Scoreboard – Good News in a Mad World - Purity 949
Purity 949 01/23/2023 Purity 949 Podcast
Purity 949 on YouTube: Coming Soon!
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a spectacular sunset sky over Port
Noarlunga in South Australia comes to us from Dave Baun Photography (https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography) as Dave shared this brighter shot from halfway
down the winding staircase that takes you to the beach below on social media
earlier today.
Yesterday I shared a “moodier” sunset from the same
location that Dave had captured because it seemed to be appropriate in the face
of a couple of bad reports I received over the weekend. Little did I know that
sullen disposition would turn into a real case of the Mondays as my work day
was accompanied by a mild but unrelenting snow storm, challenging
circumstances, and negative emotions of fear, anxiety, frustration, and
condemnation that painted everything black.
The weather wasn’t good. Work was somewhat frustrating. The news I had
gotten over the weekend wasn’t good. And I got a new report in the early
morning hours that someone else in my life had suffered an unexplained fall and
needed to be admitted in the hospital!
With all of these things its difficult to remain positive, but it is
even more difficult when your thoughts go negative.
“Nothing works! Everything breaks! What’s the Use? I
hate this! Why can’t anything work? I’ll never be used by the Lord! What’s the
point! Everyone lies! I can’t say anything! Don’t they realize what they are
doing? Don’t they know what they have done? No one will accept me! Nothing
changes! Everything Changes, nothing stays the same. Things just keep getting
worse! Everyone hates me! There is nothing good in life! It’s not safe! I’m
going to get hurt! I’m going to go off the road! Someone is going to hit me!
There’s no time! I’ll never get out of this! Why do I bother! ”
While I can’t recall the exact content of all my
thoughts yesterday… some of those might have gone through my mind. Don’t get me wrong, this didn’t all happen at
once, for the most part I remained positive, careful, and on task. No yesterday
seemed to be a progressive campaign of negative mental chatter was sent by the
spiritual forces of darkness.
As a facilitator of the Freedom in Christ course
from Freedom in Christ ministries, I understand the fact that because of the
unseen spiritual realities of existence, all of our thoughts aren’t necessarily
our own and when our outlook on life becomes dark and focused on the world,
ourselves, and the negative aspects of
our lives it is safe to assume that we are being influenced by the deceiver and
the “accuser of the brethren”, Satan and the demonic forces of darkness who
only seek to kill, steal, and destroy our peace.
Sometimes we will see our “negative train of
thoughts” and ask why am I doing this to myself? Why am I thinking about
this? Why would I want to feel this
way?
Well, the simple answer those questions is that we
aren’t or at least we are not “driving that train of thought”. The enemy is tempting us to “get on board”
and because those negative aspects of life are there and are “pressing” – we
buy the ticket and are taken for a ride to condemnation, anger, fear, worry, or
depression.
Ironically, the enemy can even use our hopes against
us. If we are hoping for good outcomes,
the enemy will be there to remind us that “nothing good happens to us” or will
accuse us to convince us of why we are not worthy of good things.
The enemy can even use our love for others to drag
us down. In contemplating the traumas
and tragedies our friends and loved ones face, we can question God’s goodness
and come away depressed. When we
consider our family and friends who don’t know the Lord or who are locked into
a lifestyle of worldliness or sin, we can fear for the immortal souls and doubt
that they will ever come to faith.
The enemy can use our performance against us. No one does anything perfectly. Our work for
ourselves, our employers, or for God’s kingdom will always be subject to
judgement, criticism, and second guessing.
The enemy loves to let us know when we are failing or when we could have
done things better or how even the good we do won’t matter. With each passing day, the enemy can point
to our advancing years and attempt to convince us of the futility of our
efforts and our lives themselves as we slow age and can be tempted consider if
our lives have meaning or purpose.
This maelstrom of existential laments and
considerations can be daunting when we fail to remember who we are in
Christ. Because the suffering of the
world is a clear and present reality that we deal with every day, the enemy can
steal our joy by getting us to focus on these circumstances rather than on the
One who is above them all and who is guiding them all for good.
The enemy wants us to have tunnel vision – where we
focus on the negative aspects of our lives to the exclusion of the overwhelming
positive aspects of our lives.
After I suffered through my “no good terrible day”,
I realized that I had been drawn into this tunnel of frustration and
hopelessness, when in reality I have an amazing life that is surrounded by good
things.
Circumstantially, I am blessed with:
A job that provides.
A home. A wife who loves me. A collection of possession that work. Relatively good health. Friends.
