Yeah, I’m an idiot but God loves me anyway. – Purity 907

Yeah, I’m an idiot but God loves me anyway. –  Purity 907    

Purity 907 12/06/2022 Purity 907 Podcast

Purity 907 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a pink, blue, and yellow sunset
over the Hudson River from the vantage point of Route 9’s overpass on the Rensselaer
side of the Dunn Memorial Bridge comes to us from yours truly as I did my best
to capture the glory of the moment from my rearview mirror mounted phone as I
drove home yesterday evening.  

Well, It’s Tuesday again, and I for one am happy to
leave Monday behind because even though I was able to complete all my work
yesterday, I had a serious case of the “Mondays” as I made a couple of mistakes
that will forever mark the 5^th day of December 2022 as a day that
will live in infamy.  Okay, I think I
should say goodbye to you now because yesterday’s debacle may cause you to decide
to look elsewhere for any advice or encouragement for the path of Christian Discipleship
but if nothing else my confession this morning will serve as evidence as my
intention to live a life of honesty and transparency.  

Yesterday, while at work I locked myself our of my
van and had to call my foreman to send some to let me back into it.  

“Hey that’s no big deal, people make mistakes MT. It
could happen to anybody.”  

I wasn’t finished. 
While at work yesterday, I locked myself out of my van, twice!

What? 

Yup! Twice.  
Sure everybody makes mistakes, but when you do it twice in the same day people
have to wonder about your mental and emotional well-being! 

So let me assure you I wasn’t depressed or anxious about
any on going issues in my life. I wasn’t super busy either. 

In reassessing each instance of stupidity, I now see
the common thread that led to my embarrassment. In each case, I put the keys
down, once in the ignition & once in the cup holder, in preparations of leaving
where I was but in each case I made a quick decision to “do one more thing, really
quick” more or less that caused me to leave the vehicle and lock myself
out.  I wasn’t really in a hurry, okay.
In fact it was because I wanted to be thorough in performing my work that I
found myself locked out of my van. 

In the first instance, even though I had been given
the “green light” to leave my first job, an install for a business, by one of
the staff on hand, I decided to wait until the acting manager showed up to ask where
exactly their “new phone” line was supposed to go. 

So when I saw a man who looked like he might be
person I was looking for go inside, I called the contact number I had and ended
up speaking to him.  Sometimes with
business customers, the staff and even management aren’t aware of what is going
on with the business’ requests for service and that was the case yesterday.  So when this manager said, “Why don’t you
come inside, so we can figure this out?” I complied quickly but left my keys in
the ignition! Doh!”  

After finishing inside, I discovered my mistake,
called for help, and ended up slinking back inside the business to get out of
the cold. I got in undetected and hid/waited in an unoccupied space until my
rescuer called to let me know he was outside. 
I figured why bother the staff and embarrass myself with sharing my
problem and as far as the business customer is concerned, this little drama
never happened, so keep that between us, lol!

Anyway later in the day, I had an “easy” trouble –
to fix a customers call forwarding.  They
needed the calls on a particular line to be forwarded to a new number but it “wasn’t
working”.  I had “some trouble”
programing the new number at the  central
office so I went into my van to call the “Testing center” who can sometimes “fix”
over the phone.  And I was only on the phone
with them for a minute or so and they told me that they fixed it. They also
pointed out that the “trouble” in the CO was due to sequence in which I
performed the steps, just something to “remember next time”.

I was ready to close the job and get new work when I
started to doubt.  Even though the person
on the phone told me the trouble was fixed, I wanted to “make sure” it was fixed.  So one minute, I am about to close the job,
and the next I am going into the central office to set up the call forwarding,
in the proper sequence, to confirm, for myself, that the problem was indeed fixed.  I figure it would only take a minute. SO I grabbed
my “butt set” and frame clip and went to “get er done.”

But I only took a few steps to the door when I
realized that my pockets felt a little light.

Oh NO!

Yup, I left the keys in the cup holder of the van
and had locked myself out, AGAIN! 

So I called for help, and eventually got back into
the van and back to the garage at the end of the day, SO GLAD, that the day was
over.  

As you might suspect, there was a full frontal
assault of condemnation in each instance, and I credit the Lord for showing me
who I am in Christ as the only way I am still not beating myself up this
morning.    

When you make a mistake like this, repeatedly, its
hard to have any confidence that you are a capable human being.  Your failures show your inadequacy and the
enemy is there to accuse and to drive us into fear or depression because of
them.  

But luckily, this isn’t my first rodeo with dealing
with condemnation and the Lord has shown me the way to overcome. Not surprisingly,
the way to peace is to focus on Him rather than us and if we are being condemned
by ourselves or the enemy, it doesn’t matter, we can still point to what is
true about Him to restore us.  

Yeah, I’m an idiot but God loves me anyway. Thank
You God, Thank You Jesus, Thank You Holy Spirit.  

