Overwhelmed Purity 844

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, at Facebook or Twitter. Um, actually it's a video. So today's video of the view from my home down by the river comes to us from yours truly and from September 24th, 2021, the day after Tammy Lynn Seguin agreed to be my girlfriend. I don't remember recording this video, but I find the fact that the perspective goes sideways ways is rather fitting and may have been a prophetic indicator of the seismic shifts that was happening in my life when Tammy Lynn and I decided to be more than friends. On this day, the 23rd of September, a year ago, I realized— and the Holy Spirit may have woke me up to this fact— that there was no other for me. Tammy Lynn was the faithful Christian woman of God that I had been praying for, and despite the uncertainty of how our lives could come together as one, I asked her to marry me via Facebook Messenger and a text. Uh, she said no, so I asked if she would be my girlfriend via text, and she indicated I had to ask her in person. So although Facebook Messenger's video conferencing feature was somewhat alien to me, I immediately sent her a video call, and to my delight, she answered and said yes to my request to be my girlfriend. Um, 2 weeks later we were engaged, and a few months later, on January 1st, 2022, we were married. So today is the 1-year anniversary of our being a couple, of, of being more than friends. And what a year it has been. When I reflect on all the changes that have come to pass since last year, I am overwhelmed. Not only do I have the love of my life as my wife and a new extended, extended family, uh, in the Seguins and those Pinter kids, I have a new church in Starpoint Church in Clifton Park. And it was after Tammy Lynn and I got together that the opportunity to teach the Freedom in Christ course online nationwide to men that span from New York to Florida to California for Freedom in Christ Ministries came about. I even got a new car. Um, Tammy Lynn's journey over the last year was just as, as eventful, but I will leave that to her to share on her Ask Seek Knock podcast, which she started in the last year. When I reflect on how we both have been blessed by the Lord with each other and everything that has happened since we got, we got together, it reminds me of the Big Daddy Weave song Overwhelmed. Which we saw in a concert this past summer. So how about that? That's not in the blog, so there you go. You know, that insight's for podcasters only. The lyrics say, I see the work of your hands, galaxies spin in a heavenly dance, oh God, all that you are is so overwhelming. I hear the sound of your voice all at once, it's a gentle and thundering noise, oh God. All that you are is so overwhelming. I delight myself in you, captivated by your beauty. I am overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed by you, God. I run into your arms unashamed because of mercy. I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed by you. Today's Friday, guys, and if you're not overwhelmed by the goodness of God in your life, let me encour— let me encourage you to be more than friends with the Lord. Let me encourage you to make a commitment to surrender to his will, to become a living member of his church, to become the Bride of Christ. If you are just playing house with God by limiting your relationship with him by just visiting with him at church, a church service for an hour a week it is no surprise to me that your faith life may be a bit underwhelming. When Christ called you to place your faith in him, he wants all of you. And unfortunately, because of fear or the opinion of others or ourselves, um, sometimes Christians hold back on fulfilling the marriage vows that come with being the church, the bride of Christ. We may love and honor Jesus, but we fail to obey his call to abide in him and to be conformed to his image. Hey, no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, right? But let me encourage that while we thank him today for another end of another work week, let's consider popping the question and asking God about his will for our lives and choosing to follow where he leads as a faithful bride follows her husband. Since coming to faith in Christ and making the decision to follow him with the way I live, By repenting of my old worldly ways, my life has been transformed, and I am continually overwhelmed by the goodness of God in the land of the living. So as I celebrate the first year with the love of my life, let me encourage you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength as you continually walk and talk with him. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 37:2, and it says, "For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble; you surround me with songs of victory." Today's Bible verse assures us that the Lord protects us from trouble and he surrounds us with songs of victory. Oh Lord, from today's verse, I remember the Ironbells song "The God That Saves" that Chris Manchuk used to sing when I was teaching at my old church's recovery ministry, Celebrate Freedom.

The lyrics say, and here we go: This soul once torn and beaten, left without reason, to move on. Then you reached down and brought me up from the valley of dry bones. You are the God that saves. You are the one that rescues me. You rescue me. You are the God that saves. You came, you called me from the grave, you rescue me. Ransomed out of the wreckage, pulled from the ashes of sin's hold. Hope is flowing through these veins, life born from grace. Grace alone. You are the God that saves. You are the one that rescues me. You rescue me. You are the God that saves and you call me from the grave. You rescue me. I hear the song, I hear the songs of victory ring over me. I hear the song, I hear the song of victory ring over me. And then it just goes on and on and on.

I think I could do 1,000 verses of, you know, the God that saves, because he does rescue us. And yes, I am overwhelmed today. Because of the God who saves. Because like the psalmist, I know he protects and surrounds us with songs of victory. As always, uh, I, I invite all to go to the, uh, mt4christ.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians to— and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as The Cost of Discipleship, um, with, uh, chap— the beginning of chapter 3, Simple Obedience. And if you want to know what that chapter says, well, me and Peter McCabbage did the, uh, lesson on, um, the— on some— on that chapter, Simple Obedience, although it's Single-Minded Obedience in one book. Man, you know, these differences. Anyway, that's addressed in our— in our YouTube teaching and as well. Um, I'm continuing to record, and I thank God for my generator, and I thank God that I was hooked up to my laptop and not to any other power source because I would have lost everything. But my mic and my laptop stayed alive, and the power went out, but my generator kicked in. And I'm not contingent— I'm not really necessary for the internet, I don't think. To do all this. So I'm hoping that nothing's interrupted, uh, in this. And, uh, you know, the enemy might want to knock out our message, but, you know, the power of God, uh, you know, protects it, uh, and he guides us with songs of victory. Um, so as always, we encourage you to live a discipled life in Christ, to get— to go steady with God, to give him your life and to worship him and follow him and do the disciplines of a disciple of Christ every day with Bible study, prayer, and worship. Um, you know, I'm not the best singer a cappella, but, uh, you know, those, those songs are great when you have musical accompaniment in your, in your car or in your home and you get to sing along with him. So we encourage a life of worship, and that's singing to the Lord, praying to the Lord, reading his word, and obeying his call to be obedient to his word. Um, it transformed my life and led me to good things ever since. And no matter what, I know that God is with us, he protects us, and he guides us in the way we should go. So let me encourage you this Friday to keep walking and talking with God. And, uh, if you, if you want a deeper walk with the Lord, we provide, um, our teachings that we've, we've taught from Freedom in Christ Ministries, Dr. Neil Anderson, uh, on the podcast and our YouTube channel. There is Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and all of those things lead to, guess what, your freedom in Christ, um, and the abundant life that Christ always wanted you. It's time to stop putting limitations on your life and what you believe is possible, and to press in to let God show you what he can do when you come alongside him. It's Friday, so let's thank God for that. Thank God for all the good things in our lives. And, uh, you know, we have to be faithful, um, and just go to work.

So let me pray.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you for the love of my life, Tammy Lynn, that I finally caught a clue, um, that I wanted her to be more than my friend. I wanted her to be more than my fiancée, that I wanted her to be my bride. And, uh, Lord, I just pray that everyone listening tonight— what, uh, today, uh, today's podcast will want to be your bride, Lord, by being loyal and faithful to love and honor you wherever we go. Um, Lord, we need your help though. We anoint us with the Holy Spirit today to, to open our eyes to the beautiful things you want us to see and to guide our path into the things you want us to do to best represent you while we're here on the earth. Lord, I pray for all my friends, all the participants of the Freedom in Christ course, and all the people in my church and family today, Lord, that they be blessed. And of course, the people listening today, Lord, we pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests. And to guide them, uh, into the abundant life that they, they, they so desperately should desire and definitely need. Um, Lord, so we, we pray all these things, and, um, we just, we just love you, we thank you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.