Never Forgotten Purity 820

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 slowly setting sun in sand dunes comes to us from an anonymous friend who shared this scene on social media back in March. I would imagine this beach is somewhere in Florida, but could be mistaken as any memory of the photographer or the location that I may have had has has been lost. But the good news is that their photo wasn't lost, and it can be used today to welcome us to the last day of the work week and cause us to remember the Lord who created the heavens and the earth and who will never forget about us. Well, thank God for that, and thank God it's Friday. All— although this Friday doesn't have that anticipation of finishing another work week because today is the last day of my staycation, it still has the excitement that comes from knowing that I will be reunited with my wife later today. Although it was a vacation, I decided to utilize my time off to prepare for the ministry work I will be doing after Labor Day. And although I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked, I am satisfied that I got a lot of my ducks in a row and made a good start on my ambitious effort to do something new. Um, I am currently preparing PowerPoint presentations for a course or a book study of D— Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship, that I've always wanted to do. And although creating Lesson 1 was akin to a visit to the dentist office, it dusted off my mad PowerPoint skills, and creating Lesson 2 has been a little less painful. Remember when people used mad like that, like it was cool? It was more my younger brother's generation that talked like that, I think, and I always thought it was a little stupid. Like he was mad angry, but it was probably in that general cultural time frame, or when mad was dwindling if not totally dead. It is dead, right? When I was getting my associate's degree in telecommunications, class of 2013, right? Maybe. That I last had to use PowerPoint, so it has been a trip down memory lane as I try to create something for people to look at as I will fumble and fawn over Bonhoeffer's words and encourage people to love the Lord our God and to follow Jesus like one of the first apostles who literally dropped everything to answer his call to discipleship and who dedicated their lives to telling others of the new life they could have in Christ. As I went through the growing pains of reorienting myself with PowerPoint, I would get tempted to quit. And just give the idea of doing this new thing— give up the idea of doing this new thing and just stick with the comfy confines of the Freedom in Christ courses that I facilitate. But I have persisted for a few reasons. I really believe that our life in Christ encourages us to do something new. To do something more for God's kingdom. Whether it is gaining victory over another part of our own lives that is worldly, or choosing to edify ourselves by learning something new, or if it is choosing to serve our local churches in some way, or, or if it is in just deciding to step out in our local communities to do good works, I believe that God wants us to stretch ourselves to discover new capacities in ourselves and to discover our purpose in him. While we have to be careful not to burn out, I think we should also not grow complacent in our faith and in the things that would demonstrate we have some. Although I would also recommend that we examine our hearts and minds as we decide to walk in faith. In addition to creating PowerPoints, uh, for my new venture, I have also immersed myself in some Christian teaching by cross-examine.org's Dr. Frank Turek. Turk is an apologist and his teachings are rich and effective for challenging the current culture of atheism and moral relativity. Turk reveals how the common beliefs in our society go against reason, natural law, and the Bible. His work is first-rate and I have learned a lot from his teachings and I believe that being equipped through them was just as important as doing the work for my new class. Because I know the grace of the Lord, I, I don't— because I know the grace of the Lord, I know I don't need to work to be approved by him. But when I stretch myself and grow, I benefit from the process. I believe that the Lord wants us to learn and grow, to be better equipped to encourage others and to stand strong in our own walk, of our own walk with him. But sometimes the work can be daunting, and you, because you know the Lord's grace, might be tempted to just rest, to kick to kick your feet up and do nothing, secure in the Lord's love. But then you realize that the peace you have in Christ is unknown to so many people out there, and that it wouldn't be loving to not at least try to introduce people to the life of love, joy, and peace that you have come to know. So I have been working this week and have been a bit tired in the process, and in my struggle to create new— something new ish. I was tempted to quit, but reminded myself that I wanted to do it, and that it didn't have to be perfect, and that it could benefit somebody else, so I'd press on. And yesterday I was blessed with some positive feedback. Someone reached out to me to tell me that yesterday's blog was great, and I received an email thanking me for the work I have done with my discipleship classes. Saying that I have personally impacted their life and that they are sharing what they have learned with others in their local church. And when those encouragements come, I know this is what the Lord would have me do: to keep going, to keep growing, to keep speaking, and to keep encouraging others to follow Him. The Lord doesn't forget us, and He doesn't want us to forget that there is more to this world than meets the eye. And that the work we do to grow closer to him and to promote his kingdom is worthwhile. So keep on chugging along. I think you can. I think you can. And I know God is for you and can empower you to do the things that he has prepared for you. So keep walking and talking with him to discover all that he has for you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Isaiah 44:24, and it says, "This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer and Creator: I am the Lord who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with me when I made the earth?" Today's verse reminds us that our Lord is our Redeemer and our Creator, and that he alone stands over and above all things. The question of the Lord in today's verse of "Who was with me when I made the earth?" is either easily answered or a little complicated, as the mystery of the Trinity could give us pause. The simple answer to the Lord's somewhat rhetorical question is "Nobody," and that points to the fundamental truth that really reminds us of who is in charge. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Nobody else was there, just God. Before them, before, before time and space were created, God was there to make it. Wow. No one created God. He is self-existent. The quote-unquote unmoved mover is not an effect that had a cause. The great I Am just was and always will be. God started the universe and he will determine its course. God also made man, and even though we went the way of Satan and rebelled against him by sinning, God loved us enough to make a way to have, uh, to, to make peace with him, um, to redeem the lives of all who put their faith in Christ, to save the lives of those who rightly would go to hell by his grace alone. So we should recognize God's power and sovereignty, but we should also rejoice because through Jesus, God also redeems us and will call us to live with him forever and ever. God started alone, but in the end of this universe, he won't end— you know, it won't end that way. Uh, when he wills it, he will create a new heaven and a new earth and he will call the redeemed to live there with him forever and ever. Amen. 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 Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and today's section, uh, of his 14th chapter of his book speaks about the powers that Assail the Purity of the Church. And so if you want to see how the powers of darkness can assail the purity of the church, go to mt4christ.org and look at today's blog, the bottom of today's blog post, to, uh, to find that resource. As always, we encourage people to purchase the resources we share. And why do we share them? Well, we found the work that we share personally impactful on our lives, or, you know, good theology, or, you know, it's good material. There's a lot of material out there, so we are somewhat discerning in sharing the things that we put on our blog to encourage people to apply their faith to their lives. Some Christian teaching is good, But the one thing I've noticed is that a lot of Christian teaching is academic, meaning you, you learn about things and you might learn the reasons why the culture of atheism and relativity is wrong, but it might not necessarily, you know, instruct you on how to live your life. And some of the teachings I, I share do that. And that's my intention, is basically how do you do this thing? How do you be a Christian in this world? Now, a lot of it's academic in terms of, you know, trying to live a Christian life of not sinning, but how do you do it? And so that's why we're here, to encourage people and the way they should go, and to know that the reality of their faith and is far-reaching and goes from here to eternity. And, you know, we, we follow the Lord because we love him, because he's alive and he's in the world, and, um, you know, he's over and above the world, and he can, he can affect our lives, um, you know, through his presence, through his power, through his strength and guidance. So that's why we want to walk with God. If you need help with that, we do encourage people to check out our, our teachings that we have on Christian discipleship on on our podcast and YouTube channel. We've done 3 classes: Victory Over Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ that are all available for your edification and learning. And we also encourage you to read the word of God. You're going to find the truth of about who God is and about this world in the pages of scripture. So we encourage Bible study. We do Bible study on a daily basis. For the most part. And, uh, we, we, we also share, uh, our informal Bible study discussion, uh, that we do with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti once a week, uh, on the, uh, the blog and the podcast as well, and on the YouTube channel. And that little program is called Bible Study with the Sincottis, and we encourage you to check it out. Well, it is Friday, and, um, if you're working today, uh, rejoice! Every moment you're there is one, one minute closer to quitting time, and the weekend. And, um, you know, around that quitting time, I'll be heading up to, uh, see my wife in Easton, New York. So I'll be able to rejoice over that even though I don't have to work today, although I probably— I plan on doing some work, uh, on the, on the discipleship course I'm going to be doing. Um, so you can be tired by that, or you can be encouraged by that, and sometimes a little bit of both., in our lives, you know, that we're doing what we need to do. We need to do the work that, that will help us and our families and help others, and that we do the best we can to represent the, you know, the kingdom of God in our lives. So I encourage you to do that. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the, the life you've given us in Christ, for um, our eternal salvation. With that, we don't really have to worry about what happens from day to day, that we know we'll end up in a good place because we'll end up with you. And, uh, Lord, we just thank you so much for that. We pray for people to find you today. Lord, we pray for the people listening. We pray for you to come alongside them. We pray for you to be with them in their life journey. And we, we come alongside them in their prayer requests. Lord, we ask for you to grant them the desires of their heart. And for those desires to match up with your will. Lord, we just thank you so much. We pray for you to go before us today, to open our eyes, hearts, and minds to the things you need and want us to know and experience. And Lord, we pray for you to lead us into all the things that you would have us do to best represent you here on the earth and to encourage other people to come into your good graces through our— your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, And we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.