The Ultimate Faith Object – Wisdom From Dr Neil Anderson Purity 1272

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 cloud-covered blazing sun over a snow-covered landscape comes to us from Connor McCagg, who shared this view from his skiing trip to Killington Mountain Ski Resort on Sunday. Well, it's Monday, and after a weekend's continued indulgence of some sweet treats and party foods due to my stepdaughter's birthday party on Saturday and an unbridled Super Bowl Sunday-inspired feast. Uh, I am ready to repent. I ate so much junk food yesterday that I had trouble sleeping and felt physical pain from eating so much, more than I'm used to. And I am here to declare that I'm done. Sometimes you have to learn again why it is you decided to change the way you live. And return— and a return visit to insanity can really motivate you to not do that again and remind yourself that life is better when you live a healthy lifestyle. So I am in recovery from sugar and carbs and I'm calling it a Mail It In Monday as I'm going to share this simple message I received in my email, from Freedom in Christ Ministries UK on The Ultimate Faith Object by Dr. Neil Anderson. And it's based on Hebrews 13:8, which says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and yes, yes, and forever. Uh, the fact— and Neil Anderson writes— the fact that you claim to believe is not the issue of faith. It's what you believe or in whom you believe that will determine whether or not your faith will be rewarded. Everybody walks by faith every day. Every time you drive on the highway, you do so by faith. Are the objects of your faith on the highway reliable? Most of the time they are, because most drivers drive safely. But you may have been involved in an accident because you placed your faith in another driver who proved to be untrustworthy. What happens when the object of your faith fails you? You just give up on it? Maybe not immediately, but how many failures would you tolerate before saying never again? Once faith is damaged or lost, it is very difficult to regain. Your belief isn't the problem. It's the object of your belief that either rewards or destroys your faith. If your marriage partner has been unfaithful to you, or a friend or relative has hurt you badly, your faith in that person is weak because he or she did not live up to your trust. When faith in a person is shattered, it may take months to rebuild it. Some faith objects, however, are solid. You set your watch, plan your calendar, and schedule your day believing that the earth will continue to revolve on its axis and rotate around the sun at its current speed. If the Earth's orbit shifted just a few degrees, our lives would be turned to chaos. But so far, the laws governing the physical universe have been among the most trustworthy faith objects we have. The ultimate faith object, of course, is not the sun, but the Son. It is his immutability, the fact that he never changes, that makes him Imminently trustworthy. He has never failed to be and do all that he said he would be and do. He is eternally faithful.

And he's talking about Jesus.

And he ends his devotional here by praying, all I have needed, your hand has provided. Great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Amen.

And that was from Dr. Neil Anderson and Freedom in Christ Ministries. Like I said, I got that in an email.

I figured I'd share it.

And yes, we are to have faith in the Son, Jesus Christ. Uh, during yesterday's Super Bowl broadcast, there was a commercial that emphasized the love of Jesus through images of various people washing one another's feet. The ad wished to express Jesus's teachings of love and and not hate, um, and the fact that he gets us, which he does, of course, of course he does. But let's be sure we also, uh, we are, we are also reading the word of God to be sure we get him, all of him, that we understand who Jesus really was according to the Bible. Yes. Jesus was the suffering servant, but he also didn't mince words when it came to hell, sinning no more. And the book of Revelation reveals that Jesus will return to rule and reign. Jesus didn't quote-unquote teach hate, but he did teach us some hard truth. Loving Jesus warns us in John 3:17-21, saying, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Good news. Then he continues, whoever believes in him is not condemned. More good news. But then he says in verse 18, but whoever does not believe in— believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And it continues, and this is the judgment The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. Verse 20 says, for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed. And Jesus says in verse 21, but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. So, know what the Bible says about Jesus and about the things that are evil according to God. Some people are living biblically evil lives and don't know it. They love darkness rather than light, and they hope to claim the Son, Jesus, but not repent and follow him into the light of righteous living. But that's not believing in the name of the Son of God. The one who was sinless and called us to repent because the kingdom of God was at hand. And it is at hand. So come to do what is true and come to the light. Put your faith in Jesus, be saved, and follow him. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on communication, gossip, and lying. And today's verses are Proverbs 17:27-28. The Word of God says, whoever restrains his words has knowledge. He who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool keeps silent— who keeps silent is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. Today's verses are the third of five passages of scripture that fall under the 11th 11th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on communication, gossip, and lying. That 11th point is: Do not hurt your neighbor by gossip or careless talk. Control your tongue. Today's verses warn us to restrain our words and to be "cool" to show our wisdom. Have a cool spirit. And whereas a rash, angry, or hot spirit can lead us to say things we will regret. Our resource is showing us the biblical wisdom of being careful with careless talk and controlling our tongue. So think before you speak. Repeat back to people what they are saying so you can demonstrate that they have been heard. And pause before you speak. A little patience can save us from a lot of grief, so consider restraining your speech to be "cool" and at least appear to be wise. 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, um, Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford, a collection of devotional journals from 1940 and '41. And today Alford prompts us to read Mark The Gospel According to Mark, uh, chapter 4, and from that chapter, uh, he highlights verse 24, which says, take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. And, and to you who hear, more will be given. And Stephen Alford writes, here is a very important principle in relation to the effect of God's word in the life of an individual. Take heed, says the Savior, for your appreciation of and obedience to the word of God governs its effect in life and also governs any further revelation. The same principle is seen in Hebrews 5:12-14 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, where the apostle shows that owing to disobedience on the part of those who heard the word, they have not grown sufficiently to be able to bear a heavier diet. They were unskilled, only taking milk. Take heed is the command and secret of growth. And Steve Alford ends by praying, may I always listen and respond to the word of God and thus grow for your glory, Lord.

