Truth Be Known - The Importance of Working on Our Relationships – Purity 1687

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. Good morning. Today's photo of a magnificent view of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley in the distance comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who captured this fire tower experience and shared it on social media back on September 18th, 202 2020. Um, well, it's Wednesday, and I share this mountain view to visually represent another work week mid-summit, uh, and to inspire us all to work at experiencing the beautiful things in life that God provides for us to enjoy. You don't get to see a view like the one in today's photo without first climbing the mountain and ascending those steps in the fire tower. And likewise, we won't experience the joys and blessings of our spiritual lives in Christ unless we are diligent in working on the things, skills, disciplines, and habits that keep our relationship with God alive and healthy. Last night, my wife Tammy Lynn and I attended a small group marriage study featuring Paul David Tripp's book Marriage: 6 Gospel Commitments Every Couple Needs to Make. And while last night's video presentation warned of the dangers of allowing the things of this world to become idols in our lives to the point that they divide and separate husbands and wives from a healthy and intimate marriage. The reading this week, yeah, the reading this week was on something else. It warned of the dangers of coasting, you know, and where we accept what is a good marriage but fail to do the work that will maintain or improve what is good and slowly become dissatisfied and discontented because not nothing changes and our differences become bones of contention over time. These two areas of concern are related, of course. When we stop working on our marriages, we often develop individual interests apart from one another. And when we don't try to fix the problems we do have, those interests become more enjoyable than spending time together, causing neglect, disconnection, and disharmony to the point where marriage— married couples start living separate lives. Over time, this can result in separate bedrooms, separate vacations, and ultimately divorce. So the lesson last night was to be aware of how not continually working on our marriage to resolve differences quickly and to stay connected to one another with good relational habits and practices could have unforeseen and devastating results. Similarly, if we take our relationship with God for granted and stop doing the spiritual disciplines and practices that keep us in communion with God, we We can easily get drawn away by the things of the world, the flesh, and the devil to the point where we can lose the joy of our life in Christ and be deceived and tempted into sin. As in our marriages, we have to keep doing the work of our spiritual disciplines to stay in harmony with the Lord. Speaking of spiritual disciplines, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses the importance of a regular time in God's word for our spiritual protection and health. So I'm sharing it on the blog today to remind us all of the ability of God's truth to keep us safe from the lies of the enemy. And Dr. David Jeremiah writes— what does he write? He writes, there you go, truth be known. And he references Genesis 3:13, which says, the serpent deceived me. And David Jeremiah writes, some drivers in Kansas received text messages last fall telling them they had not paid a Kansas Turnpike toll. The official logo of the Kansas Turnpike Authority was included on the text, and the message said it was a final reminder regarding an unpaid toll. But it was all a scam, a deception. The devil has been a deceiver from the very beginning, and he has more ways of deceiving us now than ever. Every day, thousands of scammers contact people by text, email, phone, or letter. During the tribulation, the deception will be even greater. The false prophet will deceive those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he granted— he was granted to do, according to Revelation 13:14. One of the best ways to defend ourselves against deception involves daily Bible study. God's word is truth. According to John 17:17. And the more truth we pack into our minds, the less vulnerable we'll be to Satan's schemes. Wisdom comes from the pages of scripture. We all need to diligently protect ourselves from deception, but remember, one of the best ways is, ways is spending time each day in God's truth. And Jeremiah also shares a quote from D.L. Moody which said, the Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible. I say amen. You know, the miracle of our salvation in Jesus Christ often happens in a moment when we feel the conviction of sin and see the truth that Jesus was who he said he was, causing us to bend the knee to him as Lord and Savior. In a moment, we are forgiven and made new. But just because we are secure in Christ doesn't mean that the devil leaves us alone. Amazingly, Satan can seem to attempt to deceive and tempt us even more after we come into God's kingdom. So to grow as a Christian and to be able to see the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and to avoid going back into the darkness of our former ways, we need to expose ourselves to the light of God's truth in the Bible on a regular basis. We don't read the Bible for facts. We read it to receive truth, encouragement, wisdom from God, to confirm what we know about our Heavenly Father, and to learn how to live out the new life God has given us. So let me echo Jeremiah's advice and exhort you to make pursuing the truth of God's word and ways a passion and a regular practice of your life. Dr. Neil Anderson has said that the word of God is like a small cup of clean water that we pour into the, quote unquote, black coffee pot of our worldly minds. If we are diligent to keep pouring that clear water into that pot every day, It will eventually become less dark until one day the darkness can be expelled altogether. So get in the Word as often as you can and pray before you read it to ask God to let His truth be known to you and to let His Spirit change your mind and heart to see things His way. God's Word can help to protect us, but we have to do the work to make sure that His truth is known. 