Winds of Change in Our Families Purity 726

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 bright shining sun and clear blue skies over the waters of the Hudson River comes to us from a friend who captured this shot from the vantage point of the Socrates Lighthouse back on April 28th. They reported that their visit was a short one because of the gale force winds that were blowing that day. But vowed to go again when the weather was right. Well, it's Monday again, and the winds of change have blown us through another weekend to find ourselves at the beginning of another work week. But as much as things may change, there are a few things that will endure through the years, and one thing we can always count on. Uh, one of the things that can remain and endure through the years is our families. Uh, this past weekend, every day was about family. Friday, I went to a performance of Almost Maine at Hudson Valley Community College because my son Brennan was acting in it. Saturday, I spent the day at a small gathering at my wife, uh, that my wife hosted for my stepdaughter Rachel, who is only home from the Marine Corps for a short time before she ships out to Okinawa as part of her 3-year tour of duty. And yesterday, my brothers and I returned to the family homestead in Hudson, New York to honor my mom on Mother's Day. As much as it was a pleasant weekend and I enjoyed the various aspects of spending time with my family, the visits reminded me of how much things have changed over the years and how the changes don't seem to be slowing down. What may seem like the status quo of going through the motions of work, of holidays and seasons year after year, is really revealed to be the progressive movement of time when we see how the older members of the family age and how the younger generations spring up and mature. It can seem like— it can seem that we blink and suddenly we are old, or the little ones are— or little kids are adults. And with those transitions, we also see how we each develop our own identities and start our own families, and everyone follows their own paths through life. And unfortunately, as we go through time and space, sometimes those close family relationships become more distant And sometimes the family ties founded by biology or formed through marriage, or, um, formed through marriage, wear thin, break, or are severed by death. Time and circumstances may prove to fundamentally change our family interactions through the years. And that is why I encourage others on the path of Christian discipleship to do a daily practice of gratitude, uh, to thank the Lord for the good things and people in their lives and to encourage others to be intentional in expressing their appreciation and love for one another. The narrative of Friday's play wasn't the greatest, but there was no way I wasn't going to see my son perform in it. I love my son, and while we may not always see eye to eye, I wanted him to know that I am proud of what he is doing, and I tried to demonstrate that by showing up hugging him and complimenting him for his performance at the end of the show. Uh, to be honest, I've only met my stepdaughter Rachel one other time, but I married her mother Tammy Lynn and now am part of her family. So I did my best to join in the festivities Saturday as members of Tammy Lynn's family came to the house to let Rachel know she was loved, supported, and would be missed while she was off serving her country. And yesterday, although I inwardly cringe over the idea of Hallmark holidays, there was no way that I wasn't going to express my love and appreciation for Mom— my mom on Mother's Day by going to her place. I also enjoyed the added bonus of seeing my dad, my brothers, and members of their families as we all came out for the same purpose. Now I am— now that I am married with two households and we are older and live away from one another, I don't see what was once my immediate family very often at all anymore, and it was nice to see that our separate lives haven't torn us apart, as the gathering was friendly and harmonious. As we move through this thing called life, it is important to obey the Lord's command to love one another. And with family gatherings, things may not always be pleasant, as we are all imperfect people, and sometimes our gatherings can be seen as obligations rather than opportunities or we can focus on our differences more than, more than what we have in common. So some of us may have blown it when it comes to relationships yesterday or in the recent past. We may have neglected somebody, taken someone for granted, or failed to be patient and said or done something we, we have regretted. But the good news is today is a new day, and the Lord gives us new days to provide us with the opportunity to make a change if we need to. Over and above everything and the landscape of our human relationships, our Heavenly Father loves us and has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ and in his holy word to let us know we are loved and in him have a family that will never be separated from one another. And he provides us with forgiveness, love, and wisdom to transform our lives and relationships here on Earth. When we know the Father is for us, we know that nothing can be against us. And when we walk and talk with him, he can guide us in the ways that is best for our lives. He teaches us to turn from the dark things of this world. He teaches us to forgive others or to seek their forgiveness. And he teaches us to be patient to be thankful, and he teaches us to love. So as we enter into a new work week, be thankful if your weekend was pleasant, and examine it if it wasn't. Things may not always be perfect when it comes to family, but if we follow the advice of our Heavenly Father, we can have peace knowing we have his love and that he can help us in the ways we respond and can bless our efforts to be peacemakers if we need to be. When we are in Christ, we know something that many people don't. We know the Prince of Peace, and we can become skilled in His ways and impact the lives of others with His wisdom and with His love. So keep walking and talking with God, and keep practicing the simple disciplines that consider His ways and keep us grounded in His presence. A life walking in the Spirit is one where the fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives, is one where the love, peace, joy, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control can flow out of us and change the atmosphere in our interactions and in our relationships. Uh, the love God has given us can be shared and experienced by others. So be bold and courageous in showing up and letting others know that you appreciate them. And if the opportunity presents itself, let them know that there is a God in heaven who sent Jesus Christ to give us peace and to make us a part of his family forever. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 65:5, and it says, you faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, oh God our Savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas. Today's Bible verse reminds us that God is the one who answers our prayers and that he is present and available no matter where our travels will take us. That line about those who sail on distant seas reminds me of a cruise I took back in 2018 where I was told that no matter where our ship ship took us over the ocean, we would never be further than 7 miles from land. Of course, that was a little bit of nautical humor because they were referring to that land that was straight down at the bottom of the ocean. As pleasant as a cruise can be, when I looked out at the 360-degree view of ocean with no land in sight, I was very aware of the real and present danger that we would be in if our ship should sink. I have heard a few tales of people lost at sea and know that as pretty as the ocean is, we should make no mistake, the ocean is a killer. The ocean's environment is hostile to our lives. But since coming to faith in Christ, I don't fear for my life like I, I once did. And even though I was somewhat on edge when I consider the ocean's depths that surrounded me, I was comforted by the fact that nothing and no one could separate me from the love of God, and that wherever my life would take me, the Lord was always with me. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit that we can enjoy continuously when we remember that God is with us and that he hears our prayers. Our conversation with God, our prayer life, is the means by which we can communicate to the Lord what we need and what we hope for. While we can't push God's hand like a genie in the— in a bottle, Our prayers are, are the way we get to grow in our relationship with God. To tell the Lord what we want and need and hope for in life is to draw the Lord into the depths of our hearts. To consider him and his wisdom and ways is to know him more. The Lord is sovereign and he controls what happens, and as we pray, we can see The Lord either work in our lives by answering our prayers as we, as we hope, answer our prayers as we hoped for, and/or we can learn to grow and trust him and to consider our experience in life and our walk of faith as we are challenged by the prayer requests we make that are not answered like we want. God saves us through Jesus Christ, giving us eternal life. So, if we are in Christ, we have been given everything we need— eternal life and the power to live by faith. The particulars will have to work themselves out, and our understanding will have to be matured as we go forward, but we should never doubt that the Lord is with us and for us. He has already given us everything we need, and our experiences in our walk of faith will cause us to grow into the people God wants us to be. Our prayers may not always be answered like we hope, but God is always going before us to ensure that our way to, to Him and other good things will be clear. We don't know what the Lord has in store for us from day to day, but we can know that He is moving all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. So make it your purpose to pray. To hope for good things, to love God, and to always trust in him. As always, I invite all 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 John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and today we begin chapter 6, uh, the which is titled The Goal of Life: Gladly Making Others Glad in God. And, um, today's sections include, uh, titles, uh, such as Forgiveness Is Good Because It Gives Us God and, uh, What Forgivers Want to Give. So if you want to check out that first part of chapter 6 of John Piper's book, go to mtforchrist.org where you can see that resource at the bottom of today's blog post. As always, we invite you to check out the Path of Christian Discipleship yourself by walking in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. And to get instructed on that, we provide, uh, the teachings that we did, uh, on discipleship back in 2021. Um, and they— those teachings are available on the podcast and our YouTube channel, um, under the headings of Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. Those classes are all based on the word of God and the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson. So if you want to check those out, do so. We also do encourage people to check out the Bible and study it on a daily basis. And to encourage that, we share our Bible study discussion that we do once a week with Arthur and Susanna Cincotti. Yesterday we transitioned from revival to judgment in our Bible study. And so if you wanted to check out our latest, it's on the YouTube channel and on the audio podcast., for your listening or viewing enjoyment. Well, it is Monday, uh, time is getting short, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for all the good things you've, you've led us through over the weekend, Lord. We thank you for our families. We thank you for, um, all the loved ones we have in our lives. We thank you for the blessings that you've given us. Um, and Lord, we thank you for the jobs today that we'll have to go out and do this Monday. Lord, we pray for you to go before us and to guide us, to open our eyes to the things that we should see and to lead us into the things we should do. Lord, help us to do the best job we can today for our employers, and help us to, you know, remain in peace by remembering that you're with us throughout the day. And let us really reach out to you in prayer and in consideration as we go about our business. Um, let us never be too distant from you, uh, in our thoughts and our prayers. Lord, we pray for the people listening today. Uh, we, we deeply appreciate their presence in our lives. You know, just the mere fact someone's downloading these messages or viewing them on YouTube, Lord, encourages us um, that there's other people who are walking in faith and are receiving encouragement, um, through, through our insights and what you've shown and what you show us on a daily basis. So we pray for them to be blessed. We pray for healing to come to those who need it. We pray for favorable circumstances, Lord, as we know that when people draw close to you, that you will lift them up and you will bless their efforts, Lord. So we, we thank you for that, and we pray for our friends who are listening today. And Lord God, we thank you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.