Truth Liberates – The Basis For Our Freedom – Wisdom From Dr Neil Anderson - Purity 1234

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 roadside view of a couple of bales of hay and farmlands shrouded in gray clouds of fog comes from Dave Bowne Photography, who shared this on Facebook yesterday, commenting that it is the third image in this Tasmanian Pullover series, which comes from the road to Cradle Mountain near a little place called Sheffield. If you would like to see the first two photos of Dave's Tasmanian Pullover series and Dave's other work, go to Dave Bond Photography's page on Facebook, and I'm sharing the link for that today. Well, it's Friday, and even though the weather in my neck of the woods has been rainy and as gray as Dave's photo, and I was sidelined on the couch most of the day yesterday with the sniffles, I'm still going to thank God for it being Friday, for another day off on this Christmas staycation, for the fact that our recent rain wasn't snow, for the health I do have, and for the love of family and friends, and for who I am in Christ. No matter what circumstances you face in life, If you have made Jesus your Lord and Savior, you always have at least one thing to be thankful for. And if we remember how God saved us, and if we focus on him, we should be able to come up with a whole lot more to be thankful for. I am still not feeling 100% health-wise this morning and have already downed two mason jars of orange juice to infuse my body with vitamin C. But I still wanted to encourage those of us on the path of Christian discipleship to keep on walking and talking with God and to share this passage from Neil Anderson's Discipleship Counseling that I read this morning and is positively infused with truth and the keys to freedom. From his book on discipleship counseling, Anderson writes, Truth liberates. Our Lord has just partaken of His Last Supper with His disciples. He knew the path toward the cross was set before Him, and He knew that He would soon be leaving earth. Left behind would be 11 of His chosen 12 apostles who would face the god of this world and continue the work that Christ had begun. Satan had already delivered one of the disciples— deceived one of the disciples into betraying Jesus. Of betraying Christ. Jesus turned to the Father and prayed, "I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one," in John 17:15. Then his prayer revealed how this can be accomplished: "Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth," in verse 17. Believing the truth about who Christ is Why He came and who we are in Him is the basis for our freedom. Knowing the truth set forth in God's Word is the mark of a true disciple. John 8:31-32 says, "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. You will, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Girding our loins with the truth is our first line of defense against the father of lies. See Ephesians 6:14. We acknowledge this truth in the inner self because a genuine faith is more than just intellectual assent or the accumulation of knowledge. God's truth must penetrate the heart, the very core of our being. Only then will this— his truth bring freedom and lasting change in the inner self. And that was all by Dr. Neil Anderson and his book Discipleship Counseling. At the Celebrate Freedom Recovery/Discipleship Growth Group that I lead at Starpoint Church, I continually try to impress upon the participants the truth of who they are in Christ. Beyond the Celebrate Recovery lessons that attempt to Christianize the 12 steps, I hand out the Who I Am in Christ list and lead quieting and appreciation exercise reciting it to affirm the participant's identity in Christ. Because, as Anderson states, I know that it is the basis of our freedom. And if I can encourage someone to the point where this truth penetrates their hearts, I know that God's truth can bring freedom and lasting change to their lives. And when you know who you are in Christ, know it in your heart, and experience your freedom in Christ, you can be thankful and have peace and joy, even on gray days when your health isn't the best. So, thank God it's Friday. Remember and focus on who you are in Christ and continue to let God's truth set you free. 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 Comfort, and today we'll be going over Psalm 73:1-28 with a focus on verses 23 and 24. Um, and the Word of God says from the NIV version, Psalm 73:1-28, Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, "How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?" This is what the wicked are like: always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence! All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply, till I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground, you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes. When you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God; I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge. I will tell of all your deeds. Today's verses fall under the sixth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Comfort: And the sixth point is: The wicked appear to prosper for a time while the righteous suffer, but actually God is always leading us in the best way. He comforts us with His presence. Today's verses remind us not to envy the godless who prosper, but to rest in the assurance of our salvation and to be comforted by God's presence and led by His guidance. This world has many fleshly and material pleasures, and And when we focus on the luxuries of this world, it is easy to become bitter when we see people who have no regard for God or Jesus prosper and enjoy them. But scripture tells us that material riches are not necessarily a blessing from God, as money and success can easily become the idols we choose to worship rather than the one true God. And even though someone without God can be material— materially rich and thrive on earth, Without Jesus, they are spiritually bankrupt and will perish in eternity. So keep your eyes on the prize— the eternal life with God and the riches and wonders of his love and the safety we have in Jesus forever. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.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 are sharing from God is in the Manger: Reflections on Christmas and on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In today's message, as we continue to walk through the 12 Days of Christmas towards the Epiphany for December 29th, by Bonhoeffer, is called Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. And Bonhoeffer writes: Everlasting Father. How can this be the name of the child? Only because in this child the everlasting fatherly love of God is revealed, and the child wants nothing other than to bring to earth the love of the Father. So the Son is one with the Father, and whoever sees the Son sees the Father. This child wants nothing for himself. He is, he is no prodigy in the human sense, but an obedient child of his Heavenly Father. Born in time, he brings eternity with him to earth. As Son of God, he brings to us all the love of the Father in heaven. Go, seek and find in the manger the heavenly Father who, here, has also become your dear Father. Prince of Peace, where God comes in love to human beings and unites with them, there peace is made between God and humankind and among people. Are you afraid of God's wrath? Then go to the Child in the manger and receive there the peace of God. Have you fallen into strife and hatred with your sister or brother? Come and see how God, out of pure love, has become our brother and wants to reconcile us with each other. In the world, power reigns. This Child is the Prince of Peace. Where he is, peace reigns. The next, um, from Bonhoeffer's Christus Victor address from November 26, 1939, he writes, in our lives we don't speak readily of victory. It is too big a word for us. We have suffered too many defeats in our lives. Victory has been thwarted again and again. By too many weak hours, too many gross sins. But isn't it true that the spirit within, within us yearns for this word, for the final victory over the sin and anxious fear of death in our lives? For now, God's word also says nothing to us about our victory. It doesn't promise us that we will be victorious over sin and death from now on, from now on. Rather, it says with all its might that someone has won the victory, and that this person, if we have him as Lord, will also win the victory over us. It is not we who are victorious, but Jesus. And that was from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christus Victor address from November 26th, 1939. And finally, our resource shares Mark 4:35-31, and the word of God says, on that day when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd behind, they took with him— took him with them in the boat just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose And the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him up and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. And he said to them, Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?' And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?' That was Mark 4:35-41. And that is all we're sharing from God Is in the Manger from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And, uh, that's all we're sharing today. Still feeling under the weather. And after I get this published, I think I'm going to surrender to the couch and get some more rest. But it is Friday, so we should thank God whether you have work today or you have the day off. We should always thank the Lord for who we are in Christ and the blessings he gives in our— gives us in our life, even in the midst of, you know, trials. And tribulations, we can, we can be thankful because of the freedom that God's given us through Christ. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we pray for healing for myself and rest today. Pray to be healed completely for my weekend excursion with my wife tomorrow. Um, yeah, so we're praying for you to help us. And, uh, Lord, we're praying for the people who might be listening today, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, because, Lord, we all need your help. Lord, so we just pray for you to, uh, go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your your kingdom. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.