From Darkness to Light – A Mindful of Christ Message of Hope and Power – Purity 1180

From Darkness to Light – A Mindful of Christ Message
of Hope and Power – Purity 1180

Purity 1180 10/24/2023   Purity 1180 Podcast

Purity 1180 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a solitary figure walking towards a
doorway illuminated by daylight, like Jesus emerging from the tomb, comes to us
from Lauren Roskilly and MindfulofChrist.net (https://mindfulofchrist.net/from-darkness-to-light/?utm_source=Mindful+of+Christ&utm_campaign=2ec2391336-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71432b340e-2ec2391336-537173128&mc_cid=2ec2391336&mc_eid=539e18b8b8)
whose testimony of overcoming several “hurts, habits, and hang-ups” through her
faith in Jesus Christ is an inspiration to all who are making their way out of
the darkness of their pre-Christ existence into the new life that is available to
all who put their faith in Jesus.     

Well, It’s Tuesday and as I was burning the midnight
oil last night getting what needed to be done for today, tomorrow, and Thursday,
finished I have decided to highlight Lauren’s work this morning on the blog and
podcast because I am preparing to lead a brother in Christ through the first
half of the Steps to Freedom in Christ this evening and just finished a
lightning quick run through the Steps for myself this morning to clean house of
any heaviness I might have been carrying before we sit down to lead our friend
through the Steps and into possible enemy territory.  

So I feel great spiritually but am admittedly a
little tired and thought I would share MindfulofChrist.net’s Lauren Roskilly’s
latest blog post encouragement and an original poem she penned and shared with
all of her ministry supporters this week.  

Darkness to Light

A Poem by Lauren Roskilly

The
darkness is there, where there is no light,

Those
who are walking in it can be blind; without sight.

They
go and they stumble and their hearts may be hardened,                              

By
indulging in impurities their worlds can be darkened

Trying
to fulfill their lives with any deceitful desire,

Make
new the attitude of the mind and stub out the flames of the fire.

Don’t
let the enemy have a foothold; Repent and sin no longer,

Accept
Jesus, the Light of the world, then in every moment we can become stronger.

The
light can drown out the dark and the shadows will run from it,

Everything
exposed by the light will become visible, so let’s be filled with the Spirit.

Let’s
throw up our hands and worship him, turn from our wrongs, put ourselves right.

Accept
God, His Son and the Holy Spirit And wrap ourselves in light.

 

I love Lauren’s poetic call for repentance because I
know there is life to be found in the light of Jesus. 

And now from the Mindful of Christ.net– Word for Wednesday
last week, we present Lauren’s message based on Acts 4:13 – a verse that I just
happened to read this morning as part of my normal Bible study- so I think we
are on point with sharing this as it seems Lauren and I are “tracking with the
Spirit!  Lauren writes:

“Acts
4:13 (NLT2)
¹³  The members of the council
were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see
that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They
also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

“Have
you accepted Jesus as your Saviour? If so then not only have you been with Jesus,
but Jesus is living inside of you!

That
fact can give you the boldness that you need to share the good news of Jesus to
those around you.

Peter
and John were in front of the council because in Jesus’ name the lame man, back
in chapter 3, was healed. They then went on to teach about Jesus and at least
5000 people gave their life to Christ! Wow! They did this through the authority
and power of Jesus Christ. They didn’t have any qualifications or training they
simply followed and obeyed Jesus.

And
you can too!

So go
and heal the sick (James 5:15) and go and share the good news of Jesus. (Mark
16:15) as the Lord guides you.

You
have Jesus’ authority, power, and boldness in you! 🙌

Who
can you share the gospel with this week?” (https://mindfulofchrist.net/the-power-of-jesus-is-in-you/?utm_source=Mindful+of+Christ&utm_campaign=2ec2391336-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71432b340e-2ec2391336-537173128&mc_cid=2ec2391336&mc_eid=539e18b8b8)

Lauren’s short encouragement points out that we are
given authority to do the work God has for us to do. So whether or not you are
given miraculous powers, the light of the gospel that every disciple of Jesus
Christ carries has the power to “heal the sick”. Eternal life through Christ cures
our terminal disease of death and the power of repentance that He grants to believers
through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can cast out demons and
transform lives. 

So share the gospel and walk in the power Jesus
Christ has given all believers by sharing His word, wisdom, and love and
applying it to your life and the lives of those around you. 

——————————————————————————————–

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 verses come from the section on Bitterness, Resentment,
& Hate.

Proverbs 26:24-26 (NIV2011)
²⁴  Enemies disguise
themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit.
²⁵  Though their speech is
charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts.
²⁶  Their malice may be
concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

Today’s
verses fall under the ninth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Bitterness,
Resentment, & Hate.

 9. The way of a malicious man is deceitful

Today’s verses warn us to
be wise in discerning when it comes to believing the things we hear because enemies
disguise their deceitful words with charming speech and while their malice can
be concealed with deception, their wickedness will be exposed in the light of
the assembly of those who know the truth.  

The way that federal
agents are trained to spot counterfeit currency is not to study the techniques
of forgers but to study and familiarize themselves with the real McCoy.  They don’t look at funny money, they study and
learn to know the real thing by sight, smell, and touch. They experience the authenticity
of paper currency by examining and handling the real thing. They are trained to
have an experiential knowledge of what real money is so that when a counterfeit
bill gets mixed in with the real one, they stand out like a sore thumb. 

And so we should
familiarize ourselves with the truth of God’s word and Sprit, so when someone
tries to deceive us, we can see that although they have framed their lies in a
pretty package, they are not the truth.   

So know the truth that
will set you free and walk in the truth with the way you live your life by
knowing Jesus, the Living word of God. 
When you know Him, you will spot the false because it will contradict
what He said and stick out like and be exposed for the counterfeit that it is.

——————————————————————–

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

31 – The Spirit Endowing

Practice
of Gifts in the Church Meeting – 1 of 2

Our discussion upon the Person and work of
the Holy Spirit would lack completeness if we ignored the fantastic and
fanatical view which some have taken regarding 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 as the
Divine pattern and ideal for “the open meeting” of the local church today. We
refer to those who decry a “one-man ministry” and who encourage an “any-man
minis-try” under the guise of allowing the Spirit full freedom to move and use
any whom Christ has “gifted.” It is insisted that here in 1 Corinthians 14 we
behold different ones endowed with various gifts taking part in the same
meeting, yet strange to say these very people readily acknowledge that the gift
of tongues has ceased—but this very
chapter prescribes how that gift was
and was not to be used!

Now in the first
place there is not a single statement in all the New Testament that the
practice which obtained at Corinth
prevailed generally in other churches of that day, still less that the
assemblies of the saints in all generations were to be patterned after their order. Rather is there much to
show that what obtained at Corinth was not
the regular mode established by Christ and His Apostles. The fact is that not
only were the conditions at Corinth merely transitory
and exceptional, but they were fraught
with much evil. In no other church of apostolic days was there such
disorder and carnality. “Gifts” were valued there more highly than grace,
knowledge than love, and the consequence was that the possessors of those
miraculous gifts, by their pride and forwardness, neutralized whatever good
those gifts accomplished. The reason for that is not far to seek: they had no governing head or heads and
no Divinely authorized teacher or teachers. The absence of elders made them like an army without officers, or a
school without masters. Where all were equal, none would submit; where all
wanted to teach, none would learn.

So far from the
Corinthian church supplying a pattern for all others to follow, it stands
before us a most solemn warning and
sample of what ensues when a company of Christians is left without a Divinely
qualified leader. The most terrible laxity of discipline obtained: one member
was living in adultery with his father’s second wife (5:1), while others were
getting drunk at the Lord’s table (11:21). Those fearful sins (which would not
be tolerated today in any Christian church worthy of the name) were winked at,
because the assembly was split into parties through want of a controlling head
(an under-shepherd of Christ), and because the sinning members belonged to the
majority, the minority was powerless.

Besides the fearful
laxity of discipline, the grossest irregularities prevailed at their public
meetings for the worship of God. There was neither unity, order, edifying ministry,
nor decorum. One had his “psalm,” another his “doctrine,” another his “tongue,”
another his “revelation,” and yet another his “interpretation” (1 Cor.
14:26)—which is mentioned by the Apostle not
by way of commendation, but as a rebuke
for their disorder, as is quite evident from the final clause of that verse, as
also from verse 40: carefully compare the opening words of verses 15 and 26! As
another has said, “Here, then, all were charged, as it were, to the muzzle, and
each wanting to have the first say,
the longest say, and the loudest say. They did not wish to edify,
but to show off.”

Now it was in view of
such a situation that the Apostle was
moved of God to pen 1 Corinthians 14, in order to correct these abuses and to
lay down rules for the regulation of those who possessed the extraordinary
gifts of prophesying and speaking in tongues. But this very fact at once over-throws that theory which has been
built on an erroneous conception of this chapter! Not only is there not a
single statement elsewhere in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit is the President over assemblies, or
that He is ever present in any other sense than that He dwells in individual
believers, but 1 Corinthians 14 itself is very far from teaching that the
Spirit presides over the local church, and requires those who have been
“gifted” by Christ to wait on Him, and be governed entirely by His inward
promptings. Surely it is perfectly obvious that inward promptings of the Spirit
render quite needless such rules and regulations as are given here!^[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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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship