Propelling One Another in Our Faith - Purity 1265

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of waves crashing on a rocky shoreline while the setting sun blazes on the horizon of Lake Ontario comes to us from Celestial Blue Photography, as Rocco Seja shared this scene on social media back on January 15th, commenting that The sun actually made an appearance today. Rocco's comment reveals the overcast reality of upstate New York winters and how the gray days can make us appreciate it all the more when the sun comes shining in. Well, it's Saturday, and regardless of the weather, uh, the light of the weekend is shining joy into my heart because I am at my countryside home with my wife for the weekend. And because I walk in the Spirit, there are seemingly endless sources of peace and joy when I focus on the Lord and all He is and all He has done for me, which includes bringing more people than I can shake a stick at into my life to encourage and to be encouraged by. Before coming to Christ, I spent a lot of time in a basement entertaining myself and seeking to set aside my own selfish and fleshly desires. But since answering the Lord's call to faith in Jesus, I am not alone anymore. I have not only found the love of my life in my wife, Tammy Lynn, but I have made all kinds of friends and acquaintances along the path of Christian discipleship as I have sought to grow and encourage others in their faith. Yesterday, I received a text message from a phone number I didn't know asking the question, "Is this Mark?" And because of the spammers and scammers out there in the world, my defenses immediately went up. Because for every genuine brother and sister in Christ that I encounter in the social media universe who are simply looking to encourage or be encouraged in their faith, there are just as many— whether the requests are genuine or not is hard to discern— people looking for money, my money. And sometimes these questions, these simple inquiries, 'Is this Mark?' are even more sinister as they seek to lead me into sexual temptation. With invitations to private chats or wish to share explicit photos or videos to fulfill the secret desires of the flesh. Those requests are usually followed by "This is blank," a woman's name that you may or may not know, but that has the unspoken promise for intimacy and a lurid companionship. As someone who has overcome sexual immorality and is walking in purity, all my intimate times are reserved for my wife and her alone. I've learned to not even respond when I suspect that these inquiries might be a financial scheme or a trap of the flesh. But yesterday, instead of exchanging texts to go through the process of trying to figure out this texter's intentions, I decided to be bold and actually call the person who sent me the text to cut to the chase, fully expecting, uh, expected the person to either not answer the call or to, or to be someone I obviously didn't know and whose intentions would be revealed to be malicious. But much to my surprise and delight, the person on the other end of the text was not only trying— not trying to scam me or seduce me, but it was also someone I knew, and they were a Christian too. Turned out to be Brian Dugan. Uh, forgive the spelling if it's incorrect, Brian, uh, on the blog, uh, who was someone I met back in 2020, I believe, in passing when I was working nights in the hardware department at Walmart, where I occasionally provided customers with, uh, Christian encouragements as well as customer service. I'm not sure how our conversation turned to the spiritual, but in our exchange way back when, I discovered that Brian, like me, had been a man of the world, but who had found peace through his faith in Jesus Christ and was doing his best to live as a Christian despite the world's attempts to call him back into the dark. Back in those days, I was sending out daily messages, daily text messages of my "Purity Series" to encourage my brothers in Christ. Before I decided to put them on the blog, and was surprised when Brian gave me his number and invited me to add him to my list to receive the daily text. Eventually, I started sharing the Purity Message on my blog and stopped sending out the text, and Brian got lost in the transition. And for whatever reason, he thought about that yesterday and decided to see whatever happened to those texts and reached out to ask. I excitedly told Brian how the text moved to the blog in 2020 and how I started the M.t. for Christ 24/7 podcast in 2021 to share my freedom ministry classes, and how that led to my meeting Tammy Lynn and getting married on New Year's Day of 2022 and starting the M.t. for Christ 24/7 YouTube channel in 2022 as well, and how I have continued to follow the Lord and to encourage people to keep walking and talking with God ever since. I thanked Brian for reaching out, invited him to check out the blog, uh, and to subscribe to the YouTube channel to receive daily encouragements, as I intend to do so for the foreseeable future, sharing something to point people to Jesus every day. After our conversation, I texted Brian, uh, the links, uh, to the blog, podcast, and YouTube channel and told him that our exchange would probably be the topic of today's message and it is. I also wanted to thank him again for reaching out because it encourages me to know that there are others, brothers and sisters in Christ, out there trying to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit one day at a time by living a simple and righteous life. Ryan texted, "I honestly can say that meeting you propelled my faith and assisted me in staying the course." Um, that have, uh, there have been a ton of miracles in my life since deciding to let go and let God. The path is so much easier now. I always believed, but