Statement of Faith – Purity 974

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 wooden stairway that comes with the warning to watch your step comes to us from yours truly as I captured this photo before I stepped on the actual beach of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on February 21st. Well, it's Thursday, and as is my habit, I share this photo of this pathway as a visual encouragement for anyone reading or hearing this message to step on up to, or to resume, your journey of faith on the pathway of Christian discipleship. Our Christian faith is supposed to be lived, so let's live it. I am on vacation this week, so when I posted yesterday, I didn't know or remember it was Ash Wednesday. Can you remember something you didn't know? Anyway, while I certainly knew of Ash Wednesday's existence, I didn't quite know when it would fall in 2023. Or if I did know that information, uh, it didn't stick. And that may be— may have a lot to do with the fact that I go to a non-denominational church that doesn't do the tradition of burning palm leaves from last year to make ashes to anoint repentant congregants with. Last year we had a worship service to mark the day, but there were no ashes. So I'm out of the habit of following that tradition, and while I know it and think that it can be a wonderful congregational ceremony and gathering that can be used to turn hearts to repentance for the season of Lent, I didn't feel the need to find an Ashway— Ash Wednesday service here in South Carolina. Repentance is the continual business of a Christian disciple, and so we don't need a season of Lent to repent, as we are continually asking the Lord to reveal to us what we are to give up permanently rather than just for a few weeks. But with that said, I wholeheartedly support Lent and all who seek the Lord in prayer, fasting, and other acts of faith because of it. Lent is a good reminder to Christians who want— to Christians for what it is we should be doing and can really inspire us to press into our faith So I am on board for Lent and will think about what I can do to observe it. One way that Bible Gateway is observing it is offering a 40-day devotional with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which I signed up for. So I'm sharing the link to sign up for it on the blog today. As anyone who follows the blog should know, I'm a Bonhoeffer fan, and while I can't say that I agree with absolutely everything he taught about Christian discipleship, I can say that I agree with the vast majority of his teachings. So I'll be walking through Lent with Bonhoeffer this year. I just have to figure out the sequencing of the 40 days and make sure I am caught up to the end of— caught up to end the study when Lent ends. Another benefit of church traditions like Lent is that we— that they remind us of what we believe in. Liturgical churches often recite creeds in their corporate worship to stand together in the unity of faith. The liturgical church of my youth did the Nicene Creed at every service. And for those who don't know, the corporate recitation of a statement of faith can be a powerful experience as our people—our people—join together and proclaim the truth of Christianity and declare together that we believe. Here at M.t. Clark.org, I have never put forth a statement of faith before and didn't really think about it until until yesterday. Freedom in Christ Ministries, who I volunteer for as a Community Freedom Ministry Associate and online discipleship course leader, sent out their Statement of Faith and Core Values yesterday for CFMAs to affirm they still believe. FICM USA requires their volunteers to sign a statement annually saying that they not only believe in FICM's Statement of Faith and Core Values but will abide by them in the way they live their lives and serve the ministry. The annual requirement, just like Lent, is a way to remind the CFMAs what the ministry stands for and to affirm their agreement with and participation in FICM-USA's mission. So, thinking about a statement of faith and the fact that I haven't presented one for this ministry, I have decided to adopt FICM's statement of faith as the statement of faith for mt4christ.org and thus the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast and YouTube channel as well. So instead of sharing a Bible verse today, I hereby present the mt4christ.org statement of faith, and it says: We believe the Bible is inspired and fallible and only, and only authoritative word of God. There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of deity and the characteristics of personality. Jesus Christ is God, the Living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth; hence He is perfect deity and true humanity united in one person forever. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, through— though glorified, in which he lived and died. He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where he the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for his own. Each human being, being, is wonderfully and immutably created by God as either genetically male or genetically female. These two distinct and complementary genders together reflect the image of God. All human life is sacred and of inestimable value. That includes the preborn, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, as well as every other stage or condition of humanity from conception through natural death. The original man sinned by disobeying God. Thus, he was alienated from his Creator. That historical fall brought all huma— mankind under divine condemnation. Man's nature from Adam is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. The salvation of man is wholly a work of God's free grace, and not the work in whole or in part of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them in His sight. All true believers In Christ are children of God, new creations in Christ, saints who are free to walk in newness of life in him through— though never achieving sinless perfection in his life. It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit. Who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in his written word. The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth, and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power, His power and control are appropriated in the believer's life by faith. Every believer is called to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit, that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit for the glory of God. God has established marriage as a lifelong exclusive union between one genetic male and one genetic female. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, his body, which is composed of all men living and dead who have been joined to him through saving faith. God admonishes his people to assemble together regularly for worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the scriptures, and for mutual encouragement. At physical death, the believer enters immediately into eternal conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing. At physical death, the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to judgment and everlasting condemnation. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth personally, visibly, and bodily to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to him who loved us and gave himself for us. So that's the Statement of Faith. It'll be on the blog, uh, basically under the label Statement of Faith, thus forward. So if anyone wants to know what we believe here at mt4christ.org, we believe what FICM put out. We believe it in all parts, and if we feel we need to modify that as time goes on, which we truly doubt, we'll do so in the future. But that's it for today in terms of the blog. As always, we encourage people to go to the mtforchrist.org where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Because at the bottom of today's blog post we'll be sharing more from The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink from chapter 7 as we, uh, he discusses God's sovereignty and the human will. And today's section will start the discussion on the impotency of the human will. So if you want to check that out, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see it at today's end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage you to check out our teachings on M.t. Christ 247 podcast for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. It's on the YouTube channel as well. I'm gonna go watch the sunrise with my beloved wife, uh, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We just, uh, thank you, Lord, for all you've done for us. We pray for you to bless the people who may be reading or listening to this message. And Lord, as always, we just pray that you go before us today, open our eyes to what you want us to see, and lead us in the path that you of the things you want us to do. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.