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 obedience, and today's verses come from 1 John 5:2-4, where the word of God tells us, by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe his commandments. For his— for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Today's verses are the second of three passages of scripture that fall under the 11th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on obedience. That 11th point is: If you know, if you truly know and love the Lord, you will want to keep his commands. Today's Bible verses encourage us that when we are born of God, we can overcome the world through our faith and our obedience to following his commandments. In the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, Jesus told the devil in Matthew 4:4, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus demonstrates the importance of knowing what scripture says and living according to God's instructions to help us to overcome. So John, in his letter, is encouraging us that we too can overcome when we follow Jesus's example of faithfully living according to God's word. So don't use God's grace as an excuse to sin. Instead, obey God's word and realize the blessings that God intends for each of us to receive, to receive by living according to his wisdom. And love. 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 Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional and we're on day 186 where Adams shares a portion of Luke 11:52 which says, "You have taken away the key to the house of knowledge." And J.E. Adam writes, "No wonder Jesus opposed the Pharisees. They had done the most destructive thing possible. They had so covered up the truth of the scriptures by their traditions that people no longer knew what the Bible had to say. Like the Pharisees, the Roman Catholics by tradition locked up the Bible and threw the key away. How horrendous this is for any people not to be able to gain knowledge of God and his will because religious leaders had so twisted the truth that it was almost impossible for the common people to find it. This happens with those who teach error today—cultists, liberals, evangelicals, so-called—who are now beginning to flood the market with books espousing liberal teachings under the guise of scholarship. The key of knowledge is too precious to lose. You must do all within your ability to see that it is not lost again. Beware of, uh, beware of, expose, and refute those who obscure true knowledge. If I say amen, you know, um, J.E. Adams' point is true knowledge is the knowledge of scripture. I hate to say it, as a former Catholic, I can tell you that while there are Bible readings in the liturgy every week, there is very little emphasis on Bible study. And, you know, basically they make the Mass the major thing to do. They consider the Mass a form of prayer and, you know, all the Bible you need. But don't be deceived, you know, you need to know, you need to know what the Word of God says for yourself. You shouldn't be spoon-fed by somebody a pastor or a priest. You should examine the truth of God's word for yourself and seek its wisdom and its power through your individual study of the word. We are called to follow, but we're not called to follow blindly. And when you follow the traditions of men and well-intentioned religion, sometimes you're going astray and don't even know it. So we encourage you to do Bible study and to live a life of a Christian disciple by surrendering our life and following his will. And that is why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Are you seeking him, seeing the Lord in your own, in your own strength? Well, in your own, on your own, in your own efforts 24/7? Are you trying to live in obedience to God's word? And if you are, we say great. That'll lead you into the truth that God wants you to experience, and you'll be surprised that it's not some legalistic rule-keeping condemnation journey. It's a, it's a life that's led by the fruit of the Spirit and flows in the fruit of the Spirit, like peace, love, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, patience, and self-control. And it's a pathway that leads you, leads you to God's peace and his purpose for your life. And part of my purpose, other than a blog and podcast, is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday nights. It's a Christian recovery and Discipleship Group, and we meet tonight. So if you're in Upstate New York and can get to Clifton Park, uh, at 6:30 tonight, we would, uh, invite you to come and join our fellowship where we'll encourage you to ask God for help to overcome your hurts, habits, and hangups, and encourage you to walk in the Spirit every day. Uh, if you can't make it to tonight's meeting, uh, well, that's okay. There's another opportunity for the men out there Uh, if you'd like to be discipled, we have a discipleship course coming up, uh, later this summer and into the fall. From August 19th to October 28th, I'll be leading a Freedom in Christ men's online discipleship course that'll meet Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30. And if you're not sure, you got time to think about it because registration for the course doesn't even open until July 7th. Um, so think about it, put it on your calendar. And sign up, and we can, you know, walk together for a while later this summer and fall. Beyond that, we always— well, we should share daily encouragements, or semi-daily encouragements. So we've done other teachings in the past on our podcast that we put into playlists that are available to encourage you in your faith walk, and we encourage you to check those out by going to our YouTube channel, looking at our playlist, or going to mtforchrist.com, where we have a whole page dedicated to the place we have on YouTube. If their teachings and encouragements encourage you, we'd love to hear about it. You can email us at mtforchrist247@gmail.com. And if you'd like to support our ministry, the M.t. Clark Christ Community Freedom Ministry, you can go to mtforchrist.com and our donations page to give today, and we would greatly appreciate it. Beyond that, we, uh, we end every message by asking the question, are you empty for Christ too? What does that mean? Well, it just means, are you emptying yourself of the things of the world and seeking to be filled with the things of God and living according to God's word and walking in the Spirit? If you're doing that, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray, seek the Lord. We encourage you to make Jesus your Lord and Savior because we know that that'll make the biggest difference that your life will, you know, that's possible in your life. It gives you eternal life, and it leads you in a way, a new way of living when you're obedient to follow. We highly recommend it. We know that prayer works, and we've seen it happen in our lives, and that's why we pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done for us, Lord, and how you take us out of the darkness and lead us in the way we should go. But, uh, Lord, the journey continues, and we're praying today that you'd come alongside us and help us to see the things we need to see and do the things we need to do, because we need your help, and we're asking for it, Lord. We also pray for you to bless anyone reading, watching, or listening today's message, that you come alongside them, their prayer requests, and their walk of faith too, Lord. They need your help too, and we're asking, Lord. We thank you, we praise you, and we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.