I Ain’t Got No Where Else to Go! - Yes and Amen to All You Say, Lord
Purity 490 08/06/2021 Purity 490 Podcast
Good morning
Thank God it is Friday! And while you are at it you can thank Jesus and
the Holy Spirit too. I’m especially
chipper this morning because after last night’s discipleship class, I am sure
of my purpose and have determined to be true to my calling and will go forward
with my plans to teach the 11 week “Freedom in Christ” Course at Rock Solid
Church from September 9th to November 18th, taking us into
the future from Labor Day to Turkey Day.
With dwindling numbers in my current series, I had contemplated only
podcasting the Autumn class but as I have been praying about it I have been
more and more convicted to continue with the plans of teaching at the church
and to leave the results up to God. When
you seek God’s direction, you discover that sometimes it was actually very
simple, be faithful, and very clear, do what you are called to do, but your own
fears and insecurities are the only thing clouding the way.
Speaking of setting out into the clarity of a new day, today’s photo
comes to us from a friend’s recent early morning paddling journey towards the
sunrise on the shores of Pawtuxet River at the Aspray Boat House in Warwick,
Rhode Island. I just love the image of my friend’s companion facing the sun and
the glory of the early morning sky and sunrise that just invites all of us to “come
and see” what the new day has for us!
Our lives are a journey into the mystery of what God has intended for us
to be our purpose. When we align ourselves with His will for our lives we
discover the peace and harmony that He wants us to experience. But the going is not always easy, because we
are not always keen on the way we should go and sometimes choose the wrong
things to follow.
In last night’s Bondage Breaker lesson, I shared quite a bit on some of
the missteps I have taken in my walk with the Lord where I thought I was more
than I was and how the experience of trying to discern the truth of God’s word
and apply it to my life has been a humbling experience at times over the
years. But the thing is from the moment
I heard the gospel message that saved me, I have been determined to follow the
truth of God’s word no matter where it would take me, causing me to progressively
turn from my worldly ways of darkness to God’s ways of wisdom and love.
This morning in contemplating my journey, I was reminded of the scene in
An Officer and a Gentleman where the drill Sargent, played by Louis Gossett Jr,
threatens to expel Richard Gere’s character, Zack Mayo, from the service,
saying “You’re out!” causing Mayo to
erupt in an emotional catharsis to keep his spot: saying:
“Don’t you do it! Don’t! You! I ain’t got no where else to go! I got no where else to go! I ain’t got
nothing else….” (To see
that Gere and Gossett’s Oscar winning performance in that scene go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g2JN2PrHJg). Its that attitude of desperation and desire
that causes me to continue to seek the Lord and follow where He leads.
That sentiment has been placed in the hearts of believers who decide to
walk the path of Christian Discipleship since the days of Christ’s earthly
ministry, most vividly shown in scripture by the Apostle Peter’s response when
others began to walk away from Jesus.
John 6:67-69 (NKJV)
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
68 But Simon Peter answered Him,
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 Also we have come to believe and
know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
As much as the original Apostles failed to fully understand all
that Jesus was trying to teach them, they all knew that they had no where else
to go. They weren’t following an ideology or a philosophy. They were following
the Word made flesh. They weren’t trying to show how good they were by keeping
a bunch of rules. They were following
the Son of God. Even though they didn’t
understand all that He said, their reason for all they did, serving and
declaring the gospel until there was no earthly life in them, was because they
understood who Jesus is: God the Son.
So trust that Jesus is who He said He was. There are generations of believers that have
gone before us whose lives were transformed by their relationship with Him and proclaimed
Him as the truth, the way, and the life.
Jesus doesn’t force anyone to go with Him though, He only invites
us to “Come and see.” But when we accept Christ’s invitation to a new eternal
abundant life, by making Him our Lord and Savior, we “see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” with the Holy
Spirit confirming in our spirits that not only is Christ the King of King and
Lord of Lords but confirming that we are welcomed in as beloved children of God
and co-heirs with Him in His royal family.
So remember who you are in Christ, or take the first step to
discover it, by saying “Yes and Amen” to all that the Lord has for you.
(There is more
content to help you walk out your journey of faith at MT4Christ dot org. You
can also subscribe to the mt4christ247 podcast to hear this message, our
discipleship classes, and our weekly Bible Study, on Apple, Google, and Amazon
Podcasts, as well as Audible and Podbean).
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#mt4christ247podcast
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
1 Corinthians 6:18 (NKJV)
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every
sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality
sins against his own body.
Today’s verse speaks of the reality of spiritual
consequences to the sins of the flesh.
I think this is like the third verse that we have
encountered on fleeing sexual immorality in the last couple of weeks and it
highlights God’s will for our lives to be pure in the sexual realm. Sex is a wonderful gift from God that is
intended to be for pleasure and for the expression of love between husband and
wife. Any sex outside of a marriage
covenant is “missing the mark” of what God intends for sex to be.
When we indulge in sex outside of marriage the resultant
feelings of shame or guilt when we first lose our virginity tells us that we have
done something wrong. Of course in the
throws of ecstasy of sexual pleasure we can easily get over our guilt and shame
and rationalize away any feelings of immorality and sink into all kinds of
sexual bondage.
Today’s verse tells us that when we give in to sexual
immorality that we sin against our own body pointing to the fact that there are
some spiritual, emotional, and physical connections that exist that are difficult
to understand.
Other portions of scripture, like the preceding verses in
Corinthians 6, tell us that when we have sex with someone we become one flesh
and that we can be “joined to a harlot”.
These verses document the existence of sexual soul ties that we create
through our sexual encounters. The experiential evidence for these ties is the
emotional, physical, and spiritual draw that our old partners have over us, sometimes
causing us to obsessively remember old “what’s his/her name” and to desire a
reuniting of the flesh.
The good news is that those soul ties can be broken through
renunciation and prayer. Going through Dr, Neil Anderson’s The Step to Freedom
in Christ specifically breaks those ties. So if you want to be free of the baggage
of your sexual history, you can go to this link (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56747bae0ab377c98158e42d/t/57ed5d006a49634e0b9b7d0a/1475173632920/Seven+Steps.pdf
) and download a free copy of the Steps and pray through them.
And that’s how we get freedom over any besetting sin. We confess our sins to God, agree with what
He says about how we are to live, renounce what we have done in the past, and
walk on in His ways, by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, to increasing
freedom and sustained victory.
So don’t take you sins lightly, renew your mind to adopt God’s
view of what’s right and wrong, and ask the Lord to give you spiritual
discernment to see the darkness of the world system we live in.
When you see the goodness of God and realize the bondages
that we suffer through in a world that calls us to independently of Him, you
will draw close to the Lord for His protection, cleansing, and love.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory Over the Darkness, continuing Chapter 10.
Don't
Ignore the Warning Signs of Your Emotions
The
Hammer of Indiscriminate Expression
Another unhealthy way to respond to emotions is to
thoughtlessly express everything you feel. Indiscriminately telling anybody and
everybody exactly how you feel is usually unhealthy for the other person. The
apostle Peter is a great example. Peter was the John Wayne of the New
Testament—a real door slammer. He had no problem telling anyone what was on his
mind or how he felt. I like to refer to him as the one-legged apostle because
he always had one foot in his mouth.
Peter's indiscriminate expression of
his emotions got him into trouble more than once. One minute he makes the
greatest confession of all time: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God" (Matthew
16:16). A few minutes later Peter tells Jesus He doesn't know what He is
doing, and Jesus has to rebuke him: "Get behind Me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:22, 23).
It was Peter who missed the point on
the Mount of Transfiguration by suggesting they build three tabernacles to
honor Moses, Elijah and the Master. It was Peter who impulsively whacked off
the ear of Caiaphas's servant during Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane. It was also
Peter who promised to follow Jesus anywhere, even to death. Then only hours
later Peter swore that he never knew Him. The fact that Peter later became the
spokesperson for the Early Church is evidence of the powerful transformation
effected by the Holy Spirit.
