The American Dream’s Failures and The Promises of God - Purity 1485

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm 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 two stone pillars in the lush green grounds at 7 Birch Hill Road, Quarryville, New York, under a cloudless blue sky. Comes to us from yours truly as I captured this view of my former home's driveway back on July 30th, 2017. As pleasant as this view may be, it doesn't really reflect the fact that this driveway, driveway was a dead end in more ways than one. As a year later, my former home became a bone of contention, contention, as my ex and I began the process dividing our property in a prolonged and somewhat bitter divorce. The American Dream's promise of happiness coming from hard work, being married with children, and having a big house proved to be a false one, as the conditions for peace and harmony weren't fully met. Well, it's Thursday, and I share this asphalt pathway photo as a cautionary tale and as an encouragement to get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship, because the only promises you can count on in this life are God's precious promises. And the only way to peace and harmony come from being reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. The thing about the American dream is that there is a lot of truth to its promises of happiness stemming from hard work and forming a nuclear family of your own, But the problem is that many people choose to pursue its promise without having God in their life, and happiness becomes subject to good circumstances, the accumulation of material possessions, and everyone having their individual desires met. Without God, we can't— we really can't have peace, and we tend to be unforgiving and selfish, and And when we live that way long enough, we tend to become dissatisfied as our human relationships and our material possessions were never intended to make us complete. Colossians 2:8-10 tells us, don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and the spiritual powers of this world. Rather, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. We are complete through our union with Christ, not by the things we possess or accomplish in this world. So rather than listening to the empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense of this world and what they promise, we need to seek to know the Lord's ways and pursue and receive his precious promises. Speaking of the promises of God, yesterday's In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley's devotional addressed the topic, and I'm sharing it on the blog today because it provides some real wisdom about how we can discern if something is promised by God or not. Um, Charles Stanley writes, The Promises of God. How do we know which part of God's word applies to our current situation? God made many promises in the Bible, but there is a confusion among— there is confusion among Christians about which verses we can claim as a definite commitment from him. 3 questions are useful in determining whether divine promises apply to our personal situation. Number 1: Is this promise limited to a specific individual or circumstance, or does it apply to all believers? For example, the pledge made to Abraham and Sarah about the birth of their child in Genesis 18:10 is restricted to them. But Hebrews 13:5 contains a guarantee to all Christians that Jesus will be with them forever. Number 2, are we asking the Lord to meet a need or a desire? A need is something that we must have in order for God to complete his work in our life. A desire is something we want for satisfaction. Number 3, Before, before fulfilling a promise, does God require some action on your part? Proverbs 3:5-6 is a conditional promise which pledges God's direction on the basis of our trust in him. On the other hand, Jesus's assurance of his presence with believers is unconditional. It does not depend on anything we do. By evaluating scripture on the basis of these questions, we're able to know which promises apply to our circumstances.. And remember, as 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley. Uh, I love this message because it intelligently addresses how this thing works, this thing being our faith. As followers of Christ, what can we expect to receive? Stanley's response shows us that the answer is not everything I want, or even everything the other men of God have received. Some of God's promises are for all believers, and some things that happen in scripture were for those individuals and their circumstances and weren't repeated. So if we seek to follow the Lord's will for our lives, we have to be disciples, students of God's word. To rightly discern what we can expect as we walk in faith. Good news is that in Christ we all receive a new and eternal life. We can rest with Jesus and rejoice, but our purpose and our continued freedom in Christ is dependent on our choices and actions. Will you seek God's will, and will you step out in faith to follow it? The promises of God are yes in Christ, but receiving the blessings may require our saying yes and putting action behind our intentions. God is faithful. We know this. The question is, will I be? Say yes and see how the promises of God manifest in your life. Today's Bible verse, uh, comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on friendships, and today's verse is Proverbs 22:24 from the New American Standard Bible. The word of God says, do not associate with a man given to anger or go with a hot-tempered man. Today's verse falls under the fifth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on friendships, and that fifth point is don't make friends with a hot-tempered man. Today's Bible verse warns us not to associate with angry people or people with hot tempers, and the following verse tells us why. Proverbs 22:25 says, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself. We are influenced by the relationships we have, and if we associate with angry people, we run the risk of becoming angry or hot-tempered ourselves. Last night at Celebrate Freedom, I shared a story of how as a youth I would do things that were out of character for myself with a misguided idea that it would help me to fit in, be accepted. So I would act like my friends acted, but because their poor behaviors didn't come naturally to me, uh, I would invariably take a bad example and push it to extremes, usually with disastrous effects. So if you hang out with angry people, you'll eventually seek to be accepted by them by being an angry person yourself. And find a snare for yourself, as your anger will result in negative consequences or develop into attitudes and actions that become the new you. Um, your anger can, you know, become a bondage born of habit. So don't make friends with hot-tempered men or women. Instead, seek to be like our best friend, Jesus, the Prince of Peace. 