First Things First – Purity 1056

First Things First –  Purity 1056

Purity 1056 05/31/2023 Purity 1056 Podcast

Purity 1056 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a cross at the peak of some high grass underneath a blazing sunset situated perfectly between the clouds comes to us from Brianne Kilmer who captured this scene presumably somewhere during her travels in Columbia County and shared it on social media back on May 24^th. Brianne appeared to have spotted this scene while driving as she shared several shots of this scene from various vantage points along the roadside and shared them all to encourage her friends on social media.   

Just like Brianne, I hope to encourage my friends, that’s you, to keep your eyes open to the beauty in this world and to recognize that it has all been provided for us by a God who loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to teach us the Truth, to pay for our sins, and to give us new and eternal lives when we put our faith in Him as Lord and Savior. 

Well, It’s Wednesday and I thought Brianne’s picture was a beauty and while it doesn’t feature a “hump” per se, I thought that it’s cross and setting sun were centered enough to visually represent our arrival of the middle of the work week and that its unspoken message of hope in Christ, was a great representation for the hope and new life that I will be encouraging others to walk into at Celebrate Freedom tonight!

One of the missions of my blog and the reason that I highlight photos of God’s creation is to convey the truth that God is present in our world at all times and that we can know Him and interact with Him.  In my walk of faith, I discovered just how real, present, available, loving, and powerful the Lord is when you decide to seek Him and follow where He leads. 

Although, I resisted the Lord and fled from Him most of my life, He revealed the truth of Jesus Christ to me when I was least expecting it and I slowly answered His call to seek His truth, His presence, and to follow Him.  When you know the love of God – that Christ died for me – for you – individually – to save us, it compels us to know more about God and the truth of His kingdom.   But at that point, you still have free will, you can give as much or as little of yourself to your walk of faith. You can decide what you will do with your new life in Christ.  You can decide just how far you want to take it.    

As someone who was deceived by the world system – “the facts of life” - and a false religion, I thought I had “it all figured out” so when God interrupted my life to let me know I couldn’t have gotten it more wrong, I decided to “completely surrender” to His will and began to seek the truth of God’s word and tried to live out my new found faith and learned that for every step of faith I took towards God, I was rewarded.  

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) reveals this truth.  It says:
⁶  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

I had faith. I stepped out in faith, believed that God was who He said He was –“that He is” and so I diligently sought Him and was continually rewarded with knowledge, blessings, His presence, and eventually a whole new life.   But it didn’t happen all at once.  

After I learned that God was loving and good enough to save a “wretch like me”, I followed and after I was rewarded – with the confirmation of the reasonableness of my faith, and with the joy of my salvation, I decided to keep following Him “come what may”. 

I answered the call to find a Bible believing church where I could learn more and serve.  And it was there that a Christian recovery group began and called me out of the darkness of my sins and into the ministry of overcoming and encouragement. I sought the Lord and was rewarded with victory and freedom over my addictions. But God has kept calling and I have kept following and now know that this journey of faith never ends, and it will go on through out eternity, as I will follow the Lord all the days of my life and encourage others as I go.    

The latest chapter of the unfolding saga of my life in the Spirit is the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group at Starpoint Church and even though we will only be meeting for the fourth time this evening, I have already been rewarded and blessed by the opportunity to tell a little of my story and to bless other Christians with the good news that God not only loved them enough to save them from a Godless eternity, He loves them enough to save them from themselves and the lies they have believed that caused them to choose the world’s ways over His.  I have received positive reports that this group has been a blessing to the people who have attended, and I will continue to encourage others to know the Lord and to follow Him into the life that only He can give them.  

Tonight we will be singing “First Things First”  by Consumed by Fire, and I pray that the chorus will be a proclamation of our intention to follow where the Lord would lead us.   

The lyrics say:

“I don't wanna love what the world loves.

I don't wanna chase what the world does.

I only want You.

I only want You (Pre- Chorus)

 

First thing's first

I seek Your will, Not my own.

Surrender all my wants to You.

Keep the first thing first.

To live Your truth, Walk Your ways.

Set my eyes.

Lord, I fix my face on You.

All my desires reversed.

To keep the first thing first”

In Christ all our earthly desires can be reversed. We can choose to do what God would have us do to. To seek His will, not our own.  To surrender all to God and to fix our eyes on Him. To follow and to walk and His ways and to live our lives for Him.  And it only requires a simple decision to put “first things first” by following the Lord and His truth to the life of meaning and purpose that He wants us to know, continually, progressively, forever.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verses are:

Luke 12:6-7 (NKJV)
⁶  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
⁷  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows..