Indiscriminate expression of emotions
may be somewhat healthy for you, but it is usually unhealthy for others around
you. "There, I'm glad I got that off my chest," you may say after an
outburst. In the process though, you just destroyed your wife, husband or
children.
James warned: "But let everyone
be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does
not achieve the righteousness of God" (James 1:19, 20).
Paul admonished: "Be angry, and yet do not sin" (Ephes. 4:26). If
you wish to be angry and not sin, then be angry the way Christ was: be angry at
sin. Turn over the tables; don't attack the money changers.
The
Openness of Acknowledgment
Nancy was a college student in another city who drove to
Los Angeles to talk to me about her difficult relationship with her mother. We
ended up talking about Nancy's inability to express the anger and resentment
she felt in the relationship. "My roommate gets to the point sometimes
where she just explodes emotionally to let off steam. I have deep feelings,
too, but I'm not sure that a Christian is supposed to let off steam."
I opened my Bible to Psalm 109 and read
the following verses to her:
O
God of my praise, do not be silent! For they have opened the wicked and
deceitful mouth against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me
without cause. In return for my love they act as my accusers; but I am in
prayer. Thus they have repaid me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Appoint a wicked man over him; and let an accuser stand at
his right hand. When he is judged, let him come forth guilty; and let his
prayer become sin. Let his days be few; let another take his office. Let his
children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children wander about and
beg; and let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes. Let the creditor
seize all that he has; and let strangers plunder the product of his labor. Let
there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, nor any to be gracious to his
fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; in a following generation let
their name be blotted out (Psalm 109:1-13).
"What's that doing in the
Bible?" Nancy gasped. "How could David pray all those evil things
about his enemy? How could he talk to God that way? That's pure hatred."
"David's words didn't surprise
God," I answered. "God already knew what he was thinking and feeling.
David was simply expressing his pain and anger honestly to his God who
understood how he felt and accepted him where he was."
After a couple of thoughtful moments
Nancy asked, "Does that mean it's okay to do what I do?"
"What do you do?"
"Well," she said, looking
slightly embarrassed, "when the pressure builds up inside me, I get in my
car and just drive. I scream and holler and shout and kick. When I get back to
the dorm, I usually feel much better."
I encouraged Nancy that when she is
able to dump her hurt and hatred before God, she probably won't dump it on her
roommate or her mother in a destructive way. I also reminded her that David was
as honest about his need for God as he was about expressing his feelings. He
closed the psalm by praying, "Help me, O Lord my God. . . .
With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord" (Psalm 109:26, 30).
I think the way David and Nancy
acknowledged their feelings is healthy. Perhaps your prayers at times of
emotional stress are not very noble, but they are real and honest before God.
If you come to your prayer time feeling angry, depressed or frustrated and then
mouth a bunch of pious platitudes as if God doesn't know how you feel, do you
think He is pleased? Not unless He has changed His opinion about hypocrisy
since the time of the Pharisees. The Pharisees tried to look right on the
outside while they were far from right on the inside. They weren't real; they
were phonies.
Jesus told His disciples, "Unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not
enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). In
God's eyes, if you are not real, you are not right. If necessary, God may have
to make you real to make you right with Him.
Acknowledging your emotions as a real
person is essential for intimate relationships. You shouldn't let off steam
just anywhere in front of just anybody. That is indiscriminate expression, and
you run the risk of hurting others more than you help yourself—and that is
wrong. The biblical pattern seems to suggest you have three friends you can
share with deeply. During his travels, Paul had Barnabas, Silas or Timothy to
share with. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus expressed His grief to His inner
circle of Peter, James and John.
Psychologists tell us it is difficult
for people to maintain mental health unless they have at least one person with
whom they can be emotionally honest. If you have two or three people like this
in your life, you are truly blessed.
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts,
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Email me
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encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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