No Longer Divided - Purity 1496

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. Uh, to see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com, or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, uh, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of the sun shining upon the fire tower on Overlook Mountain near Woodstock, New York comes to us from yours truly as I took this photo en route to the top of the tower back on November 29th, 2020. Well, it's Wednesday, and while our nation still awaits— still waits to see who will be declared the victor in this year's presidential election, and as our country seems to be radically divided over who that should be, I was reminded this morning of how the Lord has moved to unite us all. I was reading in Acts 10 this morning and was struck how God opened up his kingdom to all people through Jesus Christ. Peter was called by the Lord to share his message with some God-seeking Gentiles, and this is what he said in Acts 10:34-43. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. That word, you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of, of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. You couldn't have been more divided than the Jews and the Gentiles. Before giving this speech, Peter admitted that normally it was unlawful for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go to another nation. But God had spoken to him to not consider any man to be common or unclean. God changed the law to welcome in any and all who would trust in Jesus, and it is in Christ alone that men can have peace with God and with other men. So let me encourage us all to draw close to the Lord and to love our neighbors by sharing the good news of Jesus, because it is God's will that we are no longer— we we're no longer to be divided. In Acts 10, God spoke to Gentiles and Jews and provoked them to come together, showing that he is near to us. And today's, um, Turning Point with David Jeremiah speaks on that topic, so I'm sharing it here today. David Jeremiah writes, um, the Lord is near— well, he is near— the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, Psalm 34:18. Jeremiah writes, Pastor Azat Asteian was captured by Russians while ministering in the Ukraine. He was beaten and had electrical cables attached to his body. His tormentors asked him whom he served. He shouted, "A triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." His torturers left him for dead, but Asteian was able to drink some rainwater and survived. After torture with electric shock, he said, all you want to do is drink. I asked the Lord for water. He gave rain. I felt God's presence at that moment. Isn't it amazing to feel God's presence in awful moments? When you feel lonely, when you're hurting, when the roof falls in, remind yourself right now that the Lord is near you, even when you want to run away from him. There is nowhere to run. If we go up to heaven, he is there. If we go to the cemetery, he is there. If we ride the winds across the seas, he is with us. Remember today what the psalmist said: though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. That was from David Jeremiah. And he also shares a, a quote from Pastor Azn Who said, I see God's presence and his blessing in my life. I am where I need to be. Amen. Whoa, what a powerful message about God's presence and help in the toughest of situations. For those of us who have walked through the valley with the Lord, we know this to be true. God is near to the brokenhearted and will never leave us or forsake us. So no matter where this message finds you along the path through your life, draw close to God because he is for those who seek him. I also have to share on the blog today a link to Charles Stanley's In Touch devotion today because it flows along the same lines, um, what we can expect when we make God our top priority. So if you need more, the link is on the blog today, um, and it's like the keys to success, and it talks about our relationship with the Lord. So I recommend that. But I, you know, I only share one, one of the two devotionals, um, you know, if I have space for it. So I had to share, uh, Turning Points, you know, the testimony of someone being tortured for their faith and, um, you know, feeling the presence of the Lord. And it just sort of won out today, so we shared that. You know, God is near to us and he blesses us with so much when we walk with him. So keep on walking and talking with God. Um, today's Bible 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 giving, and today the verses are 2 2 Corinthians 8:11-12 from the New American Standard Bible. The word of God says, but now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. Today's verses are the second of three passages of scripture that fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guides resource section on giving. And that second point is the Lord wants us to give generously and cheerfully. Um, today's verses, um, encourage us to finish what we started and to give according to what we have rather than being concerned over what we don't have. Um, the subject of giving can be a sore one, and often because of our own selfishness and insecurities, we can even make promises to give that we later renege on, uh, or we consider— we consider our small offering not enough to even bother with presenting it. But the Apostle Paul's letter here tells us to be faithful, to follow through with our intentions to give, and to know that even the smallest offering is acceptable when, when it is given in faith. So if the Lord puts it on your heart to give, don't hesitate. Let his urgings lead you to bless others by giving. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, uh, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers in Christ with their walk. Um, and today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture, and we're on chapter, uh, 17 of Revelation, and from that chapter he shares a portion of verse 14 which says those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. And Stephen Alford writes, the victory of the Lamb over the great whore is going to be won with the cooperation of godly Jews whom he is going to call, choose, and depend on. The great whore is the final development of corrupt and Christless religion. Surely a lesson can be learned from this future victory, for this is a victory to be won now, and that in the same sphere, the sphere of so-called Christendom, the qualifications necessary for the, for the fighting line are the assurance of having been called. This is an inward work of the Holy Spirit, oh, to make sure of this calling and election, the assurance of having been chosen. One can be called and yet not be chosen. Christ chose his own because he— they answered the call. Faithfulness, the all-inclusive