Today’s verses tell us that we matter to God. To God, we matter! He knows every detail about us, and we matter to the Lord so much that He showed us the truth of who Jesus is so we could be saved and set free from lies of this world to experience a new and eternal life.  

This is one of those “too much” truths.  As in this is so big Lord, this is just too much! Am I to believe that the God who made everything, and created countless living creatures, and who knows everything, KNOWS ME? And LOVES ME? And CARES ABOUT ME?   IT’s JUST TOO MUCH, LORD! 

But it’s true. God does know us. God does love us. God does care about us. 

And God has called us to know His son, know His truth, to live it, and to share it with all the earth.   It might seem too good to be true. It may seem to be “too much” – but it is all true and it is all good. Thank You, Lord!

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3)  

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit  

6 - The Holy Spirit During the Old Testament Ages

Much ignorance prevails today concerning this aspect of our subject. The crudest ideas are now entertained as to the relation between the Third Person of the Godhead and the Old Testament saints. Yet this is scarcely to be wondered at in view of the fearful confusion which obtains respecting their salvation, many supposing that they were saved in an entirely different way from what we are now. Nor need we be surprised at that, for this, in turn, is only another of the evil effects produced by the misguided efforts of those who have been so eager to draw as many contrasts as possible between the present dispensation and those which preceded it, to the disparaging of the earlier members of God’s family. The Old Testament saints had far more in common with the New Testament saints than is generally supposed.

A verse which has been grossly perverted by many of our moderns is John 7:39, “The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” It seems passing strange that with the Old Testament in their hands, some men should place the construction which they do upon those words. The words “was not yet given” can no more be understood absolutely than “Enoch was not” (Gen. 5:24); they simply mean that the Spirit had not yet been given in His full administrative authority. He was not yet publicly manifested here on earth. All believers, in every age, had been sanctified and comforted by Him, but the “ministration of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:8) was not at that time fully introduced; the outpouring of the Spirit, in the plentitude of His miraculous gifts, had not then taken place.^[1]

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

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" 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. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

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

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

---

^[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).

Step into New Things: I’ve Been to the Mountain Top! – Purity 1055

Step into New Things: I’ve Been to the Mountain Top!  –  Purity 1055

Purity 1055 05/30/2023 Purity 1055 Podcast

Purity 1055 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the tree at the 2^nd lookout site of Mount Antone, overlooking great views of farmland and the southern Vermont Mountains comes to us from yours truly as my wife, TammyLyn, and I ascended the 2600 feet to the summit of the tallest peak on the Merck Forest & Farmland Center’s property in Rupert Vermont. Mount Antone is officially part of the Northern Taconic Mountain Range and although reaching its summit wasn’t too challenging, it was a definite high point of our Memorial Day Weekend backpacking adventure that had us away from many of the modern conveniences that we take for granted.  

Our cabin was dead ended towards the rear end of the preserve’s property and didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing and as no one was renting any of the nearest lean-tos or cabins, TammyLyn and I had at approximately ½ mile distance to our nearest neighbors. I didn’t hear a lawnmower, weed whacker, or even a chainsaw all weekend and  it was only on our way to Mount Antone and Clark’s Clearing did we see any other living souls.  

Seclusion can be a little unsettling at times but when you realize that you are relatively safe and secure in your accommodations, and that the Lord is with you wherever you go, you can really enjoy the peace and tranquility of God’s creation without fear and just bask in the goodness of just “being”.  

Of course, just because we were “roughing it” didn’t mean that my wife and I decided to take a vacation from our faith.  Even though we both enjoyed “getting away from it all”, we didn’t want to get away from God. We maintained our regular Bible study and enjoyed our own personal studies as TammyLyn revisited a book she had read years earlier, Made to Crave – By Lysa TerKeuest, et all – on satisfying our deepest desires with God, not food ( might have to check that out) – and I was able to complete Volume 1 – The Essentials of  Dr. Karl Payne’s  “Transferrable Cross Training” on Discipleship as well as get most of the way through “The True Works of the Holy Spirit”, a booklet by John MacArthur.  So in many ways – probably just because of the decision we’ve made to keep God at the center of our lives and marriage – our vacation was a spiritual retreat as well.  But please don’t imagine some hyper spiritual posturing on our part, we were just enjoying each other’s company and giving each other space to seek the Lord’s peace and guidance without getting in each other’s way.   Our faith should never feel forced, demanding, or complicated and so it wasn’t.   