A loving family. Pets. Food and Water.
Those things didn’t go away just because some snow
fell on a Monday and some bad things have happened to some of the people I care
about.
Anyone could be grateful for these blessings but
when we focus on the negative aspects of our lives, we can feel like we don’t
have anything good at all.
As awesome as these things are and should be
remembered to keep us grounded in reality and grateful, they are all subject to change and we could
lose them at any minute.
Yikes, What are you trying to do M.T.? I was just
starting to feel better!
Well, I want you to find the peace and joy goes
beyond the good circumstances of our lives by pointing to the ultimate good
that comes through faith in Christ alone.
The one unshakable and unchanging thing we can hold
on to in life is God. He is only one that we know who will never leave us or
forsake us and who gives us a new life and an enduring hope.
If nothing else good should come on this earth, we
know that because of our faith in Christ, we will overcome. In Christ, we have the ultimate victory that
is never lost!
In sports circles, sometimes a team that is
thoroughly beaten will make a good play and out of their frustration will boast
and try to rub it in their opponent’s faces.
But even though the eventual victors had been shown up momentarily, the
mature ones will remind their nemesis of their imminent victory, by simply
saying: “Scoreboard.”
In Christ, we have won. We have all we need for life
and godliness. Although there may be suffering here on earth, we are
victorious.
For the Christian, our “Scoreboard” is Jesus. He has won the victory and given it toous.
Although the enemy will try to convince us that he
will never stop ruling this world and causing mayhem, those of us in Christ,
can look to Jesus – our “scoreboard” and know that beyond the chaos of this mad
world, a kingdom is coming. The victory
has already be won and when we focus on Jesus and on who we are in Christ, our
tunnel vision is shown to be spiritual blindness and light of God’s goodness
opens up the heavens as we see just how big God is and how deep, how wide, and
how high His love goes.
So, if you train of thoughts take you into a dark
place, remember to turn on the light and remind yourself of who you are in
Christ and of the victory that we have with us everyday. God is with us so rather than dwelling on
the negative reports from a mad world, keep walking and talking to Him to know
the peace and joy that go beyond the circumstances that surround us. \
In Christ, we live forever and when we walk by faith
we are anchored to the victory that Christ has won. So keep walking and talking with God and
remind yourself that everyday is a good day when you are alive and well in His
kingdom.
Today we will skip the Bible verse of the day and
read from the Who I Am in Christ list because we need to know this, and live
this every day:
Who I am in Christ
I AM ACCEPTED IN CHRIST
I
am God’s Child (John 1:12)
I
am Christ’s Friend (John 15:15)
I
have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I
am united with the Lord and one with Him in Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17)
I
have been bought with a price; I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:20)
I
am a member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I
am a saint (Ephesians 1:1)
I
have been adopted as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5)
I
have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
I
have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (Colossians 1:14)
I
am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)
I AM SECURE IN CHRIST
I
am free forever from condemnation (Romans 8:1)
I
am assured that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)
I
am free from the condemning charges against me (Romans 8:33-34)
I
cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35, 38-39)
I
have been established, anointed, and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
I
am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
I
am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
I
can find grace and mercy to help me in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)
I
am born of God, and the evil one cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)
I have not been given a spirit of
fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7)
I am confident that the good work
God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil 1:6)
I AM SIGNIFICANT IN CHRIST
I
am the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14)
I
am a branch of the true vine, a channel to His life (John 15:1,5)
I
have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)
I
am a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)
I
am God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16)
I
am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
I
am God’s coworker (2 Corinthians 6:1)
I
am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6)
I
am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
I
may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
I
can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)
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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 Bonhoeffer’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 FOUR
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN SALVATION, continues.
3. The Sovereignty of God the Holy Spirit in Salvation
continues
Each of the three
Persons in the blessed Trinity is concerned with our salvation: with the Father
it is predestination; with the Son propitiation; with the Spirit regeneration.
The Father chose us; the Son died for us; the Spirit quickens us. The Father
was concerned about us; the Son shed
His blood for us, the Spirit performs
His work within us. What the One did
was eternal, what the Other did was external, what the Spirit does is internal. It is with the work of the
Spirit we are now concerned, with His work in the new birth, and particularly
His sovereign operations in the new
birth. The Father purposed our new birth; the Son has made possible (by His
“travail”) the new birth; but it is the Spirit who effects the new birth—“Born of the
Spirit” (John 3:6).
