So, You Want to Be a Christian… - Purity 1579

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of manicured shrubbery and green grass underneath cumulus cloud-filled This guy comes to us from yours truly as I captured the serene scene while on a vacation mission trip to Harare, Zimbabwe back on February 15th, 2016. Well, well, okay, make no mistake, while I did have some pleasurable experiences while I was on my 2016 mission trip to 3 countries in Africa and used vacation time to be able to go, the mission field and the Christian faith is no vacation. Our mission team ran into many obstacles to the work that we wanted to do, and our days and nights were filled with activities to serve and to give God— give the glory to the Lord. Um, just to be clear on that. Well, it's Tuesday, and as I am getting ready for another work day, I'm reminded of my time in the line gang of the telecommunications company I work for. Line work isn't for everybody. It requires you to be able to climb telephone poles with gaffs or hooks and to do hard physical labor with or without heavy machinery. So what you learn in training at line school is really just the tip of the iceberg of all that you will be required of you to get 'er done in the line gang. In my time in the line gang, I remember that one of the sayings the experienced linemen would repeat when new linemen ran into challenges of the job was, "So you wanna be a lineman?" reminding themselves and the newbies that somewhere along the line, along the course of their lives, they actually chose to do the hard work they were struggling with now. Similarly, considering the challenges of our faith, I suppose we could say, "So you wanna be a Christian?" Or thinking of my times in Africa, Guatemala, and domestically in flood-affected Louisiana, So you want to be a missionary? Uh, to remind ourselves that although God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit saved us, uh, we make the decision to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to follow him wherever it leads us, regardless of what we are called to do. And just like the decision to be a lineman potentially meant doing hard work on a daily basis, the decision to follow Jesus means we will die to ourselves and seek to do his will only as the Lord's servants, go to go wherever he calls us, do doing what we may have thought to be impossible, and doing it all for his glory. Speaking of choosing to be the Lord's servants, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional, uh, for today is entitled A True Servant, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to give those who aren't too familiar with Discipleship to get an idea just what it means when you want to be a Christian. As Charles Stanley writes, a true servant. Jesus, our example in all things, chose to serve others, even those he knew would desert him. When you hear, when you hear the word success, what do you think of? Wealth? Power? How do you think God defines success? Micah 6:8 says, he has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you. To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our— with your God. And with Christ as our example, we should strive to be like him. In today's passage, we see how Jesus served. He performed the task of the lowliest servant when he took off his outer garment and washed the dirty feet of his followers, the very followers he knew would abandon him. The next day, the Creator was crucified by people made in his image. In allowing this, he offered salvation to all, even those who nailed him to a cross. And Jesus asked them that we follow his example of service. With the exception of Judas, his disciples obeyed. In fact, they all suffered because of their faith, many unto death. Though we likely won't endure what they did, ask the Lord how he is calling you to serve. In what ways do you spend your resources and time? And which topics dominate your thoughts and conversation. Service is a natural overflow of our relationship with Jesus. Ask him to foster a servant's attitude in your heart. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley, and I say amen. The world's definition of success would have us think that we are, we are a success when we gain riches and power and are surrounded by servants. But God's definition of success calls us to be servants. Christ is our example, and so we should follow him with acts of service. Ephesians 2:10 tells us we are saved for good works that God has prepared for us to do. So the true disciple of Jesus, uh, Jesus Christ is someone who serves others and should be continually seeking ways in which they can represent the kingdom through good works. God will direct your path and encourage you to do what he has for you to do. So tell the Lord that you're willing to give yourself and your resources to his service, and ask him where he wants you to— where he wants to send you. Our salvation was for a purpose, and part of it is to serve. So seek your purpose in Christ, and when the Lord sends you to do good works, be ready to go. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis, and this morning's meditation verses come from the section on imitating Jesus. And today's verses are John 13:12-15, where the word of God says, when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Today's verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the fourth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on imitating Jesus. That fourth point is Jesus calls us to become more like he is by imitating him. Today's Bible verses pick up where we left off yesterday in John 13, where Jesus makes it very clear that the reason why he humbled himself to wash the apostles' feet was to provide more than just their phys— more than just their physical needs of good foot hygiene. Jesus tells the apostles and asks if they understand that the reason why he did what he did was to provide an example for them to follow. Here Jesus is not necessarily telling them to go out and to start a foot washing ministry. He points to his role as teacher and Lord and how he chose to humble himself to serve those who were lower than himself. That would be all of us, by the way. Jesus not only gives the example of his service to encourage the apostles to do good works of their own, but also seeks to eliminate any pride from their hearts that may be lingering among the group of followers who often argued and debated over which of their number was the greatest. Jesus calls his followers to serve, but to also remember to never consider themselves greater than the least of these, and to just be ready to meet needs and do good works to give God glory. 