Suffering and Peace Beyond Comprehension - Purity 1522

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 what I am calling a river goes out to sea sunset comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this vacation view on social media back on October 21st, 2020. If this photo is yours, give us a heads up and we'll photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Friday and thank God. And while I am not looking forward to a workday with a high of 27 degrees in the forecast because I work outside, I am going to the end of the— I am looking forward to the end of the day when I will be reunited with the love of my life, my wifey, Tammy Lynn. And as much as I'm looking forward to being reunited, my heart is heavy because Tammy Lynn suffered a serious calf strain or muscle pull earlier this week that has her in pain and with limited mobility. So there's no possibility of a Dora and Diego-esque Tammy Lynn and M.t. journey of exploration this weekend, as Tammy Lynn and I will be waiting for her healing to come. This is a hard situation. I don't like to see my wife suffer, and I will be going to the Lord in prayer for her healing until she is back on her feet again. I've already been praying. Uh, just thinking of her in pain, uh, uh, makes my heart heavy. Um, but because I know the Lord is sovereign, I'm aware that these trials come into our lives for a reason. Perhaps to humble us and realize just how dependent we are on his grace and mercy. You know, God is the healer, and so we pray and wait for him to bring it. These trials can upset us, but when we know God is for us and with us, we can find peace even in hard circumstances. We trust the Lord. We— when we trust the Lord, we can have peace that goes beyond our comprehension. Speaking of peace that goes beyond our comprehension, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional for today addresses that topic, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us all to find God's peace when going— when the going gets rough. And Dr. Charles Stanley writes, peace beyond comprehension. When anxious, feeling anxious, share your concerns with God to receive his peace in your mind and heart. The Apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Philippians from a prison cell. Though his situation was dire, true inner tranquility was available. Paul knew that giving his concerns over to God would result in the peace which surpasses all comprehension. From a human perspective, having a quiet spirit in a storm of trouble doesn't make any sense. We're supposed to become anxious. It's only natural. But our God is supernatural, and he is living inside us in the form of the Holy Spirit, so we can remain peaceful. No matter what trying circumstances may challenge our faith, peace grounded in Jesus Christ cannot be broken. With the Father's omnipotent hand protecting and providing for us, what reason do we have to be afraid or fretful? We must keep our eyes and our faith focused upon the Lord. As Isaiah writes, this steadfast of mine you will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3. We live in a world of conflict and often find ourselves suffering heartache. It's easy to become fixated on a situation and how it has disrupted our life, but peace comes from choosing to trust that God will bring about a resolution in his time and in his way. That is from Dr. Charles Stanley, and I say amen. When situations go south, if we are not careful, we can be ruled by our emotions and even claim that having negative mind states and reacting to them is all right. But that's all wrong. Uh, Jesus said that he gave his disciples peace— my peace I give you— and rather than losing our peace during per— peace during difficult times. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in us gives us the power to experience a peace that goes beyond all understanding. But there is a catch. We have to abide in Christ. We have to trust that God is with us and that he will help us. While we can and should do everything we can to help our situations through work and wisdom, we should accept that some things are beyond our control. And will require time to be resolved. Some bad situations must be endured, but it doesn't mean we have to lose our peace. God is the only one who can give us peace, and when we follow him and walk in the Spirit, we may be shaken, but we can find and continually return to God's supernatural peace. This requires a relationship with the Lord. And intimate dependence, where we recognize our need for him, his help, and his love. So when tough, tough times come, take a breath and say a prayer. Ask God to be with you and to help you, and trust that he will. You may have to wait on God, but you can have peace as you wait when you keep on walking and talking with him. Today's Bible verses come to us from this Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on homosexuality, and today's verses are Jude 6 and 7 from the NIV, where the word of God says, and the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling, these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. 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 homosexuality. And that fourth point is: the example of Sodom and Gomorrah is given as a warning for people of all ages. God holds homosexuals fully accountable for their sin. Today's Bible verses speaks about the Genesis 6 reference of angels having sex with humans who are imprisoned awaiting the final judgment, and the sexual sin of Sodom and Gomorrah being equally detestable and worthy of eternal fiery punishment. While all sin will be dealt with by God, we should recognize, uh, from these verses that sex is considered a gift given by God that is intended to be enjoyed only within a covenant marriage between one man and one woman. And when we violate God's plan for sex, there will be literal hell to pay. But the good news is that God made a way for our sin debt to be paid—faith in Jesus Christ. And when we repent of our sexual sin and trust in Jesus, we can escape the fires of hell. Sin is not to be taken lightly, and sexual sin is repeatedly warned against in the Bible as something that could keep us out of God's kingdom. So don't take sexual sin casually. Seek sexual purity and encourage others to go to Jesus for forgiveness and God for the strength and wisdom to be pure. 