Not Just Any Spiritual Pathway – Purity 807

Not Just Any Spiritual
Pathway  – Purity 807

Purity 807 08/11/2022 Purity 807 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo aa gravel driveway lined by trees underneath
overcast skies comes to us from yours truly as I stopped to capture this pathway
while working in Delanson NY yesterday. 

Well, It’s Thursday again and as is my habit I share a
picture of a pathway on Thursdays to encourage my friends to keep walking and
talking to God on the pathway of Christian discipleship.  The key to this pathway is Christ and when I
speak about walking on the pathway of Christian discipleship I want to make it
clear that we are following Him. 

Just this morning, I saw a FB friend share a passage from
the Bible  on their page and a “spiritual
debate” had ensued in the comments.  The Bible
passage was Hebrews 10:26-30 which basically encourages authentic Christian
faith and not treating sin lightly, that to do so is a possible indicator that
you are not a Christian and that you are subject to judgement.  There was no commentary, just the word of
God. 

But the truth of God’s word, didn’t sit well with one of
my friend’s “spiritual friends” who encouraged my friend to not share such
harsh words about his “loving compassionate forgiving creator”.  The debater’s impassioned speech was riddled
with profanity and real concern that sharing things like my friend’s post keep
people from their “creator”.  They were
big on compassion and empathy but ignorant of the truth of what Jesus taught
and the word of God in general. I could see where they were coming from, but
they were wrong.

As I have been sharing encouragements to pursue a
relationship with God for a couple of years on the blog, I have increasingly
been convicted to not compromise the truth of God’s word says, and unlike this
debater, I can’t just hide or dismiss what the Bible teaches and push a general
spirituality that says that all people are good at heart and that we shouldn’t speak
about hell.  

Jesus taught about hell more than heaven. That’s the
truth.  That’s why He came: to save us
from God’s wrath.  God loves us but He
demands we put our faith in Jesus to be forgiven, we aren’t approved by God by
any other way as Christ Himself said: 

John 14:6 (NKJV)
⁶  … “I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

As I shared yesterday, He also encouraged
us to repent (https://www.mt4christ.org/2022/08/the-r-word-and-living-in-state-of-grace.html)
and obey His commandments (Matthew 5:17, 16-30)  

We can’t pick in choose what spiritual truths we like
from God’s word. We can’t trust our salvation in anyone other than Christ.  Although we are called to follow Christ in the
way we live our lives, we aren’t saved because of our performance, we’re saved because
of Him. 

And the reason we follow Him is primarily to give God
glory, not us, but God is so good that when we decided to follow Jesus, to walk
in the Spirit, we see the fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives. 

We try to live as Christians because we are called to,
and it gives the One who saved us glory, the peace, love, joy, goodness,
kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control we receive from
walking in the Spirit is just a bonus, and a great source of motivation to
continue and to love our God.

This debater had made his own “creator” small c, who
was more like a genie in a bottle that the One True God of the Bible, the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The One God in the three persons of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.  

The path I encourage people to discover is the one
that starts with faith in Jesus Christ, specifically, as Lord and Savior, and follows
the God of the Bible. There is no other way, and I wouldn’t be “loving” if I
allowed people I care about to believe otherwise.    

 So that’s the path!
The Highway to Heaven!

 I teach Freedom in
Christ after all, not freedom in the creator (small c? Really?!?) and as I
share yesterday on the blog and podcast, registration is now open for Freedom
in Christ Course via Zoom at the following link:  https://www.ficm.org/…/freedom-in-christ-course-fall-2022/.

Instead of having “common” but ignorant knowledge about God,
sign up for a course that will not only teach you the truth about who God is
but will also help you resolve your spiritual and personal conflicts through your
faith in Christ.  

I know there are some hard truths in the Bible.  But I know God is loving and forgiving and when
he calls us to obey and follow Him, He does it out of love for us and to lead
us into an abundant life of meaning and purpose that just so happens to be “good”,
as He works all things for the good for those who love Him and are called according
to His purpose.  

I got sidetracked today, I had more to say about the
goodness of God and what He is doing in my life but I just so happened to study
Psalm 145 this morning and will share that because it says it better than I
could.  I would consider this Psalm to be
a “keeper’ for those of us who choose to walk out our lives as disciples of
Christ with what’s left of our lives.  David had a heart after God, and it is the
same heart that we are to have if we are to walk in Jesus’ ways.

