Stewardship and How to Serve God - Purity 1561

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 a snow-covered pathway weaving its way through a forest of prodigious Adirondack pine trees comes to us from from yours truly, who captured this scene back on December 31st, 2024, while out taking a short hike at the Vermontville Recreation Park and walking trail. Well, it's Tuesday, and as much as I can appreciate the beauty of freshly fallen snow on Adirondack Trailways, I'm a little less thrilled with its presence on my driveway at my place down by the river in Stuyvesant, New York. Yesterday I arrived at River House after a 3-day weekend with my wife at our countryside home in Easton, uh, to 3 to 4, 3, 3 to 4 inches, 4 to 5 inches of the white stuff waiting for me. I initially took to the job of clearing the driveway, the shovel, with just the shovel. And even though, uh, the going was easy after I cleared the small area directly behind my house, I decided to work smarter, not harder, and decided to use the snow blower. Using the snow blower was a good idea, don't get me wrong, but after I was done, quote unquote done, using it to clear the driveway, I was dissatisfied with the several areas of the drive that the snow blower failed to clear completely, leaving behind huge patches of tightly compacted snow which needed either to be just left behind, or I could use an ice scraper or flat metalhead shovel to shake free. Fearing the cold conditions that are forecasted this week and the possibility of having a thin but slick ice coating on my driveway, and wanting to be a good steward to what God gave me, I set about the frustrating task of chiseling away at the snow patches. I probably should have played some worship music or a Christian audiobook or podcast while I worked because it didn't take long Didn't take me long to start mentally griping about the work that I was doing, and instead of words of praise and gratitude, some old familiar laments of condemnation came pouring out of my mouth, like, "I hate winter," and, "I hate my life." I quickly corrected myself, of course. I don't really hate winter. I just hate snow removal because it's work. I also don't hate my life. I love my life and what the Lord has done with it. I just get frustrated at times when I struggle with tasks in my life. Although the job of clearing the driveway took much longer than I thought it would, I got it done, or at least done enough, and I was thankful to be able to go inside the home the Lord brought me to, uh, back in 2020. I love my place down by the river, and I want to be a good steward to what I've been entrusted with. However, as much as I try to keep up on things as they arise, I can sometimes forget to do regular maintenance, which brings me to this morning. After I worked out, my furnace and blower ran through a cycle of blowing hot air, but a lot— so it stopped, you know, blowing, but a loud and persistent buzzing noise continued to emanate from my furnace. I flipped the power switch. On the unit and the buzzing stopped, but returned immediately when I turned the unit's power back on. After doing this a few times, the buzzing stopped, but the phenomenon was odd, so I wondered whether the furnace would fire up again if I raised the thermostat. It didn't, which caused me to call emergency services, you know, for the, you know, my oil company, and to schedule an appointment for today to get it checked out and cleaned. I've taken the day off from my day job to take care of what I should have taken care of before. I can't recall exactly when the furnace was serviced last, but I know it had to be prior to my wedding in 2022. So 3+ years. Yikes. Although I have had other maintenance jobs done since that time in my house, I didn't have the furnace cleaned once. Today's day off is sort of punitive. That's what I get for not being responsible. But it is also, I hope, going to be restorative. I'm not a big fan of winter or work, so I don't mind taking the day off at all, and I will try to get some rest. But I also hope it will be productive, as I plan on using the time off to get some ministry work done, my labor of love. I rarely get frustrated answering what I believe to be God's— be the Lord's purpose for my life, and understand that serving God gives me peace and joy. Speaking of serving the Lord, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion for today teaches us how to serve God, and I'm sharing it on the blog for those who— those of us who get frustrated with work, um, with the work of this world and seek a higher purpose. So Dr. Charles Stanley writes, How to Serve God. The only requirement for serving God is a willing heart. He takes care of everything else. When presented with the opportunity to serve God, how do you respond? Do you say yes, even if you're unsure? Or you put it off because your schedule is too busy, or you don't feel qualified. You're probably— you, you've probably never thought of a refusal to serve God as a type of idolatry, but oftentimes that's what it is— choosing your own wishes instead of submitting to him. The Lord desires that his children will be, will be willing to seek his specific plan for their life and take on anything he calls them to. Do. He uniquely gifts us to serve according to his will. But if we're already— if we're already decided that we can't or won't, whatever the reason, then we're acting on our own will instead of the Lord's. You may serve God as a loving parent, or as an employee who shares the gospel with his co-workers, or as a friend who listens to the hurting. No restrictions exist on what God