That Looks Like a Good Experience! Trust and Follow Him. Purity 728

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 an outcropping of rock and a tree that resembles a cross in the foreground of a fantastic view of a forest and mountains in the distance comes to us from a friend who spent Monday evening hiking at the Wilson M. Powell Wildlife Sanctuary in Old Chatham, New York. Where they stated they enjoyed a short hike with amazing views that built their appetite for dinner at nearby Jackson's Old Chatham House. Well, it's Wednesday, and I figured my friend's photo with that outcropping of rock, mountains in the distance, and a cross— cross-like tree smack dab in the middle of the photo was more than an adequate symbolic representation— representation of hump day, or the midpoint of the work week, and what is to be the center of our lives. My friend's recommendations also are representative of what I try to do here on the blog and podcast, while it, uh, which is to provide encouragement and advice to anyone who will listen on how to have a life that is rich in meaning, purpose, and peace. While I have never been to the wildlife sanctuary in Old Chatham, New York, or to Jackson's, uh, to eat, I am now very open to the idea of something I was not aware of. I trust what my friend says is true, and now it is up to me to decide whether or not I will go and see for myself if the views at the wildlife sanctuary are amazing and if Jackson's is a good place to eat. This wonder and curiosity about my friend's experience and my consideration of whether or not I should follow in their footsteps is a microcosm of our entire lives. As we go through this earth, we gather information about people, places, and things, and we are challenged to accept or reject the inherent invitation that the information provides. Is this experience for me? Will I enjoy it? Will this experience benefit me in some way? Is it an experience that is worth my time and efforts? As we go through life, we will gather all types of information from various sources about various experiences. Whether or not we choose to accept the inherent invitation that the information provides is whether or not we feel we can trust that the experience is something that will provide some benefit, and if we can trust the source of the information. Imagining that something is worthwhile or could be beneficial to us is one thing. We can imagine all types of experiences that could provide us with some benefit and theory. The list of possible destinations and activities out there are practically endless, but the decision to test your theory based on the information you have obtained and actually deciding to put it into, into practice is another thing. We have to agree the experience is good, have to agree we want to do it, and then finally trust the information enough to actually plan for and to do the activity or go to the place. Can we trust the information? Now, whether or not I or you decide to follow my friend's footsteps is a risk. Maybe my friend's idea of a short hike, amazing views, and what is presumably good food will not coincide with our ideas. Or maybe the circumstances of when we decide to follow our friend's advice will be different from when they experienced it. The thing is, we will never never know unless we try, and that our stepping out with hope but without knowing for certain is faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." All of our lives are faithful. We are constantly stepping out in faith, hoping for certain outcomes that we can't be certain of. To make life less chaotic, we usually base our decisions on what we will step out into on trustworthy information. And can I tell you that there is absolutely no one we can trust more than Jesus Christ? While I can tell you about my experiences about walking in the Spirit and following the path of Christian discipleship, you may not trust me. If you knew me before I came to Christ, I wouldn't blame you for being hesitant to follow in my footprints. Footsteps. But I am not telling you to follow in my exact footsteps. I am merely suggesting that you follow the One who is faithful and true, and who works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I am encouraging all who hear me speak or that read the words that I write to trust in the Lord God Almighty and to follow the One who He sent to teach us and to save us. Jesus Christ, who said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." We could all use rest for our souls. Jesus also said in Matthew 16:24-25, "If anyone desires to come after me," Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In Christ our lives are saved, as faith in him produces a new and eternal life. Jesus also said in John 8:12, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Christ leads us out of the darkness into a life of goodness and light. And finally, Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Rest, life, light, and freedom—these are the things that you will find if you decide to trust the information that Christ has given us. I can honestly testify that this experience of a life of faith in Jesus Christ, of walking in the Spirit, of following the path of Christian discipleship, is an experience that will benefit you. It is an experience that you can enjoy. It is an experience that has meaning. It is an experience that has purpose. And it just so happens that this experience simply does not end. But I don't want you to take my word for it. Instead, I invite you to consider the information that has been faithfully passed on since the time that Jesus walked the earth by others that knew that what Jesus said was true. I invite you to read more of the words of Jesus that you can find in the Bible and to investigate its claims. But after you gather the information, it is my prayer that you will decide to step out in faith and follow where the Lord will lead you. It is a process, an experience that begins with trust and results in life everlasting and abundant joy. So trust the information I have passed along. I have found it to be true, but I have also discovered that its true value is not realized unless we apply it to our lives by living it out day by day. Start or keep walking and talking with God and you too can share in the joy of passing along the information that can lead others to rest, life, light, and freedom. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verses are Psalm 18:24-25, and they say, the Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence. To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. Today's Bible verse encourages us that the Lord will reward our efforts to follow him. A parallel verse to today's verse, in my opinion, would be James 4:10, which says, Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. When we humble ourselves and start following the Lord by applying his wisdom to our lives, Or as today's verse says, we start doing right, the Lord will reward us. He will lift us up. The psalmist states that the— that, that God will, will see our innocence, meaning, uh, our pure and honest decision to turn from our sin and follow his righteous ways. God sees our hearts, so it's not about outward appearances or surface-level obedience. God sees our sincerity, and the psalmist indicates that we are— that when we are faithful to follow God, God will be faithful to us. He will reward us if we walk in integrity. God will show his integrity and make good on the promises that he makes in his word. The Lord, through the prophet Ezekiel, said in Ezekiel 18:21-22, But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all my statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him. Because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. This Old Testament scripture shows us that God has always wanted us to follow him and that he would be merciful to those who did. And he sent Jesus, uh, Jesus Christ to restate that desire and to seal our salvation. In Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins and the promise of a new and eternal life, but God still calls us to walk in his ways, to follow him. And today's verse echoes the promise that when we do right, we will be rewarded. So do right, be faithful, have integrity, because when you do, God will show you his faithfulness. His integrity, and you will be rewarded. 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 John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and today we conclude chapter 6 of his— of that book with the two sections Making Others Glad in God is is a massive thing. And what then should we do? So if you want to know what we should do, or how to make people glad in God, go to mtforchrist.org and see what John Piper has to say about that. As always, I encourage people to follow the Lord. I intended to write something completely different when I sat down, and, you know, a photo my friend's experience changed the course of today's message. I was just going to write about, you know, the good time I had at Bible class last night, you know, basically, and how I was encouraged by my brothers and sisters in Christ just for them being there and, you know, all of us being on the same course to follow the Lord. So, you know, that's basically what I was going to say, and then this whole thing took it took a life of its own. And that's what happens when we walk in the Spirit, when we decide to follow God. We don't know where it's going to go, but we can be assured that it's, it's going to be interesting and that it's, uh, that it will lead to our good. It is a beneficial experience. And so we encourage people to walk on the path of Christian discipleship, because when we put our faith in Christ and decide to live our lives according to what he would have us do, things are good. Um, so we, we encourage that by sharing our discipleship classes that we taught in 2021 on our podcast and our YouTube channel. Um, for those classes, of course, are, uh, Walk, uh, Walk, uh, Victory in the Darkness, uh, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. And, uh, they're all available for your listening enjoyment. And if you ever wanted the printed materials, you can contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com to receive them free of charge. Via email. Um, and obviously all this is, you know, all these scriptures I shared today, obviously we're into, uh, the Bible, we're into the truth of the word and, you know, applying it to our lives. So we encourage Bible study, and we do that by sharing our Bible study that we do once a week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti. That's a topical study where we just talk about various things, um, of the things of God and, uh, how and how— what scripture has to say about that and what we think about it. That's how we'd examine our faith and apply it to our lives. So if you want to listen to one of our Bible studies, um, you know, you can go to the podcast or the YouTube channel to check them out. Um, the Zoom video sessions that we've been releasing— that we started— that we've been recently releasing since Easter, um, uh, are being rolled out little by little. We do a live, uh, you know, well, we don't do a live— nothing's live, everything's recorded. Um, but, but our most recent, uh, Bible study was done on Sunday. And, uh, every Wednesday I'm releasing, uh, an old Zoom video Bible study that we did. Um, this week's message that's released today is repentance. So if you want to check out that and, you know, not only listen to it but see see us speak about it, um, go to the YouTube channel and you'll see, um, that Bible study with the Zinkatis for repentance that was done back in January. So we encourage you to check this— all this stuff out, and most importantly, just to sort of walk out your own path to wherever the Lord leads you. As long as you stay true to follow him, you know you're going in the right direction, and you don't have to necessarily step into my footsteps. That I walked in. It was a long— it was a long journey to get here, and I don't— I don't need you to go all the way back there. No, you start where you— you start where you find yourself, and you go in the way the Lord will lead you. Anyway, today is only Wednesday. That means most of us have to work, so let's pray because we could all use whatever help comes from the Lord in prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for the good things you've given us, and we thank you for the challenging things we had to, you know, walk through to bring us to, you know, recognize your truth and your goodness and to give us a heart to follow you all the days of our lives. Lord, we thank you for faithful men and women who have joined us on this, you know, or were there before us on this path of Christian discipleship. We thank you for their, their example and their encouragements, and we thank you for the people listening, uh, or reading this message today. Um, Lord, we pray for them. We pray for you to reward them as your word says. Reward them with blessings, reward them with healing, reward them with insights, reward them with the anointing of the Spirit that will empower their lives to turn from the things that trip them up and to step into the good experiences that you have for them that come from a life of faith. And, um, Lord, we just, we just pray for you to go before us today, to open our eyes to, um, to, to the beauty that's out there and to the things we have to do and the things we need to know, um, for today. Um, Lord, we, we, we thank you for your guidance that, that you've given us. We thank you for setting things up for, for us in advance because we know you're a sovereign God and everything that's good isn't a coincidence. It just happens to be you laying a path for us. So let us, let us be diligent to follow in your ways and help us to, um, you know, to represent you here on the earth with the things we say and the things we do. Lord, we thank you so much for being with us, for loving us, and for saving us, and for making us new every day. Um, Lord, we, we thank you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.