I look back now and see that I was forcing a lot of things that I wanted instead of just being patient and accepting better things that he had planned for me. His path has way less pricker bushes. LOL. Amen. Amen to that, Brian. God's path and plan for our lives is better than ours could ever be, and what we learn— when we learn to follow him, we suffer a lot less. Ironically, I've been exchanging texts with one of the guys from the Freedom in Christ course that I'm leading currently, and I'm encouraging him to change the way he thinks like Brian used to do. I think this man is trying to force things into the the way he wants when he just needs to let go and let God and rest in his presence and be patient as God renews his mind and turns his heart of stone into a heart of flesh. But there is hope. After admitting to struggling and not knowing whether his distressing thoughts were coming from his fleshly lust or from the enemy himself, this man I am discipling realized that he had peace when he sat down to study and prepare for a Bible study class he's going to teach at his church today. I pointed out that when we— that we find peace in the Lord's presence, that when we seek to win the battle for the mind, the way we overcome is not just— is, is not in just trying to not think about bad things, but to fill our minds with the good things of God. I shared Philippians 4:6-7 that says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving Let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our— your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I pointed out these verses indicate that when, that when we pray and give thanks, we won't be anxious, and that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. We can't think of two things at once, and when we are busy thinking about God and giving him thanks we won't be anxious or be afflicted by the things we don't want to be thinking about. And I was encouraged again by trying to encourage others, as this man seemed to get it and responded that he realized that his focus was on what not to do. He was going to be patient and focus on the truth of God's Word that would give him peace instead. I know the Lord guides us and helps us, but we can propel one another in our faith by encouraging one another and teaching one another about how we can be set free and live a life that is defined by peace and joy through our faith in God. So, keep walking and talking with God. I will encourage you, and when you tell me that you are seeking and following the Lord's will for your life, Believe me when I say you will encourage me too. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crowe. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on communication, gossip, and lying. And today's verse is Ephesians 4:25 from the New American Standard Bible. The Word of God says, therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Today's verse is the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the seventh point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on communication, gossip, and lying. And that seventh point is: God forbids us to lie. He wants us to speak the truth. Today's verse instructs us to lay aside our lying ways. To speak truth to our neighbors. For we in the body of Christ are members of one another. As my testimony of speaking to Brian Dugan should convey, even though I don't know Brian well at all, um, and have only had a few exchanges and hadn't heard from him in years, I immediately rejoiced when I realized who it was that was reaching out to me, and then We had a simple and faithful testimony, and he had a simple and faithful testimony of his continuing to follow the Lord, to share. We in the body of Christ are members to one another, and so we shouldn't lie to one another or to put on a false front to appear more holy than we are. We're not only supposed to speak the truth because God commands us to speak the truth, but it is also the basis for every good relationship that we can have. We have to be real with one another to really help one another, and that means telling the truth. I shared yesterday that telling the truth is the first rule of Christian discipleship because we not only want to be authentic with our relationship with God and in our representation of the kingdom of God as disciples, but we also want to enjoy the peace of open and honest relationships in the body of Christ. So, put away all falsehood and tell the truth, because we belong to one another. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my 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. Allford, which is a collection of of devotional journals from 1940 and '41. And, uh, as, as we remind you, um, Stephen Alford basically prompts people to read a chapter of the Bible. Today's chapter would be Matthew 25, and from Matthew 25, he quotes Matthew 25, verse 15, where the word of God says, to each according to his own ability. And Stephen Alford writes, what an encouraging fact this is. Yet it is one which carries with it a real responsibility, for according to his own ability, the Lord requires his portion. There is no genuine servant of the Lord who has not been given his talent or talents. To suggest there is— to suggest that there is would be to refuse to dispute the word of God and to cast a doubt on the grace of God. The word declares concerning gifts: the Spirit distributes to each one individually as he wills. Moreover, it is emphasized in this parable: God never expects interest from what he has not given. It is true that— it is true the slothful servant tried to cast a doubt on the love and justice of God by calling him hard. Matthew 25:24. But his own injustice condemned him in the end. The Lord Jesus says, 'My yoke is easy,' Matthew 