can do through your life. The strength of his Spirit overcomes human limitations. Don't have enough courage? Don't have the right skills? God can fix that. Lay down what's holding you back. Trust that the Lord will empower you to do whatever he calls you to do. We can be certain he will properly equip and train his children for the work. Yes, we can. And, uh, I say amen. You know, let me encourage you to follow Stanley's advice. Let go of your doubts about your limitations or skill sets and offer what you have to have— what you do have— to the Lord and ask him to move you to serve his kingdom in whatever way he sends you. Our faith and service to the Lord doesn't have to be complicated or grandiose. We just have to be willing to do his will and humbly follow God into the good works that he has prepared for us to do. Our work on earth will all one day be forgotten or will fall apart, but the service we give to God never fades away and one day will be rewarded in heaven. Amen. And today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis, um, Today's— this morning's meditation verses come from the section on humility or pride. It references Deuteronomy 8:6-18, but it just shares portions of, uh, well, 11 through 12, 14, 17, and 18, where the word of God says, take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, then your heart be, be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Beware lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. Today's verses fall under the 14th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on humility and pride. And that 14th point is: God warns his people not to become proud when he blesses them with prosperity. Today's Bible verses remind us that even the work we do with our own hands is a result of what the Lord has given us, and that we shouldn't become proud or think otherwise. Those who fall— those who follow Jesus understand they are spiritually poor They need— they know they needed Jesus to save them because they understood that they couldn't atone for their own sins. But even the most faithful of Christians is still vulnerable to Satan's trap of pride. While it isn't untrue that we can be— we can do mighty works with our bodies, minds, wills, and imaginations, it is false to believe that we ever do anything all by ourselves. God has given us life and all the talents we are born with. As much as, and as much as we may think we choose our own path in life, the choices we make will never go beyond our sovereign God's plan for his creation, for he calls us into eternity and determines who will stand with Christ in his kingdom forever. So instead of being proud, be thankful for all the Lord has blessed you with and the talents and abilities he has let you utilize to benefit yourself and others. 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. It's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 60. Where Adam shares a portion of Proverbs 15:8, which says Yahweh hates the sacrifice of the wicked. And J.E. Adams writes, God is a God of love, you say, and you think that you can avoid his wrath, but you are quite mistaken. He is not some Santa Claus who divvies up out gifts to those who falsely tell him that they haven't been naughty but nice. He knows the false way of the wicked. One does not have to do notoriously bad things to be considered wicked. Wickedness is turning one's back on God's way. It is wicked to ignore God, to reject His way, to erroneously understand His word. Are you wicked? Carefully consider the matter. It is of great import. God loves. Yes, true. But God also hates—never forget it—the ways that wicked people take are varied, but in one manner or another they all lead away from God. Therefore he despises such ways. That is why he considers such ways wicked. That is why God hates them. That is why he punishes the wicked who fail to repent. How are you with God? What way are you traveling? Do you want to travel with the wicked? Wow. And that was from J.E. Adams. And as I've said, I'll say it— I've said it once and I'll say it again, um, you know, J.E. Adams' confrontational and authentic counseling style is, is like no other. You know, who else are you gonna get who asks the question, are you wicked? Like, um, what are you traveling? Do you want— do you want to travel with the wicked? Do you? You know, um, he makes no, you know, bones about it. You know, he really calls you to Christian discipleship because it's like, you know, just saying you believe in Christ and not following, you know, in the way you should go isn't going to cut it. You know, you won't be saved from the wrath of God. He wants you to repent, um, because, you know, an authentic Christian You know, that's what the word points to time and time again. It points to authentic Christianity. It points to a true disciple, an apprentice of our teacher Jesus Christ, is the people who make it into God's kingdom. Not somebody who just said, yep, I believe, and just sort of do whatever you want the rest of your life. You know, and good Christian teachers are gonna, you know, basically point you to holiness and a surrendered life. And, you know, Charles Stanley message today, How to Serve God, uh, today's message by Adam, ask, are you wicked? You know, he not only does he want you to change from your evil ways, but, um, you know, basically to go with the Lord and find your purpose in Christ. And that's why we always ask the question, you know, are you fully surrendered to God? Um, that's what repentance is about. It's one thing to make Jesus your Lord, quote unquote, you know, quote unquote, your Lord and