what happened seriously and bar them from admittance because our ministry is supposed to be a safe space. Um, and we don't have to worry about who we're, you know, trusting our hurts, habits, and hangups with. Um, and when you violate that trust, you have to be put outside the camp. And thus I'm a little sensitive to the whole idea about pastors repenting. Um, you know, in the early church, it was never that way. When someone fell into sin, they could be forgiven, they accepted by the community, but they were no longer a pastor. And, uh, that's, that's what I saw recently on a, on a, on a YouTube, uh, video regarding this, you know, regarding the early church and current scandals, you know, should people be restored. Um, I'd have to agree with the person that, uh, you know, shared that video and say basically that I don't, I don't think they should be a pastor again. Um, You know, not a pastor. They could teach, I suppose, um, but to pastor a church, different responsibility. And they can always serve the body of Christ in some regard, but, uh, that was a tough one.

So, and so as teachers, we want to be constructive and not destructive. We certainly don't want to lead people astray with false doctrines or by our sensuality and sinful lifestyle, so we don't have those things.

We don't have false teachings. We don't have a sinful lifestyle that other people would fall into. And when we— and we— and we teach people, try to edify them and not to destroy them. But sometimes, like Paul did, we have to release people to Satan so they'll repent. And even after that, we have to be wise and discerning in how we welcome people back into our church communities. You know, we, we can't put the, uh, child molester in, in charge of child care. Uh, just not wise to do so. And if someone's, you know, not trustworthy, you have to take that under consideration and use that in your plan to, uh, reinstate people. So there's that.

Um, yes, and so that's today's message. And we always ask the question, have you surrendered to God? Have you fully surrendered to God? You know, um, we, we are in the process of fully surrendering to God, uh, continual process.

Um, we haven't, you know, reached perfection, but, uh, that's, that's the intention of our, our podcast, our, our blog, is, uh, to, to be empty for Christ, uh, so that God can, God can fill us with His Holy Spirit and guide us into the things He wants us to do. Um, that's our mission here, to encourage you to do the same.

And we have other, other things and the other irons in the fire as well. As I, as I stated, we have a, a recovery group, uh, at Starpoint Church. It's called Celebrate Freedom. So it's recovery and discipleship.

We try to not only get people sober, we try to teach them how to live as Christians, um, so they don't fall into temptation, that they have a different purpose.

Well, our new, uh, our new beginning, uh, begins next week, uh, Wednesday the 24th, and we invite anyone in the Capital District, uh, it's Christian fellowship or help with recovery or any other negative mind states, really anything, any questions about your faith, you can come celebrate freedom on Wednesday nights in Starpoint Church. And, uh, in the fall I am offering online classes, uh, well, actually Freedom in Christ Ministries is offering online discipleship classes, uh, on, uh, to people all over the country, um, and there's different classes available. And I'm leading one of them on Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM. It's a Freedom in Christ course for men only.

Um, so if you'd like to register, uh, go to ficm.org and, uh, check out the, uh, courses that are available there.

And the one on Tuesday night for Freedom in Christ for men only, that one's hosted by me.

Me. So if you wanted to be in my class, you could sign up for that one. Um, the cost is $49, and it goes to the support of Freedom in Christ Ministries.

So, well, that's all our announcements for today.

And, um, I have to go to work, and then I have to deal with a tree in my backyard and my neighbor's yard, um, the best I can, and pray that the homeowner's insurance would cover tree removal. Although, you know, God will do what he does, and, uh, my insurance company will do what they do. Um, but we'll pray, pray for that. We'll pray for strength to deal with the situations that face us today, going to work and then coming back and dealing with the tree. Um, 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, even in the midst of a storm.

You're there to give us peace, and you're there to make big problems smaller. And, um, Lord, we thank you for that. And, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer request, and that you would lead them in the way they should go. Um, Lord, because we all need your help, and today I'm going to need your help. Uh, Lord, so open my eyes to things you want me to see. Clear my path and show me the way to go, Lord, because I desperately need your help. And, um, all I want to do is represent you in your kingdom, even in the midst of trials. I want to— I want to point people to Jesus Christ and the good life that you can give us. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. All right, everyone have a good day.