Out of the Shadows, Seeking the Lord - Purity 1497

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm 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 the silhouettes of trees against the backdrop of the rising sun on the horizon with an ice and snow encrusted pathway in the foreground comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this early winter morning scene on social media back on December 19th, 2020. If this memory is yours, give us a heads up and we'll photo credit you after the fact. Well, last night I was— well, it's Thursday actually, and I share this dark and chilly pathway photo of a you know, as a visual reminder to get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship and to encourage us to remember that while it may seem darkest just before the dawn, when the light comes in, the darkness is expelled. And when we walk in the light of the Lord, we never have to go back into the shadows. Last night, I was simultaneously saddened and encouraged by the return of an old friend to the Celebrate Freedom support group, who admitted they had fallen and once again realized that they needed help with their hurts, habits, and hangups, and that they couldn't do it alone. When you take a vacation from recovery, even if you're walking in freedom, you have to be careful because the sheep that walks away from the flock is often the one that gets attacked. At Celebrate Freedom, we reference 1 Corinthians 10:12 that tells us, if you think you're standing strong, you be careful not to fall. Just because you have a measure of freedom doesn't mean you cannot remain diligent in maintaining it. While I am not saying that someone must attend meetings to achieve sobriety and freedom from bad habits, I am saying that you should have a regular, regular meetings with the Lord to remind yourself of who he made you to be and to receive his help, guidance, and strength. To have your mind renewed and to win another day's battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. This person, unfortunately, who never truly set the goal of total sobriety and abstinence from alcohol, believed the lie that moderation is the key and deceived themselves by believing that they could control their tendency to do the wrong thing—get drunk—without any negative consequences. Their tale was one that has been heard countless times in recovery circles. They thought they could just have a little bit of their poison from time to time without any problems. But the truth is that for the addict, as one of my colleagues testifies, one drink is too much and a thousand is never enough. So we come to the hard— so we come to the— we who come to the hard realization that we are an alcoholic— or struggle with alcohol— have to choose and commit ourselves to never drinking again if we want to be free. This person stopped coming to meetings, dabbled in some social drinking and drunkenness, and while they weren't instantly destroyed, their sin got its teeth into them and eventually led them to hide their drinking and means of getting alcohol to the point that they stole money from others to feed their addiction rather than be discovered. They were running in the shadows, living a double life, and forsaking all the things that they had learned and were avoiding the community in which they found a measure of peace. Eventually, their sin was found out, leading them to anger, bitterness, and shame. They admitted that they didn't just stop coming to our meetings, but also admitted that they, uh, stopped going to church services altogether. Essentially, they stopped seeking the Lord, and the darkness came in. But thankfully, last night they began the process of repenting and seeking the Lord once again. As it turns out, today's In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley addresses the topic of seeking the Lord, and I'm sharing it today to remind us all of the importance of continually seeking the Lord and his will for our lives. Dr. Charles Stanley writes, seek the Lord. A close relationship with the Lord is built by dedicating time to spend, to spend with him day by day, year by year. A close relationship with the Lord doesn't happen accidentally. It requires continual, deliberate decisions to pursue him. Intimacy cannot, can't be achieved in an inspiring weekend conference, nor can it be accomplished by reading a chapter or two of the Bible and praying indifferently. Seeking God is a lifetime commitment, day by day, year by year. Too many believers are satisfied to have a shallow, superficial relationship with the Lord. They'll approach God for relief from suffering or fulfillment of other needs, but are unwilling to sit quietly for an extended period of time just getting to know him through prayer and his word. Yet the most important pursuit in a believer's life is building a relationship with God. To forfeit this great blessing is a tragedy. God doesn't need anything from you, but he desires your loving devotion and intimate fellowship. Ask yourself, is this what I want too? If your answer is yes, are you willing to make the necessary commitment? Seeking the Lord cannot be something you hurry through or approach casually. It will cost you time and effort, but the rewards are worth any sacrifice. And that's from Dr. Charles Stanley. Um, seek the Lord— three little words that compromise our purpose for living. But unfortunately, if we don't understand that our faith is supposed to be a continuous, loving relationship with God where we learn, grow, and act according to his ways, we can come to the misguided conclusion that I found him, or I know this, and become dissatisfied or disappointed with our quote-unquote religion and begin to walk away and get lost in the shadows of our former lives, or get consumed by the day-to-day circumstances that surround us and suddenly believe the lie that I am alone or I have to do everything myself. These lies separate us from God's presence and draw us into sin and despair. The truth is that God is with us, but we must seek his presence, wisdom, and strength every day to receive from him. If we commit ourselves to walking with him, we will be blessed. But if we don't seek him, the world and its lies will lead us into sin. So seek the Lord today and every day. He is faithful and true. And, and the more time— the more you spend time seeking him, the more you will be amazed by the work that he does in you. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference or Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the on giving. Today's, uh, verses are 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, and the word of God says, now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Today's verses are the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the second point of the count— of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on giving. The second point is the Lord wants us to give generously and cheerfully. Today's Bible verses encourage us to be generous with our giving, but not to do so grudgingly or out of a sense of compulsion. The Apostle Paul encourages us to give what we feel moved by the Lord to give, but to let go of what we are giving completely. Joyfully because our bitterness in giving begrudgingly spoils the sacrifice. Being a cheerful giver necessitates a pure heart of surrender, which can be accomplished only when we love the Lord and realize that everything we receive comes from him. We can cheerfully give to others when we realize we're simply returning to God a small portion of all he has given us. So be obedient to the, to the command to give your tithes and offerings, but sure, but make your heart and mind are right before you come to the altar. 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 to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allpert, and it offers, um, devotion, um, Uh, in Alford's devotion, we, uh, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture, and today's chapter is Revelation 18. And from that chapter, he shares a portion of verse 2, which says Babylon the Great is fallen. And Stephen Alford writes, this chapter is taken up with the fall of the, of the great Babylon. The picture portrayed is vivid: the great city decked like a queen with rich apparel, a monument of earthly achievement, and yet a cesspool of sinful sinful corruption. This city, many years in building and development, is pictured here in destruction, indeed total destruction, the judgment of one single day. How like the house that was built upon the sinking sands of time. How futile to build for time. It is only the enjoyment of a mere season. How the merchants and lovers of this city weep, cry, and mourn the fate of their much beloved much-loved city. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, thank you, Lord, for that city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens and reserved for me. Amen. Amen. And Alford points to the fact that the things of this world pass away, and if it's of this world, usually it's corrupted by sin. And for Babylon, that's certainly the case. So we, we are to draw into God's kingdom, which is here now,, you know, for us to enjoy when we put our faith in Jesus. We're in the kingdom, and then one day we'll be in God's eternal kingdom when Jesus comes back to reclaim the earth, or if we go to heaven. Um, so we have something to look forward to and shouldn't invest our things in the sinful things of this world. Um, as always, we, uh, ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? And we encourage you to do that because we discovered if you don't seek the Lord fully and commit yourself to living a Christian life, you're gonna live a double-minded life and you're gonna go into sin and, and brokenness. And so we, we encourage you not to, you know, not to go towards the world but to go towards the Lord. And, uh, we know from experience that when you seek him, you will find him. And, um, he's good that he's good and faithful and true to help you with your, with your problems when you're, when you're true to be his disciple. So we encourage that. Um, you know, when we, when you surrender to the Lord, he gives you a purpose for living, you know. And part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Support, the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday nights for Christian recovery and discipleship. We teach walking in the Spirit in the context of recovery, um, how to be a disciple, learn, learn the disciplines of, uh, of our faith, to have a deep relationship with the Lord and to get set free in the process. Um, so that's if you need help with that. Our group is growing, so we're asking, you know, and but, but you were— there's room for you too. Um, so if you're in Upstate New York, uh, near Clifton Park and can get to our meeting on a Wednesday night, we encourage you to come out and join us. Um, you can also register for the group by going to Starpoint Church's, um, web page and basically, um, you know, pulling up the support group page. Um, beyond that, uh, if, if you're a man and you need some support and some good Christian teaching, um, we are doing a group, uh, group teaching, uh, and support group, uh, called Grace for the Holidays, where I'll be, uh, walking through the, uh, original Grace course from Freedom in Christ Ministries, um, basically, and we're going to use that as a context to get together and meet. But essentially, we'll be getting together to keep Christ in Christmas and to support one another in our walk, um, you know, to, to make sure we're, we're walking and talking with God as we go into the greatest time of the year. So if you're a man and want to join us and get support and good teaching, um, go to mtforchrist.com and the group events page, um, group coaching events page, and you'll be able to sign up for Grace for the Holidays. And, uh, Well, that begins on November 18th, the week before Thanksgiving, uh, 2 weeks away. And, um, we encourage you to, you know, join us. Uh, let's see. And then beyond that, we're looking forward to the new year as we'll be doing another Freedom in Christ men's course online, uh, Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM, uh, for Freedom in Christ Ministries. So if you're a man and you want to get set free, uh, we encourage you to sign up for our course, uh, that begins on January 7th by going to ficm.org and looking for the Freedom in Christ course. That's on Tuesday night at 6:30 PM Eastern Time. Um, that's the one I'll be leading. And beyond that, if you're a man or a woman and, uh, you can't do any of the things I just mentioned, we encourage you to go to our YouTube channel's playlist page and find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. Um, we put out classes for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and our own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course, um, to encourage you to, uh, understand who you are in Christ and to help you resolve those, uh, issues of the past so you can walk free. Um, and that's all the plugs for today. So we, uh, we move into, uh, the fourth day of the work week., and, uh, we're looking forward to, uh, the weekend ahead. So, um, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do. I pray for you to guide us in the way we should go today. Lord, open our eyes to the things you, you want us to see and, uh, tell us the things you need us to know, um, because we just want to represent you in your kingdom. Here on Earth, and we definitely need help with that. And, um, Lord, we also pray for, um, uh, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer request, their walk of faith, Lord, um, because I'm sure they need your help too. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.