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Thursday, May 25, 2023

I Need “the One” to Complete Me!– Lies of the Enemy #40 – Purity 1052

Purity 1052 05/25/2023 Purity 1052 Podcast

Purity 1052 on YouTube: Coming Soon!

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a trio of people gathered near a tree on the shores of Lake Ontario to take in a magnificent sunset sky comes to us from Celestial Blue Photography as Rocco Saya captured this scene back on May 22^nd of 2020, commenting at the time that the people were “6 feet apart!”, albeit with a “winking emoji”.

Well, It’s Thursday and as my “ministry night” has shifted from Thursdays, to Tuesdays, to Wednesdays over the years, I’m not really sure which day of the week I should share a “pathway photo” to encourage my friends (that’s you) to get on or to stay on the path of Christian Discipleship but while I mostly shared this photo because of its epic beauty, it does have a shoreline walkway on display to visual represent the path that leads to amazing things and a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

Last night, I led the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group in a quieting and “affirming” exercise with the intention of leading my newest friends to find a moment of peace and to encourage them to embrace what their Heavenly Father says about them.

After the group’s initial prayer and “ice breaker”, I decided to step out in faith and tried to lead the group into an “experiential knowledge” of their identity in Christ. Instructed the group to relax and to let go of the stress of the day, to shake it off, and to release it by doing “box breathing” – to inhale and exhale with a 4 second count and holding the breath for 4 seconds in between. If you’d like to give it a try, inhale 1,2,3,4 – hold it 1, 2,3,4, exhale 1,2,3,4 – hold it 1,2,3, 4 – and repeat. For those who don’t like counting or that counting becomes a distraction, I advised to just take deep breaths in and out.

I then invited them to keep breathing, to relax, to close their eyes if they wished to, and to listen as I told them that I was going to read through the who I am in Christ list but that I was going to read through it as if addressing them personally by changing the verbiage to “You”. I told them that the Who I am in Christ list was based scripture and in essence it is what God wants us to know about ourselves as His adopted children. I wanted the group to listen to the list and invited them to embrace what the list had to say about who they are, personally. And so to repeat the exercise – if you’re listening – or reading this – breathe in and out – and try to receive – in your Spirit – what the Lord has to say about you.

Who You are in Christ.

You are ACCEPTED IN CHRIST

You are God’s Child (John 1:12)

You are Christ’s Friend (John 15:15)

You have been justified (Romans 5:1)

You are united with the Lord and one with Him in Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17)

You have been bought with a price; You belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:20)

You are a member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27)

You are a saint (Ephesians 1:1)

You have been adopted as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5)

You have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)

You have been redeemed and forgiven of all your sins (Colossians 1:14)

You are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)

You are SECURE IN CHRIST

You are free forever from condemnation (Romans 8:1)

You are assured that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)

You are free from the condemning charges against you (Romans 8:33-34)

You cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35, 38-39)

You have been established, anointed, and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

You are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)

You are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)

You can find grace and mercy to help you in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

You are born of God, and the evil one cannot touch you (1 John 5:18)

You have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7)

You are confident that the good work God has begun in you will be perfected (Phil 1:6)

You are SIGNIFICANT IN CHRIST

You are the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14)

You are a branch of the true vine, a channel to Jesus’ life (John 15:1,5)

You have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)

You are a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)

You are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16)

You are a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)

You are God’s coworker (2 Corinthians 6:1)

You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6)

You are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)

You may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)

You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13)

If you have made Jesus your Lord and Savior, and you know in your heart if you have, every single one of these things are true about you. And I pray for the Holy Spirit to work in your heart and mind to embrace and accept who you are in Christ. Amen.

This is our new life in Christ, so believe it, receive it, and decide to live it.

I personally love the Who I am in Christ list and practice it daily. Some of the statements speak louder to me at different times but today I want to point to the last statement under the “I am Accept in Christ” section – I am complete in Christ.

If we have placed our faith in Jesus – we are complete. And while the world, the flesh, and the devil strive to tell us that we are lacking or that we need to do something to be complete – Christ says “It is finished” and we are made whole – made complete in Him.

And that 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.

We’ve decided to end this series as a 40 day devotional so today is the last day and I have decided to take on perhaps the biggest lie of the enemy – the one that tells you that there is something or some “ONE” out there that will “complete you” other than your relationship with God.

