Under The Hunter’s Moon - How Do You Do That - Purity 863

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 darkened roadway, the shadows of trees, and an evening sky illuminated by the hunter's moon comes to us from a friend who shared this scene of an October evening, presumably near their home in Round Top, New York, on social media earlier this week. As he edits the message, um, well, we, we have made it to the weekend, and as I stated yesterday, uh, and have now confirmed via Google, we in the Catskills or the Adirondacks region of upstate New York are currently in the peak of the fall foliage season. So as the forecast according to Alexa is calling for partly sunny weather and a high of 67 degrees Fahrenheit, I encourage all of my local friends to venture outside of the four walls of your homes and to go see the glory of the autumn season. Uh, yesterday I took my canine friend Harley for a westward walk down Waite Road toward River Road, which is lined by forest after I passed my neighbor's place, and was absolutely rejoicing over how God's creation had all the colors of autumn on display. We were also blessed by the appearance of a blue jay flying above. And a deer scampering across the roadway. Sometimes it's just being aware of and being present for the things in our immediate surroundings that can give us a resounding sense of peace and a thrill of joy at just how blessed we are to simply live in this world that the Lord has made. Uh, so why didn't I share any photos of that? Uh, I didn't bring my phone, and And I have decided that was a good thing, for the memory of yesterday's short walk in autumn's splendor will be just between me and God. But before you go running off to the wilderness to be one with the Lord and decide that being alone with the Lord in his creation is your purpose in life, I want also to remind us all of the blessings that the Lord brings us when Christians are in community. And that our purpose is not to keep our light under a bushel, but are to share what we have come to know about the Lord with others. I shared my friend's picture of what they call the Hunter's Moon because last night I had to don a bright orange hunter's knit cap in service of the Lord. And I wasn't hunting rabbits, deer, or ducks, but was only to be used in assisting the Lord to capture the hearts of men. "My church, Starpoint Church in Clifton Park, hosted a men's worship event called 'Man Up' last evening, and prior to the event, I was asked by our executive pastor to be a connect group leader to encourage men to boldly proclaim what areas of their life the Lord was leading them to, quote unquote, 'man up' in. The evening started with fellowship that involved a catered meal from the Dog House of sliders and tater tots." And manly games of cornhole and axe throwing was also available, which I missed as I spent the first hour eating, uh, first half hour eating and talking with to my brother-in-law and other men I knew from the church. A lively session of worship music by our church's worship team followed the meal and fellowship, and then we were blessed by an impactful message from Pastor Pierre, a visiting friend of our church from Rochester. Pastor Pierre's message was encouraging and convicting, and after I heard it, I knew that it would almost certainly cause some of the men to consider the ways they are living and what shadow they would be casting for their family and friends to remember as they walked from last night into eternity. After the message, the men were invited to meet out on the church's lawn where where fires, uh, fire pits were assembled, uh, where fire pits were assembled and lit for a final session of fellowship, uh, making s'mores and prayer. Uh, but before all that, at the beginning of the evening, the Connect group leaders were called together to be instructed on what our roles were to be following the service at the end of the night. Um, Pastor Larry gave us, uh, us our orange hats that were, were to serve as a visual indicator of who would be leading the fire pit sessions and explained how we were to encourage the men that gathered to share a little about themselves and to answer the question, in what one area is the Lord calling you to man up As Pastor Larry concluded giving his instructions to the group and we were about to leave, I got a call from the Holy Spirit to pray. I'm relatively new to the church and didn't know all the guys, but I felt the Holy Spirit was calling me to step out and pray. So when Pastor Larry asked, "Are there any questions?" I asked, "Can I pray for us?" Pastor Larry said, "Yes." And then I said a quick prayer for the Holy Spirit to bless each of the connect group leaders and to use us to help the men gathered to open up and reveal what the Lord was asking them to do. It was a quick prayer and I said amen. And even though I thought I had, I did what I was called to do, a strange thing happened right on the heels of that prayer. I got blasted by what I would call a rush of anxiety. Even though I maintained my composure, I was overcome with nervousness and this condemnation. That told me that I was showing off, or I was too new to this church, or I didn't belong here. Um, luckily I knew all of this to be lies, but the attack was pretty intense all the same, and I had a moment where I was worried and I contemplated, what have I gotten myself into? Um, but as I talked to my brother-in-law Donald and other men of the church, I found my peace again. And after worship and Pastor Pierre's message, the sudden panic attack was all but forgotten. So I ventured out to the fire pit I called my own with my orange hat on and started welcoming men to my circle and led them through the short session of s'more making, sharing their convictions