The Understanding that Leads to Victory - Purity 1486

Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 podcast, or 24/7 podcast. Uh, 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. Good morning. Today's photo of the setting sun blazing its late day hazy light between the silhouette of a mountain range and a relatively dark cloud formation comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this scene on social media back on October 18th, 2020. Um, that mountain range looks vaguely like the Catskills, but I'm not sure. So this memory is yours. Give us a heads up and we'll name the location and give you the photo credit you deserve on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Friday, thank God. And while we all like to— the idea of getting what we deserve, when it comes to the spiritual aspect of our lives, we have to remember that because of our sins, we deserve punishment in hell. Uh, so we shouldn't be overly concerned with fighting for our rights and getting what's coming to us, unless of course we are seeking a deeper relationship with God and receiving his precious promises. While we shouldn't look at the Lord as our genie in the bottle and demand his unmerited favor to, uh, to meet our every desire, we should seek the Lord in his righteousness to receive the abundant life that Jesus talks about in John 10:10. John 10:10 says, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy. I have come that you may have life and that you— and that they may have it more abundantly. Of course, this verse presents the precious, the precious promise of an abundant life with the warning that the thief Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy us and our efforts to know a life of peace, love, joy, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, patience, and self-control that comes from walking in the Spirit. So we have to understand how to fight not for our rights as much as how to take on and defeat Satan and his efforts to deceive us and lead us into sin, bondage, and condemnation. The bad news is that Satan has been around a long time and knows our weaknesses, and in our flesh we are doomed to failure against him. But the good news is that Jesus has defeated Satan, and if we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive his authority and power through the power of the Holy Spirit in us to resist the devil and to experience our freedom in Christ. Um, the Turning Point, uh, with Dr. David Jeremiah devotional for today talks about Satan and how he is defeated already, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to remind us that even though we are weak in the flesh, we can be strong in the spirit when we know Jesus and fight our battles with God as our ally. David Jeremiah writes uh, the end of the age. And he shares from Revelations 20:7-8 from the NIV, which says, when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations and to gather them for battle. And David Jeremiah writes, the coming Golden Age will end with one final rebellion against God. For reasons we don't fully understand, Satan will be released from his prison and deceive many people once again. He will try to reenact the Battle of Armageddon, hoping for a better outcome. John said, but fire came down from heaven and devoured them in Revelation 20:9. At last, the devil will be tossed into hell with the Beast and False Prophet, and we'll be rid of him for good, forever. Amen. I love that. Um, as we— and he continues, right? And as we engage in spiritual warfare now, let's keep our eyes on the Victor. Jesus defeated Satan by his death and resurrection. The victory is already ours. John, the author of the Book of Revelation, also said, we, we know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. Rejoice today, for the victory is near us. And David Jeremiah ends by sharing a quote from Warren Wiersbe, who says, you are not fighting for victory but from victory, where Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan. And I say amen. You know, the, um, the world has its own ideas about the end times, but the Bible tells us the truth of Jesus's eventual return in a thousand-year reign before the one final battle where Satan is thrown into hell. Satan is not the king of hell, but one day will be its most notorious prisoner. While still influencing the world for evil, Satan and his demons are already defeated and will be judged and punished in the future. But Satan will try to take people to hell with him and will try to stop Christians from experiencing their freedom and realizing their purpose in Christ. The enemy lies, tempts, accuses, and condemns mankind to keep people enslaved to their sins and negative mind states or strongholds. But God sent Jesus to set the captives free, and if we submit to God and resist the devil with the authority and power that Jesus gave us— gives us— we can live in freedom and be used by God to help others to know the love of God. And the joy of salvation, eternal life, and victorious living. Jesus gave, gave us a new life, power, authority, and understanding, but we must use it to overcome the schemes of the enemy. So stand fast in the understanding of who you are in Christ and be bold to declare it as you overcome the darkness of the past and experience the light and power of your new life in Christ Jesus. Today's Bible verse— verses come from the, uh, Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on friendships, and today's verses are Proverbs 25:11-12 from the New American Standard Bible. The Bible, um, the word of God says Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances. Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. Today's verses are the first of two passages that fall under the sixth point of our Counseling Reference Guides resource section on friendships. That sixth point is: A true friend is one who may hurt you at times for your good. Oh boy. Yeah, uh, today's Bible verses express the truth that even a reproving word, a reprimanding or a rebuking word, can sound precious to us if it is told in the right circumstances and we are listening. The truth hurts, and we always hurt the ones we love. And if we truly love someone, we should be bold and courageous and speak the truth in love to tell them, uh, to them, and, and seek to correct them when they are violating God's law or living in opposition to his truth. Someone living apart from God or living in a lifestyle of sin is suffering, even if they don't feel it or realize it. We often are drawn to sinful actions as a bad strategy to help cope with pain. While we may know of the negative circumstances of drugs, alcohol, overeating, or lust, our desires can overrule our reason, and we really need someone to say something to wake us up to the compromised life we are living. So follow the indicated instructions of today's Proverbs by seeking to reprove our sinful friends and neighbors by choosing the right time when they are able to listen, to lovingly talk to them about how their attitudes and actions aren't representing the person that God made them to be. Come with care, understanding, and love, but go with the intention of helping others to find the light and to move out of the darkness of sin and death. 