Sorry, Jerry Maguire, the idea that you “complete me” is a lie from the pit of hell because if I believe that and focus on finding my “ONE” or my “QUEST” or My “IDOL” or whatever to the exception of seeking the Lord, I will discover that my searching and worshipping one of God’s created things – or something I created or built up in my mind as “The IDEAL” – will eventually separate me from God and consign me to perdition as I rejected the only One who truly knows me and who will never leave or forsake me.

So today’s big and final lie, in this series is.

Lie #40: I Need “the One” to Complete Me!

Again, as we examine the enemy’s lies that would lead us astray we have to admit that the things he uses to ensnare us are often good or true in some ways but because he is evil, Satan will call what is evil good and will use good things for evil.

Our need for human companionship or fulfillment are good things but the enemy entices us to make us put our focus on those “good things” only and thus giving them “godlike” status in our lives because we rest our hearts and minds on them rather than God. With the “myth of the ONE”, Satan takes our desire to be loved and accepted and makes it the all consuming passion of our lives.

The myth of the One can make us obsessive – to hold tightly to our “One” if we should find them – or to lead us to despair if “Mr. or Ms. Right” hasn’t come around yet. This myth can also lead us into sexual sin as we decide to try as many “ONE”’s as we can to make sure we haven’t overlooked anyone. The desperate search can make us depressed and even make us “addicted to love” as our search for true love is corrupted and compromised into sexual sin and striving to find meaning in one of God’s created beings rather than Him.

The myth of the One tells us that somewhere out there in this world there is a soulmate for each one of us who when we find them will completely fulfill us – making us “complete”. While scripture encourages marriage, it doesn’t really indicate that husbands and wives are the means to our fulfillment – Christ is – He completes us.

The myth of the ONE – can also be transferred to the realm of personal accomplishments or obtaining possessions. Being diligent in amassing wealth or prestige can make us feel powerful, wise, or important. But in the final accounting, all the possessions of this world or accomplishments of men will mean nothing when we are called into eternity. We can’t earn or buy our Salvation. Only faith in Jesus can do that.

I know I always tend to go to the “ultimate things” in my blog because frankly we need to be concerned with the “next thing” =what happens when its all been said and done. And while I will encourage people to seek after their dreams and to find happiness in their personal relationships and through accomplishing their goals or obtaining and enjoying their “stuff” – I feel compelled to make people aware that those things are temporary and the things that really matter are the unseen spiritual realities – God and His kingdom and that we need to seek Him and find our way – His way Jesus – to live.

So don’t believe that lie that “I need the ONE to complete me” unless you know that the One that completes us and gives us eternal life is Jesus Christ. In Christ, we have everything we need so seek Him and follow Him to see what good things come when you decide to answer His call and purpose for your life.

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

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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 92:1 (NKJV)
¹ It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

Today’s verse tells us that it is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to His name!

This is our spiritual practice guys – to give thanks and to sing God’s praises. Gratitude – thanksgiving – keeps us grounded in the “good news” of all that the Lord has done for us. It leads to joy.

Singing likewise has been proven as a means to joy and I would say that singing worship songs to the Lord – with sincerity and feeling – can move our knowledge of God and His presence and love for us from our minds to our hearts.

So practice these things.

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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 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

4 - The Deities of the Holy Spirit

Correct views of the Divine character lie at the foundation of all genuine and vital godliness. It should, then, be one of our chief quests to seek after the knowledge of God. Without the true knowledge of God, in His nature and attributes, we can neither worship Him acceptably nor serve Him aright.

“Names” Describe Character

Now the three Persons in the Godhead have graciously revealed Themselves through a variety of names and titles. The Nature of God we are utterly incapable of comprehending, but His person and character may be known. Each name or title that God has appropriated unto Himself is that whereby He reveals Himself unto us, and whereby He would have us know and own Him. Therefore whatever any name of God expresses Him to be, that He is, for He will not deceive us by giving Himself a wrong or false name. On this account He requires us to trust in His Name, because He will assuredly be found unto us all that His Name imports.

