Generously Sharing God’s Freedom - Purity 960
Purity 960 02/07/2023 Purity 960 Podcast
Purity 960 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the ice pack shoreline of Lake
Ontario underneath a sunset painted sky comes to us from Rocco Saya of Celestial
Blue Photography (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069048257152)
who shared this photo from his February 4th trip to the Sterling Nature
Center on social media commenting that the recent cold temperatures brought
with them the first significant icepack and that the results of the contrast of the ice below and
the sunset about was awe inspiring. Rocco also reported that he had the additional
pleasure of experiencing this moment in peaceful solitude as the forbidding
circumstances of the day provided him with the opportunity to have the Sterling
Nature Center all to himself.
Even though we couldn’t have been there with Rocco
in the bitter cold to see this scene in the flesh, we benefit from his boldness
to “go there” and his generosity to share with his friends. Thanks Rocco!
Well, it’s Tuesday, and just like Rocco, who
experienced something fantastic and generously shared it with his friends, I am
looking forward to the Freedom in Christ course that I will facilitate on Zoom
this evening because I experienced something fantastic and seek to be generous by
sharing the beauty of what I received by encouraging the participants of the
course to embrace the new life that the Lord gives to everyone who puts their faith
in Jesus.
All of the men in the course I lead have received
the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ but they come to the
Freedom in Christ course to understand how to appreciate what they have in
Christ, to grow and mature in their Christian faith, and to establish or deepen
their freedom in Christ.
These men understand that Christ came to set the
captives free and to give them an abundant life and so they come to the course
to know the truth that will set them free or that will make them more mature or
fruitful in their faith.
After I spent most of my life living independently
from God and seeking meaning and purpose from the things of this world, the
Lord graciously pulled me out of the darkness by revealing to me the truth of
the gospel of Jesus Christ and then showed me the truth of the freedom and new
life that we have when we know who we are in Christ and when we make the decision
to follow Him with the way we live our lives.
But this is more than just following rules or just
holding some general theological convictions, our Freedom in Christ comes
through our relationship with God through His Son and by knowing experientially
that we are His adopted children, that we are connected to the Lord
relationally, personally, and have been forever changed by our surrender to the
Lordship of Jesus. We are spiritually alive in Christ but we need to know it
and show we know it by living it.
The Freedom in Christ Course teaches a lot about God,
the spiritual forces of darkness, and Christian Discipleship in general but the
power of the course comes from the faith that the participants have and in
their application of God’s wisdom to their lives.
The Freedom Christ Course is not an academic course
to learn facts and figures it is a 10 week life changing discipleship course
because it directs the participants to “go there” to come boldly before their
God honestly to receive what He has for them.
The Freedom to be found in the process of the course doesn’t come from
me and unfortunately God does not just “zap” people with a new found freedom for
just signing up.
The freedom comes from the participant learning
about the truth of reality – the way things really are, as revealed to us by
God in His word,- and choosing to agree with it personally by coming into
relationship with the Author of Life through Jesus and by choosing to live for
Him and His kingdom.
The course isn’t just about God, it’s about us, and
I am excited about tonight’s session because the focus will be on the truth of
what God has done to those who put their faith in Jesus. When the truth of who we are in Christ is
understood in our minds and embraced by our hearts, it changes everything.
So tonight and every day, I will seek to be a
generous friend by trying to share all that I know about the beauty of a life
that is lived with God, that starts the moment we put our faith in Jesus.
If your faith hasn’t changed you, something is
missing. Either your understanding, you
heart, your seeking, or your surrender isn’t complete and this might sound
harsh but that’s on you. Our part is to
seek the Lord and to trust Him enough to give our lives to Him. If we aren’t experiencing our freedom in
Christ, it’s because we have been deceived or because we are holding something
back.
Although God has given us all things that pertain to
life and godliness to experience the abundant life of freedom that He has for
us, we might not be experiencing it because of our ignorance, our rebellion, our
fear, or our unwillingness to surrender all to God.
But don’t worry God is gracious, merciful, loving,
and patient, He is not going to drag you
into anything that you won’t freely give.
But let me encourage you to start the dialog with
the Lord where you learn to trust Him and allow Him to help you to receive all
that He has for you. That’s right, start
walking and talking with God. Seek His truth and come discover His abundant
love and power that will pour into your life when you wholeheartedly accept what
He has done for you and who He has made you to be.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Ephesians 4:29 (NLT2)
29 Don’t use foul or abusive
language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will
be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Today’s Bible verse encourages us to let everything we say to
be good and helpful, to be an encouragement to others.
I point out this part of the verse first to combat the tendency
of our faith to be turned into a religion of prohibition – a system that points
out the things we can’t, don’t, or shouldn’t do.
Christians don’t use foul or abusive language!
And no, we shouldn’t use foul or abusive language. We shouldn’t
“swear” or “curse”.
But before I say we should only say good and helpful things
and go on to talk about how life and death are in the power of the tongue, let’s
pump the brakes and look beyond the tongue or the mouth and let’s discern the
heart behind the Apostle Paul’s intent with this advice. However we speak the Apostle Paul is encouraging
us to check our and hearts and minds here more than to worry about the
syllables coming our of our mouths.
Christians are to act in love. Christians are made holy by God
and are to represent God.
Foul or abusive language or actions don’t represent the Lord’s
holiness and love. They don’t result in the fruit of the Spirit of peace, love,
and joy. So we should repent and turn
from these foul, abusive, and unprofitable ways that we were well versed in
before coming to Christ.
