Speak Life – Purity 1141

 

Speak Life – Purity 1141

Purity 11401 09/07/2023 

Purity 1141 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a dirt and gravel road with “greener”
grass on one side under ethereal blue skies comes to us from yours truly as I
captured this scene while out for a walk on Sunday, September 3^rd.  

Well, It’s Friday, Thank God, and I am just feeling blessed
for another day in the life of traveling the path of Christian Discipleship! And
I am here to tell you that just like in today’s photo the “grass is greener”
when you put your faith in Jesus and live in God’s kingdom. 

Last night the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group met
again and we were graced with a pair of newcomers and someone who had visited
once but who we hadn’t seen in 7 weeks and who has now officially registered for
the group!  

You know it’s one thing when someone comes to a
group or ministry you are leading one time but you really have to be encouraged
when they come back, especially after a long absence.   While I guess, we could be saddened that this
person didn’t walk away “healed” from the one meeting they attended and has
continued in the same struggles they had nearly two months ago, but I am filled
with joy over the fact that they came back to us, knowing full well what we are
about, and has decided to get the help and support they need to overcome their
hurts, habits, and hang-ups.  

Also last night, we were graced by the attendance of
two men who had accompanied one of our regular attendees.  They had come for a couple of weeks with
their friend but they seemed non-commital and haven’t registered for the group,
which is not mandatory by the way.  Anyway,
when we got word from their friend that they would not be able to attend last
night, we assumed that these two men wouldn’t show up without them.  But we were wrong! They did show up! And not
only that, one of these guys even made an excellent point in the men’s
discussion when he tried to encourage a couple of the men to “forgive
themselves” because of the work Jesus had done on the cross! Although these two
men haven’t registered, I think they “joined” the group last night, all the
same. I think they like what we are doing and I was encouraged to see them show
up “solo”.   

One of the core principles we stress in the group is
community – developing “joy bonds” with one another.  Each week I stress how happy I am to see each
and every one of our group members walk through the door.   Part of our meeting includes a “check-in”
where each member is asked to share their progress over the last week and one
thing they are thankful for, because I want the group members to know we
genuinely care about what’s happening in their lives and we are “rooting” for
their success.

Proverbs 18:21 (NLT2) says
²¹  The tongue can bring death
or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

So we speak life into every meeting of the Celebrate
Freedom Growth Group and challenge our members to change the way they think
about themselves to line up with what God says about them rather than who they
were before coming to the Lord.   

We have seen the consequences of what we say, when
it is received, play out in our members’ lives. One woman has stated that “our
class” has been “life changing” for her and that our group “brings Jesus alive”
and has caused her, after 35 years of being a Christian, to know Him more!

Lives are being changed because of the life we speak
and the Holy Spirit that is using our words to draw the people in our meeting
closer to God and has encouraged them to become the people that God has created
to be.   I’m humble to be a part of this
wonderful work of God as He encourages people to walk out of the darkness of
their past into the new life He has for them! 
God is good and He is moving in the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group at
Starpoint Church!

 ——————————————————————————————–

Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.

(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick
google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late
author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This
morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Alcohol & Drug Abuse

1 Corinthians 5:11 (ESV)
¹¹  But now I am writing to
you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty
of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or
swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

Today’s
verses fall under the thirteenth point of our counseling reference guide
resource’s section on Alcohol & Drug Abuse.

 13. Don’t associate with drunkards.

Today’s verse encourages
us to be authentic in our faith life and to distance ourselves from those who “talk
the talk” but fail to “walk the walk” of a Christian.  

While we have all sinned
and fallen short and desperately need the forgiveness that comes through our
faith in Jesus Christ, just because the Lord was gracious to save us in the
midst of our trespasses and sins, doesn’t mean that we were meant to stay in
our trespasses in sins.  

Here the Apostle Paul is
talking about people practicing “greasy grace” or licentiousness – those who claim
that the grace that they have received from God gives them a license to sin –
and keep on sinning with gusto – because they have been set free!  

