”It Sets the Soul Free” – Purity 1409
Purity 1409 07/24/2024 Purity 1409 Audio Podcast
Purity 1409 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of an unnamed Florida beach scene at sunset comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this memory on social media yesterday of his saying goodbye to the sunshine state for a “so-far” permanent home in the mountains of West North Carolina with the following poem:
I’ll soon leave the palm trees
The beach and the sea.
The call of the mountains
It beckons to me.
Up in the mountains
Is where I will roam
Up in the mountains
A place I’ll call home.
In all of my travels
So much I have learned
For a home in the mountains
I always have yearned.
A sparkling brook
A cool waterfall
The view from the summit
The colors of fall
The call of the mountains
It beckons to me
A home in the mountains
It sets the soul free.
Thank You, Fred! Finding a place where we can be ourselves and have peace is a big part of experiencing our freedom. And I share Fred’s remembrance today to remind us that another part of maintaining our sense of freedom, peace, contentment, and joy in our lives lies in our ability to celebrate where we have been, what we have overcome, and where we are now. When we remember our victories of the past, we can have joy today.
Well, It’s Wednesday and this evening, the Celebrate Freedom Support Group at Starpoint Church begins its second season for 2024, as we launch the Celebrate Recovery teachings series with Lesson 1: Denial. I look forward to seeing what the Lord will do in the weeks and months ahead as our leadership team is equipped and ready to walk alongside anyone who is willing to show up and allow the Lord to help them overcome their hurts, habits, and hangups.
I know from experience that the Lord can do amazing things in the lives of people who trust in Him and as I contemplate the past nine of my recovery from drugs and alcohol, I am not only celebrating my great escape from the darkness of my past, I am celebrating the transformation that God has brought to my life as I didn’t just stop certain harmful activities that I was addicted to as much as I have become guided to become more and more the person God created me to be.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) tells us that
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
As much as this verse is true about us the moment we put our faith in Christ in many ways as we are forgiven of our sins, adopted as God’s children, become citizens of heaven, and are given the title of saints, the new creation that God intends for us to be also requires repentance as we have to intentionally choose the new life God has for us and turn and walk away from those old ways of living that should rightly pass away. A
When we say goodbye to those old habits, hurts, and hangups – we also may have to say goodbye to the people, places, and things that would keep us in bondage.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NLT2) advises us:
14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
15 What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
16 And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.
18 And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”
The body of Christ is God’s people and when we choose to follow Jesus into the new life we have through faith in Him, it is best to form new associations and friendships that would encourage us to walk in the Spirit and to grow into the people that God created us to be.
The local church and small groups like the Celebrate Freedom Support Group at Starpoint Church give us a new home and a new family of faith that can help us to be set free from the ways of the past and to grow into the people that God made us to be.
I am looking forward to a new season of growth for myself and for those who will find their way to our church and support group. The most important thing about us is who we are in Christ and when we find a place where we can be honest, vulnerable, and open to God’s possibilities, we can see the power of God do the work that we didn’t think was possible. With God, all things are possible, but you have to keep on walking and talking with Him to see just how amazing His grace can be.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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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 False Prophets, Teachers.
Jeremiah 5:30-31 (NKJV)
30 “An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
Today’s verses fall under the thirteenth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on False Prophets, Teachers.
13. A horrible, shocking thing happened in Jeremiah’s time. False prophets spread lies and the people loved it.
Today’s verses reflect the tendency for men to like to hear an “easy word” preached, a word that won’t expose the sin in their lives or convict them to change. Some churches don’t teach hell, stewardship, sexual sin, repentance, or anything that might cause a stir. Sometimes the Bible can be taught from in such a way as to dismiss the very lessons it was intended to teach. There are so many different denominations and types of churches out there that it is difficult to postulate that they are all teaching the truth as God intended and it is more likely that man has created their own house of the holy to meet their tastes more than God’s will.
If your church doesn’t stress evangelism and repentance – being a disciple and going and making disciples of Jesus Christ and being holy as God is holy, you may be a member of an apostate church that is more concerned with the opinions of man than being obedient to God. Your church’s teachings should convict, but not condemn, you to be sanctified and to be intentional about saving the lost and spreading the gospel. Don’t love your church unless it is challenging you to serve God’s kingdom and become more like Jesus.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com 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 “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
EVENING READING: GALATIANS 6
“If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are
spiritual restore such a one.” – Galatians 6:1
Here is a truth that needs emphasizing in the Church today. Indeed, it needs to be stressed in one’s personal life, too. How easy it is to condemn a brother who has been overtaken in some trespass. But we are told, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt. 7:1), and “restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1).
The failure to do this lies in the fact that there are few real spiritual Christians today. “You who are spiritual,” says the apostle (v. 1). In other words, “You that are Spirit-filled.” And no one can be Spirit-filled without exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit.
One of these fruits is gentleness. For restoring a brother, this spirit of gentleness must be exhibited. Jesus was the gentlest man in all the earth (see also Matt. 11:26).
Lord, may I always remember Your gentleness
and restoration on my behalf when I encounter
someone overcome by sin.[1]
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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