Satisfying Gifts and “What We Believe” – Wisdom from Dr Neil Anderson -Purity 1228

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 headlight-illuminated Waite Road in the silhouette of trees, barns, and farmyard buildings of the Allen Waite Farm comes to us from yours truly as I stopped my car to capture the magic moment of experiencing twilight on the shortest day of the year yesterday, the winter solstice. Well, it's Friday, thanks be to God, and even though yesterday was the shortest day and the longest night of the year, there's good news. From now on, the days become longer and the nights become shorter. In this Christmas season where we celebrate the light of the world, light is now increasing, which only makes sense. The closer we get to Jesus, the brighter, lighter, and better things get. Wednesday, I hosted the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Starpoint Church, where I surprised the people who attended with Christmas gifts. I had an idea of who would attend and wrapped up gifts specifically for a few of them, but I also prepared extra wrapped gifts for the people who would show up that I didn't expect. Truth be told, I had extra stores of the materials I gifted just in case I ran out of wrapped Gifts. I appreciate the people who come to Celebrate Freedom, and I try to express that each week by trying to tell each person as they arrive that I'm happy to see them. The C of the ABCs of Celebrate Freedom that we try to stress in our group is Connections. For the people who show up, we connect relationally as we encourage and support one another as we try to overcome those pesky Hurts, Habits, and Hangups. And grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in our faith. And because we are a Christian group, I stress that beyond, uh, one another, the most important connection we can make is the— is with the Lord. No matter who comes to the group or for however long our group will last here on earth, the connection we have with God is forever. It just happens to be the most important thing about us. Our relationship with God, as it will determine our eternal destiny. So what do you give when you want to share a connection with our Heavenly Father? You give the gift of God's love, and you try to give someone the possibility of experiencing their freedom in Christ, of course. So I wrapped up a framed copy of Mindful of Christ Biblical Affirmations poster, which is a free resource available at mindfulofchrist.net. I'm sharing the link on the blog today, so if you want to get yours, get yours. It's a nice little poster with some affirmations about who you are in Christ. And along with that, I gave a copy of the Freedom in Christ Ministries Participant's Guide to the Freedom in Christ course and a copy of the Steps to Freedom in Christ. My wrapped presents were 3 gifts in 1. Designed to give the recipient something to affirm their identity in Christ, give them teaching to help them grow in their faith, and give them a tool that could resolve their personal and spiritual conflicts. And even though I was, I was given thanks from everyone who received a gift, yesterday one of the recipients reached out via Facebook Messenger to thank me again and express his joy over receiving it. And being a part of Celebrate Freedom. I was truly touched by his reaching out and encouraged him to dig into the material and expressed how glad I was that he had made his way back to us after an extended absence. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he also shared his gratitude for the gift I gave him publicly with a Facebook post, and I was delighted to see that he was using it as he declared that he had read 30 pages of the Freedom in Christ Participant's Guide already. At Christmas, you really want to give gifts that people like, but you are really touched when you see them enjoying and using them. And it is my hope that the 3 gifts I gave to the people at Celebrate Freedom will bring them, um, bring them to a place where they can better receive the gift that God freely offers to all of us. Peace with him through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only gift that can truly satisfy us, and if we looked for satisfaction in anything else, we'll be eventually disappointed. Do you believe that? It's true. And to bring that truth home a little more, I am sharing a short message from Dr. Neil Anderson, uh, that I received as a daily devotional, uh, email back on December 9th. Anderson writes about the importance of what we believe and how it relates to our overall satisfaction and joy in life. And I think is appropriate for Chris— the Christmas season because many, uh, will be looking for satisfaction from what's under their Christmas tree when they should be looking for it from the gift that comes from above. Anyway, Dr. Neil Anderson writes, what we believe 'You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe and shudder.' James 2:19. And now he really writes: 'We all have some beliefs about the world we live in. Whatever we think will make us happy, satisfied, successful, etc., is what constitutes our belief system. We are walking right now by faith according to what we already believe.' Be assured that the world system we were raised in didn't establish a biblical belief system in our minds. Because we came into this world separated from God, we learned to live our lives independently from Him. We were conformed to this world. Unless we were raised in a perfect Christian home, much, much of what we learned to believe didn't reflect biblical truth. If you believe that you will only be satisfied by possessions, then you will probably never be satisfied. Jesus revealed that satisfaction does not come from material things. He said in Matthew 5:6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. If you believe you are successful because of status or the amount of toys you accumulate, you will certainly be at odds with Scripture. God has a different standard by which we are to evaluate and achieve success. Joshua 1:8 states, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." We can't make up our own definitions of satisfaction or success or determine what we want to believe. Faith must have an object, and for the Christian, the object is God and His Word. The only difference between Christian faith and non-Christian faith is the object of our faith. To think that we will get what we want if we believe with all our hearts is a faith based on selfish desires. It originates within ourselves and depends on our own definition