Who Was or Who is This Jesus - Purity 1539

Welcome to the MT4Christ 24/7 Podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a long, clear boardwalk pathway that appears to be— to lead to a distant coastline comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this view on social media. On September 2nd, 2021. This memory is yours. Let us know and we will photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it is the day after Christmas, um, Boxing Day, or just plain old Thursday in case you lost track of the days of the week because of the hustle and bustle of the big holiday. And I share today's pathway photo as a visual encouragement or reminder to get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship. It's one thing to say that you believe in Jesus on Christmas, but if— but I think the real proof of our faith is established by how we follow Jesus when there isn't a big Christian holiday on the calendar that compels us to, quote unquote, go to church. The gift of Christmas is Jesus, after all, and just like any other gift given on Christmas, the gift of our faith, it doesn't mean much unless we use it. Yesterday, I was pleased to receive several books, uh, but if I don't read them, um, my praise for said gifts won't mean as much. If I really like the gifts I receive at Christmas, I'll use them. I am happy to say that just this morning I finished reading one of the books that was given to me, albeit it is a children's book called Who Was Jesus by Ellen Morgan. And even though I finished it because it was a short read, I can't really recommend it, uh, because even though it shares many facts about Jesus drawn from scripture, it chooses to only share some of the truth about Jesus and leaves the door open to disbelief. While Ellen Morgan's book, uh, states that Christians believe that Jesus was God's son, it never once states that God— Jesus is God the Son. Although it shares many truths about Jesus, it also shares the Hindu lie that Jesus is the human form of their god Vishnu, the Jewish lie that Jesus is not God's Son or the Messiah, and the Muslim lie that Jesus told of the coming of Muhammad. Morgan's attempt at a balanced and politically correct rendering of Jesus ends up being slanted and inadequate to be of any value. The title of the book, Who Was Jesus, should clue us into the fact that unbelief plays a part in this children's biography. And no, I didn't ask for this book because we know— when we know the real biblical Jesus, we know that he is still alive. The question can't be who was Jesus because he lives. The question should be who is Jesus? Speaking of the question, who is Jesus? Today's In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, uh, devotion asks the question, and I'm sharing it on the blog today because I like the way it encourages us to do something with our answers. Dr. Charles Stanley writes, who is this Jesus? And he writes, um, what we believe about the Savior impacts life now and forever. No one has made a greater impact on this world than Jesus, yet many don't understand who he is. Some believe his life began in a manger in Bethlehem, but in reality, he existed long before that. As a member of the Trinity, Jesus is the eternal Son of God, which means he has no beginning or end. His birth in Bethlehem was merely his physical entrance into the world he created. Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah who came to earth to carry out the mission given to him by his Father. At one point, he asked his disciples, "Who do you yourselves say that I am?" This is the question each of us must answer. There is no middle ground when it comes to deciding who Jesus is, because he claimed that he was the only way to the Father. In today's passage, Matthew 16:13-16, when Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus told the apostle the Father had revealed this truth to him. We too need God's help to comprehend who Jesus is. The best way to understand him is to examine his birth, life, and ministry as recorded in the scriptures. Once you, once you've heard who he is and what he came to do, it's time to respond. What will you do? With Jesus? Amen. Um, what will you do with Jesus? Will you pay him lip service as some great moral teacher? Will you reject him as a fraud or a myth? Or will you put your trust in him as your Lord and Savior? The question of Jesus demands an answer, and the answer demands a response. If you say no to Jesus as Lord, you can do whatever you please with what's left of your life, but but you will be held accountable for your rejection of God's gift of grace when you go into eternity or when Jesus comes back, and there will be hell to pay. If you say yes to Jesus, Lord, you are expected to follow him as his disciple and go into the world sharing the good news about him. Our lives as Christ's disciples may cause others to hate us, but our trust in Jesus will lead to a life of meaning and purpose here on earth and a life spent forever in his presence in eternity. A life of— as a disciple of Jesus brings us the fruit of the Spirit as we walk with the Lord here on earth, and it will one day give us the rewards of heaven and eternal life with God forevermore. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Bruce. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on humility and pride, and today's verses are Proverbs 16:18-19, which says, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Today's verses are the third of five passages of scripture that cause— that fall under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resources— resource section on humility and pride. That first point is humility is a virtue most pleasing to God. Pride is a grievous sin in his sight. Today's Bible verses warn, warn us that pride goes before destruction and that it is better to be of a lowly spirit than to divide the spoil of the proud. Jesus taught that it would be difficult for the rich to enter into God's kingdom, and so scripture warns of wealth's dangers and how pride in what we have or what we've accomplished can precede our destruction. We are to be hum— we are to humbly to be— well, we are to humbly follow Jesus and lead others to believe in him and to not boast in ourselves. 