Psalm 23 - Prophecy or a Warning – Contentment or Hoping for More - Purity 942

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 a man fishing at what must be early morning or late afternoon while a boardwalk pathway runs along the shore comes to us from Dave Vaughn Photography, who shared this photo from one of his trips to Rovaniemi, Finland a few days ago on social media. Well, it's truly Manic Monday today, and I'm scrambling to get out there— something out there on the blog today because I felt moved in my spirit this morning to update a ministry resume I have on file and to send it out to a pastor who may need additional staff for his church. I've been inundated with mixed feelings of hope and doubt regarding this possible call in my spirit and have decided to put myself out there. To step out in faith, possibly to my own embarrassment, and now it's done. Will anything happen with this other than being embarrassed? I don't know, but I do know that I felt moved in my spirit to provide this information and to boldly state my desire to transition to full-time ministry. Ideally, I would like to work for God's kingdom on a full-time basis. Whether or not that will happen sometime soon or in the far reaches of the future. That's, um, that's what I want. I've been struggling with whether or not to state this desire and to pursue it, or whether I should just be content with the part-time ministry opportunities I currently enjoy. I took this struggle with me to prayer this morning and got the feeling to look to Psalm 23. It says, uh, Psalm 23, uh, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. When I first felt this, this leading to look up Psalm 23, I felt discouraged because I know the first verse very well: I shall not want. So I figured that was what I was being directed to, and it was an and it very well may be. However, when I got to the end and read, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever," I felt something else, like, "Do you believe this? Do you want this?" So after I did that, did my Bible study, and I suddenly found myself looking, working on updating my ministry resume. And emailing it to the pastor. This isn't necessarily out of the blue. I do have a meeting with this pastor in a week, uh, as he has requested a meeting to, quote unquote, hear my story. So I sent the resume with the disclaimer that it was being sent with the intention to just provide him with some of my background before we meet. I am content with my current job. I am very content with my current ministry. However, I would absolutely love to work for the Lord full-time. So although I Shall Not Want may be telling me to cool my jets and to be content, the idea of dwelling in the house of the Lord in a working capacity sounds wonderful. Um, sometimes in life you have to step out in faith and let people know who you are. Sometimes you have to let the Lord know that he can quote-unquote, send me. And sometimes we are humbled. So which will it be? Oh, I'm very, very used to being humbled, so I wouldn't be surprised if I shall not want is reinforced again. But I believe that we have to hope for better things. And whether or not this latest leading will provide— prove to be prophetic or impulsive, I know that my heart couldn't rest if I didn't at least offer myself to the Lord's service when I have a feeling he may be working things in that direction. As I edit my quickly written message— ah, very, very good. So we step out, and whether we step up or fall down, the very hope itself and in that step into the unknown is worth taking. So it's Monday again, and although it's back to work for me like usual, I have put myself out there for a new possibility. I've been hoping and I've been hoping and praying and talking to God about this feeling for a week now, and now I have decided to trust him with where he takes me. I am loving the path I am, I am on right now, but if this is the call to go somewhere else I am letting him know that I am ready and willing to follow. Contentment is where we should live, but we should also keep our eyes open for new things. So let's keep walking and talking with God and see where he takes us. Today's Bible verse comes to, to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verses are Matthew 7:24-25. It says, "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock." Today's verse encourages us— um, verses encourage us to stand on the solid rock of our Christian faith, on the teachings of Jesus Christ. I can't offer any better advice than that. We are not just called to believe in Jesus or to believe Jesus. We are to demonstrate that we know him and his teachings by applying them to our lives. Christ indicates that when we do that, no matter what storms, uh, we may face in life, our house will stand. So trust in the Lord, study the words of Jesus, and stand on them. 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 A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God. And today we, uh, we continue in chapter 4, uh, God, the Sovereignty of God in Salvation, and This set, it's the beginning of section 1 of that chapter, which is, um, the, the sovereignty of God the Father in salvation. It's a long section, so I'm cutting that into 2, and you'll see the first part of it today on mtforchrist.org. As always, we encourage people to step out in faith, to understand who you are in Christ, and to experience your freedom in Christ. And we do that by providing the teachings um, from Dr. Neil Anderson for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ course, which I, uh, did in my local church back in 2021. So if you want to check out those teachings, they're on our blog, M.t. for Christ 247, uh, on all audio blog formats, or virtually all of them. And, uh, it's— they're also on the M.t. for Christ 247 YouTube channel, so we encourage you to check those out. Also, we do a Bible study with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti. We just released a new episode yesterday, and we encourage you to check that out. And that one was Lord, Open Our Understanding, and, uh, you know, it talks about how the Lord reveals things to us. So if you want to check those out, we invite you to do that. And as always, we invite you to keep walking and talking with God. On this path of Christian discipleship, because we know that when you do that, you discover the abundant life that Christ promised us and the fruit of the Spirit growing in your life. So, um, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in the kingdom. Lord, we thank you for, you know, whether or not it's a good idea or not, for, for the boldness to step out in faith and provide a resume to a pastor who may have a position open in his church. Um, it's, you know, Lord, we'll, we'll see what happens, but we thank you for, you know, just the hope of possibly being used by you, um, in that capacity someday. And we're going to keep hope alive. Um, you're on, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and, uh, try to step out in faith and, you know, at least let people know, you know, that's where our heart, heart lies. And our heart lies to follow you and to serve you all the days of our lives in your— in the house of the Lord. So whether or not that comes to pass, Lord, that's up to you. But we, we will boldly proclaim to send us. So We stepped out, perhaps very impulsively, but let's do this. Or, you know, at least, hey, you know, I can stop the speculations through doing what I did today, Lord. So we thank you for, you know, for all you've done in our lives and the possibility of new things coming. And Lord, as always, we pray for anyone listening or reading the message today, Lord, that they too would be content where they are, but to always hope for better things and, and, and to discovering their purpose in Christ, their freedom in Christ, to, to grow in Christ, to experience more freedom in Christ, experience that, um, you don't just save us and tell us to sit down and do nothing. You, you give us a call to share the, the gospel with all the world and to make disciples. And, um, and to grow in our faith. So, you know, we got to stand on that solid rock. So, Lord, we pray for anyone listening today, and, uh, we, we pray for ourselves. And as always, we pray that you go before us today and just direct our path, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the things you would have us do. Because, Lord, that's our heart desire, is just to do what you would have us do and to best represent your kingdom here on earth. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.