The Ways We Can Encourage Others Purity 849

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 the sky reflected in the waters near Murray Bridge in South Australia comes to us from Dave Vaughan Photography, who shared this pathway on social media back on June 17th, stating, another reflection image from our day at Murray Bridge. We spent spent hours hiking around the place and enjoying scenes like this all day long. Well, it's Thursday again, and I thought I would use Dave's photo as a visual representation of the hope we have for those of us who are going from here to there on the pathway of Christian discipleship. And it is my prayer that my fellow travelers on Christ's narrow path will have joy in their journey. Um, in Christian circles where people are actively pursuing all that God has for them by following the Lord's wisdom and ways as outlined in the Bible, you may have heard the familiar testimony that Christians may not be perfected like Christ yet, but they are no longer who they once were. Apparently this adage was expanded upon, and the following quote is attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It says, I may not be the man I want to be, I may not be the man I ought to be, I may not be the man I could be, I may not be the man I truly can be, but praise God, I'm not the man I once was. As, as a Christian, Dr. King knew about the transformative power that comes through Christ, and his dream was that people could get past their differences caused by group identifiers such such as race, and be united in harmony where people were not judged by the color of their skin, but because of the content of their character, knowing that Christ can change people's hearts. And so I encourage people to not just believe in Jesus, but to follow Christ in the way they live their lives, to compassionately love and serve others by sharing with them what Christ tried to show us through his teachings in the Word of God. I know you can't push people into faith, and so I just try to encourage people to seek the Lord by walking and talking with God and being open to the possibility to follow where he leads, knowing that God is the one that will have to break through the walls that people build between themselves and his love. And sometimes his hard truths. So I just encourage, uh, go that way and point to Jesus. Um, so knowing, um, so knowing we can't affect those changes in people for, for them, what can we do to encourage them? Well, Dr. Charles Stanley just happened to send me a letter that shared his wisdom on how we encourage others. Okay, it was a mass mailing from his ministries and not a personal correspondence, um, from the good doctor, but it was addressed to me. In fact, I got two copies, one to Mark Clark and, and another to M.t. Clark with a small t, um, a typo, I guess. Anyway, Dr. Stanley shared in the letter that we can encourage others by by 1, giving people our time and attention, 2, meeting their emotional or physical needs, 3, building each other up spiritually, and 4, by trying to be a motivator, um, quote unquote. So while, uh, I may not be doing all of the above perfectly in all situations, Dr. Stanley and I apparently have the same teacher, the Lord and his word. And apparently I was, I was following the right path in terms of how I try to be an encourager. I do my best to give my time and attention to others. I try to meet their emotional and physical needs where I can. I try to build people up spiritually, and I try to motivate others to seek the Lord and to solve their problems with his help. My quote-unquote ministry work is all about showing others how the Lord can help them with these things and how a relationship with him through faith in Jesus Christ can help them cross that bridge from here to there, to walk toward being the person God made us to be and to leave behind the troubled person we once were. So, um, um, so, well, here we go. So be motivated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s quote. Um, consider Dr. Charles Stanley's prescription for being an encourager And follow the Lord in all your ways, and you will discover that when you encourage others, the person that is most encouraged is you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning meditation verses are Isaiah 53:5 and 6, and they say In the NLT: But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us like sheep have strayed away. We have left God's path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. Today's Bible verses were shared in our resource under the heading "When You Wish That Someone Else Could Carry Your Problems." So while this passage of scripture can serve as evidence for Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah, our simple devotional, um, resource shows us that we can use today's verses to find hope and comfort in our walk by putting our current burdens on the Lord, just like the weight and punishment of our sins were laid on Christ on the cross. In our Christian walk, we will go through trials and tribulations and be rejected by men, just like Christ did. But just like Christ endured suffering on the cross for the joy set before him, our salvation, and for the glory of God, we can bear the burdens of our sufferings um, and rejections because of our communion with him. And we can do it as a continual practice of our faith. As the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men indicates, when you wish someone else could carry your problems, you can look at these verses in Isaiah and two things could happen. Number one, in light of Christ's sufferings on the cross to save us for our— from to save us, our earthly problems may seem somewhat insignificant. Christ's suffering may put ours— our quote-unquote suffering— in proper perspective, especially if our problems aren't as painful as Christ's passion. So we could feel relieved and motivated to endure because of Christ's example. The second thing that can happen is we can give the Lord our problems. By going to the Lord in prayer and asking Him to give us strength, by releasing or surrendering the weight of our problems to Him, by making the choice to trust the Lord to help us, uh, to do the best we can and to leave the results up to God. I have just suffered another loss and disappointment in my life, and at first I agonized over it and tried to Monday quarterback the situation and contemplated what I could have done differently that could have changed the situation to avoid this negative outcome. But after a fair amount of thinking about the situation and the fact that it involved another person, I realized that some of the factors in the situation were simply beyond my control. And I took, I took to forgiving myself. And I, I, you know, here we go. I took to forgiving myself for anything I may have inadvertently done to cause the offense, to cause offense. And then I forgave the other person for the hurt of rejection that they inadvertently caused me. Sometimes people go separate ways, and it isn't necessarily because of anything we did, but