Practice? Preparing and Walking in Victory Every Day – Purity 739

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo comes to us— well, today's photo of a rainbow over a fenced-in manicured lawn comes to us from a friend who captured this backyard scene from their suburban home in Jefferson, Iowa back on May 13th. And shared it on social media, proclaiming God's promise in the sky this morning. Well, it's Tuesday, and although the promise of the rainbow is God's promise to all living creatures on the earth that he would not allow floodwaters to destroy all life again, uh, see 9, uh, Genesis 9:12-17, it should also remind us that God is sovereign and that wickedness will be judged according to His word, as scripture also promises, the return of Jesus Christ to rule and reign, and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, as this current world will be burned. Uh, so any fears about a global loss of life due to the melting of the polar ice caps can be put to rest. But just because the world is destined to be destroyed and remade doesn't mean we should not be good stewards to it, as man's original purpose was to subdue do or govern the earth, as suppo— we are supposed to take care of it. That's why last night I didn't just allow nature to continue to take its course unheeded and spent 2 hours mowing the lawn around my house. You know, many things are subjective in terms of what we ought to do in life, but I think we can all admit that a lawn that is regularly maintained is more appealing than one that is uncared for. I mean, check out the lawn in today's photo. I think they even mowed it in patterns. That's pretty sweet. Anyway, I certainly didn't mean to be doom and gloom this morning by reminding the— of us of the dark side of the promise of the rainbow, but inherent in it is the indication that there is a God who is in control, who will judge wickedness, and there is a need to be made right with him. Unlike my efforts at taming the lawn around my house, which is rewarded and accomplished based on the sweat of my own efforts, my, uh, God's level of holiness is not something we can satisfactorily accomplish by our works. But God was gracious and made a way for all mankind to be saved through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. As Romans 10:9 tells us, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And Ephesians 2:8-9 proclaims that it is not our works that save us, as it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So if we place our faith in Christ, we are good to go, right? Yes, of course. But Christ's earthly ministry shows us that we are too, as he said in Matthew 28:19-20, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. So we are to follow Christ in all that we do and be fishers of men, as it says in Matthew 4:19. Some may say, yeah, but if we are really saved, do we really have to worry about obeying the Word of God? We We are forgiven, can't we just chill? As Christians, there is an expectation that we will be changed, repent of our sin, and pursue a righteous life based on the Word of God as Christ taught his disciples and the multitudes who came to hear him speak. In Matthew 5:48, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Perfect? Relax, nobody is perfect except Jesus, as 1 John 1:9 proclaims, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But just like my unruly lawn that will grow, will, will grow all over the place if not tended to, it doesn't mean that we just let nature take its course and allow sin to remain unchecked in our lives. And as much as, uh, 1 John 1:9 tells us that we have sinned, the rest of that letter to the church is written so that we may not sin. So the implication is that we should practice to approach perfection. Now, I may, may never have the perfect lawn, but if I am diligent to mow it regularly, it will be easier to tend to. And the fact that it has been dealt with and I am taking measures to control it, I will have a measure of peace about, about it that I can maintain. Likewise, because of Christ, our sins have been dealt with and once and for all. We are forgiven and are freed from it, according to Romans 8:2. But we have to make our freedom from sin evident in our lives by making the volitional choice to turn from our worldly ways and to decide to live according to God's wisdom. Like breaking any bad habit, our success in overcoming one bad habit is greatly increased when we replace it with a good habit. Instead of smoking, I'll take a walk or go for a run or read a book or whatever. This simple demonstration of behavior modification is demonstrated in the New Testament epistles to the church that are filled with practical advice on Christian living. When I first made Jesus my Lord and Savior, I understood that Christians should read the Bible and pray. So early on, as I really wanted my faith to be real, I adopted both prayer and Bible reading and developed what I now think of as my daily spiritual practice. Uh, simply, each morning I set time aside to read God's Word and to pray. These core disciplines have renewed my mind and have developed a close personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. This practice has not exactly made me perfect yet, but I can attest to great victories over some of my besetting sins bad habits, and negative mind states. Although I, I was saved the instance, uh, the instant I placed my faith in Christ, the victories in these areas were the result of my commitment to follow the Lord in these core practice, uh, daily practices, and to be— and to the willingness to follow the Lord's leading and other good works that have developed my faith and spiritual gifts. When I— when it comes to our faith, far too many Christians aren't practicing and just— and are just showing up on game day at their weekly worship service. And unfortunately, their own testimonies and frequent requests for support and prayer reveal they are not enjoying the abundant life of freedom and victory that is available to them. I honestly believe the vast majority of the church does not even know that freedom and victory over