I Can’t Give Them What I Got but My Walk May Show Them the Way – Purity 1718
Purity 1718 07/24/2025 Purity 1718 Audio Podcast
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of a sandy boardwalk trail dividing a hill of green and leading to an unknown body of water comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this scene on social media back on August 1, 2021. If this memory is yours, let me know and I will photo-credit you on the blog after the fact.
Well, It’s Thursday and I share this pathway photo, as is my habit on Thursdays, to visually represent the pathway of Christian Discipleship and to encourage others to get on or to stay on the narrow way that leads to life, peace, and joy.
Last night the Celebrate Freedom Support Group began its second round of Christian Recovery and Discipleship teachings for 2025 and although I was excited to welcome some new comers to our group, I ended the night with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow as I was happy that our group was able to provide a safe place and encouragement for people who are seeking God’s help to overcome their hurts, habits, and hang-ups of the past, but I also felt that there is no way I could possibly share all the things that I have learned through my fifteen years of born again faith and ten years of Chrisitan recovery. But as much as I would love to be able to download the lessons I have learned into others in an instant, the path of Christian Discipleship doesn’t work that way. As much as we can learn from other Christians about what it is like to live for God, in order to reap the benefits of a life with God, we actually have to do it in practice. God is a teacher who likes to teach us on an individual basis and although our individual pathways of the Christian faith may be similar to one another, we all have an individual purpose in God’s kingdom and the Lord shapes and molds us toward that end.
As I went through the introduction – The ABC’s of Celebrate Freedom – and lead people through some basic principles of how a Christian sees the world and “does recovery”, I felt that I wasn’t conveying what I meant to teach adequately. My desire to impart the wisdom of living in the way of Jesus is strong but by the end of the night, I realized something that humbled me: “I can’t give them what I got.” I can’t give them 15 years of learning and the experiences of trying to live as a Christian disciple in a single evening. But what I can do is show up next week and encourage them again and walk beside them to do life together until the Lord reveals to them the things that are important that He taught to me. I may not be able to “give them what I got” but my walk with God may show them the way.
Speaking of discipleship and trying to disciple others, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses that topic so I am sharing it on the blog, to encourage us all to try to go into all the world and make disciples. David Jeremiah writes:
“DUPLICATIONS
Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. – Philippians 3:17, NLT
Have you heard of mimeograph machines? They preceded photocopiers, scanners, and 3-D printers. For many churches, the first opportunity to print their own materials came with mimeograph machines. A waxed-paper stencil was inserted into the typewriter, which cut letters onto the film. The film was rolled around an ink drum which was turned with a crank.
The church has always been in the duplication business. Our main object of duplication is people. The Lord Jesus stamps His image on us, and as others pattern their lives after ours, we help them grow to be duplicates of Christ.
God’s Word must be passed on to those who aren’t as far along as we are in our Christian walks. Through formal discipleship programs or informal times of sharing God’s Word, giving counsel, and praying together, let your life guide someone closer to Jesus. Ask God to duplicate Christ’s likeness in you, then through you!” – David Jeremiah
There are few people whom God calls to do great things for him, but the best thing most of us can do in this world is to live out a real, simple, beautiful, strong Christian life in our allotted place. Thus in our little measure we shall repeat the life of the Master himself. – J. R. Miller
Amen. Since Jesus died, was risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, there have been a countless number of people who have come to put their faith in Him.
Of those countless people, there are some “super saints” – The Apostles are really in a class by themselves but there has also been other men and women throughout history who were used by God to share the gospel to win multitudes to Christ or who exemplified what it means to be a Christian. However, inspiring the stories of the Apostles and the other “famous Christians” are we shouldn’t let their examples make us feel “less than” or insignificant.
We can’t all be Billy Graham or Martin Luther.
But what we can be is an authentic Christian and touch the lives of those within our reach.
The mystery of our faith and the power to overcome are not common knowledge. The world needs to know the truth about Jesus and what a relationship with God through faith in Him can do.
So, as we follow the Lord and seek the blessings of a life lived with Him, we should also share our journey with others. The ministry of “living a simple Christian life” is for all Christians. We can all be a light in the darkness and a voice for hope, freedom, love and joy.
We may not be able to teach everything we have learned or give everything we have received from God to others but if we are true to the path God has put us on He will use us and our example of faith to give people what they need to come closer to God.
Our light can show people the way, the truth, and the life.
That’s all we can ask for and I assure you that is more than enough.
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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. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
2 Peter 1:3 (NIV) His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Today’s verses fall under the fifth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
5. God has given us all we need for life and godliness.
Today’s Bible verses tell it like it is – that we have already been given everything we need for a godly life.
I believe a big part of our transformation towards healing and freedom in Christ happens when we come into alignment with the spiritual realities that we have received when we first believed and put our faith in Jesus Christ.
Before Christ, we were conditioned to live according to our own ideas about what is best for our lives where we are usually driven by our selfish desires to just, please ourselves. Unfortunately, the world, the flesh, and the devil tempt us to sin – to get instant gratification regardless of morality – and the longer we live in sin, the harder it is to believe in the gospel and the harder it will be to accept the truth of the miracle that happens when we finally enter God’s kingdom, through our faith in Jesus.
However, the truth is that our new life in Christ happens the instant we put our faith in Jesus and the quicker we agree with what the Lord says about our new identity in Christ, the sooner we will experience the peace and joy that comes from being born again and living a life of simple obedience to God’s word.
We have been given everything we need for life and godliness – so start believing in it and living according to it. God has set us free. So submit to Him, and His wisdom and ways, to discover the gifts that are already yours.
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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 “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 217
That which is highly valued by people is an abomination before God. – Luke 16:15
Jesus is still thinking about the love of money. The Pharisees, who were money-lovers, made fun of Jesus because of his words about serving two masters. Doubtless, they thought that they could serve both God and money. At any rate, they weren’t about to give up money—they valued it too much. But there is the crux of the matter: their basic value system was flawed. They had not gleaned it from the Scriptures but from the “wisdom” of men. Claiming to fence the Scriptures, they made them of no value because of the traditions that they valued more highly. The same problem exists in the church today: people acquire their values from the world around them rather than from God’s Word. What a difference it would make in the effectiveness of the church in general, and of individual Christians as well, were that to change. What if believers begin to search out God’s values and to live by them. By the way, where do your values come from?[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 225.
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