The Sadness of Sin and the Freedom of Letting Go - Purity 1458

Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 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 pleasant blue skies filled with 12 hot air balloons over the crowds of people gathered to watch them take flight comes to us from yours truly as I captured the scene Saturday afternoon at the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, New York for the Adirondack Balloon Festival. Well, it's Monday, and while I have to admit that the balloon festival provided the thrills of seeing the skies filled with colorful, colorful and creatively decorated balloons, any sense of inspiration or freedom that may have been experienced from partaking of the experience would be short-lived as the Spectacle of the balloon displays was over in a matter of a couple of hours or so, and it was compromised by the realization of the lack of freedom you had at the event as you were confined to the unshaded confines of an airport runway. The vendor displays offered nothing more than your typical county fair, perhaps with slightly inflated prices, and a significant portion of the multitudes gathered for the event seemed to be in obvious bondage to the world, flesh, and the devil. Cue The Doors' People Are Strange and imagine people afflicted with obesity, drug addiction, and sexual immorality, and you'll get the idea. Oh, and add scores of naughty, spoiled, crying, or barely controlled children because it's fun for the whole family. Uh, if you want to know what to expect, it's, uh, basically a county fair for balloons. Uh, don't get me wrong, uh, the balloons were cool to see, and I even suppose that seeing it in person is an experience that you may want to add to your bucket list. Uh, I'm glad my wife suggested it, but now that it is done, I don't necessarily have to do it again. Unfortunately, walking in the spirit makes you highly sensitive to the spiritual forces of darkness and the darkness of other people's sins and bondage. When I go to a mass gathering like the Balloon Festival or a county fair, I am not angry or disgusted by the depths of depravity that are so commonplace and celebrated in our modern society as I am saddened or creeped out by it. When I see people in bondage to their sins and enamored with the entertainment of the world, I remember how blind I was and lost and lost and come into touch with the truth that the vast majority of people in the world don't know the truth about God. Desperately need Jesus and seem to be far from hope. When I see people in bondage, I thank God for setting me free, but it makes me sad that so many are lost and will reject God and undoubtedly suffer greatly for doing so. So I pray for the lost and petition the Lord with prayer to help them to follow Jesus and find their freedom. Likewise, even among professing Christians, the bondage to sin and darkness can be great. So I pray for all of us who have found Jesus to continue to follow him, to discover the new abundant life of freedom that he has for us in all the areas of our lives. Um, recently I've realized that I haven't made progress with a couple of my battles— food addiction and obsessively purchasing media for myself like I wanted to— um, but have moved, been moved by the Holy Spirit to repent and to start a quote-unquote cultural revolution of sorts with how I operate in those areas. I feel the conviction to press in and make a change. And right now, I believe that letting go and letting God in these areas has the potential to make a major breakthrough in these areas. And so I begin this work week with the enthusiasm of knowing I'm headed in the right direction, and then the Lord is with me. And, uh, today's In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional speaks about the freedom that comes from letting go, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage all of us to trust God to help us to find new freedom in our lives. And, uh, Dr. Charles Stanley writes, Freedom of Letting Go. Our Heavenly Father is interested in every detail of our life. If we want him to work in a particular area— relationships, finances, vocations, habits, or something else— We must be willing to let go and give whatever he asks of us. We may think we have no attachments that come between us and the Lord, but he knows our heart. Ask him to guide you and help you to come to a place of being able to say, Lord, that's what you desire, I commit it to you. You have the right to claim it at any time, so it's yours right now. It's difficult to be completely obedient if we're holding on to something too tightly. The Lord wants us to be attached exclusively to him. You may have multitudes of things that God has blessed you with, but the moment any of it has a hold on you, his work in your life will be blocked. But when you open your hands, gripping nothing, the Holy Spirit's power can unimpeded flow, unimpeded through you, uh, then you will be able to experience freedom. If there— is there anything you feel you could never give up? Seriously consider whether it holds you captive. Release that relationship, possession, or situation to the Lord right now so he can give you the freedom you've been craving. That was from our good friend Dr. Charles Stanley, and I say amen. You know, this message from Stanley strikes at the heart of what freedom is all about— surrender. I go by M.t. Clark because I experienced freedom in letting go of all the things that held me in bondage. I emptied myself to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to do his will and to finally let go of the things I was a slave to. When we decided to follow the Lord, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, exposing the things we should let go of. When we refuse, we quench the Spirit. When we give it to God, we can be free. As we continue walking with God, this process continues. There is more to give to God and more freedom available to us all when, when we do so. Um, let the Holy Spirit show you the way to your next victory and tear down the walls to your next breakthrough. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruz. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on the forgiveness of sins, and today's verse is Acts 4:12, which says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Today's verse is the first of two passages of scripture that fall under the 32nd point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sins. The 32nd point is: Jesus is the only one through whom you can be saved and enjoy the forgiveness of sins. Today's Bible verse reminds us of our power source. The one and only true higher power by which we can be forgiven, saved, and changed. There is no other name by which we can be saved. It is in Christ alone that I ever found the peace of forgiveness and the joy of life transformation. Unlike the self-help, uh, help efforts that can have a measure of success to make changes in the terra firma, Jesus gives us a new and eternal life. He takes away our guilt and shame through the forgiveness of our sins. And gives us the Holy Spirit to lead us into more truth and holiness. So if you don't know Jesus, say a prayer to have God reveal the truth to you. And if you see how he is unlike anyone else and how his life has impacted the entire world because he is the Son of God and God the Son, put your faith in him as Lord and Savior and experience for yourself the forgiveness and new life that comes from Christ alone. 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 According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And today's, uh, chapter that he— Alford points us to is Hebrews 13. And from Hebrews 13, he shares a portion of verse 6, which says The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. And Stephen Alford writes, what an encouraging verse this is. Solomon says the fear of man brings a snare. Proverbs 29:25. How true this is. Bondage to men because of fear is one of the greatest snares in a Christian's life. But this need not be if the heart is in the experience of this verse. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? Hebrews 13:6. Oh, that I may enter into the practical experience of this verse, that I may be delivered from the fear of man. It would almost seem that Timothy suffered from the same things, for Paul writes to him, stir up the gifts of God, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. 2 Timothy 1:6-8. And finally, Stephen Alford prays, the Lord is my helper. Amen. Amen. Yeah, what can, what can mere men do to us? Much. Um, you know, my pastor actually preached on the fact that men could kill the body, but they couldn't, you know, send your soul to hell. So they can, they can do up to that. They can hurt us and kill us, but the Lord holds us for all eternity, and he strengthens us. And the relationship that we get with God through faith in Jesus Christ, that the forgiveness of sin and that the peace and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that, you know, reveals the truth to us, um, you know, points us to a new life and makes us realize that we don't need to fear anything, that God will help us. And, um, you know, when we— it does require a surrender. Um, we have, you know, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, so we have to follow him. And, uh, when we walk with him, he shows us, um, the good abundant life that he has for all of us. And usually has us turn away from the world and its fleshly ways of living and the sins of the flesh, um, that we're in bondage to. But, um, it's a new life, and it's, it's a good life, uh, in Christ. And that's why we do the blog and the podcast and the ministries that we do, um, you know. And that's why we ask the question, um, have you fully surrendered to God, you know? A.W. Tozer once said, you know, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. But I challenge that and say what we do with what God's word says about us is the most important thing about us. So we can think about our faith, but, uh, if it doesn't move us to action, to surrender to the Lord, to let go and, uh, do live according to his word, um, we won't, we won't experience the abundant life that, you know, that's possible through Christ. And when we surrender, we, we begin to experience the fruit of the Spirit in our life. And usually the Lord gives us a purpose too. In my case, he's— one of the things he's given me to do is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. If you're in upstate New York and can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night, you're invited to come and join our fellowship for recovery, Christian recovery and discipleship. Where we basically teach you how to walk in the Spirit, to know who you are in Christ, and to live according, you know, according to faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. And, uh, if you're not in Upstate New York, we believe that the message of the Gospel and the freedom message, freedom in Christ message, can impact your life for good. We believe that you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes. And so we have playlists on YouTube for the Bondage Breaker, Victor Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course to, to give you good teaching and to possibly inspire, you know, you to, to act on your faith, to live by faith, uh, to resolve the spiritual conflicts of the past and to move into your freedom. So we invite you to check those out on YouTube. And always we ask, um, are you empty for Christ too? Have you surrendered? Um, if so, keep on walking and talking with God. And if not, we just say, uh, you know, a new life begins with a prayer. Um, a prayer to make Jesus your Lord and Savior and a decision to, to follow him into, uh, the new life he has for you. So we encourage that, and we do that every day by praying. Uh, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for the joys of the weekend and the challenges and new experiences of the week ahead. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to be with us. And Lord, we pray for you to be with, um, anyone who's reading or watching or listening to today's message, um, that you'd be with them too. Lord, we pray for you to come alongside them, their prayer requests, their situations, and to, uh, inspire them to, to follow you, um, into the new life that you have for them, Lord. Lord, while you're at it, uh, we pray for you to go before us too. Uh, we just want to represent your kingdom today, and, uh, we need help with that. So open our eyes to the things you want us to see, lead us in the way we should go. Um, we need your help, and, uh, we want your guidance, and, um, we'll do our best to follow, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.