Sharing God’s Grace Purity 814

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 what appears to be two setting suns comes to us from my niece Megan, as she recently shared this photo on social media from what I believe to be a sunset over somewhere near Ocean City, Maryland, as my brother Mike and his family has made summer visits to the White Marlin Capital of the World a family tradition. Well, as the sun sets on another week, a work week, and the third week of August, it is my prayer that my friends and family use the weekend, forecasted to be a hot one in my neck of the woods, to make some summer memories that will endure well after the summer of '22 is a distant memory. Uh, growing up, my immediate family enjoyed family vacations in Cape Cod and in Lake George, New York. And those short trips had a real impact on my memories of my childhood. While I also remember summertime fun at home, those trips stand out because we went somewhere different, and some of those places were revisited because we were fond of them and they became somewhat familiar. I myself took my family on trips to Cape Cod and Lake George, uh, when my kids were younger, uh, to try to share the experience that I had enjoyed as a kid. Now my brother Mike has discovered and fallen in love with Ocean City and has made that a tradition that his kids will fondly remember and possibly take their kids to one day. Uh, one of the things we do in our lives is to try to share the good things with our loved ones. In, in life, we discover things that we enjoyed and felt were worthwhile, and out of our love, we try to share them with our family, our friends, or, and sometimes anyone who will listen. While I could give lots of recommendations on places to travel, uh, to because of the places I've gone, uh, the good thing, uh, that I wish to share with my family, my friends, and anybody who will listen is the life of peace and joy that is found through faith in Jesus Christ and the daily decision to walk and talk with God as we live our lives. Last night was the last Zoom meeting of the Grace Course that I have been facilitating, and although I had planned on using the session to review to do the Steps to Experiencing God's Grace, the meeting turned into a discussion about how to share what we have learned about experiencing our freedom in Christ and the wonders of God's grace with others. Sometimes I wonder if participants in these groups or classes are getting it. Are they understanding and experiencing their freedom in Christ? Are they drawing closer— close to God and applying the truth of God's word that the lessons are based on to their lives? Through the years of recovery and discipleship ministry, I have seen breakthroughs and victory. I have seen people just walk away almost immediately. I've seen people go through the steps, uh, the, the Freedom in Christ course and, and seem to agree with the material, but then refuse to go through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. I've seen others go through the steps and seem to have a significant moment of repentance with God, only to disappear from my radar. Making me wonder if they were just going through the motions, or even worse, if the enemy hadn't reclaimed the ground he had momentarily lost. But then you have moments like last night where the participants openly testified to the significant difference the Freedom in Christ course and the Grace course has made in their lives, and how they are now motivated to share what they have come to know with others. Rather than packing up their books because school's out for the summer. These men are asking God, "What's next?" and "How can I make other people understand God's grace?" One of the participants has begun a gospel tract ministry to try to reach those who don't know the love of God. Another one has become involved with an interfaith group of various Christian denominations that seek to establish unity around the gospel of Jesus Christ. This man also has a heart for youth and will be teaching a group of 8th and 9th graders. And, and last night we discussed what he can do to possibly make an impact in these adolescents' lives, to lead them toward God and away from the traps of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Another participant has agreed— has recently moved back to his childhood neighborhood and sees how things have gotten worse in his community, and he feels that he may have a call call on his life to encourage the youth in his neighborhood to turn away from the streets and to follow the Lord, the Lord's will for their lives. One of the purposes of Christian discipleship is to replicate, to teach and encourage others to teach and encourage others, and to boldly go wherever the Lord leads you. And last night I really got it and got the sense that, that God has blessed my efforts to encourage these men to follow Christ. They have a heart to set the captives free and to open the eyes of the blind. But disciple is also about community, and we have that as well. We encourage one another in our faith, and we will be meeting again in 2 weeks as they have agreed to join me as I decided to walk through Bonhoeffer's, Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship and to podcast it to encourage others to pick up their crosses and to surrender to God's will for their lives. I actually am on vacation next week, but I don't have any