of faith. It's a form of religious self-hypnosis. It's like the Christian who says, 'I don't know the Bible, but I have faith.' For that person, faith is a substitute for knowledge and a compensation for ignorance. And Lord, I choose to believe today that you are the source of everything I need in life. I place my faith in you alone. And that was from Dr. Neil T. Anderson. I thank Dr. Neil Anderson for his work. It has been used by the Lord to help me and many others who experience their freedom in Christ. And I hope that today's message will encourage you to be specific in what you put your faith in and where you seek everything you need in life. I'll give you a hint: it comes from God and his word, and it's fully realized when you put your faith in and decide to follow Jesus. So thank God it's Friday, and keep walking and talking with him as you continually put your faith in and follow Jesus. Today's Bible verse comes— 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 church discipline, and today's verses come from Revelation chapter 2, verses 14 through 16. From the New Living Translation, the word of God says, but I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sins, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Today's verses fall under the 11th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Church Discipline. And that 11th point is Jesus rebukes the church that does not discipline. Today's verses show us that the Lord cares about what we listen to and that there will be consequences for being wrong in what we believe if we don't repent. Historically, the Nicolaitans may have taught a synchronistic Christianity with elements of Judaism, paganism, and occultism mixed in. Where Christian theology and morality would have been compromised, as one of Balaam's claims to fame was leading the nation of Israel to intermingle with their pagan neighbors through sexual immorality and mixed marriages. The fact that Jesus says he hates them in verse 15 of the New King James Version of this passage shows us that what we believe and what we do matters, and that we can't be complicit with other religions or practice things that go against God's God's word. Regardless of what we profess to believe, what we allow ourselves to listen to and what we will do will reveal what we really put our faith in. And if that's anything other than Jesus and God's word, there may be hell to pay on Judgment Day, as those who aren't committed to follow Christ only will be told by Jesus, "I never knew you." So Be steadfast to know what we believe, why we believe it, and don't allow any outside influence to drive you away from the truth, the way, and the life, Jesus Christ. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.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 are sharing from God Is in the Manger. Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And we have been off track on the Advent calendar ever since we— more or less ever since we started this, uh, this sharing from this resource. So today we're playing catch-up as we will be doing Advent week number 4, days 3, 4, and 5, to, to get us on track. And tomorrow, being Saturday, the Christmas Eve Eve, I'll be doing 5 and 6 as Sunday. Well, we won't be doing a podcast because we don't do a podcast on Sunday. Usually do a Bible study, but even that's going to be delayed until the next week as we are going to celebrate Christmas fully, um, by taking that off. So I might share something else, uh, I don't know, we'll have to see, uh, but, uh, there might not be anything on Christmas Eve. We'll see, we'll see about that. It is Sunday though, Sunday usually I rest, so it's, uh, but then Monday is Christmas and should I rest on Christmas? So I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. I'll do what the Lord calls me to do and I love to, I love to do this, so who knows. Anyway, let's jump into the trifecta of Advent days 3, 4, and 5. From Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And, uh, I apologize for any stumbling ahead of time. I haven't reviewed these messages yet because there are 3 of them, and I'll do my best to read through them and, uh, not stumble or fall or stammer. With that said, and a big glass of water, uh, we say, uh, today's message of— on day 3 of Advent It's Christmas: Fulfilled Promise. And Bonhoeffer writes, Moses died on the mountain from which he was permitted to view from a distance the promised land. When the Bible speaks of God's promises, it's a matter of life and death. The language that reports this ancient history is clear: anyone who has seen God must die. The sinner dies before the promise of God. Let's understand what that means for us so close to Christmas. The great promise of God, a promise that is infinitely more important than the promise of the Promised Land, is supposed to be fulfilled at Christmas. The Bible is full of the proclamation that the great miracle has happened as an act of God, without any human doing. What happened? God had seen the misery of the world and had come himself in order to help. Now he was there, not as a mighty one, but in the obscurity of humanity. Where there is sinfulness, weakness, wretchedness, and misery in the world, that is where God goes, and there he lets himself be found by everyone. And this proclamation moves through the world anew, year after year, and again this year also comes to us. Then our resource shares from a sermon to German-speaking— to a German-speaking church in Havana, Cuba, from December 21st, 1930, where Bonhoeffer wrote or said, we all come with different personal feelings to the Christmas festival. One comes with pure joy as he looks forward to this day, rejoicing. Of friendships renewed, and of love. Others look for a moment of peace under the Christmas tree, peace from the pleasures of daily— pressures of daily work. Others again approach Christmas with great apprehension. It will be no festival of joy to them. Personal sorrow is painful, especially on this day, for those whose loneliness is deepened at Christmas time. And despite it all, Christmas comes whether we wish it or not, whether we are sure or not. We must hear the words once again: Christ the Savior is here. The world that Christ comes to save is our fallen and lost world, none other. And our resource shares from day 3, um, Luke 1:26-33. The Word of God says: In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.' Now we move on to Day 4, where Bonhoeffer shares a message called "The Great Turning Point of All Things." Bonhoeffer writes, "What kings and leaders of nations, philosophers and artists, founders of religions and teachers of morals have tried in vain to do, that now happens through through a newborn child. Putting to shame the most powerful human efforts and accomplishments, a child is placed here at the midpoint of world history. A child born of human beings, a Son given by God. That is the mystery of the redemption of the world. Everything past and everything future is encompassed here. The infinite mercy of the Almighty God comes to us. Descends to us in the form of a child, his Son. That this child is born for us, this Son is given to us, that this human child and Son of God belongs to me, that I know him, have him, love him, that I am his and he is mine—on this alone my life now depends. A child has our life in his hands. And from a message called The Government Upon the Shoulders of the Child from Christmas in 1940, Bonhoeffer writes, how shall we deal with such a child? Have our hands soiled with daily toil become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this child? Has our head become too full of serious thoughts that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this child? Could we not forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance, and for once worship the child, as did the shepherds and the wise men from the East, bowing before the Divine Child in the manger like children? And our— and our resource shares Romans 8: 31-34 for day 4. And the word of God says, what then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, yes, who was ruined, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. And moving along to Advent Week 4, Day 5, Bonhoeffer shares a message called God Became a Child. And Bonhoeffer writes, Mighty God is the name of this child. The child in the manger is none other than God himself. Nothing greater can be said. God became a child. In this Jesus, child of Mary, lives the Almighty God. Wait a minute. Don't speak. Stop thinking. Stand still before this statement. God became a child. Here he is, poor like us, miserable and helpless like us, a person of flesh and blood like us, our brother. And yet he is God, he is might. Where is the divinity? Where is the might of the child and the divine love in which he became like us? His poverty in the manger is his might. In the might of love, he overcomes the chasm between God and humankind. He overcomes sin and death. He forgives sin and awakens from the dead. Kneel down before this miserable manger, before this child of poor people, and repeat in faith the stammering words of the prophet: Mighty God! And he will be your God and your might. And from a message to us, from a sermon to a German-speaking church in Havana, Cuba, from December 21st, 1930, Bonhoeffer writes, but now it is true that in 3 days Christmas will once— will come once again. The great transformation will once again happen. God would have it so. Out of the waiting, hoping, longing world, a world will come in which the promise is given. All crying will be stilled. No tears shall flow. No lonely sorrow shall afflict us anymore or threaten. Finally, our resource shares from day 5, John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. Well, that concludes our sharing for today. From the 3 days of week 4's Advent, 3, 4, and 5, from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's God Is in the Manger, and everything else we shared from Dr. Neil Anderson and my own thoughts on God's Word and my experience of being at Celebrate Freedom and giving out gifts. It's a lot to say, but you know, and I had absolutely nothing You know, when I sat down to write this morning, I had absolutely nothing, nothing to think of. And then I just thought about my life. You know, I shared a picture from last night and thought about what was going on in my life and the fact that it's Christmas season, looked at my email, saw something there, and just went with the Bonhoeffer devotional that we have and threw it all together. And I hope some of it encourages you, because it should. Our faith is filled with joy and wonder, you know, as we try to ponder the mystery of the Incarnation and the fact that God came to earth to save us and show us the truth and lead us in the way we should go, and that we can experience freedom, hope, and peace and joy when we connect to God through Jesus Christ. It's just an amazing thing, and that's, that's why I share the message to encourage people to follow their faith every day. It's really something you shouldn't put on the shelf for Sundays and special occasions. We're supposed to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, and you know, that was never supposed to be a once-in-a-while thing. It's supposed to be something we did all the time, and we don't necessarily all have to be pastors or, you know, in full-time ministry to do so. We can follow God simply and encourage people to follow the Lord as we go through life, no matter what we do. And most importantly, when we apply that truth, you know, the Holy Spirit, His indwelling, just pours out of us through the fruit of the Spirit and into us as, you know, we respond and receive what he has for us. So I encourage you to walk out your life of faith. I've been blessed with the day off, that's why I could do an extended message. I am at my countryside home. We wrapped up what I believe will be the last of the Christmas gifts, but we'll, we'll see how that goes. I'm already wavering on buying my stepkids some more things. But it's a good time of year, and I'm glad to have the day off, and I'm glad to, you know, I'm glad to have my life in Christ because it really, really has transformed me in more ways than one. And I can't encourage people enough to follow the Lord and to do His will only. So Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do for us. Thank you for the fact that it's Friday and I'm on Christmas vacation. And Lord, I just, um, I want to pray for the people who are out there who might not have the day off. Um, we pray for them, or that they do, God bless. Um, but Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and that their prayer requests and that you'd help them, um, in their faith walk, Lord, because we all need your help. And I need your help even on a day off, Lord. I, I'm asking for you to show me what you want me to see today and lead me in the way I should go, because all I want to do is represent you and live in your hope and joy every day. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.