The Gift that Keeps on Giving – His Truth that Lasts Forever - Purity 605

 The Gift that Keeps on Giving – His Truth that Lasts Forever -  Purity 605

Purity 605 12/18/2021     Purity 605 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of blazing sun over three standing planks in the waters somewhere in the Florida Keys comes to us from a friend’s October vacation.  

If you follow the blog, you may suspect that this is the third photo from our friend’s Autumn vacation, and I guess you could say that their trip is the gift that keeps on giving because it continues to provide us with stunning scenes of God’s creation.   

However if you did suspect that these photos were from the same October vacation and the same friend, and hey perhaps the same day,  you would be correct with two of your suspicions, but they would have been based on your deductions, or assumptions, of the evidence, for you could have been incorrect as I never named the friend and could have had three different friends that took October vacations to the Florida Keys.  And as for whether the three photos we share all coming from the same day, that is a hypothesis that is possible but would take more information to verify.  

As a teacher of Christian Discipleship and Spiritual Warfare, one of the things I teach is to question our experiences and to test them against the truth of God’s word. Satan’s primary tactic against mankind is deception and the reason that we struggle so much in life is that we believe the lies that the world, the flesh, and the devil tell us. And unfortunately we can also do a number on ourselves when we assume things.   

Today is the 18^th of  December and we are a week away from Christmas and many of us will use this weekend to do some shopping for our Christmas celebrations and to buy gifts for our loved ones.  As Christians, we really shouldn’t be propagating the lie of Santa Claus as those of us who were lied to about that flying fat man who gives presents on Christmas can attest to the disappointment, loss of innocence, and possible sense of betrayal that we felt when we learned the truth.  Christmas shouldn’t be surrounded by lies! Should it?  

The Santa Claus lie not only causes us to doubt our parent’s motives and truthfulness, it also can cause a lack of faith in God as parallel associations between God and Santa are easily drawn. Who else sees you when you are sleeping and knows when your awake? Who else wants you to be good for goodness’ sake? Who else gives gifts, by answering prayers? Who else can let you down?  Who else isn’t real?   Satan would love to lead you on this train of thought to atheism and bitterness by answering: God to all of the above.  

So for our first holiday spiritual warfare lesson let’s learn to : submit to God, by standing on the truth of God’s word, and resist the devil, by rejecting his lies, and he will flee from you, as James 4:7 teaches us. 

When we question our experience against the truth of God’s word, it’s much easier to see Satan’s game and to send him packing by confronting him with a hearty rebuttal: “It’s a lie!”  And then following it up with a truth from God’s word. Like: “God is real! For Genesis 1:1 tells us that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth!”    

Christ’s temptation and victory over Satan in the wilderness documented in Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospel accounts teaches us this strategy so if you want to answer the question of What would Jesus Do? WWJD? Know that you can follow Jesus’s example by using the word of God as your foundation for living and to use it to expose the lies of the enemy and to live a life of truth and righteousness. 

So because Santa isn’t real should we not give gifts at Christmas?

No! Gifts express our love for one another, and as many a preacher and Christmas play has taught us, gift giving is a part of the Biblical Christmas narrative as the wisemen presented gifts of myrrh, frankincense, and gold to Jesus.   We all know that story about the “three wisemen” giving gifts to Jesus, right?

Well it might shock you to know, that the Bible never actually numbers the wisemen as a trio.   Nowhere in Matthew 2, does it state that there were three wisemen: the text only says wisemen.  We assume three wisemen based on the number of gifts and from church tradition, which is not infallible. 

Also another shocker from this part of the Christmas narrative is in verse 11:

  Matthew 2:11 (NKJV)
¹¹  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Wait… they had come into “the house”?  Didn’t the wisemen show up with the shepherds in Luke 2:16  who:

Luke 2:16 (NKJV)
¹⁶  … found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.  

I’m not throwing doubt into any of the Christmas narrative, I am only saying that the wisemen may have been a little later in coming to visit Jesus and that the birthday gifts they brought appear to have been belated as Mary and Joseph had found lodging in a “house” when they presented the gifts.  