While the world can and will rightfully judge my
inadequacies and choose to reject me, the Lord accepts me for who I am, warts
and all, failures and all.  

While others may want to distance themselves from me
when I mess up, The Lord draws closer to me.  

And while bad things have happened to me, and mostly
because of me, and will continue to happen to me, God is working all things
together for my good. He has provided for me and given me good things in this
life that I don’t deserve and, by God, for reasons I don’t quite understand and
don’t want to question, He will continue to lead me into good things in the
future, including His eternal kingdom.  

During the processing of yesterday’s trauma, I went
to my go to Bible verse to silence the voices of condemnation, if you don’t know
it you haven’t been following me for long,

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

And those words reminded me that there was no
condemnation for me, because I am in Christ Jesus. I am forgiven. I am accepted
and loved by God.  I am not judged by my
performance or lack thereof. Even though I didn’t feel worthy, when I spoke it,
I knew it was true.   

In fact, as I received peace and joy over the
reminder of who I am in Christ, I laughed and thought: 

“Even though there very well  SHOULD BE condemnation… There is no condemnation
in Christ Jesus!

So if you have made same mistake twice in the same
day, I’m right there with you, brother!  
And it is my prayer that you know who you are in Christ and that you
know that regardless of what you do, if you are in Christ you are: 

LOVED

Forgiven

ACCEPTED

SECURE

SIGNIFICANT

And FREE!

I am Including the link (https://www.ficm.org/ministry-materials/free-resources/)
 to the free resources page of Freedom in
Christ Ministries, where you can download a copy of  “Who I AM in Christ” List from FICM Today in
case you don’t know, or you have forgotten who you are in Christ.  

I also wanted to announce that registration for many
new courses, including the Freedom In Christ Course, that l Iead on Tuesday
nights in 2023, are now open at FICM. The link for that is on the blog as well:
https://www.ficm.org/courses/level-1-get-started/
. Just find the course that is right for you and click on the “More Info &
To Sign Up” tab to reserve your spot. Space is limited and registration closes
on December 17^th, so make plans to grow more and to learn more about
your faith and yourself in 2023 by signing up today!

While we may always make mistakes this side of
heaven, when we are walking and talking with God, we can move past them.  If we fall down, God is always there to pick
us up and to encourage us in the way we should go but we won’t receive His joy
and peace unless we know who we are in Christ and remember to keep on walking
and talking with Him.   

 

  

——————————————————–

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

This morning’s meditation verses are:

1 John 3:17-19 (NLT2)
¹⁷  If someone has enough
money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no
compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
¹⁸  Dear children, let’s not
merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
¹⁹  Our actions will show that
we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.

 Today’s verses encourage us
to show our love for others by acting.

While money can be a sore subject in faith circles, let me apply a
little healthy shame: Most of us have enough money to live well, and there are
many in need, so let’s face it we should be compassionate and give, something!

If you are flat broke, I get it. But most of us aren’t and can
give something. In fact if you are not giving regularly to your church, to
ministries, or to charities, I have to encourage you to do it because verses
like today’s verses indicate that a Christian should not be just one who says
they care but is someone who actually shows it in action and giving is the
easiest way to act.  

Don’t get it twisted, I would rather you serve your church or the
community at large in some manner to put your feet on the street in service to
the Lord but if you can’t do that I would ask you to show your love for others
by giving to the less fortunate in some way.  

I look at my own life and my unwise spending and am literally
ashamed at times of how badly I mismanage my life but the money I give to my
church, spend on ministry expenses, or donate to charities are the expenses
that I can look at and feel good about. It might not be much but at least I
give something to someone rather than to myself.  

Today verses tell us to enter into the life of discipleship with
action, to DO SOMETHING, to share and to show God’s love in us with other people
in our lives.  So let your heart lead you
to step out and give or to do something for someone, somewhere, for the glory
of the Lord.  

___________________________________________

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
“Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

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
Church of Jesus Christ and Discipleship

Chapter Nine

Baptism,
concludes

The death of baptism
means justification away from sin. In
order to be freed from their sin, sinners must die. Whoever has died is
justified from sin (Rom. 6:7; Col. 2:20). Sin no longer has any claim on those
who are dead; with death the claim has been met and has ceased to exist.
Justification from (άπὸ) sin can thus take place only through
death. Forgiveness of sin does not mean that the sin is overlooked or forgotten;
rather, it means that the sinner is really put to death and thus separated from
(άπὸ)
sin. However, the only reason the sinner’s death means justification and not
condemnation is that this death is suffered in communion [Gemeinschaft] with
the death of Christ. Being baptized into the death of Christ is what brings
forgiveness of sins and justification and a complete separation from sin. In
calling his disciples into the community of the cross, Jesus gave them the gift
of justification, of death and forgiveness of sins. The disciple who followed
Jesus in the community of the cross received no other gift than the believer
who was baptized according to Paul’s teaching.