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, and where we offer our Christian life coaching teachings and, you know, services. Let's see, and but today we're sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of Scripture Today's chapter is Revelation 6, and from that chapter he shares from a portion of verse 9, uh, which says, those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And Stephen Alfred writes, how true this has been right down through the ages, and it is yet to be repeated. Men and women of God who have turned the world right side up have suffered at the hands of their persecutors to the point of death. Notice, they were slain for the word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away, said the Lord Jesus. The word of God, nothing but that. Oh, to be a defender of this precious word. Slain also for their testimony. What testimonies they will have. Nothing superficial, testimonies born of a real experience of God. And Alfred ends by praying, Lord, grant me grace and strength, uh, should this ever be my calling. Meanwhile, may my testimony be of a real experience of God. Amen. Amen. Yeah, after you follow Christ, occasionally you get the feeling that, you know, if you follow him long enough, you might be martyred for your faith. You know, if you go into the mission field, you know, even on a part-time mission trip when you're in the Third World or in, you know, different places that you're not familiar with, there's no guarantee you're coming back alive. So there's that. And with radical Islam, you know, beheading Christians, you know, we have to— you know, persecution hasn't gone away. And I believe the statistics basically would point out that persecuted— there's more Christians being persecuted today than there were in the past. So just because we might be safe in our Western cultures, um, you know, it doesn't mean that, uh, Christians are safe. Um, people hate, hate, hate, you know, people hate Christians. And, um, you know, we, we may have to— we may be called to stand witness and, and be brought to our death, uh, because of our faith. And, uh, you know, when you think about that, it's like, Lord, give me the strength to just speak the truth and stand in my faith even if it cost me my life. Um, and in the meantime, let my testimony be that I have a real experience with God because I'm actively following him and trying to do his will on the earth and share the gospel and, uh, to build his kingdom, to, you know, encourage people to, to put their faith in Jesus and to follow him, to represent the kingdom and to do their kingdom work, you know. Um, it's our purpose in life. And as we pointed out, the precious promises, some of those promises are dependent, like your freedom in Christ. You know, you've been set free from sin and death. And so, you know, we get eternal life. And so death has lost its sting. But that sin thing, you know, you have to choose to repent and turn away from your sin. You know, recently I've been listening to— I was listening to Brendan Manning's autobiography, All is grace, or all for grace. But, um, you know, basically he was the, you know, person who came up with a ragamuffin gospel, right? That God loves us all no matter what, even if you're, you know, constantly falling into sin. And it's true, that's the truth of grace. God does love you when you come to him, and he'll accept you as you are. But, you know, the pain of the sin that you suffer and the consequences of the you know, of your sin. God doesn't want you to suffer, you know, and you getting free of that suffering means repenting and turning from it forever and leaning on the Lord. It's one thing to lean on his salvation, it's another thing to lean on the Lord for victory and, you know, freedom. Um, and it's a condition, you know, it's a conditional promise. You can have it, you know, because the son who the son sets free is free indeed, but you must pursue it and go after it. And that's the reason why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? God loves you just the way you are, but, you know, let's face it, if you're living in darkness, he doesn't want— he doesn't want you living that way. He wants you to, you know, come into his light to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit. So we encourage people to fully surrender to God. And, you know, it could be martyrdom, or, or it could mean, you know, ministry. Like in my case, I've been blessed with the Celebrate Freedom support group with Starpoint Church, uh, where we, um, lead people to understand that ragamuffin gospel, that they are loved by God, but where we actively encourage them to live a Christian life and turn from their sin and turn from those hurts, habits, and hang-ups and ask Jesus to help you. And we know when you are faithful to follow the Lord, he's faithful to help you, and, um, he can lead you out of the darkness. And so if that's your situation and you're in Upstate New York, um, and can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night, we encourage you to, you know, join us at our fellowship for Christian Recovery and Discipleship to, you know, learn how to live as a Christian, not just to believe and wait for heaven, but to experience the kingdom of God right here on earth by walking in the Spirit. And, you know, we have another opportunity coming up, basically beyond our, you know, in-person meeting. We've been moved to offer Grace for the Holidays, an online teaching and support group that'll be meeting online Monday night, 6:30 PM. Eastern Time. Um, it's on Zoom, so wherever you are, if you're hearing this message, I believe the Lord has called you to hear it because, let's face it, the audience isn't that big. And, uh, if you got this message, it's usually because the Lord puts you in front of this message, and, um, you know, he invites you to act on it. So go to mtforchrist.com, look for the group events teaching page or whatever it's called. Um, it's on there, um, and you'll find Grace for the Holidays, and you can, you know, send me your information to to sign up. Um, the cost is $60. Basically, it's $10 for 6 weeks of teaching and fellowship, um, just to support the ministry, uh, cost that I do. Um, it's not tax deductible. Um, I haven't been— I didn't form a ministry where I'm tax deductible yet. Um, it's just part of my Christian Life Coaching business, and, um, that just pays, you know, the business basically pays for the stuff that, uh, I do, um, for the, you know, software and, uh, you know, my ministry efforts, um, basically. So, um, it's, it's a non-for-profit business, or at least it will be this first year, but after that we'll hope to turn things around anyway. Um, beyond those two offerings, if you're too shy to meet even in public, you know, even online in Zoom, Um, you can still find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes that are on the M.t. Clark Christ 24/7, um, uh, YouTube channel. Uh, there you under playlist you'll find the Bondage Breaker, Victory Over Darkness, Freedom in Christ, Celebrate Freedom Discipleship, uh, and a whole bunch of different playlists basically of Christian materials from different ministries that I believe will encourage you. And give you knowledge and, uh, you know, encourage you in your faith. So we invite you to go to the YouTube channel and check out our playlist. Um, you know, instead of watching entertainment, you can, you know, be educated and encouraged, um, by, by me or by, uh, other Christian theologians and counselors, as we say. Um, so that's that. And, uh, we always end by asking, are you empty for Christ too? Have you emptied yourself to allow the Holy Spirit to come in and guide your life? If you have, we say keep on walking and talking with God. And if not, we encourage you to pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you and for you to make that commitment to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. When you pray, things happen. And that's why we pray, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you. For another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done for us, Lord, for leading us out of the darkness, from taking us out of bad relationships, and to, you know, to experience peace, um, Lord, and, um, meaning and purpose, uh, through your— through our faith in Jesus. Um, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today and guide us in the way we should go. Um, show us the things we need to say and and, um, help us, Lord. And we also pray for anyone listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, because we all need your help, Lord, and, um, we're asking for it today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.