The Three Persons in Recovery and Becoming a “One Hundred Percenter” Purity 1221

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 a garden pathway whose brilliance has been increased by a vibrant Christmas light display featuring a tree covered in multicolored lights and electronic flowers lining the path comes to us from Bonnie Schultz, who shared this scene on social media last night from her visit to the Bellingrath Gardens and Home in Theodore, Alabama. Well, it's Thursday and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go, so I'm sharing, uh, Bonnie's photo to reflect the fact that Christmas Eve is 10 days away. And because I share pathway photos on Thursdays in remembrance of the day of the week that I first went into recovery, and as a visual encouragement to all my friends to either get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship and walking in the Spirit. I didn't just begin recovery on a Thursday. After I made it through Pastor Bob Costello's Celebrate Freedom program at Rock Solid Church, I joined the leadership team and taught and eventually led the ministry on Thursday nights. And it was in that first season of leadership that I became friends with and served besides my friend and brother in Christ, Bill Hamm. Bill had gone through rehab in Florida and had a measure of freedom and victory over his addictions that he brought with him when he served as part of Pastor Bob's initial Celebrate Freedom team. And Bill had the distinction of being the only one from that team other than Pastor Bob to remain faithful to the ministry after its initial run. When Celebrate Freedom started its second season Pastor Bob elevated me into service along with, along with Bill and Paula Williams, who stepped up to be the women's leader. Paula faithfully served Celebrate Freedom at Rock Solid until the end of 2020 and now is teaching at Celebrate Freedom again as Pastor Bob started up the ministry again this year. In that second year, Pastor Bob, like any good leader, intended to take a step intended to take a step back and to allow his underlings to grow and gave us all the opportunity to teach the program's lessons. Paula and I were relative newbies, so Bill was given the duties to teach first. And I'll never forget his lesson for 3 reasons. Number 1, because Bill was a nervous wreck. 2, because it was a good message. And 3, because it was one, if not the only time, that Bill taught at Celebrate Freedom. Uh, teaching isn't for everybody, and I think Bill's nerve and lack of confidence got the best of him. Although he was faithful in serving the ministry for years as an encouraging attendee and supporter of all who came, he chose not to teach at Celebrate. Uh, that's the way it was. We all have our roles to play in the body of Christ, and Bill served in all kinds of different capacities for our church, including serving at jail ministry. So it wasn't like he walked away. Although he had his struggles in maintaining freedom, his freedom at times, Bill always fell forward. And I recall how he eventually stopped struggling and falling, and he grew into his freedom in what he called to be a 100%er, as in someone who was 100% clean and sober and committed to serving the Lord. The Lord. We are all a work in progress, and sometimes relapse is part of recovery. But Bill eventually showed himself and others that it didn't have to be when you follow Jesus. Bill eventually became the person he hoped to be, the man God created him to be. And that first and only teaching, uh, that I saw Bill give, he shared a story or an illustration that he had seen when he was in rehab. It was an object lesson that highlighted the past, the present, and the future. And used 3 chairs to make the point. In recovery, there are 3 people: the person you once were, the person we are now, and the person we will be or hope to be in the future. So the way the message went, and Bill told us about the 3 people, and as he talked about each one, he literally sat down in the chair and talked about what it was like to be the person who we once were, who was a mess—angry, depressed, addicted—and who selfishly always chose the wrong things. And then he talked about the person we are now, the one who had been saved by God and who had been led to repentance, who was under a lot of stress as they had gone into recovery, but who had hope to be the person we hope to be in the future. Who rejoiced over making it, of being clean and sober, of being free, of being happy because they were free. Oh boy, I sort of was a little redundant there. It was a good message and Bill did a good job of delivering it. And even if it was the only message I can recall he actually taught at Celebrate Freedom, it was one that he demonstrated with the way he lived. Bill died a week ago, last Thursday, and today is his memorial service. I'll be attending to remember my friend. I'll be overdressed in my new suit to honor him, because even though Bill wasn't always perfect, he stood up for the Lord, pointed people to Jesus, and tried to succeed in becoming the person he hoped to be, the person God created him to be, a faithful man of God. So let's all honor Bill Hamm today by thinking about the person you were in the past, the person you are today, and the person you hope to be in the future. And let's keep walking and talking with God to follow Bill's example and become a 100-percenter, a person that surrenders all and gives themselves completely to following Jesus into the abundant life of freedom and purpose that God has for us to live. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on church discipline, and today's verses come from 2 Corinthians 2:7-8. And the word of God says, now however, it is time to forgive and comfort him, otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. Today's verses fall under the fourth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on church discipline, and that fourth point is: Forgive and restore one who repents. Love him. Today's verse reminds us to be compassionate to the one who repents by forgiving and comforting them and leading them back into the family of God by reaffirming our love for them. Sometimes people walk away from the church One minute they are walking strong in the Lord, and the next minute they fall into confusion and sin and leave the fellowship of the Saints. When this happens, they often don't come back. However, on occasion, the call of the Lord on their life is for real, and it compels them, even after terrible mistakes, to repent and go back to the house of the Lord. Rather than being cold and judgmental towards people in this situation, we need to forgive them and comfort them and encourage them to stay with us by reaffirming our love for them. People need God's love, and we may be the only ones that can give it to them. So follow the spirit of today's verses by forgiving others and encouraging them to come back home to the house of the Lord and to stay. 