Although, we were “out there” in the woods, we weren’t too far gone and actually had enough cell reception to be able to receive and send messages from family. I don’t think I would have necessarily known this as I had assumed that we wouldn’t have had reception and only brought my three cell phones (1 work, 1 personal, and 1 old) as media devices  for Bible Study (you have got  to love Logos Bible Software) and for listening to a Christian audiobook or “soothing sounds” to sleep by.   But TammyLyn tested the reception as soon as we got there and assured her children and both our mothers that we had arrived safely! You can take a mother of 5 into the woods but you can’t take the mother out of her, I guess.

Anyway, no matter how much I may have been a little disappointed in not being completely off the grid and unreachable when we arrived on Saturday, I was rejoicing over the fact we weren’t completely cut off on Sunday as we were able to “stream church” via Facebook. So even though we were in a cabin in Vermont with no electricity, we sang along with and listened to our church’s Sunday service live from Clifton Park!   And although it was Sunday, the wife and I decided to worship the Lord by getting out in His creation with the trek to the top of Mount Antone and a hike to Clark’s Clearing (That’s my last name – we had to go there) before we returned to the cabin for a Sabbath’s rest.   

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and it taught me to keep following where the Lord leads me and to try new things.  Although we struggled mightily on the journey into the woods with our fully packed backpacks, yesterday’s excursion out took half the time as we were less burdened (without the weight of 2 days water supply) and were more experienced, wiser, and stronger from what we had learned and done just a day or two before.   

And that’s a great analogy of our faith, we  can get stronger in our faith when we step out into it and test ourselves.  The growth that TammyLyn and I experienced as hikers and backpackers in a relatively short time would have never been realized if we had never “gone there”.  Before this trip, neither one of us had any real backpacking experience and could have easily dismissed the idea altogether.

But after our previous visit to the Merck Forest Center’s Gallup Road – and it was a long rather challenging day of hiking -  and with a few days off for Memorial Day, something inside me inspired me to step out in faith and “book it”. And TammyLyn, who had never backpacked – immediately – went about making sure that we were adequately equipped to go.  I may have “set the course” but TammyLyn really made sure we could “make our way”.   So not only did we learn and experience something new in backpacking, but we also used it to draw closer to God and one another.  But none of this would have been known, if we didn’t choose to follow the “call” and support one another along the way.  

Well, it’s Tuesday and even though TammyLyn is back to work, I have the day off and will use it to finish off that booklet on the true work of the Holy Spirit and to prepare for tomorrow evening’s meeting of Celebrate Freedom – the recovery/discipleship growth group at my local church – where I will be sure to do my best to encourage those gathered to step out in faith and to trust the Lord to move them into a deeper knowledge and experience of their freedom in Christ as they have decided to trust and follow the Lord to help them walk away from the “hurts, habits, and hang ups” they wish to leave behind as they pursue the meaning and purpose that God has for them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verses are:

Romans 15:3-4 (NLT2)
³  For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.”
⁴  Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Today’s verses encourage us to wait patiently as the Lord fulfills His promises in our lives and to realize that this walk of faith isn’t necessarily just about pleasing ourselves.    

Christ’s example shows us that just because you decided to follow and do the Lord’s will, it doesn’t mean that people will applaud you for it. In fact when you decide to follow the Lord, you can expect to be insulted as Jesus was insulted, and persecuted as He stated that the world would hate His disciples, just as it hated Him.  

But today’s verses remind us that The Bible – the Scriptures – never promised us a rose garden – a life without suffering – but it does promise all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ a place in God’s family and kingdom in eternity.  The word tells us of the true story of hardships that the prophets, apostles, and Jesus Himself suffered before us to encourage us that those who went before us faced trials and death secure in the knowledge that God was in control and would save us even when it looked like all was lost.  

Christ’s death and resurrection proved that our worst case scenario was something that we would overcome.  Worst case – we die – but when we are in Christ we have not lost hope because at moment of our earthly death we will go on and live with God in eternity, and then one day return with Jesus to rule and reign over earth, before the new heaven and earth!   

