New Year’s Revolution – Giving Up Lies - Purity 1545

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 tree limb railing leading us down a stone step pathway as the sun shines over Franklin Pine and, uh, pond and through the trees to reach us comes to us from yours truly as I pause to the scene on the afternoon of December 31st, 2024. Well, it's January 2nd, and while it may be back to life, back to reality for me as I return to my secular day job today, I am also taking a step in a new direction as I am surrendering to God and entering into an extended time of prayer as I begin this first full day of my New Year's revolution. Yes, I said revolution because I don't expect the road ahead to be an easy one of peaceful resolutions as much as it will be a hard-fought battle of the mind, spirit, and will as I seek to gain back what was lost, my sanity, or call it my clarity of purpose, and to give up the thing that keeps me from accomplishing the levels of peace, health, and freedom that I long for. So what am I giving up? Well, to paraphrase and reflect the strange iconic moment in the 1994 The Professional when Gary Oldman's character realized that he was in over his head and screamed to bring him everyone, uh, similarly, I'm giving up everything. What do you mean everything? Everything! Well, I'm sorry, I think cinematically at times and tend to be a little dramatic. But seriously, while giving up everything may be a little too vague or maybe too much to bite off, let alone chew, I'll be more specific and run the risk of being even more vague. I'm giving up lies. Giving up lies? Yeah, lies. I'm entering into an extended time of prayer and spiritual formation in which I seek to live according to the truth. God's word, Jesus Christ. And so I'm going to attempt to actively take all my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. I will seek to reject my subtle forms of self-deception, the deception, the deceptive philosophies and ways of the world, and any lies, um, from the spiritual forces of darkness as well. I'm giving up lies, and I'm going to attempt to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. So in my campaign against lies, I will be studying the truth of God's word and attempt to follow its wisdom. But I'm also going to give up those little hurts, habits, and hang-ups that believing the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil have brought into my life. I want to— I want a clean slate. So while I am blessed to be sharing, you know, starting from a place of maintained freedom and victory from battle campaigns of the past, I will be declaring total war on things that have remained and grown in strength during 2024. If we don't eradicate our enemies, they wait, grow stronger, and return. And they— the way they do it is through lies. I am somewhat well-versed in the lies of the enemy and those of self-deception. In theory anyway. I even did a series on them on the podcast in the past. Uh, you can go to a link today that I'm sharing on the blog to our MT for Christ 24/7 playlist page on mtforchrist.com to check them out. Um, I was sort of shocked and surprised to discover that I've done, uh, I did a 35-part series on self-deception, and I did, um a series, I don't know how many, how many parts, but a series on Lies of the Enemy in the past. And so I'll probably be studying my own podcast, uh, to learn the things that I was supposed to know before. Um, but it's one thing to know, you know, how we can be lied to, and there's another to reject those lies and keep their deceptive influence out of our lives. So that will be our focus today and going forward, to live by truth and to add or remove those habits, that will help us to be a man after God's own heart. Speaking of being a man after God's heart, that is the topic of today's In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion, and we are sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to ask ourselves the questions that could begin a movement toward freedom, peace, and joy. Charles Stanley writes: A man after God's own heart. Ask God to give you the desire to move ever closer to him. Have you ever seen a gravestone with a poignant epitaph of the person buried there? Perhaps it read "devoted mother" or "beloved friend." What would you want etched on your tombstone? What epitaph would summarize your life? In the book of Acts, we discover how history remembered King David. In a sermon presented to a primarily Jewish group, the Apostle Paul made reference to David, who was well known to the audience. Remembering all the king's great accomplishments during his reign, how did Paul choose to describe him? He declared that God called David a man after my own heart. What does it mean to be a person after God's own heart? For David, it required an intimate relationship with the Lord. This entails more than a regular routine of rote prayers and church attendance. Rather, such intimacy is founded upon a desire to grow closer to the Father. What would it take for you to be described as someone after God's own heart? Which activities would need to be removed from your life? What would need to be added? Ask God for his help in making these adjustments and for the commitment to make this epitaph the goal of your life. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley. Voy to be remembered as a man after God's own heart. Uh, that's what I'm hoping for. Uh, and I say amen. You know, spiritual formation, recovery, or discipleship is all about restoration. And coming back into alignment with God's plan for our lives, to become the people God created us to be. As we aged, we were taught or learned, um, on our own many things that may have worked to get us through life. But Jesus came to show the truth about life and to give us a different way of living that leads to peace and joy. His way is the narrow road that leads to life and life more abundantly. As we really begin to walk into the new year, ask yourself the questions that Stanley suggested to determine what you would have to add or take away from your life to, to show your desire to be closer to our Father and to be considered someone after God's heart. Ask God to reveal what he has for you to do this year and take a step in that direction Today's Bible verse come, uh, verses, uh, come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on humility, pride, and today's verses are Matthew 20, uh, 25-28, which says, but Jesus called them to him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Today's verses fall under the fourth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on humility, and that fourth point is he did so again at another time when they were revealing the same sinful pride. Yeah, um, anyway, that's Jesus. And, uh, today's Bible verses remind us that Jesus didn't flaunt his authority over his disciples. Instead, he served others to show his greatness was rooted not in power but in love. When we focus on what we can do and/or what we want, we run the risk of forgetting who we are supposed to represent. We are not looking to be a new improved version of ourselves. We we are supposed to be following Jesus to be more like him. Jesus was humble, loving, and strong in ways that are different from the world, and it is his example of sacrificing, uh, sacrificing love and service that we are to follow. So be humble by reading the word of God and seeing how far we fall short of perfection, and then rejoice because God accepts us because of our faith in Jesus, and we need only follow him. To know we are on the right path. 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 our walk. Today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional. We're on day 44, where Adams shares a portion of 3 John 7. Which says, "They went out on behalf of the name, taking nothing from the Gentiles." And J.E. Adams writes, "Missionaries, when walking in the truth, never take anything from the unsaved. They have something to give, and it's free. They must not create a wrong impression about Christ's name by seeming to be out to get something. So in order to serve freely, they must be supported by the church." The way to support them is to treat them as if, as if they were God himself. The false notion that worn-out clothes, threadbare carpets, and chipped cups are good enough for missionaries must be exploded. There must be no such missionary barrel for missionaries. They ought to be provided with the finest of what they need to carry out their work. Somehow a wrong spirit prevails among many believers who think that their castoffs are good enough. Are you among those who think so? Read verse 6 again. You will do well to send them forward on their trip in a manner that is worthy of God. Missionaries must be treated in a manner that is worthy of God. How would you treat God were He your guest? Pray for, but also give generously to the work of missionaries who walk in the truth. Amen. And here J.E. Adams sort of blows up the idea that those who serve the Lord are content, you know, are content with whatever they receive, and that we can, we can give, you know, missionaries or, you know, clergy junk. We can pay them little and, you know, that'll be good enough for them because they, you know, have a vow of poverty, right? Um, J.E. Adams encourages us not to be that way. And he shares the word of God to show us that we're supposed to, you know, be generous to the church and to those who seek to save the lost, those who serve the kingdom. And so, you know, it's funny because it's the beginning of the year and there'll be a lot of campaigns right now to do what's right. You know, if you want to be resolved, you want a resolution, One of the things you can do is, you know, pay your tithe. And, um, that's a big stumbling block for a lot of Christians or Catholics, um, as I used to be. Um, my Catholic faith was like the dollar offering. You gave a dollar and that was it. Um, but, um, Word of God is not— doesn't really say that, you know. We're supposed to be cheerful givers, and, uh, the tithe is an Old Testament, um principle that we should honor and go above that if possible. So as much as I, you know, believe in individual freedom, I also believe in doing what's right and supporting our churches and those who do good works. So we encourage you to do that and to