Amen.

Amen. And, uh, yeah, Alford's pointing to of, you know, growing in our faith. Yes, we put our faith in Jesus when we understand that he was the Son of God, he is the Son of God, and, um, he died for our sins. He offers us our salvation and a new life with him and eternal life with him forever in his kingdom.

And when we understand that and and we put our faith in Jesus, we receive the forgiveness of sins and a new life.

But what do we do with the new life? Well, we try to, we try to live it according to how God would have us live it.

And so we read the Bible to understand how we're supposed to live in life, to turn from our sins.

Um, specifically, you know, the things I've turned from—

drunkenness, sexual sin, and, you know, gluttony.

So, so, and I felt the pain of gluttony yesterday. So I, and I felt the pain of those other things in the past. And when you walk away from those things, you understand why the Lord tells you to do that. The Lord's not a killjoy. He tells you to stop sinning because it's wrong and it, and it hurts you. So He wants you to be holy, set apart, not like the world, and to live wisely and lovingly by telling others of the error of their ways, to put their faith in Jesus and to turn from their sins too.

Um, so that's not always clear, you know, in these moving messages, these loving messages that we get.

Um, you know, that are trying to bring people into the kingdom of God.

But we have to understand that God's calling us into the light, not just to believe in general about Jesus, but to, to follow him, to be specific in terms of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, knowing who he was and what he taught and who he is and and where he's leading us to go, and that's further into righteous living. And it's not, you know, into the party lifestyle of sexual immorality. That's not how we're supposed to live as Christians. Jesus was a virgin, okay? If we're going to be more and more like Jesus, we're going to be pure.

Now, there's sex between a man and a woman in marriage, is, is the approved means of sex. Anything outside of that is a sin.

And, uh, you know, that's one thing that gets highlighted a lot.

It's like, yeah, we're forgiven, but we're forgiven of any sin no matter what we do, no matter, no matter how many times we've done it, um, that we're forgiven of it.

But the Lord calls us away from those sins. And, uh, you know, the more we The more we claim our sin rather than our faith in Jesus and our new life in Christ, the more we have to wonder if we're actually in the kingdom. I don't mean to condemn, but let the Holy Spirit convict you to move into a life that's good and holy and pure. No one's perfect. I have physical weakness that I gave into party food yesterday, so I can I completely understand. And I gave in to those other things for a year—

many, many, many years of my life.

But I understand what freedom is now, and it came through Jesus Christ. And so we encourage that every day.

That the big thing is people love the darkness rather than light, in part because they never thought the light was a possible way to live.

And I'm here to tell you that the Lord can, can guide you into it. And lead you into it so you can experience it not just in heaven but right here on Earth, uh, the, the joy and the peace of the Lord that comes from walking in the Spirit.

So, so that's it.

It's Monday, um, we are moving into work, and by the end of the week, um, we're getting on the plane, uh, prayerfully to go to Florida to get in that light of the sunshine down there. So, but we have work to do today, and we take things one day at a time, and we give glory to God for what he's done for us. And so let's do that in prayer.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we ask for your forgiveness for giving into the flesh unwisely. Um, yes, we will recover, but Lord, we see the error of our ways, that, um, we should be self-controlled in everything we do.

And we pay the consequences when we step outside of what's, uh, what's, what's, you know, reasonable. And, uh, you know, that directs— you direct us away from things that hurt us, and sometimes we don't listen. So we need you to help us, Lord.

We pray for anyone who might be listening today, might be hurting from their own Super Bowl feast or other sins of the flesh that they've are in bondage to.

Um, Lord, we pray for you to be with them, uh, to open their eyes to the things you want them to know and to lead them into faith, a deeper faith with you, where they begin to follow you with the way they live, or to continue following the way they live, uh, Lord, because we all need your help. So we pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests. And Lord, of course, we pray for you to help, uh, imperfect person like me who encourages people to walk in freedom but occasionally falls down in terms of giving in to the flesh. Not like I used to, but still not perfectly. And it causes me pain when I realize that I didn't go to you for comfort. I went to the world for comfort, and I shouldn't be surprised that it hurts, um, when I realize it's not— you know, the world was never meant to truly satisfy me, that only you are. So Lord, we pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to the things you want me to see, and lead me in the way I should go. Help me to repent and to be wise and to follow you all you have for me to do today, as I desperately need your help. And I know who to put my faith in, and that's the Son who leads me into all righteousness. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.