Easy As Sunday Morning – Purity 1425
Purity 1425 08/12/2024 Purity 1425 Audio Podcast
Purity 1425 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of sunrise pouring through a row of pines and over the green grass of a local golf course comes to us from MJ Clark who shared this scene on social media, wishing all his friends a “Happy Sunday”.
Well, It’s Monday, and on this first day of the work week, I hope that you had a Happy Sunday but it’s my prayer that you spent some of your time yesterday worshipping the Lord. I was in a rush during the morning commute to church yesterday because I had to grab a few clothing items from my dresser in my countryside home at the last minute because I go on vacation Friday night and wanted to be sure to have what I needed for two nights in a tent in the Adirondacks but even though I started a little later on my trek into church than I would have liked to I wasn’t annoyed. I was happy to be going to church and as I was trying to get to the church on time my thoughts turned to the possibility of what it would be like to not have God and the community of my local church in my life.
It was difficult to imagine life without church on Sunday because my faith encompasses more than just the couple of hours of a Sunday church service so I had to reach back into the darkness of my past to remember what it was like during the few years of my life where there was no church at all, and surmised that if I didn’t go to church on Sunday, I would probably sleep in and watch TV.
That might not sound so tragic a fate and it may even sound like a good way to spend your time, but I have spent too much time in the presence of the Lord to ever want to stop seeking Him and shudder to think of the spiritual darkness I would have to slink back into to contemplate living a secular “normal” life again.
You see I have come out of the darkness of a lifestyle of sin and even a few years in a false religion and I have witnessed enough evidence of God’s kingdom and the demonic forces of darkness to ever want to go back to a life without God again.
So as I hurried to get to church, it was easy to rejoice in the fact that I was going to church and that I was fully accepted as a child of God. As I drove past multitudes of people who were engaged in other activities and who were more than likely irreligious, or did know God like I know God, I felt simultaneously sorry and sad for them and extremely happy for me. I know how rare the revelation and knowledge of God that I have received and experienced are and as I thought about it, I became more determined to work to share this good news with others and to work for God in whatever capacity He would call me to expand His kingdom. I also became very enthusiastic to praise the Lord at church!
As I drew closer to church, I became more excited and at one intersection I had the idea that they really should blast that “stadium music” outside of church. You know the kind of music I’m talking about, right? The kind that gets you fired up for a ball game, were its largely instrumental and accentuated with vocal cries of “Hey!” or “Yeah!” – That would be awesome!
But then as I pulled into my well attended enthusiastic church, I realized that even among believers the joy I was experiencing was a little bit more than was common. I was ready to jump up and down and scream Hallelujah and everybody else is just there for church. But I didn’t have any time to be disappointed because it was only a couple of minutes before our worship team came out and encouraged us to get up and sing.
So, I got up and sang and even though there seemed to be less people in attendance than normal (our lead pastor was away… maybe that’s why…really guys?) I got up to praise like it was standing room only. My church is popular but not exactly charismatic so the masses around me weren’t fully engaged to worship but my enthusiasm to praise the Lord was not daunted. I just closed my eyes to ignore the lukewarm responses around me and praised the Lord with the love for Him that I was feeling.
When you get in touch with your love for the Lord. It’s easy to go to church, it’s easy to follow Jesus, and It’s easy to sing! It’s as easy as Sunday morning. God’s amazing grace has set me free from the ideas that I had to work to be accepted and our history together has taught me just how good He is and how good it is to live with Him.
I can’t imagine not worshipping Him on Sunday and I don’t want to ever imagine going back to a world system that doesn’t know about grace.
David Jeremiah’s Turning Point Daily Devotional reminds us that we don’t have to work so hard as Christians. It reminds us that is not by our works that we are accepted by God but by faith. This is always a good thing to remember in our performance based world system, so I am sharing it on the blog today. David Jeremiah writes:
For Not By
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
“Martin Luther is viewed as the father of the Protestant Reformation in the early sixteenth century in Europe. As a monk, he lived a life of despair, fearing his penance, fasting, pilgrimages, and discipline would never gain him the favor with God for which he longed. And he was right. It was not until he discovered Romans 1:17—“The just shall live by faith [not by works]”—that he found peace with God.
The doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ can be a stumbling block for works-oriented people. Everything we gain in life is by hard work and self-discipline—or so the modern mantra tells us. But the Bible has a different message: Only by trusting in the finished work of Christ can we be justified in God’s sight. Good works are important, to be sure. But we are saved for good works, not by good works (Ephesians 2:10).
Don’t try to gain God’s favor by working for Him. Instead, receive His favor (grace) by believing in Him through His Son.”
“We must come to good works by faith, and not to faith by good works.”
William Gurnall
Amen. Remember that we don’t “have to” work to be accepted by God by doing good works, like going to church. We are accepted because of our faith in Jesus not over anything that we will do.
No, instead rest in knowing that your sins are forgiven and that God loves you just the way you are.
Let His love for you pour over and through you to move you to rejoice and to do good things out of the love He has given.
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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 verse comes from the section on the Forgiveness of Sins (God’s Forgiveness).
Psalm 32:5 (ESV)
5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Today’s verse falls under the fourth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on the Forgiveness of Sins (God’s Forgiveness).
4. God readily forgave David when he repented and confessed his sin.
Today’s verse provides us with a model to seek the Lord’s forgiveness.
- Acknowledge your sin. Admit to yourself that you are not living the way that you are supposed to according to God’s word.
- Don’t’ try to cover it up. Be honest. We are only as sick as our secrets so get healthy by not having any.
- Confess your sin to the Lord. Don’t just know in your mind or heart you did wrong. Talk to God and confess that you have sinned against Him and commit yourself to following Him.
- Receive God’s forgiveness. Thank God for the forgiveness that you have through your faith in Christ and receive it by letting go of any guilt and shame. Rejoice that your sin is forgiven, that God loves you, and that you can begin to walk in the “newness of life” again.
We are not perfect and while we can make progress to becoming more and more like the people God created us to be, we may stumble and mess up from time to time. So, remember this verse and this process, so you can be real with God, receive His love and help, and move forward with the joy of the Lord.
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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: 1 THESSALONIANS 2
“You are witnesses.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:10
Paul’s life was such that he could boldly say, “You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe” (v. 10). How much like his Lord! The Lord Jesus could say, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46).
He uses three words to describe the character of his behavior when at Thessalonica:
Holy. This was in relation to God. He says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
Righteous. This was in relation to his own life. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness” (Ps. 23:3).
Unblameable. This was in relation to the outside world, other believers, etc. He was blameless.
Lord, let my life be a testimony of holiness,
righteousness, and blamelessness.[1]
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
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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