In this October 1, 2024 episode of the MT4Christ 24/7 podcast, host M.t. Clark delivers a devotional monologue centered on remembering God’s goodness. He opens with a personal reflection on his own conversion in 2010 and observes that many Christians in Upstate New York seem to have drifted from an experiential awareness of God’s faithfulness. Clark introduces Dr. Charles Stanley’s devotional, which uses the Joshua 3‑4 memorial stone narrative to illustrate how tangible reminders can combat spiritual forgetfulness. He then emphasizes practical disciplines—journaling, thankfulness lists, and daily gratitude—to keep God’s work present in believers’ lives. The episode moves to a scriptural meditation on forgiveness, citing Matthew 18:20‑21 and explaining the biblical call to limitless forgiveness. Clark follows with insights from Stephen F. Alford’s devotional on 1 Peter 2, discussing Christian liberty, the hierarchy of obedience (honor people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king), and the principle of obeying God over man when conflicts arise. He promotes local ministry opportunities: the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church and the upcoming “Man Up” men’s event featuring guest speaker Ranger Smith. Clark also advertises his podcast’s teaching series (Poor Victor Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, Celebrate Freedom) and invites listeners to engage in prayer, fill themselves with the Holy Spirit, and pursue spiritual growth. The episode concludes with a heartfelt prayer asking God to open eyes, guide steps, and keep believers from forgetting His goodness.
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Welcome to the MT4Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or you can watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Welcome, uh, welcome. Uh, today's photo of a blue cumulus cloud-filled sky reflected in the waters of an unknown lake or pond while the foliage on the shore displays the beginning colors of fall comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who captured this heavenly scene back on October 2nd, 2021. If this memory is yours, let us know and we will photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Tuesday, and although it's the first day of a new month— happy October— and only the second day of what would be a normal work week because of a shifted tour and a day off from my job tomorrow. It's feeling like Friday, but not really. Uh, just because I have the day off tomorrow doesn't mean anyone else will have that Friday feeling. And similarly, just because I have the Lord in my life and continually experience moments of peace and joy because of my relationship with him doesn't mean that anyone else is familiar with that feeling or feels the same way. I sometimes marvel at how my life has changed since coming to faith, uh, in Jesus in 2010, and over the peace that I have as I live life walking in the Spirit as I go about my day. While I can only guess what is happening in the lives of others as an observer, from what I am seeing on a daily basis, I fear that the vast majority of people who live in Upstate New York professing Christians included, don't know about the goodness of God, or at least they haven't come to an experiential knowledge of it to the point where they have come to live out their freedom in Christ. Um, this is not a scientific study, of course, and only God knows the hearts of men, but from all appearances, it would be somewhat difficult to collect enough evidence to make a case that the goodness of God is experienced on a regular basis in the people I see. The things they talk about, the things they are interested in, and the things they quote-unquote worship don't point to the Lord. I'm probably guilty of that too. Of course, the world does cause us to live within its system, and my comings and goings throughout my workday may not point to Jesus. My work attire proclaims the name of the corporation I work for, not the name of my Lord and Savior. I'm not sure why, but I don't have any bumper stickers proclaiming my faith yet. Um, and while I may be listening to Christian music, uh, audiobooks, or podcasts at different times throughout my day, I don't think that necessarily would tell anyone about the joy of the Lord in my life. I blog, podcast, and do ministry in my off hours, so if people were to vet me online, they would get plenty of evidence to convict me in my faith, but I still wish I could do more to tell people about the goodness of God and what he could do in their lives if they simply believe in, in and follow Jesus. But even Christians can forget about God's goodness. And as it turns out, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional for today addresses remembering the goodness of God. And so I am sharing it on the blog today because it caused me to remember that even the most quote unquote faithful among us can forget about God's goodness and slowly drift off course. So Dr. Charles Stanley writes, Remembering God's Goodness. How can you create reminders of the Lord's faithfulness? Some information like a birthday or a phone number. Is easy to remember, yet we tend to forget examples of the Lord's goodness to us. Today's verses, Joshua 3:10-17 and Joshua 4:1-8, suggest a way to counteract this. After bringing his people safely out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, God miraculously provided another dry path by piling up the Jordan waters in a heap upstream. He knew the