This brings up another principle of Spiritual Warfare and good Christian Discipleship, don’t assume you know what the Bible says based on what you have seen in movies, or even learned in Sunday school or at church. As disciples of Christ, we should seek to read and know what the Bible says, and doesn’t say, through our own study if we are to properly apply its wisdom to our lives and to be mature in our faith.   

The out right lies of the enemy and our own assumptions about faith can lead us astray. 

I believed the lie that I had to “be good to go to heaven” which is common among even those who call themselves Christians. 

This lie takes what the Bible teaches, that we are to be holy for God is holy and twists it against us by utilizing other truths in the Bible that tell us that those who practice the “work of the flesh”… will not inherit the kingdom of God”. The enemy and the world will take two trues and make a lie out of them by excluding information or by leading you to a logical but false conclusion, that if you sin, you are automatically going to hell.

That is true, unredeemed sinners do go to a place described as “outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.  but it is only true for people who don’t put their faith in Jesus Christ for

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NKJV) says:
⁸  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
⁹  not of works, lest anyone should boast.
¹⁰  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.    

We are not saved by our good works but we who are saved by faith, aka created in Christ Jesus, should walk in them (good works).  

Our good works are how we should live as Christians not the means by which we become Christians.   So do good works and share the love of God this Christmas by giving gifts and telling people about the reason for the season and the cause for your peace and joy: Jesus Christ.  

And one more thing, as we seek to resist the devil and refute the lies that are pervasive, I want to expose a whopper of a lie that most of us believe. 

I was listening to a pop song yesterday and one of the lines in the song said something about “nothing lasts forever”.  As I was listening, I believe the Holy Spirit gave me a “heads up”  as I realized that this is possibly the biggest and most pervasive lie that the enemy and the world declares that few of us have the insight to deny. 

Nothing lasts forever. That’s just a fact, right? Everyone dies. Everything falls apart. We are but a vapor, as the Bible teaches right?

Well science, our experience, and everything we see tells us that this is just one of those harsh realities of life that we have to deal with.   Right?

But it’s a lie.   It a lie that most of us believe.  Everything we see tells us that it is true, but the word of God tells us of the God who was there before -Genesis 1:1’s “In the beginning…”.  God made time and space. He was there before all that we see began.  

Revelation tells us that all though this earth will pass away, God will create a new heaven and a new earth.  

God lasts forever.  Pretty awesome huh.  

Well, hold on to your hat.  Christ came to save us and those who put their faith in Him are called to be with Him for all eternity for:

John 3:16 (NKJV) says
¹⁶  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Those are Christ’s words, and they tell us that we who put our faith in Jesus, last forever too.  And as Jesus said in

John 11:25-26 (NKJV)
²⁵   "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
²⁶  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

As Christians, though we may die, we shall live for as our Savior told us whoever lives and believes in Jesus will never die.  

The question for you, and your peace and joy, is : Do you believe this?  

So stand on the truth of God’s word and resist the enemy and the world’s pervasive lies that lead us to condemnation and despair, by saying in your heart, mind, soul, and spirit: “Yes, I believe the Truth, the Way, and the Life and I will live forever with Him for He said it and “It is written”!”

So keep walking and talking with God. Know His truth and live in the peace. joy, and love that He wants you to know, now and forever more.

 

Today’s Bible verse is drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.  

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Proverbs 2:8 (NLT2)
⁸  He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.

Today’s verse reminds us of the Lord’s protection to His faithful followers.  

The word of God dispenses wisdom for us to live by and as we have seen the enemy loves to contradict it and will even use scripture against scripture to cause us to doubt it’s truth and the goodness of God.  

 

Here the Bible tells us that God guards the path of the just and protects those who are faithful to Him. 

 

In this one verse there are many lessons to learn.  

For one, God’s protection seems to be conditional.  To claim this verse as a promise, we should understand that it applies only to those who are just and who are faithful to him.  

I hate to say it, but scripture tells us that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. So none of us can question the Lord if something negative should be fall us because none of us, by our own efforts, are just or completely faithful to Him.  

This answers the paradoxical question of why bad things happen to “good people”?

In truth, there are no good people.  That’s why Christ came, we all sin and need to be forgiven to have peace with God.  

No one likes to hear that because the world likes to tell the lie that is made famous by Anne Frank’s quote that says “… I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” 

Anne Frank’s sentiment is in direct contradiction to truth of the Bible and unfortunately some Nazi’s didn’t express the goodness of their hearts as they exterminated her and an estimated 6 million other Jews, an estimate that is refuted by some who are believing the lie that the holocaust never happened.   

So all lies are not created equal – some are lies to hide evil schemes and some are lies that tell the tale of what would be nice but simply aren’t true.  

So the enemy would challenge today’s verse, pointing to all the suffering in the world and those instances in which the “just and the faithful” were not protected and would say that God is a liar and that none of us can expect protection.  

However, although we will more than likely suffer, and possibly die, before Christ returns to reclaim the earth, today’s verse is true because those who have placed their  faith in Jesus are declared just and faithful and the everlasting life that is promised in John 3:16 for those who believe is the protection that never fails.  

So make sure you can enjoy measures of the Lord’s protection here on earth because of His providence and His ultimate protection in the coming Kingdom because of your placing your faith in Jesus Christ.  

God does protect us and encourages us to live lives that are just and faithful.  When we represent the King, our conduct and hope can be used to extend His protection to more people as they choose to live and be protected by making Jesus their Lord and Savior as we did.  

 

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. Tozer’s Advent Devotional – From Heaven,  for Day 22 as this current resource series will lead us to Christmas Eve.

 

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Tozer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

DAY 22

THREE TRUTHS BEHIND CHRISTMAS

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

MATTHEW 2:6

Now the second chapter of Matthew gives us the story of the birth of the infant Lord. This story is the wonder story of all lands and all ages. It is also told by Luke. It is said to be, and I believe it is, the most beautiful story in human language. It is beautiful but terrible as well. For there are three unexpressed facts that explain the chapter, facts that are not here but that explain it. They are the setting for the chapter. They are that which go before and go after and make it intelligible to our intelligent minds.

There are these three things:

The total moral and spiritual disaster that had engulfed the human race. Now we cannot think of the coming of our Savior to the world apart from this, or think of a rescue ship going out to rescue those who had not been shipwrecked, or a doctor sent to a place where there had been no accident or epidemic.

This was a rescue. And that is the second unexpressed fact here. This is the story of a rescue, not a rescue team, of one who came alone to rescue mankind and thus fulfill God’s ancient purpose in sovereign grace, the sending of a Rescuer. Save is the word we use and it means the same thing: to save the world and to redeem men who had been caught in this disaster and engulfed in this woe.

And the third is the black malice, the cold fury of the one we call Satan, the destroyer. You and I, all we human beings, we are adept at the business of presenting one side of a question. And all through this rather happy Christmas season, there is but one side presented: it is the side of the golden bells and the angels who said, “Peace on earth, good will to men.” But I say these unexpressed facts make all this intelligible to mortal men. The evil, the fury loosed against humankind and through humankind against God. For it was not the devil’s fury or anger at mankind that caused him to be the devil he is, but it was his anger with God. And since mankind was made in the image of God, and God has expressed—and did express—His great love for mankind, then it was to get at God that the devil attacked that race of beings that God had loved the most.

And so we have in this chapter—and I want you to think of the entire chapter, not just one text out of it—events that are solemn and fearful and breathtaking. We have a view of life inside and outside, a view of the human race, of the religious world and of the irreligious world, of the Jewish world and of the pagan world, of the temple and of the armory, of the priest and of the soldier, all here. And we have this view of yesterday and an explanation of today and a preview of tomorrow.