sin and negative mind states is even possible. I knew before— I knew that before I was able to overcome the multitude of my problems, I thought those Bible promises were pie-in-the-sky promises that didn't apply to the real world. But then I practiced and knew experientially that the real world was under the sovereign control of the very real and very alive God who has graciously brought me into his royal family through faith in Jesus Christ and had given me the power to resist the world, the flesh, and and the devil and experience the victory and freedom that is available to all those who choose to walk in the Spirit. In Allen Iverson's famous rant about practice, which was 20 years ago, uh, people have— people had wrongly assumed that he didn't value it. But the context of that interview was in the wake of a loss where he was honest about the scrutiny he was under, and because he didn't have success, he found himself being questioned about the reason why he didn't succeed. After that outburst, where he really was just marveling over how practice was being focused on when the important thing was the game he had just lost, he reiterated his belief that practice was very important. And it is. Whether it is basketball or following the Lord and attempting to overcome our sin, bad habits, and negative mind states, we need to be diligent in practicing the fundamentals. Practice has a purpose, and that purpose is victory, freedom, and peace. So keep walking and talking with God every day. If we want to be right with God and to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we have to be diligent in seeking the Lord through the practices of prayer and Bible study. Through our efforts of prayer and, and Bible study, we get to know God more, and we get to know what it it is we ought to do as Christians. And when we do what God indicates what— that we ought to do, we will experience victory over the darkness, freedom from the chains that used to hold us down, and the peace that comes from living a righteous life according to God. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Romans, uh, Romans 1:2-3, which says, God promised this good news long ago through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The good news is about his Son Jesus. In his earthly life, he was born into King David's family line. Today's Bible verse reminds us that the good news was predicted in the Old Testament, and Jesus is the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophecies. Uh, the Bible is the story of God, and it points to Christ as the Messiah. It is simultaneously a proof of the truth of scripture and a proof of Jesus as the coming King. Uh, today's commentary on this one is short. Um, so read the Bible to, to know the story and see that it is a true story and that it is good news to all who put their faith in Christ. Um, yeah, I could go on and on, uh, but I can't because I'm limited with time today. I don't know, I'm just— it slips, slips, slides away. So we have to be diligent to make sure— I got my practices done, but I gotta get this done too. Um, so, um, as always, I share this information for educational purposes. That is John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. I'm reading ahead. We're sharing that today. We share resources from Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. As I stated, today's, uh, today's, uh, resource that's shared for educational purposes is John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. And, um, it was basically talking about— we're in chapter 8, I believe— and he was talking about how we can apply our faith to the workplace. And today's number 2 on that list is we make much of Christ in our secular work by joyful, trusting God, exalting design of creativity and industry. So if you want to see what Piper has to say about that, it's a decent section of text to read. You can find that on M.t. Clark's and basically that, along with many other resources, as we attempt to share, you know, the good news and practical advice on how to do this thing of living as a Christian in this world. They form the steps that are, you know, overall the path of Christian discipleship. That just means a student of of the teachings of Jesus Christ. And, you know, we don't just study, we apply what we learn. That's what we do. And when we apply it, we know God more, we experience the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, and we have victory and peace, you know, and freedom. It's a good thing. So we encourage that. We do that by sharing our teachings on YouTube and our podcast for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ, all available to you. And obviously we revere the word of God because we, we, uh, we read it every day. And we do a weekly Bible study with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti. We ask for prayers for Susanna. She has a health issue that we're praying for. And, um, and we, we encourage you to check out our, our Bible study discussions that are both on YouTube and the audio podcast. That's it for today. I'm going to say a quick prayer, and that'll be that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we pray for you to go before us today as, uh, we need your help, we need your guidance, and we need your vision. Show us the things we need to see and lead us into the things we need to do. Or keep our eyes and minds focused on what's before us, but also focused on who we are in Christ and how we can represent you best on the earth. Lord, we pray for the people listening today. We thank them for their faithfulness, and we, we, uh, we pray that you'll bless them, Lord, with healing and guidance and whatever blessings they're calling for. Lord, we know that our faith is strengthened when you, you come alive in people's lives and, and things start to happen. We know that when we walk in it, we see these things happen more and more. So, Lord, we pray for these people. Uh, who are listening, uh, and, uh, we pray for you to bless them. And Lord, we pray all these things, uh, we thank you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.