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. We're on day 38 where he shares a portion of 1 John 1:8 which says, if we say that we don't have any sin, we deceive ourselves. And J.E. Adams writes, it is self-deception, perhaps the worst sort of deception, to think that you are perfect. Moreover, to boast that you are not sinning when you are walking in darkness is deception, and it's grossist, and it's grossist, an attempt to deceive others. In either case, you can be sure that God is not deceived. The self-deceiver is bereft of truth. It isn't in him. The one who attempts to deceive others makes God a liar because his word teaches all that all do sin. Both forms of deception are dangerous because they may indicate that you are not of the light and thus cause you to continue to walk in darkness. To walk in the light is to have the cleansing of Christ's blood applied to your life. If there is only darkness in you, you have not been cleansed by the death of Christ. A love for light is kindled by love for the Savior's fellowship. By doing those things that are characterized by light, you fellowship with the Savior, who also walks the path of right— of the righteous. Fellowship isn't felt, it is known by faith in God's word. Don't look for mysterious feelings. Walk in the light and you may be sure of his presence along the road. Amen. And as we are, we, we are children of light. We are saints who still sin, who still have sin in our lives, for to You know, how does that work? I thought we'd be made perfect. Well, Jesus is the only perfect one. Sin for us is the egregious breaking of the law, not doing what God's word says, and also according to James, um, not knowing what's right and not doing it. So there'll be sin in our life because we could always do something, be do— we could always be doing something, um, for God's kingdom that we fail to do. So there will be sin in our lives, and sometimes it's not so confusing. You know, we'll lie or we'll break God's law in other ways that are pretty simple and show us that we're, we're human and, you know, still subject to sins, temptations. But we can grow in our faith. And here Adams points to having fellowship with Christ and doing the right things, doing what God's word says. And we don't have to look for feelings we can do what's right according to God's word and know that God is with us. So we encourage, and we encourage everyone to be a disciple of Jesus. And that's why we always ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? Are you living according to your faith? Did you go to Christmas Mass and now are just doing your thing? Um, there's a better way. It's the way of a disciple of Jesus Christ, to follow him with the way you live. And, uh, that includes prayer and Bible study and just fellowshipping with the Lord by living, uh, in a righteous manner and, uh, giving God the glory, talking with him. Um, so we encourage that, um, because we know it leads to a decrease in sin, an increase in our peace, and it gives us a sense of purpose, uh, for living. God will see us in eternity, but until we get there, um, we have to follow him. To be assured that we're on the right path. Um, and my path has led me to, uh, lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday evenings. We're on break for the holidays, but, uh, we'll be resuming, uh, our support group meetings on Wednesdays, uh, beginning in the new year on January 8th. We invite anyone in the Capital District of New York State who can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night to join us for our support group meetings, where we meet at the K through 3rd grade classroom at Starpoint Church 6:30 PM Wednesdays. For those who aren't in the Capitol District but still would love to be a part of the, the meetings we have, there's good news. I've decided to step out in faith and offer Celebrate Freedom online, uh, starting Monday nights, 6:30 PM Eastern Time, via Zoom, um, online January 6th. And we direct you to go to mtforchrist.com to our group coaching events page to register for Celebrate Freedom Online now. Um, there is a cost involved, but it covers 25 weeks as I'll be going through the Celebrate Recovery 4 books of teaching material, uh, in 25 weeks. Maybe not consecutive, I do have a week off in February, but we're going to go through them all and present the material and encourage anyone who joins us We'll be recording the sessions, so you can start late or you can start on time by going to mtforchrist.com and signing up today. Beyond that, if you can't join our, our support group, we encourage you to find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. These classes are free, and basically we've done teachings for Victory Over the Darkness, Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and our own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course., to encourage you in your faith. So we direct you to check those out and the other playlists we have on YouTube, uh, or our emptyforchrist.com playlist page, um, to help you in your walk. We always end each message by asking the question: Are you empty for Christ too? Have you emptied yourself of the selfish ways of this world and asked the Lord to come in and fill you with, with a purpose? Uh, if so, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray because we know that prayer works, and through it, God can reveal himself to you and cause you to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, which begins the process of life transformation and purpose and meaning for your life. Um, I encourage you to do that because, uh, we did it. It made all the difference. Path less traveled leads to good things. Um, Jesus's path is the narrow way, and he bids us to come and follow him. Um, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do for us. We thank you for the gifts we received on Christmas, but more importantly, we, we thank you for the gift that we received in Jesus in 2010. When we heard that gospel message that told us that, um, it wasn't about our performance, um, and what we could do for God. It was about what God did for us, what you did for us, Lord, how we just have to put our faith in Jesus to be healed and forgiven and to be given new life. Um, Lord, we thank you for that gift, and, uh, we still want to receive it all the more as we ask for your guidance every day. Lord, lead us in the way we should go. Help us to rest, enjoy your presence. And, um, Lord, we also pray for anyone who's reading or watching today's message or listening to it, that they would be blessed. May you come alongside them in their prayer request, because, uh, we all want to represent your kingdom, Lord, and we, um, desperately need your help with that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.