Tozer, A. W. (2016). From heaven: a 28-day advent devotional. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

 

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, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

 

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Fully Engaged Life of Presence – Walking in the Spirit = Purity 600

Fully Engaged Life of Presence – Walking in the Spirit =  Purity 600

Purity 600 12/13/2021 Purity 600 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo a roadside shot of Old Glory on the outskirts of the village of Castleton-on- the Hudson NY comes to us from yours truly as the Spirit led me to pull over and to grab a quick pic of what was a stunning sunset view on the way home Friday.  What isn’t clear in this picture is the fact that NY State Thruway Bridge that goes over the Hudson was perfectly silhouetted in the distance and is barely discernable on the horizon here.  

Sometimes in life you just have to be there and no matter how we try to convey to others the beauty or the significance of our experiences, our best efforts to share them pale in comparison what they were.   

As someone who attempts to encourage others to seek the Lord and to live in the mystery of His presence on a continual basis, I often try to convince others of the subtle but significant difference that a life of faith and walking in the Spirit can make.  

Ironically, even though I try to live my life in the Lord’s presence and make a habit of “walking and talking with God” on a daily basis, I sometimes forget just how magnificent life can be as I approach situations with an open heart and an open mind and just go where the Spirit leads me.  

When you are walking in the Spirit you will just stop and look around to see where the Lord has brought you, you will stop on a roadside to appreciate the beauty of the moment, and you will surrender to the moment to enjoy the company of friends or family where you will discuss the things of God or just to express your care, concern, or appreciation for their presence in your life.  

This idea and realization of the “fully engaged life” of presence really was highlighted yesterday as I went from one interaction to another just enjoying being alive, appreciating the Lord for who He is, and loving the people in my life.   

I start the days early, like insanely early, but I don’t drag myself out of bed because my risings are full of purpose as I use the first part of each day to thank the Lord for my life and all I have and then to reflect on and share my experience with others via the blog and podcast.  

This rich and dynamic life in the Spirit never fails to provide me with something to say about the goodness of God or to point to how our Christian faith can be utilized to help us to connect with the Lord and guide us through life.

Yesterday, on Sundays, I don’t blog and just found myself listening to some pop music via Amazon Music and was struck by a few things.  I look for the good in things and was able to find a few pop songs whose lyrics weren’t profane or self-aggrandizing which spoke about love and how people need each other.  But I also found a disturbing amount of songs that lamented that the difficulties of human relationships caused the artists to come to the conclusion that they were better off alone.  

The range from desperately needing someone’s love to deciding one was better off alone painted a picture of a before and after experience of trying to meet all our needs for happiness in other people. 

While God provides us with others to love and live with, we were never intended to find our fulfillment in our human relationships.  Life is a journey from birth to death and beyond and if we consider eternity we can realize that if we are only focusing on what will make us happy from birth to death, we are missing something.  We must consider what happens after death and seek to find a fulfillment that will carry us into the days and eons beyond this life.  The only way we can do that is to come into a relationship with the Creator of all things. 

So our search for fulfillment requires that we seek meaning and purpose for our entire experience: our mental, physical, relational, and spiritual lives that go beyond the here and now.  

God has provided us a way to have peace with Him now: faith in Jesus Christ.  Our reconciliation with God through faith in Christ provides us with the forgiveness of our sins and the reception of a new spiritual life that will never perish.  When we receive the gift of a new life and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we can live free of fear and share the love that the Lord has poured into us.  We can appreciate God’s creation and everything He provides us with: the people, places, and things He has put in our lives.  

So it was within that context that  I went from one experience to the next yesterday enjoying the conversations, the travel, the worship, the food (yes the cookies), and the relationships.  I spoke to my fiancé about how awesome it was just to be in her presence and to go where ever the day led us, knowing that the Lord has brought us together and we can now take the love we have for Him and one another and just “keep going” wherever He leads us.    

I was “present” with my friends, family, and Lord yesterday and it made the day simply wonderful. 

So, I know its Monday and the stress of a new work week and a quickly approaching Christmas may be upon you, but I would like to encourage you to take a moment to draw close to your Lord in prayer today and to ask Him to help you keep Him and His wisdom, guidance, and strength at the forefront of your mind as you go about your day.   When you consider the things of God and apply His wisdom to your walk, you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to experience His presence and peace moment to moment. 