Guys, we are “free to sin”,
we are “free from sin”! That’s why Jesus told the woman who was caught in the
act of adultery, in

John 8:11 (NLT2) to
¹¹  “….
Go and sin no more.”

Jesus didn’t say “Hey, no big
deal! You are forgiven! Do what you want!” Instead, Jesus tells his disciples in:

Matthew 16:24 (NLT2) that
²⁴  … “If
any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take
up your cross, and follow me.

And in

John 14:15 (NLT2)
¹⁵  “If you love me, obey my
commandments.

So as Christians, we are to repent of
our former, in this case, drunken ways – and turn from all the sin in our
lives.  While we may never be perfect as
Christ is on this side of heaven, we can make progress in becoming more and
more like Jesus and have victory over the sins that kept us in bondage before
Jesus saved us.  

And Paul makes it clear in today’s verse,
to steer clear of anyone who claims to be a Christian and actively lives in a
lifestyle of sin.  He knows the dangers
of keeping bad company and says we should even associate with someone who is
giving Christianity a bad name.   

Instead of encouraging their sins with
your company, part ways with them and encourage them to repent because if
someone has more faith in the sins that beset them than in the Lord that saved
them, they may one day discover that Jesus never “knew them” and live out the
consequences of their unrepented sins with suffering on earth, and with eternal
torment in hell.

——————————————————————–

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

23 – The Spirit Witnessing

Doubting
and Professing Christians

But it is insisted that Scripture forbids all
doubting: “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew
14:31). Yes, but Christ was not there
blaming Peter for doubting his spiritual state,
but for fearing he would be drowned. Yet Christ “upbraided them with their
unbelief’ (Mark 16:14): true, for not believing He was risen from the dead—not
for calling into question their regeneration! But Abraham is commended because”
against hope (all appearances) he “believed in hope” (Rom. 4:18): yes, and that
was that he should have a son!—how is that relevant to what we are now
discussing? But “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7): yes, the conduct
of the Apostles was governed by a realization of that which is to come (see v.
11). But “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23): but this is nothing
to the purpose; if a man does not believe it is right to do some act, and yet
ventures to do it, he sins.

Let us define more
closely the point now under discussion. We may state it thus: Does God require
anyone to believe he has been born again when he has no clear evidence that such is the case? Surely
the question answers itself: the God of Truth never asks anyone to believe a
lie. If my sins have not been
pardoned, then the more firmly convinced I am that they have been, the worse for me; and very ready is Satan to second me
in my self-deception! The Devil would have me assured that all is well with me,
without a diligent search and
thorough examination for sufficient evidence
that I am a new creature in Christ. O how many he is deceiving by making them
believe it is wrong to challenge their profession and put their hearts to a
real trial!

True, it is a sin for a real Christian so to live
that his evidences of regeneration are not clear; but it is no sin for him to
be honest and impartial, or to doubt when, in fact, his evidences are not clear. It is sin to darken my
evidences, but it is no sin to discover that they are darkened. It is a sin for a man, by rioting and drunkenness, to
make himself ill; but it is no sin to
feel he is sick, if there be grounds for it, to doubt if he will survive
his sickness. Our sins bring upon us inward
calamities as well as outward, but these are chastisements rather than sins. It
is the Christian’s sin which lays the foundation for doubts, which occasions
them; yet those doubtings are not themselves sins.

But it will be said,
Believers are exhorted to “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the
hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:6) and that “we are made partakers of Christ,
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (v. 14). Yes,
but that “confidence” is that Jesus
is the Christ, together with a true faith in Him, as is clear from the whole
context there. Nothing is more absurd than to say that professing Christians
are made partakers of Christ by holding fast the confidence that they are saved, for that is what
many a deceived soul does, and does
to the very end (Matthew 7:22). There can be no well-grounded confidence unless
it rests upon clear evidence or reliable testimony. And for that, there must be not only “the answer
of a good conscience” (1 Pet. 3:21), but the confirmatory witness of the
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

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These teachings are also available on the
MT4Christ247 YouTube 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     

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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship