Nervously Stepping Out in Faith to Grow - Purity 1242

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 a solitary figure seemingly bathed in a cloud of light of a blazing sunrise over the Atlantic comes to us from Heidi Ann, who shared this beach scene on social media yesterday while staying at a friend's condo in Baywatch, North Myrtle Beach. Well, it's Monday, and I share Heidi Anne's photo because of its beauty and because it is a sharp contrast with the weather that is just outside my door, as those of us in upstate New York were visited by a snowstorm Saturday night and through most of the day yesterday. And we will be doing our best today to adapt to our new normal as the world has become a winter wonderland in a day's time. If dealing with having to work with winter conditions weren't enough, uh, to deal with, uh, in terms of a new normal, this week also marks the beginning of what will be a 10 to 12 week marathon of ministry and hopefully growth and maturation as I begin facilitating another Men's Freedom in Christ group, uh, Freedom in Christ course, start another training program, and oversee a new round of recovery ministry. And I have to admit that I am a little nervous about ministering and meeting all the new people I will encounter for the first time by this week's end. Tonight I'll be meeting, uh, total strangers from all over the United States on Zoom as I host Freedom in Christ and am excited by the prospects of equipping, equipping and encouraging men in their, in their faith walk. While I haven't met the men yet The little bit of information I did receive tells me that there will be a wide spectrum in terms of their knowledge and understanding of Christian doctrine and what we will call Neil Anderson's Freedom Theology, as some have no experience at all, others have read a book or two, and some have years of experience with the Bible and leading ministries of their own. So I'm dealing with anxiety over just how much I should say and shouldn't say. As some will have a good idea where the course is coming from and others will be hearing these things for the first time. But the good thing is that the Freedom in Christ course is good material and, and, and that can benefit Christians wherever they are in terms of their maturity or freedom in Christ. And I can just rely on the rich material and the Holy Spirit to guide me. And I have done this before, so I'm telling myself to relax. I got this. Or I should say that the Lord has got this, as I am also reminding myself that it will be God that guides these men's growth and understanding, not me. Understanding and growth in our faith comes from God. Um, come from God. The Holy Spirit brings enlightenment or illumination to the Word of God. God is the one that opens and renews minds. God is the one who changes hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, and Jesus is the one who sets the captive free. Uh, so I just have to speak the word and encourage, uh, the men to seek the Lord, and the rest will be up to them to do so. If they seek him, they will find him, and if they follow him on the path of Christian discipleship, their lives will never be the same, as he will reveal to them their true identity in Christ, help them to experience their freedom in Christ, and better understand their purpose for living. To become the people that God created them to be. Likewise, the leaders I oversee and the newcomers who show up for the new round of Celebrate Recovery curriculum at the Celebrate Freedom Recovery Discipleship Growth Group at Starpoint Church will experience growth, maturation, healing, or freedom depending on their willingness to step out in faith and and to ask God to help and guide them in the way they should go. Both the leaders and the participants will be learning something about themselves as they go to the Lord to encourage others or themselves to walk in God's ways. As for myself, I'll be gaining more experience with both of these opportunities and will be seeking increased knowledge and expertise in dealing with the more difficult cases in freedom ministry. As I begin Freedom in Christ Ministries Advanced Encouragers training on Thursday evenings for the next 10 weeks. It's a new year and it's an exciting and nerve-wracking busy time, but overall I am positively overjoyed at the prospects of growth and can't wait to meet all the new people I will meet this week and see how the Lord works in all of our lives over the next 3 months. If you are bored in Christianity, let me encourage you to do something. Step out in faith to try something new. Take a class, read a book, get training, start a ministry, or serve in your local community or church to help others. When we take, take our faith and put it into action, we discover the good works that the Lord has prepared for us to do, and we grow in the process. So even if you are a little nervous like me, trust, trust me when I tell you that you can do it, because God will be with you to give you the strength, wisdom, and help that you will need to become the person he is guiding you to become. So seek the Lord and his purpose for your life, and keep on walking and talking to him to discover the amazing journey of growth and discovery of the abundant life that he has for you to live. Today's Bible verse comes— verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Comfort, and today's verses are 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. And the Word of God says, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 10 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Today's verses fall under the 12th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on comfort. And that 12th point is: Paul had a thorn in the flesh. God's promise: My grace is sufficient for you. Today's verses remind us that we won't necessarily be free from suffering on the path of Christian discipleship, and that our strength comes from relying on the Lord. Jesus told us that without him we can do nothing, and even though Paul had a lot of knowledge of the scriptures and experience in ministry, his journey of faith taught him that his wisdom, hope, and strength came from God's grace. Paul had some— has something here that he describes to be a messenger of Satan, Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant, and he begged the Lord repeatedly to take it away. But God didn't. His sufferings— suffering taught Paul— sufferings taught him endurance, patience, and his complete reliance on God, which caused him to gain a little bit of perspective about his earthly experiences in light of God's kingdom. In other passages of Scripture, Paul calls his sufferings a light affliction compared compared to the eternal glory he would one day see. He counted all his earthly accomplishments as dung compared to what he had won in Christ because he saw that his experiences were temporary, whereas God's kingdom is eternal, and everything he suffered would one day pass as he came into God's kingdom. Paul knew God's love and truth and understood his experience in the context of the Kingdom. He learned it through suffering and pleading, but he learned it and was able to count all of the negative circumstances as part of his faith walk and to be content with it because he knew God had a purpose in it and he would one day be delivered from it all and experience the wonder of God's Kingdom forever. As always, I encourage all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my, my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we are sharing— we begin sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford, a collection of devotional journals from 1940-1941. And basically, this is, uh, this, this resource encourages us to read the word of God and shares a few insights from Alford's Bible study notes. So for this morning's reading, it tells you to read Matthew 1. So I would encourage you, if you know, if you have the time, to read Matthew 1. But today's notes are highlighting Matthew verse 1— well, chapter 1, verse 20. And the word of God says, 'Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.' And Alford writes, until this declaration by the angel, Joseph was ashamed, afraid, and apologetic. He was ashamed because of the apparent embarrassment into which he had been plunged. He was afraid to go through with the solemn vows previously made. To marry, to, to be wed to Mary. He was apologetic in trying to explain away the great mistake, and he resolved to divorce her quietly. And then he, uh, he, he, he, he references verse 20. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and this made all the difference. When God manifestly reveals that a certain thing or procedure is of the Holy Spirit, there are only 3 things to be done. 1. Stand fast. Take to you, Mary, your wife. In other words, stand by all your original vows and decisions. Number 2, Alford says to shun fear. Do not be afraid. Whatever man may or may not say must not distract or distress And finally, show faith that is of the Holy Spirit. Demonstrate without apology that Christ is in you and with you. And finally, our resource says, Lord, you have spoken, give me grace to obey. Amen. So that completes our sharing from, uh, Alford's According to Your Word morning and evening through the New Testament. And, uh, those are 3 good points: to stand fast, shun fear, and to show faith. And so I encourage you to do that. Um, I'm shunning fear, uh, as I have to journey out and work outside today in the snow. Um, going forward until springtime, uh, we'll see. And I'm gonna shun fear as I, uh, I begin tonight's discipleship class online, uh, with the Freedom in Christ course. And, uh, I will just present the material and speak whatever the Holy Spirit tells me to speak and to encourage the, the men that show up. And, uh, so we should pray, uh, to do that. Um, let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for the, uh, the victory and freedom that we have in Christ, uh, that tells us that our sufferings are a light affliction, and that in our weakness we are strong because of you. And even if we're nervous or anxious about things, you can be with us to cast out that fear. And Lord, so we pray today for anyone listening to stand fast in their faith, and we pray for you to come, come alongside them, Lord, to, um, show them the way they should, they should go, and to bless them. and their prayer requests. And, uh, Lord, we pray as always for you to go before us today, uh, that you would open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead our steps in the way we should go and lead our mouth to say the things you would have us say, uh, Lord, because, um, your wisdom is higher than our wisdom, your ways are higher than our ways, and, uh, we just want to do our best to represent you in your kingdom. So Lord, please help us today. In Jesus' name, uh, we, we pray. Amen.