Peace on earth can begin with you drawing close to the Lord in gratitude and humility.  When your eyes are opened to all He has done and is doing in the world, you can find peace and be motivated to love your life and everyone in your path.  

So either start or keeping walking and talking with God. The word refers to Jesus Christ as our Emmanuel, God with us.  When you walk and talk with Him, you can know and experience just how true that is. God is with us.  So enjoy His presence and keep going with Him.  

Today’s Bible verse is drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.  

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Acts 16:31 (NLT2)

³¹  They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

Today’s verse reminds us of the means of our salvation and the impact that our lives can have on those around us.   

Now while this verse is often used to give people assurance that God can save your entire family, and frankly is sometimes preached that God WILL save your entire family,  I feel compelled to point to the whole counsel of scripture that is replete with the concept that each individual must place their faith in Christ to be saved.  

We are not saved by familial faith associations.  I’m not saved because my grandmother believed in Jesus. I am saved because I personally believed in Jesus, meaning I put my faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ to be sufficient for the forgiveness of my sins, to make peace with God and to be brought into His kingdom as His adopted child.  

We have to remember to consider the context of scripture when we seek to stand on the word to receive the promises of God.   This verse is from the Book of Acts which is a retelling of the history of the early church. This verse is drawn from the account of the Apostle Paul being miraculously set free from prison through divine intervention as the Lord sent a massive earthquake to shake the prison’s foundations causing the prison doors to be opened and all the prisoners’ chains to fall off.

Upon seeing all the prisoners escaping, the jailer was on the verge of committing suicide, when Paul intervened to explain what had happened and to offer salvation and eternal life to the jailer, and all his family, provided that they would “believe in the Lord Jesus”.  Oh by the way, making Jesus Lord means you agree to follow Him. 

The verses that follow today’s verse tell us that Paul and Silas share a gospel message and that the jailer and all that were in his household all believed in Jesus and proved it by their care for the Apostles and through their decision to get immediately baptized.  

So yes, in this instance, the jailer and his entire family were saved because the jailer and each person in his family, heard the word of God and each decided to make Jesus the Lord of their lives. 

So if you believe and want your entire family to be saved, these scriptures should not be taken as a guarantee or some magical spell that all your family will be saved but should encourage you to provide them with the opportunity to hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to make the decision to make Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives.  

We can pray for our family’s salvation with this verse. We can preach to them or have them listen to or read a gospel presentation. We can encourage them to seek the Lord and see that He is good.  But our entire families must individually believe in Jesus, place their faith in Him, and make Him the Lord of their lives.  

God can save our entire families, but they are not saved though our faith.  We can hope, pray, and preach but they must decide to choose the everlasting life that comes when they make Christ the Lord of their lives.  

 

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. Tozer’s Advent Devotional – From Heaven,  for Day 17, as this current resource series will lead us to Christmas Eve.

 As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Tozer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

DAY 17

WHAT WE HAVE RECEIVED

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

JOHN 1:16

The Bible teaches so clearly and so consistently what John proclaims in the first chapter of his gospel: “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16).

Out of His fullness we have received. There is no way that it can mean that any of us have received all of His fullness. It means that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, is the only medium through which God dispenses His benefits to His creation.

Because Jesus Christ is the eternal Son, because He is of the eternal generation and equal with the Father as pertaining to His substance, His eternity, His love, His power, His grace, His goodness, and all of the attributes of deity, He is the channel through which God dispenses all His blessing.

If you could ask the deer that goes quietly down to the edge of the lake for a refreshing drink, “Have you received of the fullness of the lake?” the answer would be: “Yes and no. I am full from the lake but I have not received from the fullness of the lake. I did not drink the lake. I only drank what I could hold of the lake.”

And so, of His fullness, out of the fullness of God, He has given us grace upon grace according to our need, and it is all through Jesus Christ, our Lord. When He speaks, when He provides, while He sustains, it is because it can be said that He upholds all things by the word of His power and in Him all things consist.

