Step into New Things - I’ve Been to the Mountain Top! – Purity 1055

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 the tree at the Second Lookout site of Mount Antone overlooking great views of farmland and the southern Vermont mountains comes to us from yours truly as my wife Tammy Lynn and I ascended the 2,600 feet to the summit of the tallest peak on the on the Mark Forest and Farmland Center's property in Rupert, Vermont. Mount Antone is officially part of the northern Taconic Mountain Range, and although reaching its summit wasn't too challenging, it was a definite high point of our Memorial Day weekend backpacking adventure that had us away from many of the modern conveniences that we take for granted. Our cabin was dead-end— dead-ended towards the rear end of the preserve's property and didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing. As no one was renting any of the nearest lean-tos or cabins, Tammy Lynn and I had approximately half a mile, if not a mile, of distance, uh, to our nearest neighbors. I didn't hear a lawnmower, weed whacker, even a chainsaw all weekend, and it was only on our way to Mount Antone and Clark's Clearing did we see any other living souls. Seclusion can be a little unsettling at times, but when you realize that you're relatively safe and secure in your accommodations, and that the Lord is with you wherever you go, you can really enjoy the peace and tranquility of God's creation without fear and just bask in the goodness of just being. Of course, just because we were roughing it didn't mean that my wife and I decided to take a vacation from our faith. Even though we both enjoyed getting away from it all, we didn't want to get away from God. We maintained our regular Bible study and enjoyed our own personal studies as Tammy Lynn revisited a book she had read years ago, years earlier, Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst et al., on satisfying our deepest desires with God, not food. I might have to check that out. And I was able to complete volume 1, The Essential, of Dr. Carl Payne's Transfor— transferable cross-training on discipleship, as well as get most of the way through The True Works of the Holy Spirit, a booklet by John MacArthur. So in many ways, probably just because of the decision we've made to keep God at the center of our lives and marriage, our vacation was a spiritual retreat as well. But please don't imagine some hyper-spiritual posturing on our part. We were just enjoying each other's company and giving each other space to seek the Lord's peace and guidance without getting in each other's way. Our faith should never feel forced, demanding, or complicated, and so it wasn't. Uh, although we were out there in the woods, we weren't too far gone and actually had enough cell reception to be able to receive and send messages from family, um, to, to and from family. Uh, I don't think I would have necessarily known this, as I had assumed we wouldn't have had reception and only brought my 3 cell phones. One for one personal and one all as media devices. For Bible study, you got to love Logos Bible software, and for listening, um, and for listening to a Christian audiobook or soothing sounds to sleep by, which I utilized. But Tammy Lynn tested the reception as soon as we got there and assured her children and both of our mothers, uh, that we had arrived safe You can take a mother of 5 into the woods, but you can't take the mother out of her, I guess. Anyway, no matter how much I may have been a little disappointed in not being completely off the grid and unreachable when we arrived on Saturday, I was rejoicing over the fact we weren't completely cut off on Sunday as we were able to stream church via Facebook. So even though we were in a cabin in Vermont with no electricity, we sang along with and listened to our church's Sunday service. Live from Clifton Park. And although it was Sunday, the wife and I decided to worship the Lord by getting out in his creation with the trek to the top of Mount Anton and a hike to Clark's Clearing before we returned to the cabin for a Sabbath's rest. Anyway, Clark's Clearing, it's my last name, we had to go there. Anyway, overall it was a wonderful trip and it taught Taught me to keep following where the Lord leads me and to try new things. Although we struggled mightily on the journey into the woods with our fully packed backpacks, yesterday's excursion out took half the time as we were less burdened without the weight of 2 days' water supply and were more experienced, wiser, and stronger from what we had learned and done just a day or 2 before. And that's a great analogy of our faith. We can, we can get stronger in our faith when we step out into it and test ourselves. Uh, the growth that Tammy Lynn and I experienced as hikers and backpackers in a relatively short time would have never been realized if we had never gone there. Both this— before this trip, neither one of us had any real backpacking experience and could have easily dismissed the idea altogether. But after our previous visit to the Merc Forest Center's Gallop Road, and it was a long, rather challenging day of hiking, and with a few days off from Memorial Day weekend, something inside me inspired me to just step out in faith and book it. And Tammy Lynn, who had never backpacked, immediately went about making sure we were adequately equipped to go. I may have set the course, but Tammy Lynn really made sure we could make our way. So not only did we learn and experience something new in backpacking, but we also used it to draw closer to God and one another. But none of this would have been known if we didn't choose to follow the call and support one another along the way. Well, it's Tuesday, and even though Tammy Lynn is back to work, I have the day off, and we'll use it to finish off that booklet on the true work of the Holy Spirit and to prepare for tomorrow's evening meeting of Celebrate Freedom, the recovery, recovery/discipleship growth group at my local church, where I will be sure to do my best to encourage those gathered to step out in faith and to trust the Lord to move them into a deeper knowledge and experience of their freedom in Christ as they have decided to trust and follow the Lord, to help them walk away from the hurts, habits, and hangups they wish to leave behind as they pursue the meaning and purpose that God has for them. Today's Bible verse comes to us— verses come to us from the Bible, the NLT Bible Promise Book for Men, another resource we're drawing close to the end to. Um, this morning's meditation verses are Romans 15:3-4, and the word of God says For even Christ did not live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, "The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me." Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us, and the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. Today's verses encourage us to wait patiently as the Lord fulfills his promises. In our lives and to realize that this walk of faith isn't necessarily just about pleasing ourselves. Christ's example shows us that just because you decide to follow and do the Lord's will, it doesn't mean that people will applaud you for it. In fact, when you decide to follow the Lord, you can expect to be insulted as Jesus was insulted and persecuted as he stated that the world would hate his disciples just as it hated him. But today's verses remind us that the Bible, the scriptures, never promised us a rose garden, a life without suffering, but it does promise all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ a place in God's family and kingdom in eternity. The word tells us of this true story of the hardships that the prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself suffered before us to encourage us, uh, that those who went before us faced trials and death secure in the knowledge that God was in control and would save us even when it looked like all was lost. Christ's death and resurrection proved that our worst-case scenario was something that we could overcome— we would overcome. Worst case, we die, but when we are in Christ, we have not lost hope because at, at the moment of our earthly death, we will go on and live with God in eternity, and then one day return with Jesus to rule and reign over the earth before— and that's before the new heaven and earth. So wait for it. God's got a lot more in store for us, and he is faithful to fulfill all of his promises. That assures us of a place in his kingdom forever and a purpose that goes beyond this life. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.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 A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, and today we conclude chapter 5, which is on the covenant offices of the Holy Spirit. And today's topic in that chapter is the Spirit's Covenant Office of Sanctification. And so if you want to read about how the Holy Spirit's office is to sanctify us, and go to mt4christ.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. Well, I don't have to work, but somehow it's a good thing because I'm running late. Um, mountain living or cabin living is, is made me soft and taken me off my regular schedule. Although I rose at the regular time, I'm running a little late this morning, knowing, I guess, that I didn't really have to run out the door for work. And we'll see about trying to solidify things in terms of a regular message. Maybe we'll start a series soon. I have something in my mind that I might try to bring out for the new month of June. And we might start that tomorrow, we might not. We'll see how today goes as I have to prepare for ministry tomorrow night. And I don't know, I might clean up the room, you know, the ministry of cleaning out my sock drawer or something holy like that, you know. You know, cleaning up any area of your life is a good thing. So, you know, we should live orderly, organized lives if we can. If we don't, we can't be surprised when we don't have peace about, you know, our lives. When our house is a mess, our life is a mess. So, you know, let's get her done. Let's organize something, you know. Granted, most of us probably have to work today, but, you know, we should have goals in our lives to accomplish things and to do the things to best represent God and his kingdom here on the earth and to, you know, do the things we always wanted to do. God wants our dreams to come true as long as they're within his will. So we should think of good and wholesome, pure things that, you know, God wouldn't mind us doing and would encourage us in, like going for a hike or going backpacking or traveling to some place to see what God has made over yonder. You know, life is an adventure. We only get so many days before we're called into eternity, so we should go about the earth, you know, seeking to encourage people and see what God has done as part of our purpose. And so we'll do that today in study, and I don't know if I'll leave the house, but in my mind I'm going to Carolina. Well, maybe next spring. Anyway, um, No plans for that, actually, but you never know. And that's the thing too, we should always be open to spontaneously step out and do new things. God doesn't necessarily want you sitting in your house the rest of your life. He made a world to tell you to go out and make disciples in. And, um, you know, you should go out and seek, seek that, seek, seek a life with others to encourage people in their faith. That's our prescription. You know, a lot of people talk about dreams and don't really give you any guidelines. My guideline is start, you know, what I'm selling, which is not for sale, is a daily spiritual practice where you come before the Lord, you pray, and you read the Bible, and you think about God, and you thank God and then you see where it takes you. Now, life will take care of itself in terms of work. You have to do something to support yourself. If that's taken care of, then see where else God wants you to go, you know. Ask him for direction. Ask your heart what it wants to accomplish and see if you and God can work out where he, where he wants you to go based on those two things, you know. He made you individually, and so he's giving you an individual purpose for you to seek out. Why talk in vast generalities? You know, dream a dream. Let's whittle that down to a few options and then pursue them and see where it takes us. Yeah, and let's not dream of, you know, let's dream of what we can do and then dream for the impossible too. And let's not forget some of the things that we think are impossible are actually possible. And are being done by other people, other people that probably don't even have faith. But for some reason, the enemy's whispered in our ears that the things that we want to do are impossible, or, you know, too hard, or whatever. But, um, you know, the Lord wants you to step out in faith and grow. And when you do that, that's exactly what happens. Either learn from the mistakes, or you triumph over the victories. You should never lose hope. So we seek to hope and encourage you today, as our title sort of indicated that. But, um, we have the hope of forever, so we might as well encourage each other to remember that and walk in it. Anyway, I'll stop philosophizing and start praying. Let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've given us, including a job that allows time off that we're utilizing today. And we just thank you for the way it provides for us and our family. We thank you for our co-workers who are dedicated enough to, to work day in and day out to help people in the way our company helps people. And we just thank you for that, Lord. It's a big part of our life, but we don't mind walking away from it, but we don't, we don't hate it. And we recognize how it, how it work is a good thing, um, because of what it provides and because you commanded us to work. So, um, so what— we're happy to have the rest, and we're happy to recognize all of it comes from you. And so, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or, or reading today's message, that they'd be encouraged to follow you and follow their dreams, and by making goals and cleaning up what they can and finding peace in the moment, joy in the moment, because of what they can accomplish and because what you've given them. Lord, we pray for you to come alongside them in their prayer request to help them today. And as always, Lord, we pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, help us to accomplish the things you want us to accomplish. And Lord, as always, help us best represent you on the earth, because that's all we want to do. And show people, uh, the way to Jesus and, uh, the life everlasting that comes from faith in him. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.