 

So, wait for it! – God’s got a LOT MORE in STORE for us, and He is faithful to fulfill all of His promises – that assure us of place in His kingdom forever and a purpose that goes beyond this life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3)  

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit  

5 - The Covenant-Offices of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit’s Covenant-Office: Sanctification

Now the “office-work” of the Holy Spirit in connection with this “everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure” (2 Sam. 23:5), may be summed up in a single word, sanctification. The Third Person of the Holy Trinity agreed to sanctify, the objects of the Father’s eternal choice, and of the Son’s redemptive satisfaction. The Spirit’s work of sanctification was just as needful, yea, as indispensable for the church’s salvation, as was the obedience and blood-shedding of Christ. Adam’s fall plunged the church into immeasurable depths of woe and wretchedness. The image of God in which her members had been created was defaced. Sin, like a loathsome leprosy, infected them to the very heart’s core. Spiritual death spread itself with fatal effect over her every faculty. But the gracious Holy Spirit pledged Himself to sanctify such wretches, and frame and fit them to be partakers of holiness, and live forever in God’s spotless presence.

Without the Spirit’s sanctification the redemption of Christ would avail no man. True, a perfect atonement was made by Him and a perfect righteousness brought in, and so the persons of the elect are legally reconciled to God. But Jehovah is holy as well as just, and the employments and enjoyment of His dwelling-place are holy too. Holy angels there minister whose unceasing cry is, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:3). How then could unholy, unregenerated, unsanctified sinners dwell in that ineffable place into which “there shall in no way enter anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie” (Rev. 21:27)? But O the wonder of covenant grace and covenant love! The vilest of sinners, the worst of wretches, the basest of mortals, can and will enter through the gates into the Holy City: “And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

From what has been said in the last paragraph it should be clear that sanctification is as indispensable as justification. Now there are many phases presented in Scripture of this important Truth of sanctification, into which we cannot here enter. Suffice it to say that aspect of it which is now before us is the blessed work of the Spirit upon the soul, whereby He internally makes the saints meet for their inheritance in the light (Col. 1:12): without this miracle of grace none can enter Heaven. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (1 John 3:6): no matter how it be educated and refined, no matter how disguised by religious ornamentation, it remains still flesh. It is like everything else which earth produces: no manipulation of art can change the original nature of the raw material.

No process of manufacture can transmute cotton into wool, or flax into silk: draw, twist, spin or weave, bleach and surface all we may, its nature remains the same. So men-made preachers and the whole corps of creature religionists may toil night and day to change flesh into spirit, they may work from the cradle to the grave to fit people for Heaven, but after all their labors to wash the Ethiopian white and to rub the spots out of the leopard, flesh is flesh still and cannot by any possibility enter the kingdom of God. Nothing but the supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit will avail. Not only is man polluted to the very core by sin original and actual, but there is in him an absolute incapability to understand, embrace or enjoy spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14).

The imperative necessity, then, of the Spirit’s work of sanctification lies not only in the sinfulness of man, but in the state of spiritual death whereby he is as unable to live, breathe, and act Godward as the corpse in the graveyard is unable to leave the silent tomb and move among the busy haunts of men. We indeed know little of the Word of God and little of our own hearts if we need proof of a fact which meets us at every turn; the vileness of our nature and the thorough deathliness of our carnal heart are so daily and hourly forced upon us that they are a such a matter of painful consciousness to the Christian, as if we should see the sickening sight of a slaughterhouse, or smell the death taint of a corpse.

Suppose a man is born blind: he has a natural incapacity of sight. No arguments, biddings, threats, or promises can make him see. But let the miracle be wrought: let the Lord touch the eyes with His Divine hand; he sees at once. Though he cannot explain how or why, he can say to all objectors, “One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). And thus it is in the Spirit’s work of sanctification, begun at regeneration, when a new life is given, a new capacity imparted, a new desire awakened. It is carried forward in his daily renewing (2 Cor. 4:16) and is completed at glorification. What we would specially emphasize is that whether the Spirit is convicting us, working repentance in us, breathing upon us the spirit of prayer, or taking of the things of Christ and showing them unto our joyful hearts, He is discharging His covenant-offices. May we render unto Him the praise and worship which is His due.

For most of the above we are indebted to some articles by the late J. C. Philpot.^[1]

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

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" 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. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

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

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

---

^[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).

 

You’re No Good– Lies of the Enemy #28– Purity 1040

 You’re No Good– Lies of the Enemy #28– Purity 1040

Purity 1040 05/10/2023 Purity 1040 Podcast

Purity 1040 on YouTube:

Good morning,

Today’s photo of an asphalt pathway running into the distance surrounded by vibrant green trees and under a blue sky comes to us from Kat Flynn-Clark, my sister in law, who made the best of the bad situation of having to take my brother Matt to his physical therapy appointment following his hip replacement surgery, by getting in a work out of her own on the rail trail that just happened to run behind the doctor’s office.  