Although baptism
requires a passive role on our human part, it must never be understood as a
mechanical process. A look at the relation between baptism and Spirit makes
this abundantly clear (Matt. 3:11; Acts 10:47; John 3:5; 1 Cor. 6:11; 12:13).
The gift received in baptism is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is Christ
himself dwelling in the hearts of the believers (2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:9–11,
14ff.; Eph. 3:16f.). Those baptized are the house in which the Holy Spirit
dwells (οίκεῖ). It is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ
remains present with us, and that we are in community with him. The Holy Spirit
gives us a true understanding of Christ’s nature (1 Cor. 2:10) and of his will;
the Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of all that Christ has said to us
(John 14:26); the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13), so that we
may not be lacking in the knowledge of Christ, and may understand the gifts
bestowed on us by God (1 Cor. 2:12; Eph. 1:9). The Holy Spirit does not create
uncertainty in us, but certainty and clarity. We are thus enabled to walk in
the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 18, 25; Rom. 8:1, 4), taking confident steps. After his
ascension, Jesus did not withdraw from those who belong to him that measure of
certainty which the disciples of Jesus enjoyed during their earthly community
with him. By sending the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who are baptized,
the community with Jesus has in fact become so intimate that the certainty of
knowing him is not only preserved, but increased and strengthened (Rom. 8:16;
John 16:12f.).

In calling the
disciples, Jesus demanded a visible act
of obedience. To follow Jesus was a public act. In just the same way
baptism is a public act, for in baptism we are incorporated into the visible
church-community [Gemeinde] of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:27f.; 1 Cor. 12:13). The
break with the world which has taken place in Christ can no longer remain
hidden; it must become externally visible through active participation in the
life and worship of the church-community. Christians who are actively involved
in the church-community take a step out of the world, their work, and family;
they visibly stand in the community with Jesus Christ. They take this step on
their own as individuals. But they regain what they have given up—brothers,
sisters, houses, fields.^[20] Those who are baptized live in the
visible church-community of Jesus Christ. What that means and entails must be
examined in the following two chapters on the “body of Christ” and the “visible
church-community.”

Baptism and the
receiving of its gift take place only once.
No one can be baptized twice with the baptism of Christ.^[13] The
fact that this gracious act of God is unique and cannot be repeated is what the
Letter to the Hebrews is trying to express in that mysterious passage about the
impossibility of a second repentance after baptism and conversion (Heb.
6:4ff.). All those who are baptized are participating in Christ’s death.
Through his death, they have received their death sentence and have died. And
just as Christ died once and for all (Rom. 6:10), and just as there can be no
repetition of his sacrifice, so do those who are baptized suffer their death
with Christ once and for all. Now they are dead. The daily dying of the
Christian is now merely a consequence of the one death that has already taken
place in baptism, just as a tree dies whose roots have been cut off. Those who
have been baptized live henceforth under the motto: “Consider yourselves dead
to sin” (Rom. 6:11). They know themselves only as those who have already died,
as those who have already undergone everything that is necessary for salvation.
Those who have been baptized draw their life not from a real repetition of
Christ’s death, which would have to be accomplished ever anew as an act of
grace. Instead, their life springs from looking back again and again, placing
their faith in Christ’s death as an act of grace which has already been fully
accomplished in their baptism. They live out of the once-and-for-allness of
Christ’s death.

The fact that baptism
can take place once and only once has important consequences with regard to infant
baptism. The question is not whether or not infant baptism is really baptism.
But precisely because it is indeed baptism, that baptism that takes place only
once and cannot be repeated, infant baptism requires certain restrictions in
its use. True, it was certainly not a sign of a healthy church life when, in
the second and third centuries, believing Christians postponed their baptism
until they reached old age or were already on their deathbeds. But this
practice nonetheless speaks of a clear insight into the nature of baptismal
grace, an insight which is widely lacking today. With regard to infant baptism
this means that the sacrament should be administered only where it is certain
that the act of salvation already accomplished once and for all will be
repeatedly remembered in faith. And that can only be the case in a living
church-community. Infant baptism without the church-community is not only an
abuse of the sacrament. It also betrays a reprehensible thoughtlessness in
dealing with the children’s spiritual welfare, for baptism can never be
repeated.

For those who were
called, Jesus’ call was equally unique and unrepeatable. Whoever followed him
had died to their previous life. This is why Jesus had to require his disciples
to leave all they had. Both the finality of their decision and the complete
sufficiency of the gift they received from their Lord needed to be clearly
expressed. “But if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”^[26]
It could not be stated any more pointedly than this that Jesus’ gift was
offered and received once and once only. Having taken their life from them, he
now sought to give them a life that was full and complete. And so he gave them
his cross. That was the gift of baptism to the first disciples.^[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
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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 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