The Frozen Chosen Season Finale - Purity 958
Purity 958 02/04/2023 Purity 958 Podcast
Purity 958 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a spectacular morning sky from the
vantage point of the last tree on the edge of the forest before the farmlands
east of my countryside home on Waite Road comes to us from yours truly as I was
undoubtedly taking my canine friend, Harley, for a walk, back on January 29th.
The temperature was in the teens that morning but I was happy to be out in the
cold when I saw that magnificent sky and although the landscape was of the frozen
tundra leaves much to be desired I took several shots to capture the beauty of
the heavens and I am including a second photo with a less obstructed view that
highlights the silhouette of a hawk that was the only other creature stirring
on that brisk morning.
Well, It’s Saturday and I am rejoicing this morning because despite being in the midst of the lowest temperatures of the year I am in the company of my beloved wife who provides a warmth that even the chilliest seasons can’t diminish because the love we have is powered by the Lord who we keep at the center of our marriage with a daily evening Bible study, morning and evening prayers, as well as church as Sunday.
When I prayed for a Christian wife that I could
follow the Lord with, God delivered big time with TammyLyn. No offense but what I would call authentic biblical
spirit filled Christian discipleship is a little rare in the northeast and I
have been repeatedly delighted to discover that TammyLyn’s faith is genuine and
her desire to know more and grow more demands me to be the spiritual leader
that every Christian husband is supposed to be.
Her heart to follow the Lord keeps me on track
because as much as you would think I would be the one driving this Christian
love train, she has repeatedly had to remind me that we have to do our nightly
Bible study. Sometimes our study slips
my mind and if it weren’t for TammyLyn’s faithfulness, we might have missed a
night of the study that has been daily since the beginning of December when I
suggested we read the gospel of John to prepare our hearts for Christmas.
After 21 days of John, I suggested we do Luke next,
for the first couple of chapters would bring us right to the Christmas
narrative, but I didn’t really expect us to continue but TammyLyn once again
showed that she was the “real deal” by encouraging to make this a regular
practice. We are supposed to meditate on the word of God day and night right?
And now our evening Bible study is a normal part of our routine and no matter
how busy our days have been or how tired we may be, we always make time to read
one chapter of the Bible each night, thanks to TammyLyn. So, yeah, we are a “Christian
couple”! How about that!
In the Northeast, Bible believing Christians are relatively
rare, and are often jokingly referred to as “The Frozen Chosen”. So it shouldn’t surprise you that as a couple
of the Frozen Chosen, we decided to go the Season Three Finale of Dallas Jenkin’s
“The Chosen” that is out for a limited theatrical release before the regular
release of the final two episodes happens over the next two Sundays.
TammyLyn and I went to the theatrical release of the
premier of season three of The Chosen so when I saw that the shows creators where
doing the same thing for the season finale, I advocated that we go last night
even though the temperatures dropped to -6 degree Fahrenheit and the winds were
whipping and made it feel even colder.
When we saw the Premier back in December, TammyLyn
had felt a chill in the theatre so when she decided to take a blanker with her
last night, I didn’t balk and encouraged her to take her blanket because I
wanted her to be comfortable. I was further surprised to see my northern wife
put on a knit hat and heavy winter coat. This is the woman that I have seen
shovel snow in a nightgown and slippers so I realized that if she was bundling
up I had better follow suit and decided to put on another layer to be an outer
shell over my light “all season” hoodless winter jacket. I knew we would be
inside but decided to make sure I had my gloves and a knit hat of my own, even
though we would be inside and I wouldn’t need them.
With temperatures like the ones we are having you
have to be prepared just in case something unforeseen, like your frozen car
refusing to start or you having some other car trouble should happen when you
are traveling through the bitter cold. I’m
sure those of us where winter happens all have a foolish friend or relative or
two who foolishly tempt fate by assuming that all they have to do is run from
the heat of their car to the heat of indoors during the winter and go out with little
or no protection from the cold.
So last night, TammyLyn with her blanket and I in my
“unnecessary” outer shell and my pockets stuffed with a hat and gloves made our
way to Regal Cinemas in Clifton Park for a date night with The Chosen!
As we stood in line waiting to get my customary
large popcorn and soda, we heard the clerk telling the people in front of us
who were wearing some “The Chosen merch” that there was some sort of issue with
the heat in the theatre they were going to. TammyLyn pointed out that was where
we were going too and it was a good
thing she brought her blanket, which I declared to be another evidence of her “walking
in the Spirit”. There is nobody who can
prepare you for the unseen circumstances of life like the Holy Spirit – so listen
and obey!
Anyway, I didn’t think it would be that big a deal and
it might mean that we would feel a little cooler than the warmth of the lobby
but after we were seated it was obvious that they weren’t kidding about there
being an issue with the heat. A cold draft of air seemed to be blowing into the
theater through the vents as if there was no heat!
But we were prepared and determined to enjoy the
show. So TammyLyn wrapped herself in her blanket and I zipped up my outer
shell, put on my hat and threw the coats hood over my head as it looked like we
were a couple of NFL fans watching a game at the frozen tundra of Soldier Field
in Chicago or Highmark Stadium in Buffalo rather than just a couple enjoying a
Friday date night at the movies!
We were joined by a very modest crowd of our similarly
“weather geared” fellow frozen chosen as the cold temperatures had kept most
people indoors last night anyway. But
not all who sat down at the start of the movie would endure to the end as I
noticed a mother and her two teenaged children get up and leave after about a
half an hour in the chilly theatre, proving my previous point that you don’t
know what could happen in winter and you had best be dressed for it! Yup, you probably guessed it: light coats, no
hats, no gloves….
But of that small crowded last night, I think they
were the only ones who didn’t last as the rest of us “frozen chosen” endured
the chill temperatures and were rewarded by another quality production of Christian
entertainment by The Chosen cast and crew.
I won’t give you any spoilers as Dallas Jenkins’
introduction directed us to “not give away the season finale’s “twist” but I
will say that the finale includes some very significant events from Jesus’ earthly
ministry and that it continues to address some of the more challenging aspects
of our Christian faith – the issue of suffering – that this season has
highlighted from the beginning episodes with Christ’s dialog with “Little James”
about healing and has continued with Simon Peter and his wife, Eden’s, unexpected tragedy. The climax is extraordinarily stunning and moving
and greatly encouraged this disciple’s heart.
So if you can catch it at theatres today, I would tell you that it is definitely worth
going to see on the big screen, although I do have to admit that I think I
would have enjoyed it even more if this “chosen” was a little less frozen!
Anyway, if you can’t get out to see it this weekend,
I encourage you to check it our when the finale “airs” over the next two
weeks. I know a lot of people have an
issue with the artistic license that the creators of The Chosen make with their
“gospel series” but even though the supplemental material and the way they tell
“Jesus’s story” can cause Bible scholars to cringe at times, I endorse The Chosen
because it is being used by the Lord to reignite the faith of some whose hearts
have grown cold and it is causing others who never knew Jesus to make Him their
Lord and Savior.
So if you are up here, like me in the great white north,
or somewhere else where there is actually winter, make sure you are prepared for
the frigid temperatures, and the
unexpected, and try to stay warm!
And as always, no matter where you are, be prepared for anything that life has to dish out by making Jesus the Lord of your life and continually walking and talking with God.
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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:
Psalm 19:14 (NKJV)
14 Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my
strength and my Redeemer.
Today’s Bible verse points to a deep personal relationship with
the Lord where we seek to be acceptable to Him in all that we do and
think.
When we become Christians, whether we like it or not, we
represent God’s kingdom.
I know that when I first got saved I didn’t like the idea of having
to be accountable for what I said. I was a sarcastic and snarky kind of guy and
sometimes my “cutting whit” wasn’t very kind and some of my language wasn’t
very “Christian”. I didn’t like the idea
of being judged for the things I said by new found ”born again” faith.
I was just a sinner saved by grace! What you expect? I’m
lucky to be in the kingdom at all! Surely, God doesn’t expect me to change!
Does He?
Now when we consider questions like this, about our faith and
our behavior, we can easily slide right back into a performance based ideal
that is more familiar to the world system than it is a proper reflection of the
kingdom of God’s grace.
We can easily chastise and condemn ourselves and turn our
relationship with God into cold dead religion by trying to just adhere to a
list of does and don’ts, like:
“Christians don’t swear”, and then judge our walk of faith by
what we say or don’t say.
No swearing today! I’m a Christian! Ooh I swore in traffic, I’m
less of a Christian or maybe I’m not a Christian after all!
That’s a trap of the enemy. Our performance does not define
our faith.
We are saved by grace and because of God’s amazing grace we
are accepted into His kingdom by faith alone and our performance does not change
our status as His children. When we put
our faith in Christ, we are adopted into His family.
So our being a Christian is not based on our ability to
perform!
However, as members of God’s royal family, our hearts should cause
us, out of love for God, to represent Him and to show others the way into His kingdom.
Today’s verse shows that deep love of God that causes us to
want to be acceptable to Him, and not just by the things we say but by the very
things we think and feel.
So don’t try to whip yourself into shape by watching your performance, instead foster the love you have for the Father as a response to the love He has shown you and you will see that no set of rules would ever be enough to express the love we have for Him. And it is only out of love for Him that we could ever hope to change into the people that He created us to be.