PSALM 145

The Lord Extolled for
His Goodness.

A Psalm of Praise,
of David.

   1          I will extol You, my God, O King,

And I will bless Your name forever and
ever.

   2          Every
day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and
ever.

   3          Great
is the Lord, and highly to be
praised,

And His greatness is unsearchable.

   4          One
generation shall praise Your works to another,

And shall declare Your mighty acts.

   5          On
the glorious splendor of Your majesty

And on Your wonderful works, I will
meditate.

   6          Men
shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,

And I will tell of Your greatness.

   7          They
shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness

And will shout joyfully of Your
righteousness.

   8          The Lord
is gracious and merciful;

Slow to anger and great in
lovingkindness.

   9          The
Lord is good to all,

And His mercies are over all His works.

10          All
Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,

And Your godly ones shall bless You.

11          They
shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom

And talk of Your power;

12          To
make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts

And the glory of the majesty of Your
kingdom.

13          Your
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

14          The Lord
sustains all who fall

And raises up all who are bowed down.

15          The
eyes of all look to You,

And You give them their food in due
time.

16          You
open Your hand

And satisfy the desire of every living
thing.

17          The Lord
is righteous in all His ways

And kind in all His deeds.

18          The
Lord is near to all who call upon
Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

19          He
will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He will also hear their cry and will
save them.

20          The
Lord keeps all who love Him,

But all the wicked He will destroy.

21          My
mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

And all flesh will bless His holy name
forever and ever.^[1]

So be
like David, let your mouth speak the praise of the Lord and bless his Holy (yup
Holy) name for ever and ever.  

—————————————————————————————————————

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

This morning’s meditation verse is:

1 Peter 1:4-5 (NLT2)
⁴  and we have a priceless
inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled,
beyond the reach of change and decay.
⁵  And through your faith, God
is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready
to be revealed on the last day for all to see.  

Today’s
verses speak of our priceless inheritance and how we receive it through faith
and how we will be protected until our salvation is complete on the last
day.  

I
love today’s verses because they remind us that we have an inheritance in
heaven and that our salvation isn’t over yet.  

I
also love them because they clearly state that it is through our faith that we
receive God’s protection and our inheritance. 
We didn’t earn it.  So we don’t have
to worry about losing, because we didn’t earn it in the first place.  Our faith came because of God’s grace not
because of us.   

I
also love today’s passage because it looks ahead.  As much as we can state that our salvation is
a “done deal” in the sense that we have been forgiven and made new, it isn’t
over yet.  We still need to be saved from
this world that is broken by sin and death.  

On the
last day, when Christ returns or when we see Him in heaven, we will receive our
inheritance and our salvation will be complete.

So as
good as our lives are now that we have life in Christ, we haven’t received everything
yet.  We can live in peace and joy
because we have it “all” and there is more to come!

______________________________________________________________________

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 Clinton E. Arnold’s
“Powers of Darkness”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and
encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private
study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many
websites for less than $20.00.

Responding to the Powers of Darkness

Interpreting the Armor of God

□
You cannot succeed on your own. Draw on the strength that Christ promises to
supply.

□
Realize that you cannot count on life to be a smooth, easy path. There are evil
supernatural forces out to destroy you.

1.    Put On
Your Trousers: Wear Truth

□
Know the truth of who you are in Christ (for the powers of darkness will try to
deceive you).

□
Practice honesty and live with moral integrity.

2.    Put On
the Breastplate of Righteousness

□
Realize your status before God as one who has been acquitted of all guilt.

□
Acquire personal holiness and develop good character.

3.    Put On
Your Boots: Prepare the Gospel of Peace

□
Prepare yourself for sharing the gospel wherever God calls you.

4.    Take
the Shield of Faith

□
Do not doubt! Believe that God will help you overcome.

5.    Put On
the Helmet of Salvation

□
Be secure in your identity in Christ—as one who has been saved, united with
Christ, made alive, coresurrected and coexalted.

6.    Take
the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God

□
Devote your life to aggressively spreading the gospel.

□
Know the Scripture and apply it to every difficult situation.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
PRAY!

□
Ask God to strengthen you to resist temptation and share the gospel
effectively.

□
Ask God to strengthen your fellow believers to resist temptation and share the
gospel effectively.^[2]

—————————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
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These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

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 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)

Encouragement for the Path of
Christian Discipleship