Wanderlust and Finding “My People” on the Road - Purity 1165

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 fading light at sunset reflected in the waters of Cranberry Lake as the autumn landscape fades into darkness comes to us from Lisa Warner, who shared this twilight time scene from her visit to Waquanakegna, New York, on social media back on October 1st. Well, it's Friday, and as the sun will set on the first full week of October this weekend, I am so glad that I decided to make it special, truly momentous, as I took to the skyways and highways yesterday to make the spiritual pilgrimage to the Deeper Walk International Breakthrough Conference in Hobart, Indiana. Although every trip has its cost in time and finances, those who like to travel know that the costs pale in comparison to the thrills and benefits of boldly going out into the world to unfamiliar places to see things you have never seen before, or to revisit people and places you love that you haven't seen in a while. I have to admit that although I had— I find his story to be quite tragic, I was a huge Jack Kerouac fan in my youth because my dream has been to be a writer of sorts ever since childhood, and because Kerouac's wayward, prodigal explorations really spoke to my wanderlust spirit that craved an authentic life experience, to live with passion, to break out of the confines of my humdrum suburban life and experience all that life had to offer. I had a deep desire to find the meaning of life and was willing to go wherever wherever to experience it. However, my explorations to see the world was somewhat tempered by fear, and so I looked to suck the marrow out of life by searching for meaning and love in all the wrong places with euphoric experiences brought on by alcohol, drugs, sex, and the occasional road trip. That was a dead-end path, of course, although regardless the futility of following such a path, it can serve as a good lesson and what not to do, but that is a lesson best learned quickly. Kerouac's final chapter, that of living his last years with his mother, dying of an abdominal hemorrhage caused by heavy drinking at the age of 47 and leaving behind 3 ex-wives, a daughter he had only met twice, and a total estate of $91 despite his fame, tells us that a pathway of desire and chaos is no way to live our lives. While it is nice to travel and enjoy ourselves, we shouldn't make exciting experiences an idol. The YOLO philosophy, that you only live once so you better live it up, can, can, can help, uh, you to boldly go where you might not normally go. But we, we have to be— make sure we don't go too far and that our travels don't take us into darkness. And although I have had plenty— a pretty broken road to learn this truth, I can now tell you from experience that when it comes to meaning, purpose, and finding and enduring peace, the path of Christian discipleship is the way to go. When you surrender your selfish, darker desires for a life of following the Lord's call to know the truth and to be set free, you can rejoice in the full immersive experience of life. By going about the earth but living in God's kingdom at the same time. When you combine the physical realities of life with the spiritual realities of who you are in Christ, you can experience joy and peace regardless of the circumstances you encounter. Hey, don't get me wrong, um, but Hobart, Indiana isn't necessarily a heavenly destination. In fact, as my wife and I drove down the section of I-90 between Chicago and Merrillville, Indiana, I couldn't help but think that the atmosphere was pretty depressing as that industrialized pathway looked like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie from the '80s. And I wondered if Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was shot in the Midwest. But after I walked into Deeper Walks conference last night, I forgot all about the long travel day and was positively elated to be amongst my people, Christians whose experiences of heart-focused discipleship and conscious contact with God have resulted in personal freedom and victories the likes of which the Kerouacs of this world can never dream of, uh, that has produced a mutual desire and vision to help others to experience a deeper walk with God. While none of our stories are the same, we all have God and the freedom that he has given us in common. And the joy— and the joy by our— the joy by our gathering was evident in the spirit of worship that descended upon us as we— as the first night of the conference drew to a close. I was overjoyed to see that several of my fellow cohort classmates had made the trip and was positively exuberant as I greeted them with hugs. My client experience prayer minister Christy Edge was in the building and I hugged her. Lisa Nerva, our cohort's teaching assistant, was there. I hugged her. I gushed adoration and appreciation over Dawn Whitestone, Deeper Walk School of Ministry's director, and Nick Harang, Deeper Walk's director of operations and my cohort leader. As I was awestruck by simply being in the same room with people whom I have only met online, who I consider to be true heroes for the cause of Christ and our faith, doing simple tasks like making coffee and trying to meet and greet the masses there. However, my deepest praise fell on Dr. Marcus Warner as I tried to express how very honored I was to meet him in person and express to him how much I appreciate his work for the body of Christ. I've been reading Moore's books and watching his teachings and webinars for a while now, and I was in awe of being able to meet him and watch him teach in person. While it was joyous and somewhat surreal seeing all my online friends and heroes in the same— in one place in the flesh, I still have to say— I, I still have to say hello to Moore today. I— well, yeah, looking forward to that. I at least had some With all that, I had some level of expectation of what that would be like, but one of the biggest thrills of the night was something that was totally unexpected. As I made my way into the auditorium last night, I was shocked to see a familiar face among the crowd that I had no reason to expect to see at the conference, frankly, to ever see again. But there he was, another online friend now visible in the flesh. Before joining the Deeper Walk School of Ministry, I was an online course facilitator for Freedom in Christ Ministries. And as I walked into the auditorium last night, I saw one of my former students in the flesh. A man I call— will call Sam is a doctor who lives in California, and he went through the Freedom in Christ course that I hosted online in the fall of 2022. And last night he told me that the Freedom in Christ course set him on a journey to— he didn't say it, but I say it— keep walking and talking with God, and that my comments in the class led him to discover Deeper Walk International and to join their school of ministry this year. It was absolutely awesome to see how Sam's journey is continuing, and I was humbled to know that I was used by God to be a small part of it. Sam and I were total strangers from different sides of the country and different with different careers and life experiences, but our common desire to follow the Lord led, led us, led to us meeting and now reuniting a year later. I'm not sure where Sam is going, and I'm not sure where I'm going, but I'm pretty sure that both of us would tell you that a life living in the Spirit on the path of Christian discipleship is the way that leads to meaning, purpose, peace and joy. So ask the Lord to help you and guide you. And if you're bold, be like Isaiah and ask God to send me— you— uh, to the life that he has for you. And when he's— and when he speaks, be equally bold to follow where he leads. The life you can have in Christ is waiting for you to step out in faith and to follow it. The wondrous life that the Lord has for you is available, so put one foot in front of the other and go get it. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on Assurance of Salvation, and today's meditation verses are Job 19:25-27. From the New Living Translation, the Word of God says, But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. After my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God. I will see him for myself; yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought. Today's verses fall under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on assurance of salvation. And that first point was Job had assurance. Today's verses encourage us that we can have confidence that the Lord has saved us and that we can look forward to the day when we can meet our Redeemer face to face. Talk about a deeper walk with God and an unshakable faith in him. Job's life experiences, his relationship with God before everything fell apart in life told him that the Lord was real and that He could be trusted. Although we didn't— we don't know how Job knew that his Redeemer lives, the faith of Job testifies that something happened in Job's life that caused him to fear God, shun evil, and offer burnt offerings to the Lord continually. Job's religion wasn't just the product of tradition. Job's faith wasn't one of mental assent, of going through the motions of religious practices because he just had an inkling that God must exist. No, his actions before his testing reveal that somehow Job really believed in and knew the Lord experientially. While Job could just— could, could have just been covering his bases with those burnt offerings over some form of superstition or to manipulate God to get a good result. His comments here in chapter 19 show us that Job's faith wasn't based on the prosperity he enjoyed or general spiritual principles. Job's comments reveal that he had an experience that told him that God was real, that he could trust that God would someday reclaim the earth. You don't get that from general revelation. And just like Job could be assured of his salvation, we can be assured of ours. Jesus is a historical fact, and if we believe what God's Word says about him, we can be assured that we will be saved because of our faith in him, and that we will be with him for all eternity because of Jesus' resurrection and because he said so. Assurance comes from knowing God. Putting your faith in Christ and believing what God's Word says. So seek the Lord, trust in Jesus, and know that your Redeemer lives, and you will one day see Him rule over the earth, because He said so. As always, I invite all to go to M.t. Clark.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 A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, and today we continue— or is it new? I, you know, honestly I'm lost over the last couple days, but we're in chapter 28 of A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, uh, the Spirit Preserving. This might be the first section or a continuation of chapter 28, I'm not sure at this point, um, but it's, uh, today's topic is Preservation in Holiness. So if you want to know how the Holy Spirit helps us to be preserved in holiness, um, go to mt4christ.org and you'll see that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage people to follow a life of Christian discipleship because God is real and you can know that your Redeemer lives when you seek him and follow him. The Lord will reveal himself to you in real tangible ways, um, where it doesn't have to be a matter of I think, I believe it's true. You can know God's real and alive and moving, uh, still in this world and will one day, according to his word, which is true, uh, reclaim the earth. So this is what we put our hope and confidence in. And when you have an experiential reality of God's presence in your life and don't reject it and run away from it. It can inspire you to know life has meaning, life has purpose. We're not just going to fade away. God is eternal, and Jesus said he goes before us to prepare a place for those who follow him. So when we put our faith in him, we have the assurance of eternal life. When we have that, when we know that experientially, that, that's where our freedom comes from, and that's where our power comes from, is our relationship with the Lord. And when we decide to follow the Lord and lean on his, lean on his strength and his wisdom, we can overcome anything or endure anything, and he gives us joy and peace as we go. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I would recommend you to check out our, our discipleship series of classes on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all available on the podcast and our YouTube channel. Those are all based on the Word of God and based on the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson, and they teach you all about who you are in Christ, the spiritual realities that include demons. And most importantly, it leads you to go through the steps to freedom in Christ, which is a prayerful repentance process where you come before the Lord, basically surrender your life to him, and get set free of all your personal spiritual conflicts to experience your freedom. And it was a process that was, um, you know, monumental in my life, and it's changed it exponentially. And continuously. And I can't help but point to this lifestyle, this, this, this relationship with the Lord, this deeper walk that leads to peace, joy, and love. Well, it is Friday. I'm in Indiana at a hotel, looking forward to the rest of the conference today. I'm disoriented because I'm in Central Standard Time. But I'm filled with joy and peace because I'm with my wife and I'm amongst my people, fellow people, uh, fellow Christians that understand, you know, the spiritual realities and how to, how to seek healing and freedom from the Lord and receive it and to help other people too. So we're going to rejoice that and thank God it's Friday and We look forward to the day. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the joy set before us, um, for today, and, uh, the joy that you set before Jesus when he, when he died for us to give us our freedom. Lord, that one day we would all come to faith in him and, uh, experience the life that he has for us. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message that you'd come alongside them and their, their prayer request and their walk of faith, Lord. And for us, we pray for you to go before us to protect and guide us. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and put us on the path of the things you want us to do today, Lord, because all we want to do is follow you and represent your kingdom as we go about this earth. Um, and we desperately need your help. Um, at all times, um, to lead us in the way we should go. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.