The names of God, then, are for the purpose of expressing Him unto us; they set forth His perfections and make known the different relations which He sustains unto the children of men and unto His own favored people. Names are given for this intent, that they might declare what the thing is to which the name belongs. Thus, when God created Adam and gave him dominion over this visible world, He caused the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air to pass before him, that they might receive names from him (Gen. 2:19). In like manner, we may learn of what God is through the names and titles He has taken. By means of them, God spells out Himself to us, sometimes by one of His perfections, sometimes by another. A very wide field of study is here introduced to us, yet we can now say no more than that the prayerful and diligent searcher will find it a highly profitable one to investigate.

What has been said above serves to indicate the importance of the present aspect of our subject. What the Holy Spirit is in His Divine Person and ineffable character is made known unto us by means of the many names and varied titles which are accorded to Him in Holy Writ. A whole volume, rather than a brief chapter, might well be devoted to their contemplation. May we be Divinely guided in using the limited space which is now at our disposal in writing that which will both magnify the Third Person in the blessed Trinity, and serve as a stimulus unto our readers to give more careful study and holy meditation to those titles of His which we cannot here consider. Possibly, we can help our friends most by devoting our attention to those which are more difficult to apprehend.^{^[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.).

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Family is Everything – Lies of the Enemy #39 – Purity 1051

Purity 1051 05/24/2023 Purity 1051 Podcast

Purity 1051 on YouTube:

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the blue mountains of Cherokee County NC comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this scene on social media on Monday, with the following short poem.

“Blue are the mountains

The water and sky above.

Some of the many blessings

From the man above.”

Just four short lines, but within them Fred rightly calls the beauty of this earth a blessing and rightly gives the glory to God – or as Fred puts it the “man above” and considering that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies, I don’t see anything wrong with the phrasing.

Well It’s Wednesday and I thought Fred’s photo was a good one to visually represent our arrival at hump day and as I will be going to the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group tonight I thought it was also a good visual representation of the hope I have to see “mountains move” in the lives of those who come to lay down their “hurts, habits, and hang ups” and to receive the freedom and victory that the Lord has for them. That’s right where there are people seeking the Lord’s help, there is hope and so I am thrilled to be leading tonight’s group where we will cover the material in Celebrate Recovery’s Hope lesson. It’s a good one and I invite any and all who see or hear this message to join us at Starpoint Church in Clifton Park at 6:30 pm to hear all about the hope for a life of peace, joy, and freedom that we have in Christ.

Of course, the hope we have in Christ is only truly realized when we put our faith in Jesus and make the daily decision to follow Him. So the message will encourage us to believe but it will also encourage us to believe what Christ said and try to apply its wisdom to our lives. And that’s not always as easy as we might think it could be. Some of the things Jesus taught went against the common understandings of life in His day and in ours. But Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and if He said it we know its true and should do our best to agree with it and to live it.

The world, the flesh, and the devil will tell you to go against what Jesus taught but as Christians we are to reject the philosophies and theories of this world when they deny God’s truth. And so we must reject the lies of the enemy.

We’ve decided to end this series as a 40 day devotional so with only 2 days left, we are going to try to expose two of the biggest lies of the enemy, that have a great deal of truth in them, but that seek to divide our hearts and to choose some other “good things” over the Lord.

So today’s big lie is:

Lie #39: Family is Everything.

Whether you love your family to “the moon and back” or whether you are estranged from them, or don’t have a family, this lie of the devil would seek for you to declare that “blood is thicker than water” and that the loyalty to the family ties you have trump everything else: friends, business, and maybe even God…..

Like I said today’s lie can easily be made into a truth with a little editing, I would suggest that “Family is important” but God’s word indicates that although we should give honor to mother, father, husband, and wife and raise our children in the way they should go, there is one thing – one relationship – that surpasses even the love that we have for those we who have loved and cared for us when we were but mere helpless little babies and that relationship is the one we have with God.

Of course there is great security, acceptance, significance, love, and identity to be drawn from our families and when “family is done right” – without selfish sin and dysfunction – and with giving proper thanks, worship, and honor to God, it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.

While my immediate family of my childhood wasn’t perfect, it is the place where I learned about love, sharing, caring, and was first introduced to the ideas about God and Jesus. No matter what our “family” believes, I know that in order to “be saved” we all must individually decide to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of our individual lives but even though I struggled mightily with my liturgical church tradition, I am thankful for the Truth it tried to point to.

While I was confused about the church at times and didn’t really know the love of God, I knew that I was loved by my family even though it could be a little heavy handed or overbearing at times. And that’s where the enemy loves to spread the lie that “family is everything”. The church is a little weird and can be cold at times, but most of our families are always there for us and it is in the love of our family that the enemy tries to shift our focus off of God and onto the idol of family worship.

Some people extend their love of family to their distant ancestors, claiming it is important to know where you come from and who your people are – where immediate family pride extends into national or cultural heritage pride. Even the Bible is filled with genealogies and could lead us to believe that our blood lines are of the utmost importance.

Beyond blood, there is also the communal or social aspect of families and family tradition that establishes the days of our lives. Some families meet weekly for family dinners. Some families are neighbors to one another. Family is the place where we do life together and family can be so pervasive that “Family is Everything” is a credo of pride and deep affection.

However, these individual and families that speak these words are speaking a sentiment that could be twisted to compromise one’s relationship with God.

Generational sins are a thing and as much as good things can be passed on through family lines – sin, corruption, and compromise of the truth of God’s word can also run in families.

“My family doesn’t believe in that. We are ______ (Insert false religion name or atheistic proclamation here.

“All my family ________________” (Insert sinful lifestyle choice here) “It’s almost a family tradition!”

Not only can the things we believe and do be influenced by our families. Our very identities can be defined by what group we are born into.

“I’m a ____________, (Insert earthly family name – natural or adopted here) That’s my family.

But Jesus had some things to say about family that are quite surprising and shows that the idea of “family first” is another lie of the enemy, as God wants us to choose Him and His royal family over all others, including our families!

One time Christ was teaching His disciples, when His blessed mother, that’s right Mary, and his brothers came and were waiting, expecting an audience with Jesus. Much to the shock of those who would put “family first” and who would declare “family is everything”. Jesus indicated that faith in Him was more important than familial ties. That faith in His blood and loyalty to Him should be thicker than the very blood of your family. Jesus indicated that the Spirit was more important than any familial ties. As He said:

Matthew 12:48-50 (NKJV)
⁴⁸ …"Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"
⁴⁹ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!
⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."

Knowing God and doing His will surpasses the people we have known all our lives on earth and their ideas and plans that they have for us.

Jesus knew this shift from family loyalty to answer His call to discipleship would be hated and He describes perilous times for Christians where families will turn against those who choose Him over them.

Matthew 10:21-22 (NKJV)
²¹ Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.
²² And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

And that’s it: to the end. That’s what matters. While we think our family have known us from the beginning, God knew us and chose us before then.

Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT2) tells us
⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

God knew us and chose before the foundation of the world and we are to love and serve Him above all others, including family.

Now don’t get me wrong, family is a wonderful thing, or it can be, but if those you have biological ties to are not following the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be separated from you forever as they chose themselves or things of this earth over the One who created them.

So although our earthly family is or can be a “good thing” it certainly is not the only thing, or everything, and never was supposed to be as God is our Heavenly Father and calls us to believe in His Son, Jesus to be a part of a family that lasts for all time.

So don’t believe the lie that “family is everything” and instead love and protect those nearest and dearest to you by encouraging them to put their faith in Jesus and to become members of God’s royal family who would always give God the glory and seek to do His will and share His traditions of love and holiness and identify with Him.

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

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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:

Philippians 1:6 (NLT2)
⁶ And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Today’s verse contains so much hope it’s not even funny. It assures us that God is working within us to make us the people that He created us to be and that He will complete His work in us.

So we should get with the program by renewing our minds with God’s word, by repenting of our worldly ways, and by making the continuous decision to live for God’s kingdom purposes.

Secondly, this verse tells us that Jesus is coming back. Our universe’s history will seismically shift when God comes back to reclaim what is His and to establish His government on the earth for a thousand years, before making a whole new earth and heaven. The Lord has a plan for the future. And today’s verse assures us He will work it in us and will one day come back to finish it.

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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 The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

3 - The Deity of the Holy Spirit

Proofs of the Spirit’s Deity

1. The Holy Spirit is expressly called God. To Ananias Peter said, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?” and then in the very next verse, he affirms “thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts 5:3, 4): if, then, lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God, it necessarily follows that the Spirit must be God. Again, the saints are called “the temple of God,” and the reason proving this is that, “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). In like manner, the body of the individual saint is designated, “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” and then the exhortation is made, “therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). In 1 Corinthians 12, where the diversity of His gifts, administrations, and operations are mentioned, He is spoken of severally as “the same Spirit” (v. 4), “the same Lord” (v. 5), “the same God” (v. 6). In 2 Corinthians 6:16 the Holy Spirit is called “the living God.”

2. The Holy Spirit is expressly called Jehovah, a name that is utterly incommunicable to all creatures, and which can be applied to none except the Great Supreme. It was Jehovah who spoke by the mouth of all the holy Prophets from the beginning of the world (Luke 1:68, 70), yet in 2 Peter 1:20 it is implicitly declared that those Prophets all spoke by “the Holy Spirit” (see also 2 Sam. 23:2, 3, and compare Acts 1:16)! It was Jehovah whom Israel tempted in the wilderness, “sinning against God and provoking the Most High” (Ps. 78:17, 18), yet in Isaiah 63:10 this is specifically termed, “rebelling against and vexing the Holy Spirit!” In Deuteronomy 32:12 we read, “The Lord alone did lead them,” yet speaking of the same people, at the same time, Isaiah 63:14 declares, “the Spirit of the Lord did lead them.” It was Jehovah who bade Isaiah, “Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed” (6:8, 9), while the Apostle declared, “well spake the Holy Spirit by Isaiah the Prophet, saying, Go unto the people and say, Hear ye indeed …” (Acts 28:25, 26)! What could more plainly establish the identity of Jehovah and the Holy Spirit? Note that the Holy Spirit is called “the Lord” in 2 Thessalonians 3:5.

3. The perfections of God are all found in the Spirit. By what is the nature of any being determined but by its properties? He who possesses the properties peculiar to an angel or man is rightly esteemed one. So He who possesses the attributes or properties which belong alone to God, must be considered and worshipped as God. The Scriptures very clearly and abundantly affirm that the Holy Spirit is possessed of the attributes peculiar to God. They ascribe to Him absolute holiness. As God is called “Holy,” “the Holy One,” being therein described by that superlatively excellent property of His nature wherein He is “glorious in holiness” (Ex. 15:11); so is the Third Person of the Trinity designated “the Spirit of Holiness” (Rom. 1:4) to denote the holiness of His nature and the Deity of His Person. The Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14). He is omnipresent: “Whither shall I flee from thy Spirit?” (Ps. 139:7). He is omniscient (see 1 Cor. 2:10, 11). He is omnipotent: being termed “the Power of the Highest” (Luke 1:35; see also Micah 2:8, and compare Isa. 40:28).

4. The absolute sovereignty and supremacy of the Spirit manifest His Godhead. In Matthew 4:1 we are told, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness:” who but a Divine Person had the right to direct the Mediator? and to whom but God would the Redeemer have submitted! In John 3:8 the Lord Jesus drew an analogy between the wind which “bloweth where it listeth” (not being at the disposal or direction of any creature), and the imperial operations of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:11 it is expressly affirmed that the Holy Spirit has the distribution of all spiritual gifts, having nothing but His own pleasure for His rule. He must, then, be “God over all, blessed forever.” In Acts 13:2–4 we find the Holy Spirit calling men unto the work of the ministry, which is solely a Divine prerogative, though wicked men have abrogated it unto themselves. In these verses it will be found that the Spirit appointed their work, commanded them to be set apart by the church, and sent them forth. In Acts 20:28 it is plainly declared that the Holy Spirit set officers over the church.

5. The works ascribed to the Spirit clearly demonstrate His Godhead. Creation itself is attributed to Him, no less than to the Father and the Son: “By the Spirit lie hath garnished the heavens” (Job 26:13): “the Spirit of God hath made me” (Job 33:4). He is concerned in the work of providence (Isa. 40:13–15; Acts 16:6, 7). All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16), the source of which is the Spirit Himself (2 Peter 1:21). The humanity of Christ was miraculously formed by the Spirit (Matthew 1:20). Christ was anointed for His work by the Spirit (Isa. 61:1; John 3:34). His miracles were performed by the Spirit’s power (Matthew 12:38). He was raised from the dead by the Spirit (Rom. 8:11). Who but a Divine person could have wrought such works as these!?

Reader, do you have a personal and inward proof that the Holy Spirit is none other than God? Has He wrought in you that which no finite power could? Has He brought you from death unto life, made you a new creature in Christ, imparted to you a living faith, filled you with holy longings after God? Does He breathe into you the spirit of prayer, take of the things of Christ and show them unto you, apply to your heart both the precepts and promises of God? If so, then, these are so many witnesses in your own bosom of the deity of the Blessed Spirit.^{^[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.

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

The Dead Go To A Better Place – Lies of the Enemy #38 – Purity 1050

Purity 1050 05/23/2023 Purity 1050 Podcast

Purity 1050 on YouTube:

Good morning,

Today’s painting of a view of the heavens and a flock of migrating geese flying through a multicolored sky comes to us from Catherine J Wayman who shared her work on social media yesterday explaining that she tried her hand at reproducing a photo that she had seen online. Although I guess that makes her painting a “reproduction” or sorts, I consider her work an original and have decided to take the liberty of naming Van Gogh like view of twilight time “Toward Heaven” because that view and those colors indicate that there is more to life than what we can see.

Well, Its Tuesday, and as I prepare the finishing touches on my own “reproduction” of Celebrate Recovery’s lesson on Hope for what will be a group presentation of this week’s lesson at the Wednesday Night meeting of the Celebrate Freedom I know that even our smallest contributions can make a difference and even though we are just repeating things many of us may have heard before or that are drawn directly from the truth of God’s word, when we add our own thoughts, experience, words, or work to something it becomes something new and it becomes our own. I am drawing from the leader’s guide for the material of course but as I reviewed my old word documents of the lesson I realized that I had added my own words and my own heart to some of the pages. In preparing the lesson for teaching so many years ago I had felt moved to share a few of my own thoughts to encourage those I would teach.

So last night, I had mixed feelings of whether or Into should let my adlibbed comments and encouragements stand or if I should remove them all together. Many of the references I had made in the lesson were a little dated or didn’t apply to this new ‘growth group”. Part of me rwas eady to remove them all together and to just present the original content form the Celebrate Recovery material but in the end I decided to just edit and keep most of the comments that I had made way back when I taught the lesson on Hope at my old church.

The comments and encouragements that I offered were gleaned from my experience and the things they taught were the result of much searching, trial, error, and struggling, to know how to walk out of the darkness of a life of addiction and to begin living a surrendered Christian life of “walking in the Spirit”. It took me a lot to understand the things I shared and if they can help someone else “to get there” a little quicker or to just encourage someone that they can “get there”, to give them hope, I know the additional time it will take to speak these truths will be more than worth it. I can’t walk the people in this discipleship/recovery growth group into freedom,but I will certainly do my best to point them into the right direction.

As I have walked further into my life of faith I realized just how ignorant we can be in regards to spiritual matters and how “common knowledge” is generally common ignorance because “everyone knows” the same false beliefs – or lies of the enemy. And we need to know the truth about what matters in life, and in death.

So today’s big lie is:

Lie #38: The Dead Go To a Better Place.

The subject of today’s lie is borrowed from my pastor, Roscoe Lily’s sermon from this past weekend. In his opening remarks, Roscoe confessed that in some ways he preferred to minister at funerals rather than at weddings because although weddings are a joyous occasion, he got the impression that few people cared about what the “officiant” says at a wedding because they are waiting to go to the “good times” at the wedding reception. Whereas people at a funeral may be more attentive to what the minister says because they may be hurting, looking for answers, or hoping to hear something to give them peace about their departed loved ones. However, as a Christian who seeks to only teach the truth drawn from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, Roscoe admitted that it can be difficult to minister at times because sometimes the deceased had little evidence of faith in their lives, and everyone gathered at a loved one’s funeral wants to know that their loved one is in a “better place”.

Although many treat the idea of “the dead being in a better place” as a foregone conclusion based on the “common knowledge” of an all loving God, Jesus didn’t teach that.

While we should be kind and compassionate to the grieving, as Christians we need to follow the teachings of Jesus and encourage the living to put their faith in Him. For Jesus said in:

John 3:16-18 (NKJV)
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.
¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.\

The implications of Christ’s words are that eternal life is found by those who believe in Him and those who don’t believe are condemned to perish.