Israelites were about to enter Jericho and would, by his power, overcome that city. It was certainly compassionate of God to give that tangible illustration of his strength and presence before the battle, but he also knew how quickly they had forgotten him before. The Lord had a plan to help his people recall the miracle at the river. He told them to create a memorial with 12 stones, each representing a tribe of Israel that had passed safely through the waters. Then they would have a lasting, visible reminder of divine rescue. We're much like the Israelites. When God works in big, obvious ways, it's easy to trust him. But in time, we drift towards self-reliance until we're reminded of our need for him and repent. How can you create reminders of God's faithfulness? Whether it's by journaling or creating a thankfulness list, make sure you have a way to remember the Lord's involvement in your life. From Dr. Charles Stanley. And, um, let's see, we get past his message and we go to what I wrote. When we forget about the goodness of God, we drift into self-reliance and may even begin to subtly believe that we are responsible for our own freedom. Ironically, when we drift this way, our quote-unquote self-made man usually slows You know, it usually slowly stops progressing and eventually starts to go backward, possibly back into our old ways of doing things. When we drift far enough, negative consequences or revelation from the Lord eventually will show us that somewhere along the line we stopped relying on God and started to do things in our, uh, our own way or in our own strength with lackluster results. When that happens, the Lord shows his goodness to us and saves us from ourselves by inviting us to follow him once again. I have seen this pattern lots of times in my walk, and believe me, it's best not to have to learn by trial and error, although I still often do. And that's why we have a daily spiritual practice of Bible study, prayer, and gratitude. Because if we stay in God's presence and actively remember and thank God for what he has done in our lives, we will remember that our salvation and our freedom was, was, and always will be because of God's grace. So mark your days with thankfulness for what the Lord has done. Make a list of the good things God has done for you. Mind yourself of them and share them with others to incorporate the goodness of God into your personal narrative. After God saved us— I think that's where I go— yeah, after God saves us, his story and our story become one. So tell yourself and others the story of the goodness of God in your life. Mark the time and seasons with the remembrance of your life. For example, as we begin October, I remember how in the fall of 2020, the Lord led me to quit my second job at Walmart to focus on doing my master's thesis and how I finished and submitted it on October 31st, a day I now celebrate not as Halloween, but as a day that I completed with the Lord's help what he gave me to do. And guess what? That thesis really was just a retelling of how God has, had been good in my life and in the life of others. So remember the goodness of God. And stay in his presence by thanking him continuously. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on forgiving others, and today's verses come from Matthew 18:20-21. And the word of God says, then Peter came in and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? 'Up to 7 times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you up to 7 times, but to 70 times 7.' Today's verses are the first of 2 passages of scripture that fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide resource section on forgiving others. And today the third point is Jesus says we must forgive often. Today's Bible verses remind us that forgiveness is a regular and, and continuous practice for the disciples of Jesus Christ. Here Peter seeks out to find the limits of how often he is to forgive those who sin against him, proposing what he probably thought to be a more than reasonable benchmark of 7 times, only to discover that his Lord's standard was a lot higher—70 times 7, which equals 490 times. But that's a pretty big number, and more astute scholars than me have suggested that Jesus wasn't suggesting that Peter wait until the 491st time to hold back his forgiveness, but to simply forgive everyone, everything, always. Jesus is fully God and fully man after all, so it wouldn't surprise us that he would suggest that our forgiveness toward others should match his own toward us. And I think we can be honest in assessing that the forgiveness that saved a wretch like you and me had to go to infinity and beyond. 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. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us all to read a chapter of scripture And today's chapter is 1 Peter 2. And from that chapter, he shares portions of verses 16 and 17, where the word of God says, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. And then Stephen Alford writes, note the order in verse 17. First, honor all men. Second, love the brotherhood. Third, fear God. And fourth, honor the king. And while subjecting myself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, living as free, yet not having the freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. This is why Paul, though he was a man who recognized and acknowledged the ordinances of men, could boldly say, We ought to obey God rather than men. He was ready to obey insofar as their commands were not contrary to the dictates of God. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, oh Lord, enable me to use my freedom rightly. Amen. Amen. And, uh, yeah, here Alford, you know, establishes a hierarchy, um, you know, where to love God and love people, but God's ways are higher than our ways and should be obeyed first over man's ways. You know, if man's laws go against the word of God, we have a right to follow God rather than follow men. And, um, we, you know, the word of God would compel us to do so. And I also like how author brings out how liberty here is not, you know, our freedom. Hey man, I'm free in Christ, I can do whatever I want. Doesn't, you know, lead us to vice. And, you know, I just read something where it basically said virtues are habits that are good for us, whereas vice are habits that are not good for us. And so we don't, you know, everyone has their vices, right? Well, not— they shouldn't. Okay, with that definition, you know, they shouldn't. If they're bad. We should have virtues rather than vice. And so, you know, that's, that's why I sort of drive around and go, oh boy, the world's— man, I remember being in it and being locked in it and quote unquote being what I thought was free, what was in bondage to, you know, selfishness and addiction and pride and all those, all those negative aspects of life that, you know, have now been revealed to me. The ways of the world are desperately wicked and, uh, not for nothing, pretty shallow sometimes. The things we worship instead of worshiping the Lord— sports teams, and, you know, our preferences, you know, TV shows, and, you know, music, music groups, or whatever. Um, God's got something higher for us to worship, and that's him. And, uh, so we ask the question Have you fully surrendered to God? You know, what we think about when God is the most important thing about us, according to A.W. Tozer. But I say what we do with what God's word says about us is the most important thing about us. Because, you know, as James says, even, even the demons believe in God, but they, they don't follow him, you know? Um, so it's good to know what the word of God says. It's It's better to apply it to your life. And, uh, when you do that, you surrender to God's will for your life. And when that happens, you know, he'll draw you into things. For me, he drew me into leading the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church. We meet on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, uh, in the K-3 classroom for Christian recovery and discipleship. And we extend our invitation to anybody in upstate New York., who can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday evening to come and join us, where we will talk about our faith, practice our faith, and encourage you to walk away from, uh, your hurts, habits, and hangups and into the freedom that Christ alone gives you through walking in the Spirit. Um, you know, and with that, we— this week we're offering, you know, my church, Starpoint Church, has a men's ministry event, uh, called Man Up., on October 4th at 6 PM, uh, with guest speaker Ranger Smith, country music star and creator of the Yee Yee wardrobe. Oh boy. Um, and there's free barbecue and inflatable bull riding. So if you're a man in upstate New York, we invite you to come out. Uh, you can go to, uh, Starpoint Church's website and register for the event so we'll know you're coming. And share your portion of that free barbecue. And, you know, I'll be there as a fire pit leader to encourage you to man up at the end of the evening. So if you're there, we'll see you there. However, if you're not in Upstate New York, we still believe that you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by, you know, through good teaching and through following the Lord. You know, I'm not sure if I'm a good teacher, but I know the material I present is good. So, so, um, we offer our podcast classes for that purpose. Um, Poor Victor Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course, um, teaches you about who God is, who you are, and how to live in freedom and, uh, what's important. Um, so we encourage you to check those out on our YouTube channel, which is M.t. Clark 247. Um, well, that's it for today, and we always end by asking the question: are you empty for Christ too? Have you emptied yourself to make room for what God has to do in your life? Have you asked the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit? If so, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, well, you can do that with one simple little prayer. That's why we pray every day. You pray to make— have the Lord reveal himself to you. You pray to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. When things happen. And so let's pray now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done, Lord. We thank you for your goodness, how you've helped us so many times over the years to see your light and walk in your ways, and how you move things, you know, heaven and earth, and sometimes it seems, uh, to, to help us to live the life that you have for us, Lord. Uh, Lord, we pray for anyone listening or reading today's message, that you would come alongside them in their prayer requests and their walk of faith, because we all need your help, Lord, in this thing, uh, called life, to not forget about your goodness and to walk in your ways. So Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord, and we need a lot of help with that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