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 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 7, and from that chapter he shares a portion of verse 16 which says, 'They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat.' And Stephen Alford writes, 'This is going to be the enjoyed portion of all the God-fearing people.' who shall come out of the Great Tribulation. Actually, this will be the experience of all who dwell in the presence of Christ, for there is no such thing as hunger, thirst, or weariness in his presence. When here on earth, Jesus said, he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35. And he continues, right? He also said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. Matthew 11:28. Those laboring under the scorching heat of the sun and sin. And in a measure, all true believers experience the truth of the above verse even now. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, oh Lord, how much more will— how much more so will we experience these truths when we are in those bright realms of bliss. Amen. Yeah, I can't wait to be in the bright realms of bliss, um, where we'll never hunger or thirst and we won't feel any pain, you know, when we're in God's eternal kingdom. Um, which, like I said, like we draw it out from— and David Jeremiah's latest book really highlights the Golden Age to come of Christ's 1,000-year reign.. But even after that, Satan is released for one final battle, and then after he's thrown into hell, there comes a new heaven and a new earth. So if anyone ever tells you, you know, the end times just means we're going to go to heaven when we die, that's— they haven't read the last chapter of the Bible, you know. They haven't read the last book of the Bible, Revelation, that talks about the future, um, coming of the Antichrist and how Christ defeats him and comes and rules and reigns for 1,000 years and then defeats Satan, um, at the very end. So the good news is that, you know, as scary as some of those interpretations of Revelation can be, um, they, they point to the fact that God is victorious over the, the spiritual forces of darkness. You know, he puts his created has created the universe in order by putting the evil things away at the end. So we look forward to that, and we can, you know, we look forward to that day, but we can look forward to our victory in Christ today, not the future, when we know who we are, when we operate from the understanding of who we are in Christ and the fact that we have power over the enemy, and that includes our personal sin. So You know, we can be set free, we can be victorious in Christ if we believe it and, you know, receive it and follow the Lord every day. You know, it takes one day at a time, and just believing that you are set free is a big help with that because it's— it reflects the spiritual reality of what's already happened. So that's why we ask the question every day: have you fully surrendered to God? You know, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us, says A.W. Tozer. However, I come back with what we do with God's word says, you know, with what God's word says about us is the most important thing about us. In other words, acting on faith, you know, acting according to, you know, the truth of scripture to be the people God created us to be. And when we start acting that way, we walk in freedom and victory away from our past, you know, darkness of our past lives. And walk into a new life. And, you know, God gives us a hope, a future, and a purpose in Christ. And, uh, for me, part of that purpose is, uh, I was blessed to be, uh, asked to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday evenings in upstate New York. If you can get to Clifton Park, uh, on a Wednesday night, we encourage you to join us for the Christian recovery and discipleship support group that we have there. where we will, you know, present from Celebrate Recovery. But really, you know, we talk about the core life skills of walking in the Spirit, you know, being able to appreciate life, to be able to quiet ourselves and to believe, you know, what the Bible says about us and live according to it and attack those negative thoughts. And, you know, come together as a community to connect with one another and to develop our relationship with the Lord. So it's not your standard recovery meeting, and, uh, we invite you to come. Uh, however, if you're not in Upstate New York, there's good news. Um, you know, basically anywhere where you have an internet connection, you can join us for Grace for the Holidays, an online teaching and support group or discussion group. Um, that'll be meeting on Mondays online at 6:30 PM Um, you know, basically it's going to be, uh, a teaching on grace that's drawn from FICM's, or Freedom in Christ Ministries, Grace Course. Um, they— there was a Grace Course in the past and they just reissued a new one that's available on RightNow Media. So a lot of the stuff I talk about will be, um, from the Grace Course, but we'll try to infuse some, some helpful advice for the holidays, and we'll, you know, try to provide a forum where we can talk about our struggles and, uh, support one another as as we enter into the, the, you know, the greatest time of the year. So if you're interested, go to mtforchrist.com and go to the group teaching event page on, on the website, and you'll be able to, you know, send me your name and email. We can, you know, get you registered basically for the class. Uh, $60 for 6 weeks of Christian life coaching and discipleship— you know, and, and discipleship community, um, $10 a week basically. And, uh, it'll— we'll walk with you, you know, before Thanksgiving, through Thanksgiving, and right up to Christmas, uh, basically. Is our, our last meeting will be on December 23rd. So, uh, we have a couple people signed up already, more or less, and, uh, we're looking forward to, uh, other people joining us. So, uh, if you're interested, let us know. And we'll see. Um, and if you're unavailable Monday nights but, uh, you know, still want to, you know, find or increase your freedom in Christ, we encourage you to join one of our podcast classes for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, or Freedom in Christ, or Celebrate Freedom Discipleship Course, among other things. We also did a series on Bonhoeffer's Cross of Discipleship, so you can check it out. They're all on our playlist page on the YouTube channel MT for Christ 247. So that's that. Well, we always end by asking— well, when we get past the right slide, uh, we ask, are you empty for Christ too? You know, and what that means really is just surrendering your— surrendering your life to live the life that God has for you, to follow and do his will, um, and to make yourself available for the Holy Spirit to fill you and refill you and, you know, and to, uh, guide you into the things God has for you. Um, if you are empty for grace, we say, great, keep on walking and talking with God. And if not, we suggest you pray to have the Lord reveal himself to you and to make Jesus your Lord and Savior so the Holy Spirit can come in and, uh, guide you through life. And you do that through prayer, and that's why we pray every day. Like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for what you've done for us in Christ, the way you've led us out of the darkness of our past and lead us into a life that's abundant with joy, peace, and love. Lord, we pray for, uh, anyone listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them in their walk of faith and their prayer requests, Lord, to help them, um, go the way they should go. And while we're at it, Lord, we ask that for ourselves too. We need you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and to lead us in the way we should go today. Um, we definitely need help if we want to represent your kingdom, and we so surely do. So, Lord, we're asking for you to help us. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.