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're sharing from God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And as I stated before, um, we're sort of off the advent calendar, um, but we're following this devotion— devotional, uh, faithfully. And so today in the devotional, it's Advent Week 3, Redemption Day 3. And Bonhoeffer writes a message called "Becoming Guilty." And Bonhoeffer writes, because Jesus took upon himself the guilt of all people, everyone who acts responsibly becomes guilty. Those who want to extract themselves from the responsibility for this guilt also remove themselves from the ultimate reality of human existence. Moreover, they also remove themselves from the redeeming mystery of the sinless guilt guilt-bearing of Jesus Christ and have no share in the divine justification that covers this event. They place their personal innocence above their responsibility for humankind, and they are blind to the unhealed guilt that they load on themselves in this very way. They are also blind to the fact that real innocence is revealed in the very fact that for the sake of other people, it enters into communion of their guilt. Through Jesus Christ, the nature of responsible action includes the idea that the sinless, the selflessly loving, become the guilty. This is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's little message called "Becoming Guilty." They also— the devotional also shares these thoughts from Bonhoeffer from a sermon to a London church on the third Sunday of Advent on December 17th, 1933. And Bonhoeffer said back then, in 8 days we shall celebrate Christmas, and now for once let us make it really a festival of Christ in our world. It is not a light thing to God that every year we celebrate Christmas and do not take it seriously. His word holds and is certain. When he comes in his glory and power into the world in the manger, he will put down the mighty from their seats unless ultimately, ultimately they repent. And finally, from our devotion, they share Isaiah 1:18, and the word of God says, come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. That's it from today's resource, God is in the Manger: Devotion, Thoughts on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And, and yeah, it points to our guilt, you know, basically, but we are— our guilt is, is relieved by Jesus Christ and That's some deep thoughts. So we invite you to check out and read through that message by going to mtforchrist.org and reading it for yourself. Um, on— at the end of it, sometimes Bonhoeffer's messages are a little unclear, um, and I don't want to exegete it too much in case I, I speak wrongly about his intentions and saying that we are to accept our guilt. And I think that's just basically, you know, we're not supposed to take our sin lightly and that we are supposed to repent. So even though we're absolved of our guilt by Jesus Christ, we're not to live in sin and we are to turn and humbly, you know, be compassionate to others too. I think plays into that, you know, basically that we suffer you know, through our love for others. And, um, that's okay. We'll accept their guilt, you know, the guilt that they don't know, uh, without what they're doing, or they don't know the truth of God's word. So we compassionately love them, and in a way we relieve their guilt of that, but not ultimately. They need to put their faith in Jesus, and that's what this, this podcast and this blog is all about— pointing people to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, to accept him as Lord and Savior, and to do the appropriate thing and follow him into the new life that he has for you. And that's to share and show the love of God in everything you do. And that's not just during a church service for an hour, hour and a half on the weekend. It's being a light to the world and telling people the truth as often as you can. Last night we celebrated our freedom at Celebrate Freedom growth group at Starpoint Church where we read through the lesson on the Holy Spirit. I didn't do a regular devotion, purity devotion yesterday because I shared that lesson on the blog. So if you want to check that out, Celebrate Freedom discipleship course lesson 4, it's available on our YouTube channel and our podcast Basically, it speaks on the Holy Spirit and how if we follow the Spirit, we'll avoid the works of the flesh and live a spiritual life. Practices like Bible study, prayer, praise, and, and just quieting and appreciation, all are spiritual disciplines that a life in the Spirit would lead you into, to where you can commune with God. Hear his intuitions, and let his conviction work in your conscience. So, a life in the Spirit is good. It leads you into good things. It's not just a happy, happy, joy, joy routine. It leads you into repentance. And after you get set free and become a quote-unquote "100-percenter," like Bill Hamm used to say, you experience the joy of your freedom, and you're not tempted to fall back down. Into the things that tripped you up. For me, in my recovery, I only had to fall once. I had a relapse 2 weeks in after hearing Bob Costello teach on powerlessness. I decided I was powerless and gave into my addictions. But after a Friday and a Saturday night party, Sunday morning came and conviction came that that was the last time I drank. I would never drink or smoke ever again, or take drugs. And, you know, full disclosure. So yeah, after that, we pressed into our recovery and surrendered all for the Lord. And ever since, we've been surrendering more and more of our life to him. Our sexual addiction, and in this latest season, our food addiction, as you know, basically, You know, you got to treat the things that mess you up, you have to treat, treat like an addiction. Um, you know, it's not just, oh well, you know, I struggle with this. Like, yeah, well, let's stop struggling. Let's fight. Let's ask for the Lord's help and let's move on into the freedom that he has for us. And so that's what we do here. We encourage that, a life of Christian discipleship where we continually learn and change into the person that we hope to be. The person that God created us to be. So today I have to work, um, which is a good thing, uh, um, but, uh, it does mean I have to pray and move along. So let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you so much for all you've done for us. Thank you for showing us the truth of who Jesus is. Thank you for saving us and making us new creations in Christ. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening today, uh, that they'd be encouraged. And not only that, that you would come alongside them, Lord, and bless them and heal them and, um, uh, answer their prayer requests and lead them in the way they should go. Because we all need your help, Lord. And, uh, I need your help too. So I pray that you'll go before me today, open my eyes to the things you want me to see, and lead me in the way I should should go, because all I want to do is represent you in your kingdom with every living moment I have on this earth. And, uh, we're definitely going to need your help with that today. So, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.