plans to travel. Instead, I will be working on taking Bonhoeffer's book and crafting it into a presentation that will attempt to share the experience that I had when I first read it. Like a favorite summer vacation spot, I look forward to showing the good things I found in Bonhoeffer's book, The Encouragement to Be an authentic Christian, to live in and for Christ. So enjoy the summer while you can this weekend, but as you marvel at the splendor of the summer sights and sounds, remember that your Heavenly Father made it all for us to enjoy, and that his creation calls us to ponder the Creator and the meaning and purpose that he has for us. He wants us to know him. That's why he sent Christ to save that which was lost and to lead us to know the Father and the wonders of his love. So keep walking and talking with God, because when you, when you know him and his grace, it will cause you to want to share the peace and joy you have in him with your family, your friends, and anyone who will listen. Uh, today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Hebrews 3:14, and it says For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. Today's verse encourages us to endure in our faith and to keep the wonder of our salvation that we had when we first believed, stating that when we do, uh, that we will share in all that Christ has for us. Faith is not something we get once and then can put on a shelf for the day we die. Here the writer of Hebrews encourages us not to forget the joy of when we first believed and encourages us to persevere in our faith with the assurance that we will share in all that belongs to Christ. The fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives when we walk in the Spirit. Christ said in John 15 to abide in him and we would produce much fruit. The fruit could— can be good works, of course, but we should also understand that the fruit can be the good work done in us and the cultivation of kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, patience, love, peace, joy, and self-control in our life. Our relationship with God will last for eternity, so we should be encouraged to be faithful to the end, because although this life may be finite, uh, there really is no end in sight. As the Lord will welcome us into heaven if we should die, or He will rapture us into His Kingdom when He prepares for His Second Coming. Christ has eternal life, it is ours through faith in Him. The fruit of the Spirit describes Jesus' character, they are ours when we follow Him. So be faithful to the end, and these things that belong to Christ will be shared. With you. 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 continue sharing from, uh, Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and we're still in the midst of chapter 13, and today's section is entitled The Clash of Worldviews, and it speaks of the Christians facing a dilemma. So If you want to know what the dilemma is, uh, go to mtforchrist.org and, um, you can read, read what Clinton Arnold has to say about that at the end of today's blog post to see that resource. As always, we encourage, uh, people to check out mtforchrist.org, the website, and to, you know, go, go on the website, not just your phone, and look, look at all the, the labels for different topics. Basically, if you have areas of interest and you can see previous blog posts about different topics and the different books and resources that we've shared. If you want to get an idea for a book to read before the end of the summer, there's a bunch that I've shared in the past that are available right through the pod, you know, right through the blog, or, you know, you can go out and purchase it yourself. Because that's what we want to do as disciples of Christ. We want to share the good things that we have come to know. We want to share God's grace. We want to share how we feel we've been forgiven, how we have peace with God, how we can, you know, even, even if we mess up in life, have the assurance of our salvation, um, to have the joy and peace that comes from knowing that we are loved by God and we're accepted by God and that we're secure with God and made significant because of who we are in Christ. So that's what we do, you know, and it's really a blessing for me in this past year when I stepped out of local ministry into an online thing to, you know, to try to share the teachings of, you know, Freedom in Christ Ministries. You know, whether or not this was going to be a worthwhile thing. Um, well, luckily the fruit has grown. You know, I have a group of men that are, are, are interested in, you know, following the Lord and sharing it with other people. Um, you know, and, and as I've said to these men, that this is, you know, unfortunately it's not a very common thing. Um, not a lot of people live out their faith A lot of people compartmentalize their faith for Sunday morning, or, you know, while they're at church they'll act one way, while they're not at church they'll act another. And, um, you know, that's not how the Lord wanted us to be. He wanted us to live with him and forever, and to represent his kingdom as his children. And, you know, that sounds like a lot of dos and don'ts. And I guess it is, but, uh, the reason why we do is not to be approved. Um, the reason is to do it is to represent the one we love, the one who first loved us when we were sinners, the one who died for us and, um, who gives us new life. Um, not only a ticket to heaven, but the potential for great freedom and victory and breakthrough here on the earth where we can say no to sin and turn towards the Lord's ways to watch that fruit of the Spirit grow in our life. We can be faithful, we can be good, we can be kind, we can have self-control, we can have patience. A little by little, bit by bit, from glory to glory, from faith to faith, we can grow and, and represent God's kingdom here on the earth. And, uh, you know, I'm not claiming we're going to build God's kingdom on the earth. I think we can build into other people's lives, but I honestly believe that, you know, the Lord will build his kingdom and he'll use the church. Um, but he's coming back for a reason. Um, you know, um, Christ doesn't— you know, the second coming of Christ sort of indicates that as much as the church can and will do, it's not going to be enough. God has a plan, and you know, we can save and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ, but God works through us. So we can't do it, he does it. We can only speak the truth and allow the Holy Spirit to be used, you know, to use our words to touch someone's heart and to open their eyes to the gospel and to give them a heart to follow the Lord. So that's all we can do, whether they're 8th or 9th graders or people in your neighborhood. All we can do is speak the truth of God's Word and let them know that, you know, we care about them and the Lord cares about them, and there's a better way to go. It's the Lord's way, and it's the only way that leads to life everlasting— faith through Christ. So that's what we do here at mt4christ.org. We encourage people to get on the path of Christian discipleship, to walk in the Spirit, to pick up your cross and surrender your life to follow Jesus. You know, so sounds, sounds like a lot, but it doesn't have to be too complicated. Just requires simple faith to believe who you are in Christ and to follow the Lord. So we do that, and we— if you want more instruction, we provide it basically with our podcast. We podcasted Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. All those courses basically are from Freedom in Christ Ministries, Dr. Neil Anderson, and they're all based on the Word of God. So if you can't register for an online class, you can listen to the podcast and get the teachings that way. And we also obviously revere the Word of God. You know, disciple is, is a student, so we study the, the teacher's teachings, and they just happen to be in a book called the Bible. Um, so we, we encourage the study of the Bible. We do that by sharing our informal Bible study discussions with Arthur and Suzanne Sincotti that we do once a week. And that's a little program we call Bible Study with the Sincottis, and that's available on our podcast and the Facebook— well, not the Facebook page, the YouTube channel as well. So we encourage you to check those out and, uh, you know, to always be seeking the Lord with, uh, study the Word, to see what the Lord asks for you to do, and to answer the call when you, when you get an indication he wants you to do something. You know, our faith is supposed to be lived out, and the Lord has things for us to do and people to see and life to enjoy all along the way as we walk and talk with him. So thank God it's Friday. And we encourage you to go and, you know, find some fun. And when you do, just thank the Lord for everything he's given you. That's basic faith. And give him glory by saying thank you. Thank you, Jesus. All right, that's it for Friday. I'm going to say a prayer and then pack everything up and be ready to go up to my countryside home this weekend to start a new journey. We'll talk about that tomorrow. Um, and started— start my vacation, and I'm looking forward to it. Some time away from work and, you know, jumping into, uh, creating something out of something great. So we'll see. Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you so much for what you've done in our lives, for opening our eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ, and for welcoming us into, into your kingdom by making Jesus our Lord and Savior. We've, we've been forgiven of all our sins, everything we'll ever do, and we've been given eternal life and a part in your kingdom. So thank you, God. We thank you for everything that was in our past and, and, and now what, everything that's in our present and everything in our future. That you'll do with us and through us as we seek to, to know you and to make you known as we go through this world. Lord, we, we come alongside— we, we thank you for everyone listening. We come alongside those who are— who listen in their prayer requests. Lord, we pray for you to give them your favor, your grace, as they go about their day today, and to hear their prayer requests, Lord, to, to grant their, their request to help them in their faith life. Um, well, we just thank you so much, and we pray for you to go before us today in this final day of the work week for some. Um, just, you know, make things easy. Like, Lord, we just pray, pray for you to go before us, to give us your favor, and to show us what we need to know and, and, and help us in the things we need to do, um, so we can best represent you here on the earth. Lord, we just thank you, we love you, and we praise you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.