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. Um, today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional We're on day 21 where Adam shares Proverbs 21:2, which says, every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs hearts. And J.E. Adams writes, how true it is that we don't really know how to evaluate ourselves. We are so good at justifying our words, thoughts, and actions that we may— we become masters of self-deception. That is one reason for attending church, reading the Bible, or listening to the kindly rebuke of a We need to be awakened to the possibility that we fall far short of the image we present to our own eyes. Surely you recognize the problem. You need the eyes of the Lord with which to see yourselves as you truly are. He is the one who reads hearts. You have no such right or ability. Then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart you know, for you alone know the hearts of the sons of men. That's from 2 Chronicles 6:30. And Adams concludes by writing, that is why the reading and preaching of God's word alone will enable you to see yourself rightly. With whose eyes do you view yourself? Self-evaluation is usually self-deception. And that was from J.E. Adams. And yeah, yeah, I'm doing pretty good. Yeah, I'm just, just fine. Well, you know, a lot of people think they're just fine, but they defy the word of God. And, you know, that's not fine. As our Bible verses pointed out today, that, you know, sexual sin, which our modern society doesn't even— some people don't even think there is sin. And sexual sin, you know, isn't a thing either. And, um, but the Bible says something completely different, uh, about our sexual lives. We're to be married and to one, one, one spouse, uh, men with women, women with men. And, um, we're not to deviate from that. We're not supposed to have sex by ourselves. We're not supposed to have sex with others, uh, people other than our wives. And we're not supposed to have sex with people of the same sex. Um, all those things are clearly, uh, shown to be sin in the Bible. And, um, when we, when we, when we deceive ourselves, um, by thinking we can, you know, judge life for ourselves and come up with our own standard of living, we're, we're just, you know, we're, we're far from God and we're in danger of, um, eternal punishment. So we, we recommend, uh, faith in Jesus Christ and, uh, following his will only. And, uh, that is why we always ask the question, have you, Felisa surrender to God. You know, A.W. Tozer said, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And I agree, but I, I, but I say what we do with God's word says about— what we do with what God's word says about us is the most important thing about us. Like, we actually have to believe it and apply it to our lives. We have to surrender to it and live by it. And when we do that, we discover a whole new life, that we can be free of the sins of the flesh and we can have a meaning and a purpose for our lives, and we can have hope and joy even in hard times. Um, and one of the things that happens when you follow the Lord, he gives you a purpose. Part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which meets on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. And I've seen great healing there, you know, healing and transformation come, and growth. Um, so we invite anybody from upstate New York and get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night to join our fellowship. You know, you can go to the Starpoint Church website to register for a group, or you can just show up. We're in the K-3rd grade classroom every Wednesday. See, and also, if, uh, if the— if you need it and you can't get to Clifton Park, gentlemen, uh, we have a men's group that we're doing online currently, a support group called Grace for the Holidays. Is, uh, I'm currently leading men through the Grace course, which is 6 weeks of, uh, Christian teaching, um, and, uh We're, we're doing that through Christmas, and so we'll be meeting for 3 more times: the 9th, 16th, and 23rd. Um, and if you'd like to join our fellowship and see the previous teachings, you can join by going to mt4christ.com and going to our group coaching events page to register. Beyond that, we're looking forward to the new year. In 2025, we are doing another Freedom in Christ course for Freedom in Christ Ministries, and that one you go to ficm.org and register. Registration is closing soon, as in next Tuesday or Monday, so you have to register now to be part of the classes that are being available, made available by Freedom in Christ Ministries. There's the men's group that I'm teaching on Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM Eastern, but there are many other classes available to men and women available at ficm.org. Anyway, you can check those out. Beyond that, we offer the teachings that we've done online, uh, for Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and Celebrate Freedom Discipleship Course. They're all on our YouTube playlist page. Also, you can go to mtforchrist.com and find a page dedicated to our YouTube playlist if you want to find them a little easier, because we have a lot of playlists on our YouTube playlist page, not just of our own stuff but also of other Christian theologians and things that we found helpful. So we invite you to check out our playlist page on MT for Christ 247 YouTube channel today. Beyond that, we end every podcast by asking the question, are you empty for Christ too? And what does that mean? It just means, have you made yourself available for the infilling and leading of the Holy Spirit in your life? If so, we say awesome. Keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray, uh, pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you and, uh, pray to make Jesus your Lord and Savior and to follow him. Um, because we know, um, although the results are not always immediate, uh, we know that prayer works and, uh, God hears us. But we— he likes to hear our prayers, so we should pray, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we pray for healing for my wife Tammy Lynn. Um, we're waiting on that, uh, Lord, patiently. Uh, we're also calling for you to be with us today as we go into the world, uh, that might be a little chilly. Um, we pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom, Lord. We definitely need help with that. And Lord, while you're at it, we're also praying for anyone, um, who's reading or listening to today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests, Lord. Um, they need your help too. And we know you're a good, good Father, and you help those that receive prayer for them. So, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.