Instead we are to be encouragers. We are to show God’s love
by being “good” (a fruit of the spirit) and helpful – to encourage people to
know the Lord and His ways of peace.
So certainly know the content of today’s verse and practice
it but don’t fall into the trap of the enemy to reduce your faith to the “do’s
and don’t of behavior” that will fill you with conceit when you are successful
and that will condemn and shame you when you less than perfect.
Our actions or speech don’t determine who we are – God defines
us. And our performance – good or bad – does not change our relationship to God
when we put our faith in Jesus.
So represent the kingdom of God by trying to show God’s love
in the way we speak to and treat one another but never fall into the trap of
judging yourself righteous or condemned because of a slip of the tongue.
___________________________________________
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.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
Sovereignty of God.”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER FIVE
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN REPROBATION continues
We must now consider
a number of passages which are often quoted with the purpose of showing that
God has not fitted certain vessels to
destruction or ordained certain ones to condemnation. First, we cite Ezekiel
18:31—“Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” On this passage we cannot do better
than quote from the comments of Augustus Toplady:—“This is a passage very frequently,
but very idly, insisted upon by Arminians, as if it were a hammer which would
at one stroke crush the whole fabric to powder. But it so happens that the
‘death’ here alluded to is neither spiritual nor eternal death: as is
abundantly evident from the whole tenor of the chapter. The death intended by
the prophet is a political death; a
death of national prosperity, tranquility, and security. The sense of the
question is precisely this: What is it that makes you in love with captivity,
banishment, and civil ruin. Abstainance from the worship of images might, as a
people, exempt you from these calamities, and once more render you a
respectable nation. Are the miseries of public devastation so alluring as to
attract your determined pursuit? Why will ye die? die as the house of Israel,
and considered as a political body? Thus did the prophet argue the case, at the
same time adding—‘For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith
the Lord God, wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye.’ This imports: First,
the national captivity of the Jews added nothing to the happiness of God.
Second, if the Jews turned from idolatry, and flung away their images, they
should not die in a foreign, hostile country, but live peaceably in their own
land and enjoy their liberties as an independent people.” To the above we may
add: political death must be what is in view in Ezekiel
18:31, 32 for the simple but sufficient reason that they were already spiritually dead!
Matthew 25:41 is
often quoted to show that God has not
fitted certain vessels to destruction—“Depart from Me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.” This is, in fact, one
of the principal verses relied upon to disprove the doctrine of Reprobation.
But we submit that the emphatic word here is not “for” but “Devil.” This verse (see context) sets forth the severity of the judgment which awaits
the lost. In other words, the above scripture expresses the awfulness of the everlasting fire rather
than the subjects of it—if the fire
be “prepared for the Devil and his
angels” then how intolerable it will be! If the place of eternal torment into
which the damned shall be cast is the
same as that in which God’s arch-enemy will suffer, how dreadful must that place be!
Again: if God has
chosen only certain ones to salvation, why are we told that God “now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30)? That God commandeth “all men” to
repent is but the enforcing of His righteous claims as the moral Governor of
the world. How could He do less, seeing that all men everywhere have sinned
against Him? Furthermore, that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent
argues the universality of creature responsibility. But this scripture does not
declare that it is God’s pleasure to “give repentance” (Acts 5:31) to all men
everywhere. That the apostle Paul did not believe God gave repentance to every
soul is clear from his words in 2 Tim. 2:25—“In meekness instructing those that
oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth.”
Again, we are asked,
if God has “ordained” only certain ones unto eternal life then why do we read
that He “will have all men to be
saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4)? The reply is, that
the words “all” and “all men,” like the term “world,” are often used in a
general and relative sense. Let the reader carefully examine the following
passages: Mark 1:5; John 6:45; 8:2; Acts 21:28; 22:15; 2 Cor. 3:2, etc., and he
will find full proof of our assertion. 1 Tim. 2:4 cannot teach that God wills
the salvation of all mankind or otherwise all mankind would be saved—“What His soul desireth even that He doeth” (Job 23:13)!
Again; we are asked,
Does not Scripture declare, again and again, that God is no “respecter of
persons”? We answer, it certainly does, and God’s electing grace proves it. The seven sons of Jesse,
though older and physically superior to David, are passed by, while the young
shepherd-boy is exalted to Israel’s throne. The scribes and lawyers pass
unnoticed, and ignorant fishermen are chosen to be the apostles of the Lamb.
Divine truth is hidden from the wise and prudent and is revealed to babes
instead. The great majority of the wise and noble are ignored, while the weak,
the base, the despised, are called and saved. Harlots and publicans are sweetly
compelled to come in to the gospel feast while self-righteous Pharisees are
suffered to perish in their immaculate morality. Truly, God is “no respecter” of persons or He would
not have saved me.
That the Doctrine of
Reprobation is a “hard saying” to the carnal mind is readily acknowledged—yet,
is it any “harder” than that of eternal
punishment? That it is clearly taught in Scripture we have sought to
demonstrate, and it is not for us to pick and choose from the truths revealed
in God’s Word. Let those who are inclined to receive those doctrines which
commend themselves to their judgment,
and who reject those which they cannot
fully understand, remember those scathing words of our Lord’s, “O fools, and
slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25): fools because slow of heart; slow of heart,
not dull of head![1]
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tomorrow------------------------
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Encouragement
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