Thriving Through The End Times - Purity 1177

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 sun blazing in its late afternoon glory in a blue sky that, uh, at that place where the Hudson River becomes the Skodak Creek, uh, comes to us from yours truly as I stopped to get out of my car and capture the scene before going into River House yesterday afternoon. I felt a sense of urgency to enjoy and capture this moment yesterday, and at the time I sort of wondered what the hurry was about. But a short time later, as I stood in my kitchen preparing dinner, a look out the window revealed that the brightness of that moment was unique, because things had quickly gone from "ahh" to "blah" outside, as the sun apparently moved below the horizon or was covered by the clouds, as things seemed significantly less sunny and bright. So I was grateful that I stopped to enjoy the moment and thank God again for delivering me to my little house down by the river. Well, it's Friday and I'm sending out my prayers that all my friends are blessed as we move into the weekend and take some time to give thanks for all they have in life and in Christ. Recently I have altered my morning quiet time routine a little bit by choosing to read through Dr. Neil T. Anderson's latest book Thriving Through the End Times Devotionally. As for the title, focus on the thriving more than the end times in terms of your expectations, as it is a solid book on transforming discipleship more than a book on eschatology, addressing the situations we face in our current day and times more than looking ahead to the coming day of the Lord. I highly recommend it as it is filled with robust biblical teaching that provides a balanced view of walking in the Spirit. Living a Christian Life in Our World Today. Anderson's book warns of the enemies outside and inside the church, pointing to the diversity of, of, um, of views in the world today that go against the biblical worldview, and of the equally misguided and opposite extremes of legalism and liberalism that we can find in the church in America. Dr. Anderson prescribes a balanced diet of biblical truth and the exercise of the Christian faith that would keep us in the presence of the Lord and in the harmony of his will. I'm in the latter chapters of the book currently, and I'm extremely impressed with the practical advice Anderson gives on discernment and prayer, enough so that I would say that Thriving in the End Times is one of Anderson's best books to date. And is extremely relevant to our times. If you have never read Anderson, I would recommend Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Thriving Through the End Times to be the next additions to your library. And while each book stands on its own two feet, um, I would recommend they be read in that order to establish a solid foundation of who we are in Christ um, how to overcome the enemy and how to live a Christian life amongst the relative chaos of our day. A balanced life lived in the Spirit gives you peace regardless of the circumstances in the world today. And I personally feel that I'm thriving currently because I'm currently in a season where I am not only learning new skills through my training with Deeper Walk International School of Prayer Ministry and leading a small group where Christians are growing in their freedom and victory because of their faith But I am personally in the midst of a breakthrough as my decision to be accountable to fight my food addiction has resulted in me being in the best physical shape of my life. And, uh, and a major issue from my past is on the horizon of being resolved. And I'm somehow continuing to fall deeper and deeper in love with my wife, Tammy Lynn. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, and it's a new life for me, and I'm feeling good. I won't sing it on the podcast today, but I am sharing the link to Nina Simone's Feeling Good if you want to celebrate the good, good life that God has given us. Michael Bublé's version isn't too shabby either, so I'm sharing a link to that, that too. Uh, hey, I'm feeling especially good, so why not? So keep walking and talking with God as brothers and sisters, and tell everyone you know that when they decide to put their faith in Jesus and walk in the Spirit, they too can be thriving in the end times. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on bitterness, resentment, and hate. And today's section of scripture is Genesis 4:3-8. From the NIV, the word of God says, in the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.' Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let us go out to the field.' While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Today's verses fall under the 6th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on bitterness, resentment, and hate. And that 6th point is Cain's anger turned to bitterness, hatred, and murder. Today's verses tell the story of the first murder and how Cain's offense at not being accepted didn't cause him to repent and do what is right, but it— but he refused the Lord's advice to rule over sin and let bitterness grow into a swift and in bloody murderous violence. Ever— have I ever told you how sometimes when I'm in the wilderness or in isolation somewhere and I encounter a stranger, I get overcome by the sudden fear that the person is a psychopath and I better get ready to defend myself just in case they want to raise Cain? Because of free will, man can do literally whatever he chooses as he feels led. Horrible acts of violence can and do happen in the world, as the latest troubles in the Middle East have revealed. And when a spirit of lust, bitterness, or hate is leading someone, they are capable of anything. God's remedy in this very early section of the Bible gives us the answers to life and all the negative emotions that would afflict us. If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it. If we do what is right according to God's word, which includes faith in Jesus, we will live in the peace and harmony of being accepted by God. And if we rule over sin by obeying God's word, our faces will not be downcast with the bitterness that could drive us into sin. So let's learn from this fundamental lesson of the Bible and do what is right and follow the Lord out of the negative emotions of bitterness and live with him and our fellow man in peace. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from the, from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit As we continue sharing from chapter 31 on the Spirit endowing, and today's section is called Signs and Wonders. It's a short section, but if you wanted to read about sign— signs and wonders that are endowed by the Holy Spirit, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage a lifestyle of Christian discipleship with a Christian worldview. Because it leads you— because it's based on truth, God's truth, the author of truth, the creator of all things. When we come in line with God's truth, we live as we're supposed to live, and amazingly, we thrive. Instead of doing what the world would have us do or giving into baser instincts of selfishness, lust, or hate, The Lord leads us into peace and love and joy, and when we follow him, that's what we experience. As we walk in the Spirit, we experience the fruit of the Spirit. And so that's why we, we share this message, is to encourage people that you too, you know, can live a Christian life, and it doesn't have to be complicated and certainly doesn't have to be legalistic or overly liberal. You have to find that balance, and thus I'm recommending Dr. Neil Anderson's book, Thriving in the End Times. It does warn about things that are out there that could lead you astray. And like I said, near the end of the book, and it's very practical advice on how to live in the spirit and walk in the spirit, pray in the spirit, and be discerning. And that's what we need. So I highly recommend his book and encourage everyone to go out and get it. I'm not quite through, finished with it yet, but it's so good that I made the recommendation before finishing it, trusting that, you know, he's not going to go astray in the last couple of chapters. Dr. Neil Anderson is a big inspiration to me as I've been trained to lead people through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, which is the process he came up with for, you know, resolving personal and spiritual conflicts, which is based on the Word of God, which just happened to transform my life and lead me into my purpose, which is to, you know, well, further into my purpose, quite frankly. I had been pursuing the Lord, you know, before I discovered Neil Anderson's work, and it was just, you know, I learned a lot of things that are in his books before before I found his books. And it's just sort of a shortcut to victory and freedom. And that's why I point to Freedom in Christ Ministries as a means to get good, solid biblical teaching on discipleship and to lay down the things of the past and walk in freedom. So that's why we became a Community Freedom Ministry Associate for Freedom in Christ Ministries and why we continue to lead people through the steps to freedom in Christ today. And so we obviously are very high on those things, and, um, uh, we, we recommend, uh, if you want, we offer on our podcast and our YouTube channel, uh, Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and the Freedom in Christ course, which are all based on the word of God and Neil Anderson's work. For you to listen to and enjoy and grow and be edified and, you know, built up in your faith. And we also offer the, the handouts that we gave out in class via email. If you, if you'd like to take a deeper dive in those classes, you can contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com and I'd send you the Word docs for free via email. So, well, it is Friday and I'm thanking God. And like I said, I'm falling more and more in love with my wife, Tammy Lynn. As we, you know, we keep God at the center of our marriage. We pray for each other every day, and we meet each evening to read the Bible. This is the Christian life I wanted, and this is the Christian wife that God put on my path, and thank God for that. So I'm looking forward to the end of the workday and going up to Easton and be with her, and I I pray that everyone who's listening and reading this, uh, reading this message today has a great weekend too. Uh, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do. Um, we thank you for giving us the ability to thrive through the end times by believing in your Son and walking in his path. And Lord, we, um, we just pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message today. That you would help them in their walk of faith and that you come alongside them in their prayer requests. And Lord, while you're at it, we pray for you to go before us today and to guide us as we go. We would love for you to, you know, stop us and, you know, show us the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go and reveal the things we need to know for today. Um, because Lord, we desperately need your help, um, every day. And we really appreciate it when you set things up for us, um, so, so we— and that we can become aware of where to go. Um, so we just, we just ask you to go before us today, Lord, and help us to represent you the best way we can, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and show other people, um, the power and the peace that comes from following Jesus, uh, Lord. So we thank you, we praise you, we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.