Well it’s Thursday and I share Kat’s rail trail pathway photo as a visual reminder or encouragement to stay on or get on the path of Christian Discipleship.   My brother and sister in law’s situation actually points to some principles that we can apply to our Christian walk and that relate to “recovery” which I spoke on last night at Starpoint Church’s Celebrate Freedom Growth Group.   

I share photos of pathways because Thursday was the night that I originally went into Christian Recovery and served at the recovery and discipleship ministries that I taught at and eventually directed at my old church.  But since migrating to Starpoint Church after my marriage, I have now lead discipleship ministry on Tuesdays, and after last night, have led a recovery/discipleship ministry on Wednesday night!  So as much as Thursdays are “pathway” photo days,  my winding path properly reflects the fact that our walk with the Lord really is 24/7 and changes are to be expected as we keep walking and talking with God.  

But back to Kat and Matt’s “story”. Matt is my eldest brother, and he will be 55 in September. I don’t know the underlying causes of his need for hip replacement surgery, but I do know that he was suffering a significant amount of pain which led to his current course of treatment.   While I don’t know his prognosis either, we can assume that his surgery was successful and that an adherence to the physical therapy will result in healing and recovery.   In Matt’s story, he had to recognize the problem and take action to correct it.  If I recall correctly, when I last saw him in December there were concerns about his hip and now he has gotten it “fixed”.  Being a guy and knowing my family’s penchant for stubbornness, I have to imagine that my brother probably had a significant period of “suffering in silence” and “living in denial” as Matt is fiercely independent and was somewhat proud of his physical health.  Plus Matt is only 54 years old and I can only imagine how there must have been a lot of rejection of the idea that he would need to get hip replacement surgery.  But in the end, my brother did what was best for his health and humbled himself to rely on others, the doctors, physical therapists, and his wife, in order to get “well again.” 

Our bodies and emotions tell us when we need help, and I am here to encourage everyone when things “aren’t right” to say something to someone and to get the help you need.  

As for Kat, she is helping her husband with his recovery but even in meeting that responsibility (or burden), she also decided to take care of herself by going for a walk and enjoying the pleasant weather. Kat’s example shows us to make the best of our situations and to care for ourselves by finding joy where we can.  

While I didn’t really think of Matt and Kat last night as I taught at Celebrate Freedom, I could have because I was encouraging the group to recognize their situations, to step out of denial, and to utilize the group to receive the help and support available to them and to be intentional about establishing a daily spiritual practice where they do some “self-care” by practicing quieting, appreciation, and renewing their minds with the what the truth of God word says about who they are in Christ.  I also encouraged them to attach relationally with the group members – to share one another’s burdens and to attach to God as their Lord, Savior, Helper, and Friend.    

I especially tried to encourage the group in this last point because often our ideas about God or our relationship with Him are not based on truth.  As “sinners saved by grace” many Christians think that God is mad at them or barely tolerates them.  They believe the lie that even though they are Christians they are still “No Good”  and not are worthy of God’s or anyone else’s love.  

And this brings us to our current series the “Lies of the Enemy”, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as “first person” statements, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. 

So today’s big lie is:

Lie #28:  You’re NO GOOD!

This Lie is deeply rooted in those of us that have low self esteem and or a history of bad behavior. We know our thoughts and we know the bad things we have done before. We may consider ourselves evil, twisted, broken, or dysfunctional as we may have a history of disappointments, rejection, or failures.. We may think of ourselves as “criminal minded” as we have done things our way rather than God’s way or the ways of a law abiding citizen. No matter what specific things we have done or thought about doing, our final assessment of ourselves is that we are just NO GOOD. 

“You’re no good, you’re no good, you’re no good  baby you’re no good”  I’m gonna say it again….  “  

Now I will grant that our permanent records and our past thought life, could clearly indicate that we “we’re no good.” And I will allow that your present thoughts and actions, could be added to the testimony that “You’re no good.”

BUT – in Christ you are a NEW creation.  

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
¹⁷  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Also

Romans 8:1 (NKJV) Tells us
¹  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

So if you have put your faith in Christ, you are a new creation and there is no condemnation – IF you walk in the Spirit.    

Although we are made brand new the moment we put our faith in Christ, we won’t know it unless we make the decision to start thinking and living according to our new life as Christians.  

Those impure, foul, evil, sarcastic, or negative thoughts we have to go.   Those selfish or sinful attitudes and actions need to leave. Our old thoughts and behaviors need to “pass away” otherwise the enemy has foothold in our lives and strongholds in our minds that pollute us with “toxic thoughts” that cause us to experience frustration, anger, anxiety, and depression and that drive us to our old sinful ways of coping.  