As for other ways to eternal life in God’s kingdom, Jesus spoke plainly that He is the only way in:

John 14:6 (NKJV) where the word tells us
⁶ Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

As for the idea of reincarnation the word tells us:

Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV)
²⁷ And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

We die once and then are judged – not many times to be “born again” as another life form, over and over again until we “get it right”. Reincarnation and Karma are logically hopeless as all men sin, no men would have a “higher” birth. If this system were true all men would become bugs…. But I don’t like to entertain discussing such ludicrous ideas when Jesus proved tha authenticity of His teachings and as His divinity by his death and resurrection.

To believe in reincarnation or any system that deviates from what Jesus taught, denies Christ and is thus leads to condemnation and perishing. If you don’t “know Jesus” and more importantly if He doesn’t know you as one of His followers, you are not going to a “better place”.

Matthew 25:31-46 really breaks down how we must believe in and follow the Lord with the way we live our lives and if we don’t Jesus us tells us”
⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

The evil will be judged and punished in hell but those who seek God’s forgiveness, repent, and surrender to the Lordship of Christ will be saved.

So don’t believe the lie that “the dead go to a better place” because only those who put their faith in Jesus will be declared righteous and will receive eternal life in God’s kingdom.

If in that “number” of that saints that will go marching in, be kind and loving to those who are grieving, but speak the truth in love and share the gospel of Jesus Christ to show others that God loves them and in Christ He made a way for them to be forgiven, righteous, saved, and free.

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

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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:

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)
¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Today’s verse encourages us to do good works and to let others know that it is only because of our faith in Jesus and because we represent the kingdom of God that our lights shine so brightly. Again Christ encourages authentic faith in His disciples by doing good and giving glory to God in heaven. Here He assures us that His disciples have a place in God’s heavenly kingdom and that we are to represent the King by the way we live our lives. So Do Something to show people you are a Christian but make sure they know that it is only because of God’s grace you are able to give God the glory.

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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 The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

3 - The Deity of the Holy Spirit

In the last chapter we endeavored to supply from the testimony of Holy Writ abundant and clear evidence that the Holy Spirit is a conscious, intelligent, personal Being. Our present concern is the nature and dignity of His Person. We sincerely trust that our present inquiry will not strike our readers as being a superfluous one: surely any mind which is impressed with a due reverence for the subject we are upon will readily allow that we cannot be too minute and particular in the investigation of a point of such infinite importance. While it be true that almost every passage which we brought forward to demonstrate the Spirit’s personality also contained decisive proof of His Godhead, yet we deemed the present aspect of our subject of such importance as to be justly entitled to a separate regard—the more so, as error at this point is fatal to the soul.

Deity or Not Deity

Having shown, then, that God’s Word expressly and unequivocally teaches that the Spirit is a Person, the next question to be considered is, Under what character are we to consider Him? What rank does He occupy in the scale of existence? It has been truly said that, “He is either God, possessing, in a distinction of Person, an ineffable unity of the Divine nature with the Father and the Son, or He is the creature of God, infinitely removed from Him in essence and dignity, and having no other than a derivative excellence in that rank to which He is appointed in creation. There is no medium betwixt the one and the other. Nothing intermediate between the Creator and created can be admissible. So that were the Holy Spirit to be placed at the top of all creation, even as high above the highest angel as that angel transcends the lowest reptile of animated life, the chasm would be still infinite; and He, who is emphatically called the Eternal Spirit, would not be God” (Robert Hawker).

We will now endeavor to show from the Word of Truth that the Holy Spirit is distinguished by such names and attributes, that He is endowed with such a plentitude of underived power, and that He is the Author of such works as to altogether transcend finite ability, and such as can belong to none but God Himself. However mysterious and inexplicable to human reason the existence of a distinction of Persons in the essence of the Godhead may be, yet if we submissively bow to the plain teachings of the Divine Oracles, then the conclusion that there subsists three Divine Persons who are co-essential, co-eternal, and co-equal is unavoidable. He of whom such works as the creation of the universe, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the formation of the humanity of Christ, the regeneration and sanctification of the elect, is, and must be, GOD; or, to use the language of 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”^{^[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.

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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

Labels

Thursday, May 25, 2023

I Need “the One” to Complete Me!– Lies of the Enemy #40 – Purity 1052

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Family is Everything – Lies of the Enemy #39 – Purity 1051

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

The Dead Go To A Better Place – Lies of the Enemy #38 – Purity 1050