The new birth is
solely the work of God the Spirit and man has no part or lot in it. This from
the very nature of the case. Birth altogether excludes the idea of any effort
or work on the part of the one who is born. Personally
we have no more to do with our spiritual birth than we had with our natural
birth. The new birth is a spiritual resurrection, a “passing from death
unto life” (John 5:24) and, clearly, resurrection is altogether outside of man’s province. No corpse can
re-animate itself. Hence it is written, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the
flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63).
But the Spirit does not “quicken” everybody—why? The usual answer returned to
this question is, Because everybody does not trust in Christ. It is supposed
that the Holy Spirit quickens only those who believe. But this is to put the
cart before the horse. Faith is not the cause of the new birth, but the
consequence of it. This ought not to need arguing. Faith (in God) is an exotic,
something that is not native to the human heart. If faith were a natural product of the human heart, the exercise of a
principle common to human nature, it would never have been written, “All men
have not faith” (2 Thess. 3:2) Faith is a spiritual grace, the fruit of the
spiritual nature, and because the unregenerate are spiritually dead—“dead in
trespasses and sins”—then it follows that faith from them is impossible, for a
dead man cannot believe anything. “So then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God” (Rom. 8:8)—but they could
if it were possible for the flesh to believe. Compare with this last-quoted
scripture Heb. 11:6—“But without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Can God
be “pleased” or satisfied with any thing which does not have its origin in
Himself?
That the work of the
Holy Spirit precedes our believing is
unequivocally established by 2 Thess. 2:13—“God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”
Note that “sanctification of the Spirit” comes before and makes possible
“belief of the truth.” What then is the “sanctification of the Spirit?” We
answer, the new birth. In Scripture
“sanctification” always means
“separation,” separation for something and unto something or someone. Let us
now amplify our assertion that the “sanctification of the Spirit” corresponds
to the new birth and points to the positional effect of it.
Here is a servant of
God who preaches the Gospel to a congregation in which are an hundred unsaved
people. He brings before them the teaching of Scripture concerning their ruined
and lost condition: he speaks of God, His character and righteous demands; he
tells of Christ meeting God’s demands, and dying the Just for the unjust, and
declares that through “this Man” is now preached the forgiveness of sins; he
closes by urging the lost to believe what God has said in His Word and receive
His Son as their Lord and Saviour. The meeting is over; the congregation
disperses; ninety-nine of the unsaved have refused to come to Christ that they
might have life, and go out into the night having no hope, and without God in
the world. But the hundredth heard the Word of life; the Seed sown fell into
ground which had been prepared by God; he believed the Good News, and goes home
rejoicing that his name is written in heaven. He has been “born again,” and
just as a newly-born babe in the natural world begins life by clinging
instinctively, in its helplessness, to its mother, so this new-born soul has
clung to Christ. Just as we read, “The Lord opened” the heart of Lydia “that she attended unto the things which
were spoken of Paul” (Acts 16:14), so in the case supposed above, the Holy
Spirit quickened that one before he believed the Gospel message. Here then is
the “sanctification of the Spirit:” this one soul who has been born again has,
by virtue of his new birth, been separated
from the other ninety-nine. Those born again are, by the Spirit, set apart from those who are dead in trespasses and sins.
A beautiful type of
the operations of the Holy Spirit antecedent
to the sinner’s “belief of the truth,” is found in the first chapter of Genesis.
We read in verse 2, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep.” The original Hebrew here might be literally
rendered thus: “And the earth had become
a desolate ruin, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” In “the beginning” the earth was not created in
the condition described in verse 2. Between the first two verses of Genesis 1
some awful catastrophe had occurred—possibly the fall of Satan—and, as the
consequence, the earth had been blasted and blighted, and had become a
“desolate ruin,” lying beneath a pall of “darkness.” Such also is the history
of man. Today, man is not in the condition in which he left the hands of his
Creater: an awful catastrophe has happened, and now man is a “desolate ruin”
and in total “darkness” concerning spiritual things. Next we read in Genesis 1
how God refashioned the ruined earth and created new beings to inhabit it.
First we read, “And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the water.” Next we are told, “And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” The order
is the same in the new creation: there is the first the action of the Spirit,
and then the Word of God giving light. Before
the Word found entrance into the scene of desolation and darkness, bringing
with it the light, the Spirit of God “moved.” So it is in the new creation.
“The entrance of Thy word giveth light” (Psa. 119:130), but before it can enter the darkened human
heart the Spirit of God must operate upon it.[1]
---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
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at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
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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
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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