requirement. It is— and Stephen Alford ends by praying, it is your call, your choice, and your faithfulness that works in me to bring your glory— bring you glory. Glorify thyself, Lord. Amen. Amen. And yeah, Revelation points to a future time when, uh, you know, when there's a Great Tribulation and Antichrist comes in with a false religion. And the point is that it's sort of Christless, you know, all-inclusive, but that doesn't include Jesus, um, or pays, pays lip service to him some way, but it's not, you know, it's not authentic Christianity. Um, and then judgment comes, and 144,000, um, go out and preach the word, and, uh, Jesus returns. And wow, those who don't stand with Christ do not stand. Um, and you know, we have to be— to serve the Lord, we have to be assured of things. Um, you know, uh, the assurance of being called, that you heard the word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you heard it. That's being called. And then the assurance of being chosen, the fact that you decided to believe what you heard and put your faith in Jesus. And then, of course, the faithfulness, basically, to continue, follow the Lord and serve him. We have to be called. Everyone's, you know, really, God calls everyone to be saved. That's why he put Jesus on the earth, to give people an option that all men can come to faith in Jesus Christ if they so choose. And there's the chosen in part, you know, basically choosing God as he chooses us. Um, it's got to be sort of mutual, you know. We have to— the Lord welcomes us into his kingdom, but we don't follow, we don't accept Jesus, we, we say no to him. And then even if you, you know, make a proclamation of faith, if it's not genuine, you could, you know, walk into, uh, you know, you could walk into Um, you know, you could be a false convert, basically, you know. Oh yeah, I believe. And then, you know, your faithfulness proves that you're not really a believer. Um, but, um, you can choose to be faithful. And, and we ask the question always, you know, have you fully surrendered to God? That's what the faithful do. They surrender their lives and open it up to the Lord and the Holy Spirit to let him come in and make the changes he has to do. To our character and move us to do good works in his name. And we encourage everyone to surrender to the Lord's will for their life and to repent, um, to do things God's way instead of our, our ways. Uh, when you do that, he transforms your life. And one of the things he's done to transform my life is given me the blessing of ministry at the Celebrate Freedom support group at Star Point Church on Wednesday nights. That's tonight, and we'll be meeting, uh, at 6:30, uh, in the K-3rd grade classroom for anybody who wants to come for Christian Recovery, Discipleship, and Fellowship tonight. Uh, we'll be teaching, um, basically how to walk in the Spirit and overcome your hurts, habits, and hangups, and we'll be supporting one another, um, in our walk. So we encourage anyone to come out, um, you know, go to Starpoint Church's website and look up support groups to find information on us. But, uh, we welcome you to come. You can register there too. Um, beyond that, I'm happy to announce the Grace for the Holiday online teaching and support group has paid registered participants. So we're doing this, um, so it is a support group for men, uh, it'll be meeting on Mondays at 6:30 PM online. We begin in the week of November 18th, and we encourage any men who want some good Christian teaching, as we'll be going over the Grace Course. You can't see it, there it is, the Grace Course, uh, basically, um, from Freedom in Christ Ministries. We'll be going over that as the subject of our topic, you know, of discussion, but mostly, you know, We're there to support one another as we walk through the holiday season, basically from November, you know, before Thanksgiving to the week of Christmas, um, just to keep Christ in Christmas and to keep each other, you know, focused on following the Lord. So we encourage any men out there, uh, who might be interested to go to mtforchrist.com, the group teaching events page, and, um, you know, group coaching events page, and register today. Um, let's see, beyond that, say you can't do the holiday thing. Well, we're going to be doing another Freedom in Christ course, um, in January, uh, January 7th, 2025. Uh, you can go to ficm.org, look up their courses, look for Freedom in Christ on Tuesday nights for men, 6:30 PM Eastern Time. Sign up because that's the one I'll be leading. Uh, we encourage you to do that, uh, for the men out there. Um, we just sort of do men's ministry if you haven't figured it out, although Celebrate Freedom is for men and women. Um, let's see, and beyond that, we, you know, if you can't make those, you can't make it to Celebrate Freedom and can't make it to those groups that we're doing, we encourage you to go to our web, our, our YouTube playlist channel, a page, um, M.t. Clark for Christ 24/7, where you can find our teachings. And we hope that you can find and increase your freedom in Christ through them. Um, basically we have playlists for the Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course. And so encourage you to check those out. And, um, there's other playlists there too from Christian theologians that I believe would be helpful, so we share them. Um, okay, that's that. Um, you know, as we end our, our, our message, we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? Being empty for Christ just means you, you know, make yourself available for the Holy Spirit to fill you and move you in the way you should go. And so if that, if that's a yes, we say keep on walking and talking with God. And if it's a no, we encourage you to pray, uh, pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you, pray to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. And we believe things will make a big change, um, then. And then we know prayer matters, and that's why we pray every day, like right now. 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. Lord, we thank you for anyone re— reading, watching, or listening to today's message. Um, and Lord, we just pray for you to go before us all today. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord, and we need a lot of help with that. Lord, we just— we also pray for the election results to be finalized and, uh, for, for your— for you to guide the leadership of this country, the United States, for the next 4 years, as we trust— we trust you and the authorities you put in charge um, but, uh, Lord, you know, we trust you more than any governmental thing. We're going to make sure we follow you, um, regardless of any institutions or, or organizations or governments. Um, Lord, we follow you and you alone. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.