our selfish view in life makes it all about us. So after forgiving myself and the other person, uh, and knowing that everything I did was motivated By my desire to help and encourage the other to follow the Lord, I pray to surrender this person to the Lord, knowing that God's plan for this person's life is perfect and just— and it just won't involve me anymore. When our relationships break down, um, in any sense, in, in order to move on, we need to say goodbye. And the faithful men and women of God that have contributed to my maturity in my Christian walk have taught me to let go and let God by surrendering people, things, and situations that are beyond my control to the Lord. So if you wish that someone else could carry your problems and you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, there is good news. Christ took all of our sin on him on the cross, and at the time And at the time, all of those sins of ours were future sins. That means that any sins, problems, or burdens that we encounter now or in the future can likewise be given to God through Christ. We can surrender our sins, our pains, and our problems to God and endure. 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 Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And today we continue sharing from chapter 4, which is on Discipleship and the Cross. And if you want to see what we shared, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see that excerpt at the bottom of today's blog post. And as fate would have it, um, you know, I don't Like I've stated in the past, I don't really plan these things. They just sort of happen each morning. I have a basic formula I follow, but the content, I never really know what's gonna, what's gonna come up. But as fate would have it, the resource we're sharing is somewhat intentional, but the timing's sort of great as we share from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, or The Cost of Discipleship, Chapter 4 on the discipleship and the cross. That just happens to be the, the chapter that we'll be reviewing on our teaching on YouTube that we'll upload later tonight as I and Peter McCabbage and possibly others will come to listen to a presentation basically as we do a walkthrough through chapter 4, and I'll share whatever comments or insights that I get as we walk through it, and we'll ask for Peter's input as well and and possibly others, as I invite the fellow graduates of my Freedom in Christ course to join me. Never know what's going to happen or who's going to show up, but Peter's more or less committed himself, so we can count on him. If not, I'll do it all by myself. Uh, but, but we're never by ourselves. But, you know, at the same token, in some ways, you know, in our faith walk, we are by ourselves. But We're never alone because we're always with the Lord. And that's the thing— people come and go in our ministries and our lives and our relationships, but the Lord is the one who will never leave us and never forsake us. And that's the, the peace that we can always have. Um, you know, our churches might be solid, but sometimes their church breaks happen, people leave, people move away. And so the body of Christ in your life can change, you know, that we're not walking with the same people we were just walking with. Because circumstances have changed. And now, do we lose our faith because our companions on the path of Christian discipleship are no longer with us? No, no, um, we don't follow other men. We follow Christ, and, and, uh, we put our faith in him. And we understand that the body of Christ is composed of many different parts, and that they, they will be directed to go in different areas at different times for different purposes according to the Lord's plan. So we— when, when, when our paths diverge, um, and we wish, you know, wish for, uh, wish they hadn't or whatever, in order to have peace, we surrender those people to the Lord. Um, we, we pray for them, we forgive any offenses that may have been encountered, and then we, we release them to God. And that way we can move on in our own walk without carrying the burdens of the problems of past relationships or the disappointments of, you know, broken relationships with us as we go. This is how we walk in the Spirit. This is how we have peace. This is how we have joy as we walk and face trials and persecutions, sufferings, and rejections. Our focus isn't on the things that are happening to us as much as following the Lord because with him as our, as our true north, um, we never step off the path. We can always get back on it and keep going no matter the circumstances or disappointments in life. So we encourage you to follow the Lord and keep walking and talking with God. And, uh, well, we're going to keep walking and talking to God, but we got to work today, so let's, uh, let's, let's get her done. And let's pray and, uh, do the best thing we can do for the Lord, um, by, by petitioning him for his help. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you how you can heal the hurts, uh, when we bring them to you and when we lay them down. And that, uh, you know, sometimes when we encourage people, um, we're discouraged because they don't do what we expect. And, um, Lord, we just thank you for your grace, uh, that we can take that disappointment and give it to you and, um, and be content knowing that, uh, we're not perfect, that you are, and that we can only do our best, uh, to follow you and, and help one another and love one another on this earth. But we're not going to do it perfectly. And, um, when we encounter disappointments, you're there to comfort us and you're there to walk with us even when everyone else might turn away and we'll be all on our own. We know we're never alone because you're with us. Lord, we pray for— and for anyone listening, I'm here to tell you you're not alone. If you want, you can listen to these encouragements. You can email me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com. Anytime to reach out. But I appreciate anyone who's downloading and listening to these messages. Your presence encourages me, and I seek to encourage you. So we pray, Lord, that you would come alongside anyone who's listening to this message to guide them in the way they should go, to bless them with your divine favor in their lives, and and to comfort them in times of need. Lord, we just, we love you and we want to follow your path and the way we should live our lives, because we understand it's the path that leads from here to there, from here to eternity. And because of the word of God shows us that when we walk in the spirit, we can have joy, peace, and love. And so just help us to keep going with you, Lord. Lord, we pray for you to open our eyes today to the things you want us to see, uh, and to guide our steps into the things you want us to do. And Lord, because we— just give us the help we need to do the best job we can do being the people of God that you want us to be and to best represent your kingdom. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.