be a missionary yourself wherever you live, to share the good news, because people need it. And so we ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? Are you walking and talking with him? Are you giving up lies as your New Year's resolution? Are you trying to live by the truth of God's word and actually do what it says? We encourage you to do that because, um, I think it brings a measure of peace, and, um, it's good to follow the Lord. It feels good to do what's right. God made us to to operate that way, to operate in joy of loving one another and loving him. So we encourage you to follow that pathway and go wherever it leads you. For us, it led us to, uh, Starpoint Church, uh, and, uh, to serving as the leader of Celebrate Freedom, uh, the support group that meets on Wednesdays, um, for Christian recovery and discipleship. We meet again next week, basically on, on the 8th, January 8th,, which is Wednesday night. We invite anyone in the Capital District who wants to be supported in their attempts to walk in the Spirit to join us, and you can drop those habits, hurts, and hang-ups along the way, or at least the Lord can help you to put them down and walk away in freedom. So we encourage anybody in Upstate New York who can make it to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night to come out and join us. You can also register for their group by going to starpointchurch events clicking on Celebrate Freedom and registering. We'd love to get your information so we can encourage you and remind you of when our meetings are. Beyond that, you know, we're starting a new thing. You know, I, I was offering Celebrate Freedom online as a support group, which is going to begin January 6th, which is next Monday, but I haven't gotten any registrants. So I've been called to I feel I've been— I've wanted to do this material as an online teaching for a long time. So I'm going to continue with that intention, and I'm going to offer for free on YouTube. And we will still keep the group coaching events page up. We're going to change that today from registrations to offering donations. Anybody who wants to support my efforts at sharing the recovery material, um, online. Um, so that's the only change. You can still go to mtforchrist.com, uh, basically to, you know, support that, that work. Um, but, um, the Lord put on my heart to give it away, to give it for free, and to, uh, sort of do an online, uh, online coaching or online teaching one-on-one where I present the material and try to encourage whoever, you know, should watch it. Um, so we're doing that, and that'll begin next week. And, you know, the schedule will basically be one, one a week, or, you know, or something like that. So we try to produce all 25 messages, um, sometime this year. So that'll be interesting. Beyond that, if you want to jump in on the, uh, on what we've already produced, we believe you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. As I stated earlier, we have a playlist page on our mt4christ.com, um, and gives you all our playlists basically. And I would, I would suggest you go there because I forgot the one— forgot all about the ones I have out there. We have, uh, like I said, the series on self-deception, the lies of the enemy, along with, um, these teachings on Victory Over the Darkness, the Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom of Discipleship course. We also have many other playlists on our YouTube channel that we share that aren't necessarily from us, but we thought were helpful for someone's walk. So we encourage you to go to emptyforgrace.com, our playlist page, or to go to the playlist page on our YouTube channel to check out to see what's available there. And we always end by asking, are you empty for Christ too? Are you surrendered to the Lord? Are you trying to let the Holy Spirit come in or go out and move you in the way you should go? Uh, if so, we say great, uh, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray. Um, we know that God hears us when we ask him for help, and, um, he'll lead you if you, if you pray to him. And that's why we pray every day, um, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we need your help today. We're praying for you to go before us as we go back into the workforce after an extended vacation that we thank you for. Um, but we need your fortitude, um, we need your strength, and we need your wisdom. And, um, Lord, we need you to keep us on, on path as we've entered this new, new year with the, with a determination to make things right again and to walk in the way that's worthy of your call, Lord. Um, help us to crucify the flesh and to, uh, reject the lies of this world, the enemy, even our, even our own self-deceptions, Lord, to enter into your will fully for this year. Lord, we just pray for you to help us and strengthen us to, uh, to do that. Lord, we also pray for anyone who's reading or watching or listening to this message today, Lord, that you would encourage them in their walk of faith and that you would help them and the way they should go. Uh, help them and, uh, answer their prayer requests, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.