11:30. And Alfred prays, 'May I be abundantly faithful with the precious gifts God has entrusted to me for his namesake. Amen.' And here Alfred is pointing to the parable of the servants and all the talents, and they were given them, you know. One guy is given a talent and he buries it in the ground, and he's chastised by his master for, you know, being a lazy servant basically, and not, uh, not trying to make a return on the, uh, the thing he gave him, you know. And, uh, the principle is that the Lord gives us all individual talents and gifts, you know, in different measure You know, some people are more talented, and we're all talented in different ways. Um, but whatever, whatever skills or abilities we have been given, the opportunities of life, we're to use them. We're to faithfully use the things we've been given to give God glory and to give glory to his kingdom. So, um, whatever your talent may be, there's something for you to do in the body of Christ. All of us, I think, I think all of us can point to Jesus as, you know, the person who put our faith in. And beyond that, you know, it really depends on that person. Some people are talented speakers, some can do, you know, service for the body of Christ, simple service. And we could always do acts of kindness no matter what your abilities are. And so what we're to do is not to hide those talents to use them for God's glory. God gave them to us for a reason. And Ephesians, you know, points out that God created us for good works. And so we're— we, we don't get approved by God for good works, but we're created for, for, for good works. You know, why are we here? To do good works, to give God glory, to enjoy him fully. That's our purpose in life. That's what God made us all for. And when we, you know, try to satisfy ourselves or the flesh, you know, that's when we are not giving God glory because we're taking our talent and forgetting about it. We're just using it for our own selfish gains or not using it at all in some sort of selfish pursuit. But that's not the way, you know, we're all members to one another and we're members to God's kingdom. So We're supposed to, um, you know, the harmony that we'll have in our relationship with the Lord comes from, you know, answering the call on our lives to represent him and to be with him at all times. So we encourage that. Today, uh, it's Saturday. If you don't know, The Chosen Season 4 has been released in theaters. Episodes 1 through 3 are now being you know, shown in theaters across America. And I and my wife are going to see it today. We'll be at Crossgates Mall to see the 11:30 showing of The Chosen. I'll be sitting in the way back in the corner. I like to be hemmed in, and I'll probably be on the aisle seat so I can get up if I need to get up and have a good view of the theater. And I guess this is— if you've seen the trailer, it looks like it's going to be a pretty heavy season as things move closer and closer to the cross. So I'm looking forward to it. But, you know, the early reaction says that it's a pretty heavy moment at the end of this first installment of season 4. So No spoiler alerts because I don't really know what's gonna happen, but, um, it's gonna— I love The Chosen. It's a sort of a guilty pleasure as it takes license with the word of God to give us a drama based on Jesus and his apostles, and, uh, I like it. So, um, you can criticize it if you like, but if it points people to God, I don't care if it's not perfect, or, you know, it's creative in some ways that you don't approve of, um, it's better than, uh, it's better than all the other films that are out there that aren't giving glory to God. So we encourage you to go check out the Chosen. Seasons 1 through 3 are available streaming places, on DVD, and, uh, and the latest season is being released in theaters. It's already out there. So that's one thing you can do, you know. In life, we get in trouble when we come to faith in Jesus and we continue to entertain ourselves with the things of this world. So I'm not saying you have to abandon all secular entertainment, but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Um, yeah. Anyway, but we have to grow in our capacities. You know, when you try to be Joe Holy and only study the Bible and you're new to the faith, you have the potential for burning out in your faith. So you gotta take it in small amounts until you can build the capacity to, you know, to do nothing but listen to Christian music and watch Christian movies and read Christian books. Takes some transition. And God created, you know, other things for us to enjoy. So be discerning. And if your— if your walk with the Lord starts to feel hard, then you got to relax. You're trying to force it, you know. And just keep walking and talking with God. Stay in his presence. You know, if you lose your peace, you got to realize something's not right. So try to find that balance. I'll be trying to find it today as I as I got things to do. And, uh, you know, there only seems to be so much time, but I will do our best to find peace this weekend and have real joy with my wife and with the Lord. So 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 for us. We thank you for, you know, bringing people in our lives like Brian Dugan encourage us along in our faith. We encourage one another because, you know, we both found you and we're both following you the best we can. Lord, we just pray for anyone who might be listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. And Lord, we pray for you to help us to open our eyes to the things you want us to see today and lead our steps in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom. And Lord, we desperately need your help in doing that. So thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.