When Things Get Real - Purity 836

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 rainbow over the Cumberland River on a sunny day comes to us from a friend who visited Cumberland Falls State Resort Park yesterday, sharing the fact that the waterfall there is also the only waterfall in the entire Western Hemisphere that produces a a moonbow. Apparently, during a full moon accompanied by a clear night sky, an arch of white light is produced at the base of the falls and continues downstream. How cool is that? Well, it's Wednesday again, and I thought that this hump of rainbow over the Cumberland River could visually represent our arrival at the midpoint of our work week. I don't know about you, but the last 2 days seem to last forever. So I am celebrating the fact that it is Hump Day, and I am also celebrating another successful meeting of the Freedom in Christ, uh, course men's group that I facilitate. Because just like we know that, uh, you don't see a rainbow or a moonbow every day, when you lead a group where the participants are open, vulnerable, and supportive, you know you found something special. When Christian small groups meet, sometimes because they are a Christian gathering, people will be so positive and encouraging you'll wonder about the genuineness of what people say and are trying to convey. Quite frankly, when people meet and quote Bible verses and speak about how thankful and blessed they are, you have to wonder if you're— you entered a different country. Are we in Christlandia where no one has any problems and everyone speaks Christianese? I remember one time years ago going to a graduation party of my stepdaughter that was hosted by her grandparents that were— that are born-again Christians. At the time, I went to a denominational church but was far from born again. We had arrived early while everything was still being set up, and I had thanked my stepdaughter's grandparents for throwing her a party. They seemed nice enough to me. What do you expect from a greeting to a husband of your son's ex who you weren't crazy about? They were gracious, humble, and nice. But then the guests arrived, and my stepdaughter's grandfather literally put on his happy face and buoyantly greeted the new arrivals with the zeal of a game show host on ecstasy. He was syrupy, sweet, and enthusiastic. The transformation was so stark that he seemed like a complete and utter phony. And this is no comment on his faith. I think the grandmother was the believer in the family, but I'll never forget how quickly he shifted from normal to the host. Hey guys! Oh boy. Likewise, in church or small groups, you can get a lot of amens and I'm blessed And on occasion you will see a smile run away from someone's face and then quickly return the moment they realize they are in a Christian setting and they let their happy face mask slip off for a minute. Or you can have those exchanges where everything is fine or great and you could spend years in church with people and never really know what is going on in their lives. We can just know one another as that nice guy or friendly lady at church that we say hello to. That's why I love facilitating the Freedom in Christ course, because I encourage people to be truthful, open, vulnerable, and transparent with one another. And when that happens, the participants in the group realize that they can take off their masks. Last night Some participants shared that they are truly struggling, that they are searching for meaning and purpose, that they get their sense of value from the things they do, or they have a problem with believing what the Word of God says about who they are in Christ. Last night, things got real. And when things got real, something wonderful happened. The men in the group started supporting one another by admitting they had similar problems, or they offered advice about what the Lord showed them to resolve them. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the group took on a life of its own. The group became a community. When that happened, I asked the participants to recognize it for what it was. I said, "This is discipleship—Christian men trying to apply the teachings of Jesus to their lives and supporting one another in their walk. This is Christianity." This is only the second meeting, And and I pointed out that the Course is progressive. Each lesson builds upon the previous one, and I can see that the Holy Spirit is already working to guide these men into a deeper relationship with God, to connect the mind and the heart, and to help them to experience or deepen their freedom in Christ. I was clear that while I facilitate the group, I am not the discipler. The Holy Spirit is. And I encourage the men to seek his wisdom, to listen for his voice, and to follow his lead. God is alive and well over, above, and on the earth. He lives inside everyone who has made Christ their Lord and Savior in the person of the Holy Spirit, and he invites each one of us as his disciples to come and see all that he has for us. So keep walking and talking with God. Because he is real, and you can take off the happy face mask and be real with him. And if you trust him with your life, he really, he really will show you the way to go. So answer his call, follow his lead, and discover the person he created you to be. Well, this might seem short because it is. Well, I, I spent some time before my Bible study this morning to send an email to encourage a brother in Christ. So my time is limited, and we will skip the verse of the day for today, but, but hope to share one from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men again tomorrow. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians, um, to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. And today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And today we conclude chapter 1, Costly Grace, basically. And well, it concludes chapter 1, Costly Grace. So if you want to see what that contains, go to mt4christ.org to check it out. The end of it is what I call Bonhoeffer's Beatitudes because he reads some things In fact, since I saved some time from writing, I'll read them out. They say, blessed are they who already stand at the end of the path on which we wish to embark and perceive with amazement what really seems inconceivable, that grace is costly precisely because it is pure grace, because it is God's grace. In Christ— in Jesus Christ. Blessed are they who by simply following Jesus Christ are overcome by this grace, so that with humble spirit they may praise the grace of Christ which alone is effective. Blessed are they who in the knowledge of such grace can live in the world without losing themselves in it, and following Christ their heavenly home has become become so certain that they are truly free for life in this world. Blessed are they for whom following Jesus Christ means nothing other than living from grace and for whom grace means following Christ. Blessed are they who in this sense have become Christians, for whom the word of grace has been merciful. So if you liked what you heard there, that was all Dietrich Bonhoeffer's sayings, basically on how we are really blessed to follow Christ. And that's, that's the key to our life in the Spirit, is following him. You know, it's not a system, it's not a set of rules, it's a relationship, and it's a purpose to follow him. And if you like what you heard from Bonhoeffer, we are doing a study on YouTube and the podcast, basically, for— of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. That's why I'm sharing it on the blog. We're doing it chapter by chapter, week by week, and tomorrow I'll be uploading another PowerPoint presentation and what I have to say about that on Chapter 2. So if you want to check that out, just just keep your eye on YouTube and the podcast, and tomorrow night, probably around 9 o'clock, it'll be uploaded. So we do all these things. We do the Freedom in Christ course. We are doing this Bonhoeffer discipleship course just to encourage people. Like I said, I might not be in group with everyone who listens to this podcast, but I'm I certainly certainly want to encourage you to go in the way that the Holy Spirit would lead you, and we do that by connecting to him in prayer and Bible study and trying to apply his teachings to our lives and walk it out in faith. Of course, I share the classes if you want to be in a course with me. I put Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ all on the podcast and the YouTube channel. And if you don't know where those links are, just go to mt4christ.org and each blog post basically has the information at the bottom so you can find what you need. We obviously also encourage Bible study and we do that once a week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti and we vlog and podcast and put that on YouTube too. And that little program is called Bible Study with the Sincottis and if you if you want to check it out. The whole archive of our, uh, our studies is available on the podcast and our YouTube channel. So, um, let's pray. Lord God, thank you for so much for getting us to Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday seemed like a week in themselves, but Lord, they were, you know, good days. We got through them and we saw a lot of good things, um, and, um, you helped us along the way and we we appreciate that. So Lord, we're just praying for today, you know, we're praying for the people listening today that you would come alongside their prayer request and help them by pouring out your grace on them, that your divine favor. And Lord, as always, we pray for you to go before us, to open our eyes to what we need to see, and to, um, and to be led into what you would have us do to to best represent your kingdom on the earth. Lord, we thank you so much for the revelation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that guides our hearts to follow you and to find, find out who we are in Christ and to live it out here on the earth. Well, we thank you so much. We pray, pray for you to go before us and do all those things. And we just want you to know, Lord, We love you, we praise you, and we, we thank you, and we worship you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.