___________________________________________
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
Though Romans 9
contains the fullest setting forth of
the doctrine of Reprobation, there are still other passages which refer to it,
one or two more of which we will now briefly notice:
“What then? That
which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not, but the election obtained it,
and the rest were hardened” (Rom. 11:7 R. V.). Here we have two distinct and clearly
defined classes which are set in sharp antithesis: the “election” and “the
rest;” the one “obtained,” the other is “hardened.” On this verse we quote from
the comments of John Bunyan of immortal memory: “These are solemn words: they
sever between men and men—the election and the rest, the chosen and the left,
the embraced and the refused. By ‘rest’ here must needs be understood those not elect, because set the one in
opposition to the other, and if not elect, whom then but reprobate?”
Writing to the saints
at Thessalonica the apostle declared, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). Now surely it
is patent to any impartial mind that this statement is quite pointless if God
has not “appointed” any to wrath. To
say that God “hath not appointed us
to wrath,” clearly implies that there are some whom He has “appointed to wrath,”
and were it not that the minds of so many professing Christians are so blinded
by prejudice, they could not fail to clearly see this.
“A Stone of
stumbling, and a Rock of offence, even to them who stumble at the Word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were
appointed” (1 Pet. 2:8). The “whereunto” manifestly points back to the
stumbling at the Word, and their disobedience. Here, then, God expressly
affirms that there are some who have
been “appointed” (it is the same Greek word as in 1 Thess. 5:9) unto
disobedience. Our business is not to reason
about it, but to bow to Holy
Scripture. Our first duty is not to understand,
but to believe what God has said.
“But these, as
natural brute beasts, made to be taken
and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall
utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Pet. 2:12). Here again every effort
is made to escape the plain teaching of this solemn passage. We are told that
it is the “brute beasts” who are “made to be taken and destroyed,” and not the
persons here likened to them. All that is needed to refute such sophistory is
to inquire wherein lies the point of analogy between the “these” (men) and
the “brute beasts”? What is the force of the “as”—but “these as brute beasts’? Clearly, it is that
“these” men as brute beasts, are the
ones who, like animals, are “made to be taken and destroyed”: the closing words
confirming this by reiterating the
same sentiment—“and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.”
“For there are
certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation; ungodly men, turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Jude 4). Attempts have been made to escape the obvious force of this
verse by substituting a different translation. The R.V. gives: “But there are
certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation.” But this altered
rendering by no means gets rid of that which is so distasteful to our sensibilities.
The question arises, Where were these “of old written of beforehand”? Certainly not in the Old Testament, for
nowhere is there any reference there
to wicked men creeping into Christian assemblies. If “written of” be the best translation of “prographo,” the reference
can only be to the book of the Divine decrees.
So whichever alternative be selected there can be no evading the fact that
certain man are “before of old” marked out by God “unto condemnation.”
“And all that dwell
on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of
Life of the Lamb that hath been slain” (Rev. 13:8, R. V. compare Rev. 17:8).
Here, then, is a positive statement affirming that there are those whose names were
not written in the Book of Life.
Here, then, are no
less than ten passages which most plainly imply or expressly teach the fact of
reprobation. They affirm that the wicked are made for the Day of Evil; that God fashions some vessels unto dis-honor; and by His eternal decree
(objectively) fits them unto destruction; that they are like brute beasts, made
to be taken and destroyed, being of old ordained unto this condemnation.
Therefore in the face of these scriptures we unhesitatingly affirm (after nearly
twenty years careful and prayerful study of the subject) that the Word of God
unquestionably teaches both Predestination and Reprobation, or to use the words
of Calvin, “Eternal Election is God’s predestination of some to salvation, and
others to destruction.”
Having thus stated
the doctrine of Reprobation, as it is presented in Holy Writ, let us now
mention one or two important considerations to guard it against abuse and
prevent the reader from making any unwarranted deductions:
First, the doctrine
of Reprobation does not mean that God purposed to take innocent creatures, make
them wicked, and then damn them. Scripture says, “God hath made man upright,
but they have sought out many inventions” (Eccl. 7:29). God has not created sinful creatures in order to destroy
them, for God is not to be charged with the sin of His creatures. The
responsibility and criminality is man’s.
God’s decree of
Reprobation contemplated Adam’s race as fallen, sinful, corrupt, guilty. From
it God purposed to save a few as the monuments of His sovereign grace; the
others He determined to destroy as the exemplification of His justice and
severity. In determining to destroy these others, God did them no wrong. They
had already fallen in Adam, their legal representative; they are therefore born
with a sinful nature, and in their sins He leaves them. Nor can they complain.
This is as they wish; they have no
desire for holiness; they love
darkness rather than light. Where, then, is there any injustice if God “gives
them up to their own hearts’ lusts”
(Psa. 81:12).[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)
“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 W. Pink, The Sovereignty of
God (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1949), 105–108.