of what the Lord put on their hearts about manning up in, and then we prayed for one another. As we got settled into the group, I introduced myself and started to share, um, my testimony of all the things the Lord has helped me to overcome, and it encouraged the other men to open up and be transparent about the areas where they needed to step up in. Um, after we prayed for each other, one of the men pondered and asked, how can we do that in regards to trying to find the balance between being loving and leading our families, but at the same time not being overly controlling or completely passive? In the short time we had, I couldn't explain the 12-year journey that had led me through the fires of adversity into my new life in Christ, but I did encourage him to follow the Lord and to develop a daily spiritual practice of prayer, Bible study, praying over the "Who I Am in Christ" list and gratitude to set the foundation for his day and to, you know, realize that the work that the Lord has for us to do lies in changing our character more than trying to change others. I confess that earlier I had a panic attack, probably demonic. I didn't say that to them though. But after I was reminded of who I am, I was in Christ, I had peace and I felt able to encourage them to seek the Lord's will for their lives. The men truly seemed to appreciate my transparency, and I advised them that all the good things that have happened in my life was because I decided to follow the Lord, and that He could help them too. And so, I was blessed last night by the fellowship of the men in my church and by the opportunity to give glory to God for all that He has done for me. So, keep walking and talking with God because it simply is the only way to know true peace and to overcome the lies the enemy that would— the lies the enemy would tell us that would cause us to run away and hide. Um, the peace God has for us is in his light, not in the darkness of, of, of this world. So I light a fire for him, and I will continue to encourage others to seek all that he has for them. Um, today I've run short of time. I don't know if I spent too much time studying or what, but time is short, so, uh, there will be no Bible Promise Book for Men verse today, uh, as that resource lies in the recesses of my bag as we speak. Um, but I do encourage people 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 The Cost of Discipleship. And today we continue sharing from chapter 6 and the Beatitudes. Today's beatitude is blessed are the peacemakers. And if you want to see what Bonhoeffer's short commentary is on that one verse in the Bible, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll find the, um, you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. And as always, I encourage a life of Christian discipleship Uh, why? Because it transformed my life. It gives me peace and joy every day, and it's changed who I am in so many good ways. Um, so we encourage that. We encourage people to find their freedom in Christ. And to do that, here at the, the blog and the podcast, um, we, we provide our teachings that we did at our local church in 2021 on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. We share that on our podcast, MT for Christ 247, and our YouTube channel, MT for Christ 247, where there's a playlist. So we invite you to check those out because, you know, we have to answer that question: how do you do that? You do that by following the Lord and letting him work on you, and somehow you find peace and you find the ways of how to live You know, give thanks in everything, pray for things, you know, pray ceaselessly. You know, these are the things. And be renewed, let your mind be renewed by the Word of God. Don't be transformed, you know, conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind and walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh. You know, these are some basics of our walk. But how do you do that? Well, that's why we have a long series of teachings available for you to check out. But we have to seek God's will. We have to learn how to live a new life in Christ, and we have to make the decision to actually do it, to repent, to turn from our ways and to turn to God's ways. But when we do that, we find all the fruit of the Spirit are lying along the path that God sets before us. Those fruit, of course, are peace, love, joy, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, patience, and self-control. It's through Christ alone that we can have the victory. And when we come into communion with him and the body of believers that can support us along our, our walk, we can overcome and have victory in our freedom in Christ. So we encourage you to check out our podcast and our YouTube channel and to keep walking and talking with God. And one way we do that is to always pray. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all you did last night, or at the men's event at my local church. Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today. We pray for you to bless anyone who might be listening to the podcast, to come alongside them in their walk and to bless them with your grace. Um, Lord, we just pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see, whether it's just something beautiful about your creation, or if it's something we just need to know about how to change our lives and our directions and cast a good shadow for you. We need to see it, and we need to know what that is. And so we, we pray for your— and your Holy Spirit to, you know, reveal that to us and, uh, and to most importantly lead us in the way that we should go today, Lord, as we only want to be true to your path and, and your, your purpose for us. So Lord, we just pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.