Savior. Um, but, uh, it's another thing to follow after him and to stand for Christ. You know, we're supposed to be a light that shines the gospel everywhere we go. People are supposed to know we're Christian. There's no such thing as— unless you're in a, you know, uh, a country where persecution is extreme there's no reason to hide your faith. And even then, you know, it's sort of a test to, uh, really show your— show what you believe in. Um, but, um, you know, I, I've tried my best to follow the path of Christian discipleship, and it's made incredible changes in my life. And they all lead to the good things, you know, all the fruits of the Spirit. And it's led me to find my purpose, to, to continually broadcast the good news of freedom in Christ and, you know, the Lord. And, um, you know, it's given me a purpose. And part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Recovery support group where I'm trying to encourage people to surrender to the Lord the things that have been keeping them stuck— those hurts, habits, and hangups that don't seem to go away, those besetting sins that you can't get rid of. Um, but guess what? You can't get rid of them, but God can. And when you, you and God walk together, you can work together to take care of those things and resolve the issues of the past and all your addictions. You can be set free. You know, you don't have to struggle with this. You're always going to struggle with this is a lie from the pit of the enemy, and you don't have to struggle anymore. But you do have to follow the Lord, and you might have to come into a community of believers to get that support you need to, to do it. Um, and the community of believers I belong to is at Starpoint Church in Upstate New York. We meet on Wednesday nights, 6:30 PM, in our— in the K-3rd grade classroom at Starpoint Church. If you'd like to join our fellowship of Christian recovery and discipleship, you're invited. Um, you can go to the Starpoint Church website, the events page, click on Celebrate Freedom, and you can register. Um,, and we'll see you on Wednesday. But for those who aren't in the blessed Upstate New York, um, you could, you could, you could still benefit from, uh, my efforts, uh, here. So we're, we're— we decided this year to, to put those teachings that we do at Celebrate Freedom each week online for people to see and watch. And, um, so we're, we're putting those out there. We just put out the last the latest episode on hope, um, you know, basically last night. So now there's 4 episodes out there. Uh, the introductory episode, The ABCs of Celebrate Freedom, where we teach you how to walk in the spirit, or, you know, basically practice appreciation. You'll see, check it out. And then there's 3, the 3 lessons from Celebrate Recovery, you know, denial, powerless, and hope. So if you're in recovery or if you need somebody, know somebody who's in recovery, you can certainly share this. It's a Christian resource. And we don't make any bones about Jesus being our higher power. But you can go to YouTube and check that out on our playlist page, or you can go to mt4christ.com and our page that has all our YouTube, uh, our YouTube playlists and find it there. I just updated that yesterday. And beyond that, on our YouTube page or that page I just mentioned, you can go to, um, see other teachings we've done through the years for Victory Over the Darkness, the Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course. They're all there for you. And basically, we believe that you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of these classes, taking the knowledge and applying it to your life. So we encourage you to check those out., and if you find them helpful, we'd appreciate your support and donations, uh, basically to support our ministry costs. Um, I'm a part-time Christian life coach, but that doesn't really pay for the ministry, um, because I do a lot of this work pro bono. Um, so we, we encourage you to, um, you know, give what you feel led to. Um, basically we have the Cash App and the Venmo app, and you can also go to pay via PayPal at, uh, M.t. Clark.com on our donations page. So you can go there to do that. Um, we'd appreciate it. Beyond that, we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? And that just means, are you making yourself available? You know, instead of being busy all the time, we make ourselves available for what the Lord wants to do in our lives. And, um, so we encourage you to, uh, follow the Lord. Make yours— give the Lord some space to move in and make yourself empty for Christ. And if you're already doing that, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray because we know prayer works. And if you seek the Lord, you'll find him. Pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you. Watch what happens. Beyond that, as I said, I know prayer works, and so we're going to pray right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do for us, Lord. We thank you for the blessings you poured out on us. Even in hard times or when we struggle, we can lean on you for peace and strength. Uh, Lord, we just, um, pray for you to go before us today, lead us through our day, help us to be productive, help us to get some rest, and, um, help us to leave this, uh, Freedom in Christ course tonight online for Freedom in Christ Ministries. Um, we ask for your help in all those things, Lord. And we also ask for to help anyone who's reading or watching this message, that they'd, um, be blessed by you and that you would guide them in the way they should go. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.