But if we renew our minds by thinking about what is good, pure, and holy and accept what God word says about who we are in Christ, our thoughts will tell us that “the old person” we once were dead and gone and all the condemnation that we used to lay on ourselves is no longer true.  In Christ all our sin is forgiven (past, present, and future!) and we have the assurance of eternal in His kingdom, but we won’t experience the peace and joy that flow from our new spiritual lives if we don’t:

A: Believe it

B: Live according to it!

We need to renew our minds to embrace the blessed lives that we have been given and to walk out of the shadows of our past by walking into the light of living a simple and righteous life of truth and integrity.    When we think on the truth and live according to the truth of who we are in Christ, our thoughts, emotions, and actions will reflect the light that the Lord has given us through His love for us.  Our new lives in Christ will produce the fruit of the Spirit – peace, love, joy, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, patience, and self-control. We will experience the abundant life – here and now – that Christ came to give us.  

So don’t believe the lie that “You’re No Good”.  You are a new creation in Christ, so think on it, believe it, and live it by walking and talking with God every day.    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is :

Romans 10:15 (NLT2)
¹⁵  And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Today’s verse encourages us that we become beautiful in the eyes of those who receive the good news of salvation and freedom that come through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  

Our resource only shared the last part of this verse on the “beautiful feet of the messengers who bring good news.”  And it is true – our message is beautiful, and we can’t help to be beautiful to those who desperately need it.  – So preach the gospel, but I also want to comment on the first part of the verse on “being sent”.  

Christ’s commission to go and make disciples  in Matthew  28:19-20 is for all of us.  So we consider ourselves “sent” – we don’t need permission or a special calling or equipping to share the good news. The best “apologetic” is telling people “what the Lord has done for me”. Tell people your salvation story . Tell people how God has helped you. Tell people how God has changed you.  Tell people how God has worked in other people’s lives that you know about.  All of these “little testimonies” are beautiful true stories of the living God, alive and well in the world.   They give glory to God and could move someone to put their faith in Jesus.  

So consider yourself “sent” and “equipped (no one has your experience!) and go show the world your “beautiful feet” by telling everyone of the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the word of God and according to what you have seen, heard, and experienced in your walk of faith.   

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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  “Satan, Demons & Satanism: A Sinister Reality” By June Hunt.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and to support her work.  This resource is available online for $7.99 (https://june-hunt.myshopify.com/collections/keys-for-living/products/keys-for-living-on-satan-demons-satanism_ ).

Satan, Demons & Satanism

A Sinister Reality

by June Hunt

IV.    Steps To Solution

C.  See How Satan’s Power Is Limited

Don’t make the common mistake of assuming that God and Satan possess the same power—or that the power of Satan is equal to the power of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cast out of the heavenly realms to roam the earth, Satan has been given power, but only to the degree that the Lord allows. In the first chapter of the Book of Job, a dialogue between God and Satan confirms that Satan’s activity is limited and always requires the sovereign permission of God.

•     Satan cannot be everywhere.

“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.’ ” (Job 1:7)

•     Satan has no absolute power over a believer’s possessions.

“Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’ Satan replied. ‘Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.’ ” (Job 1:8–11)

•     Satan has no absolute power over a believer’s body.

“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.’ Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” (Job 1:12)

•     Satan has no absolute power over a believer’s life.

“Then the Lord said to Satan.… ‘[Job] still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.’ ‘Skin for skin!’ Satan replied. ‘A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.’ ” (Job 2:3–6)

•     Satan must obey Jesus.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” ’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” (Matthew 4:10–11)

•     Satan must ask permission to tempt a believer.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.” (Luke 22:31)

•     Satan has to leave if he is resisted.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

•     Satan cannot protect his followers.

“Then he [Jesus, the King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ” (Matthew 25:41)

•     Satan cannot prevent his own demise.

“The devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

Q “Does Satan have the power to know our thoughts?”

The Bible says that only God has the power to know the hearts of all men. Although Satan is highly intelligent (Ezekiel 28:12), he is still a created angel, and creatures do not have the divine attributes of God. King Solomon, known for his exceptional wisdom, states this about the Lord,

“You [God] alone know the hearts of all men.” (1 Kings 8:39)^[1]

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

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" 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. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

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

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

---

^[1] June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Satan, Demons & Satanism: A Sinister Reality (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 14–15.