Now, here is a thought I had one day: it could have been very easy for God to have loved us and never told us. God could have been merciful toward us and never revealed it. We know that among humans it is possible for us to feel deeply and still tell no one. It is possible to have fine intentions and never make them known to anyone.

The Scriptures say that “no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18).

The eternal Son came to tell us what the silence never told us.

He came to tell us what not even Moses could tell us.

He came to tell us and to show us that God loves us and that He constantly cares for us.

He came to tell us that God has a gracious plan and that He is carrying out that plan.

Before it is all finished and consummated, there will be a multitude that no man can number, redeemed, out of every tongue and tribe and nation.

That is what He has told us about the Father God. He has set Him forth. He has revealed Him—His being, His love, His mercy, His grace, His redemptive intention, His saving intention.

He has declared it all. He has given us grace upon grace. Now we have only to turn and believe and accept and take and follow. All is ours if we will receive because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us!

 

 

Tozer, A. W. (2016). From heaven: a 28-day advent devotional. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

 

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, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

 

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

 

The Way or the Highway – A Fork in the Road that Defines Us - Purity 591

 

The Way or the Highway – A Fork in the Road that Defines Us - Purity 591

Purity 591 12/02/2021  Purity 591 Podcast

Good morning

Today’s photo from inside the Buskirks covered Bridge comes to us from yours truly as I was looking in the photo archive and came across some memories from October 7^th of this year.  For those who don’t know that was the day that I was to propose to my fiancé and the photo’s I have of the Buskirk Bridge from that day are a demarcation point in my personal history because before I crossed that bridge I didn’t know I was going to propose that day.  It was on the other side of the bridge that I discovered I was to receive my fiancé’s engagement ring early and I realized that the time was now! Today, October 7^th, 2021, was the day of salvation! Well engagement anyway.

I guess I was saved in a sense, from the monkhood that I had expected to live in for the rest of my days, when TammyLyn Seguin nodded and then verbally consented to be my wife.    

You see since coming to faith in Christ in 2010, I have been committed to follow the call that God has put on my life to be an authentic Christian and to walk in the Spirit.

As I have progressively gotten to know the Lord more through His word and through His calling, I turned from my “normal” life that was characterized by reactive emotions, addiction, and bondage to the sins of the flesh and turned to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

My previous life and a Christian disciple’s lifestyle were not exactly one in the same and over the years there has been lots of growing pains and a fair share of broken relationships as some friends and family were not on board with my transition from “fun loving drunk” to a Christian who tries to live according to the Word of God. 

As I progressively walked out my Christian faith, I realized that there were not many available women on this narrow path and after a few disappointments I realized that even though some women would identify themselves as Christians, their ideas of faith and how they mixed with the world’s philosophies were far from what I was looking for.  I had resolved to be alone for the rest of my life rather than enter into a relationship that would compromise my faith. 

Dating really isn’t an option for a Christian. An authentic Christian really would be “courting” because causal dating with a lack of commitment should be antithetical to a Christian disciple’s lifestyle.  The Bible is pretty clear that sexual relationships are only approved, or not sin,  under a marriage covenant. 

So while it is possible to date without having sex, let’s be real… who wants to? Nobody.

As much as the world likes to theorize and blaspheme over the idea that Jesus could have had “girlfriends”,  Christ was unmarried and was without sin. Christ had female disciples, not romantic interests. The word of God is true and there are no accounts of Jesus “playing the field” or “going steady”.  Basically, even Jesus didn’t want to date. He had a higher call.

Some of us can be called to a single life dedicated to serve the Lord exclusively.  Some of us can be called to be single and celibate. I thought that was a real possibility for my life because there seemed not to be any faithful Christian women who were interested in purchasing my “brand of Christianity” or me personally and all the accompanying baggage of my past.  

But as far as I was concerned, as long as I had my relationship with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, I had more than enough love in my life, and I could spend the rest of my life in joy and peace walking the disciple’s path solo.  