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 Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams, and, uh, it's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 78, where Adams shares the latter half of Proverbs 11:23, which says, 'But the expectation of the wicked to wrath.' And J.E. Adams writes, 'In this antithetical proverb, the converse is true. What you expect isn't what you get. The one whose desire is to do good according to God's word will find the path that leads to good, but The one who seeks his own welfare rather than the glory of God will experience his wrath. What you seek for yourself will harm you. What you seek for to please God will bring blessing. That sounds like a truism, doesn't it? But it is hardly such for the one whose expectations are dashed. Expectation of the fulfillment of your desires as a priority in the and life will only lead you down the path of misery. And if you don't come to faith in Christ, to God's eternal wrath, the second death, the lake of fire, is not what unbelievers expect. As surely as their expectations are wrong, so too they will surely discover the fact too late. Warn others who have great expectations that run counter to God's word. Of their peril. Amen. And yeah, you can, you can really work hard to make, make yourself somebody and to accomplish many great things in this world, but, um, you know, and expect to be rewarded for your good works, you know, your personal achievements and things you've done, uh, in the kingdom.. But if you don't have faith in Jesus Christ, your expectations are wrong. Doesn't matter you pay your bills, do a good job at work, you know, are a good family man. If you don't bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him the Lord and Savior of your life, you don't have the payment for your sins. You're not forgiven. You're in a state of disgrace rather than a state of grace, and you will pay for your selfishness. And It's too great a price to pay for anyone. So we encourage you to put your faith in Jesus and to put his ways above your own. Um, his is the pathway to peace and new life, and we don't get there by ourselves. We get there through our faith in Jesus. And that is why we always ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? It's a question to, to call you into service, okay? That you're not just going to believe and sit idly by or just do your own thing anymore. You're living for a higher purpose, to give God glory, to point people to Jesus, and to represent His kingdom in all that we do. You know, when we do that, we, you know, the work isn't just good works out in the field, you know, it's the good work of Him changing you. To become more and more like Jesus, to become the person that God created you to be. And so that means repentance as well as service. It's not about outward expressions of faith, it's about an inward change of our hearts that calls us to change ourselves and to make a change in the world. Um, and it's a pathway that leads to peace, joy, and purpose, and that's why we point to it. Um, and part of my purpose as a servant of the Lord is to humbly serve as the leader of the Celebrate Freedom support group that meets on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM at Starpoint Church. That's in Clifton Park, New York, and we invite any and everyone who's in the upstate of upstate New York who can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday to join our Christian Fellowship of Recovery and Discipleship, where we teach you how to walk in the Spirit, or encourage you to walk, yeah, to walk in the Spirit, to overcome your hurts, habits, and hangups so you can understand the fullness of your purpose in Christ, to feel peace and joy in turning to God's righteous ways and to, uh, going out making a difference, um, in other people's lives by giving them the good news too. And, uh, so we invite anyone in Upstate to come out and join us tomorrow night. And, uh, if you're not in Upstate New York, well, there's good news. We provide the teaching that we give at Celebrate Freedom and the encouragement, uh, through a new series that we're doing called Christian Recovery Celebrate Freedom with M.t. Clark. That's the name of the playlist that we put out there. And last night we released a new episode called Action. So if you'd like to take action, we would direct you to mtforchrist.com's YouTube playlist page or to our YouTube channel, M.t. for Christ 247, uh, and you can search on there for the, the playlist. Um, it has updated and all 8 episodes— 7 episodes are available now. And so we encourage you to check those out. And if you want, there's even more to check out on our playlist page, as we've done teachings on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom, along with a bunch of other playlists we've done through the years on our podcast that we think would be helpful in your Christian walk. We believe that, you know, these teachings can help you to find or increase your freedom in Christ, and we encourage you to, you know, check them out and be blessed by them. And if you are blessed by them, or if you appreciate what we're doing here, we'd appreciate your support and your donations. You can email me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com to give your positive comments, or your negative ones, I suppose. And if you wanted to give monetarily, you can go to mtforchrist.com to our donations and payment page, and you can basically donate via Venmo, the Cash App, and through PayPal, and we'd appreciate your support. Thank you. Okay, and so we always end with the same question: Are you empty for Christ too? And that's just a clever way of saying, have you surrendered your will to the Lord's? Have you emptied yourself of the worldly ways and desires of your wicked heart to be replaced by the good things that God has for you? Have you invited the Holy Spirit to come in move you. If so, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to do so by just praying a prayer to make Jesus your Lord and Savior and praying a prayer of commitment that you'll go wherever he sends you. We know prayer works, and so if that's your prayer, we know that you'll be starting a whole new journey of faith with the Lord. And Like I said, we know prayer works, so we pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, I thank you so much for the ways you provide for us, Lord, and the way you encourage us to do the impossible, to follow you and do the good things that you've created us to experience. Lord, we do ask for your help, though. Like I said, some of that work of being a Christian can be hard work, and we need your help with it. Really, we can accomplish nothing without you, so we definitely need your help with that. So we just pray today, Lord, that you would go before us, lead us in the way we should go, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, because we definitely want to represent your kingdom and we definitely need help with that. And Lord, while you're at it, we also pray for anyone reading, listening, or watching this message, that they'd be blessed by you and that you would help them in their prayer requests too. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.