If you zoom in on today’s photo, you will see a road sign that points to the left and to the right.  When you cross the Buskirk Bridge, you must choose which way you should go.   

Similarly, at some point in our lives we come to The Bridge that leads to eternal life, Jesus Christ.  Before we die, we must choose if we will cross it. 

If we choose to reject Christ and decide to do things “My way” and challenge God to judge us on our own merits, we will eventually come to discover that what we always suspected about our lives of sin was true. Without Christ, we are on the Highway to Hell.  And unlike all the jokes and foolish speculations of man that tell us that Hell is a place where we will party with all our friends in low places, Jesus spent His earthly ministry warning people to repent and to avoid the place that He described with images of fire (Matt. 25:41), darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30), and the weeping and gnashing of teeth ” (Matt. 8:12; 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28).

So while Fleetwood Mac will tell you that “You can go your own way”, I wouldn’t recommend it.    Instead we should choose the Truth, The Way, and The Life: Jesus Christ.

If we place our faith in Christ, we cross the bridge from death to life eternal. God gives us the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, spiritual life, and the assurance that He will never leave us or forsake us.  

Faith in the Prince of Peace gives us peace with God. Walking in the Spirit, living according to God’s ways, results in the fruit of the Spirit that gives us peace on earth.

So choose to cross into life everlasting by putting your faith in Jesus Christ every day.  Yeah, just because we “crossed that bridge” once upon a time doesn’t mean our journey is over.  

When we cross that bridge into faith, we run into another road sign.  It points to the path of Christian discipleship and to the Road of Compromise.  The path of Christian discipleship leads to freedom in Christ and victory.  The Road of Compromise leads to bondage to sin, to guilt, to shame, and to a lack of assurance of salvation.

While you have crossed the bridge into life eternal, the enemy will beckon you to “go your own way” and to remain in the chains that you have been set free of. The difference of experiencing a victorious Christian life and one that doesn’t seem all that different from life before Christ lies in the way that you walk out your faith on the earth.  

Walking the Christian path of discipleship will change you as you renew your mind and conform to the image of Christ.

It will also cost you something, for as your light of Christ shines brighter the darkness that surrounds you will flee and will take with it those who have chosen the darkness rather than the light.  You have chosen The Way and they have sadly chosen the highway and because you are going in different directions it shouldn’t surprise us that people will depart from our journey of faith.  

It can be a lonely road at times, but Christ’s way is not only the best way, for those who understand it, it really is the only way.   But it is a way that is paved with peace, love, and joy.   

And just when you think you will walk your life of faith all by yourself, the Lord will give you company for your travels and ask you to take another step of faith with a Christlike man or woman to walk with you from here to eternity.  

So keep walking and talking with God, the path of Christian discipleship may not be seem to be as fast or exciting as the Highway to Hell, but man when you are travelling with God you are not so worried about making “good time” because you know that you will see some amazing sights and do some amazing things as you travel and you know that your final destination will be a good one.

 

Today’s Bible verse is drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.  

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Numbers 23:19 (NLT2)
¹⁹  God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

 

Today’s verse reminds us that God is not like our neighbor.  

One of the major problems in the world is our human relationships.  Jean Paul Sartre’s famous quote from his play “No Exit” tells us that “Hell is other people.”   What’s so hellish about people? 

Well, while we could spend a long time documenting the evil that men do, one thing that pains us the most is that men lie.  Sometimes we don’t even intend to lie but circumstances change, and we change our minds about something that we have said or promised and the change in our stance makes us liars.    Sometimes we say we will do something and just don’t do it. Broken promises or the failure to act make us liars.   

The pain that comes from the lies that we have been told could send us on a journey to escape the company of men altogether because it seems like there is no one we can trust. 

But today’s verse encourages us to have a relationship with God because He is not a liar.  God doesn’t change His mind or fail to act, and He makes good on His promises faithfully. 

Those without a relationship with God though faith in Jesus Christ might balk at that idea.  They look at the untrustworthiness of human relationships and the suffering in the world and decide that God is a liar.. somehow. They assume that a good God wouldn’t allow these things to happen and thus can’t be good and must be a liar too.  

Unfortunately, God’s ways are higher than our ways and while we can’t understand why things happen the way they do all the time, if we seek the Lord and His righteousness we will come into a relationship with God that accepts His sovereign rule and His word which assures us that He will intervene and take control of the destiny of the universe.  

While some may struggle to see how God can be good, He sent Christ to die for us and reconcile us to Him.  God’s justice will come, and His promises will be fulfilled, in His time and according to His will.  The word of God is true, and He is not a liar.  

But just like a parent that withholds rewards until the proper time, He will make good on all of His promises and act justly when it is time for His will to be done on earth, as it is in heaven.   

Christ is known as the Truth and there is no deceit in Him. He spoke the things of God the Father and we can trust Him.

So take solace in the fact that God is not a man that He should lie and rejoice over all the promises that will be fulfilled when Christ returns and His eternal kingdom will culminate with the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.

 

 

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 begin sharing from A.W. Tozer’s Advent Devotional – From Heaven,  starting on Day 6, as I started late and want our sharing to lead us up to Christmas Eve.

 

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Tozer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

 

LUKEWARM ABOUT CHRIST’S RETURN

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:51–52

The return of Christ as a blessed hope is, as I have said, all but dead among us. The truth touching the second advent, where it is presented today, is for the most part either academic or political. The joyful personal element is altogether missing. Where are they who

“Yearn for the sign, O Christ, of thy fulfilling,

Faint for the flaming of Thine advent feet”?

The longing to see Christ that burned in the breasts of those first Christians seems to have burned itself out. All we have left are the ashes. It is precisely the “yearning” and the “fainting” for the return of Christ that has distinguished the personal hope from the theological one. Mere acquaintance with correct doctrine is a poor substitute for Christ and familiarity with New Testament eschatology will never take the place of a love-inflamed desire to look on His face.

If the tender yearning is gone from the advent hope today there must be a reason for it; and I think I know what it is, or what they are, for there are a number of them. One is simply that popular fundamentalist theology has emphasized the utility of the cross rather than the beauty of the One who died on it. The saved man’s relation to Christ has been made contractual instead of personal. The “work” of Christ has been stressed until it has eclipsed the person of Christ. Substitution has been allowed to supersede identification. What He did for me seems to be more important than what He is to me. Redemption is seen as an across-the-counter transaction, which we “accept,” and the whole thing lacks emotional content. We must love someone very much to stay awake and long for his coming, and that may explain the absence of power in the advent hope even among those who still believe in it.

Another reason for the absence of real yearning for Christ’s return is that Christians are so comfortable in this world that they have little desire to leave it. For those leaders who set the pace of religion and determine its content and quality, Christianity has become of late remarkably lucrative. The streets of gold do not have too great an appeal for those who find it so easy to pile up gold and silver in the service of the Lord here on earth. We all want to reserve the hope of heaven as a kind of insurance against the day of death, but as long as we are healthy and comfortable, why change a familiar good for something about which we actually know very little? So reasons the carnal mind, and so subtly that we are scarcely aware of it.

Again, in these times religion has become jolly good fun right here in this present world, and what’s the hurry about heaven anyway? Christianity, contrary to what some had thought is another and higher form of entertainment. Christ has done all the suffering. He has shed all the tears and carried all the crosses; we have but to enjoy the benefits of His heartbreak in the form of religious pleasures modeled after the world but carried on in the name of Jesus. So say the same people who claim to believe in Christ’s second coming.

History reveals that times of suffering for the Church have also been times of looking upward. Tribulation has always sobered God’s people and encouraged them to look for and yearn after the return of their Lord. Our present preoccupation with this world may be a warning of bitter days to come. God will wean us from the earth some way—the easy way if possible, the hard way if necessary. It is up to us.

Tozer, A. W. (2016). From heaven: a 28-day advent devotional. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.

 

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

 

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship