In reading the OT it seems to talk a LOT about idolatry. And in today's modern milieu that seems to be quaint and from a time gone by, but we are surrounded with as many idols today as ever. The idolater does not say that there isn't a God in heaven, they just say "There are lots of gods". And then they go and petition whichever god they think will give them what they want. The idolater chooses what is a god and what isn't and when it is and when it isn't and when or if it is to be worshipped. There is no real worship or dedication. The idolater is just making a deal to get what they want. The idolater is ultimately their own god. The Real God in Heaven offers love and eternal life, but the idolaters and sorcerers just want tricks to project their personal wills. |
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So what do you do when you realize that this kingdom stuff is actually for real? What happened right after Easter and Passover/Pascha? Whats going on with Peter and Ananias? Why did it seem that Jesus was tough on Thomas? What was going on with the Resurrection and all that followed? Jesus wounds, matza bread, The link between charity and salvation, The Kingdom of God, All this and more... The readings for this week: I heavily reference the readings. Don't be lazy or you will miss out. Isaiah 55:4-56:1; Acts 4:32-5:6; Colossians 1:1-21; John 20:19-21:1 (New King James Version) Did this minister to you? Did you learn more about your faith? Was it interesting? Then support it! At Jesus' death His soul went to Hell to preach the exact same Gospel He preached in the world above. But according to Theodore of Mopsusetia (4th century), whose one of the teachers of our church, The Anointed didn't go there glowing and surrounded by angels.
This is an important because God The Word incarnated into the world of the living as an every-man. He was Joe Q Human who was born in a manger to "regular folk" parents. He made himself of no reputation and put on the garments of our humanity so that in every single way he exchanged his life for ours. Not just with floggings and death, but in his every day life, including temptations. As creator He was also uniquely a man of the people because only a creator could truly understand his creation. He dies a criminals death, we all know this, and went to Hades to preach the good news. This point has actually been a bone of contention, take a look at what the holy apostle Peter wrote: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an anti-type which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. (1 Pet 3 NKJV) So he wasn't just preaching to the righteous dead like Father Abraham, he was preaching to the "disobedient". He went below exactly as he went above and preached exactly the same gospel to the dead as to the living. There were dead blasphemers, prostitutes, sorcerers, adulterers and murderers just as there were living above. But as the King of Righteousness He went there in tender loving kindness to save them as well. God the Father left nothing to chance and nothing to be left behind in any aspect of His Creation, even through history. Everyone, whether living or dead, had an opportunity to hear the Gospel before the final judgement and could freely accept it or refuse it. Faith for the living and faith for the dead were exactly the same. Same Jesus, same Gospel, and same faith for the same Salvation. 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1) 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. (Matt 12) So you see! We have a God who sees everything and from every angle. Nothing goes unnoticed, but not so He can get us for every little thing, but so that nothing is ever left behind. Including us! As we can see, anyone in Hell is there because they want to be, even if God doesn't want hem to be there. The God who sent His Son to the Living and to the Dead did that so not a single chance would be missed. And this is because our king is a king of righteousness and love. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Today is Good Friday and its the day we celebrate and remember the self sacrifice of love that our king performed so that we may live. But in today's mind its hard to understand some of the subtle nuances to the prophesy of Isaiah stated above as not all sin is the same. "wounded for our transgressions": here "transgression" is the Hebrew word for a purposely defiant act towards God. It's not just that you were weak or overcome by something, or even that you didn't know. This is really talking about an arrogant act to confront God. Of course, it includes all sin by its extremism, but this is really the worst kind. Its an act of sin in order to separate, like when you know someone who wants to break things off with you and then purposely does something so extreme that it forces you to end it with them. It's important to note that in order for someone to do this they have to know God and the ways of God in order to even be able to betray it. This could never be done by accident or even in a fit of rage or lust. It isn't momentary, it is a changing of direction and a hardening of the heart. By it's nature it is intentional since it is the intent that is the real sin. The action was merely the trigger. "Bruised for our iniquities": here "Iniquity" has to do with a sin committed out of a moral failing or a weakness of character. It can be from uncontrollable emotion, but its purpose is not to defy God. Yet is translated as perversity and evil. It's the word most usually translated as "sin". But today sin is treated as a catch all phrase even though God carefully separated the states in his revelation to his prophets. The suffering servant is "Bruised" or crushed and made low. He has been humbled. Not from any wrong doing on his own part, but in exchange for the grip of arrogance and slavery to iniquity and the Devil. The suffering servant is enacting the remedy for damnation to people who don't even know they need it. "By His stripes we are healed": Peter in his epistle quotes this and says "By the Striped of Christ we are healed". In fact, most of 1 Peter is a commentary on this passage. The "healing" of the healed is not only ephemeral, it is a real genuine restoration of the whole person. Both the flesh and the soul of the man. Since Adam was made as a whole man of both matter and spirit, here the Suffering Messiah, who came not only for the souls of men, but "So loved the world (Cosmos or all of creation)" that he is suffering to save it from itself and to reunite it to life from God. When God made Adam he was at once made with a body and a soul. Since both were damaged with Adam's "transgression" here Jesus the New Adam is experiencing all the pain and wounds of mortality and the literal "weight of the world" in order to exchange it for a new divine life. This is why this is not just talking about a healing of the relationship between God and humanity in general, but in the healing of flesh and mind in individual people in specific. This is why Peter said so boldly, "In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise and walk!" And as we will see in the next few days, by the power of the Resurrection Jesus not only breaks the power of sin and mortality but God creates a new humanity. So in this way the suffering is also a kind of birth pangs. I want to encourage you not to wallow in self pity on this day, but instead you should be happy. But this happiness should be bounded by an understanding of the enormous love and unbelievable price that was paid by a Father who paid everything He had with The Son to restore relationship with humanity, and you in specific. It wasn't your sins that killed Christ, It was the love of the Son for His Father and for His people who didn't know Him and were helpless in the grip of the devil and the flesh. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." So who is offering the soul for the sin? It's not humanity, that's for sure. The powers in Israel didn't want this kind of Messiah and neither did Judas. They arrogantly wanted a Messiah that would validate them and make them kings over other people. They wanted to be Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar. But God sent Joseph, The Son of Suffering instead. The offering of sin came from God. Not from any wrongdoing on God's part but as the solution to the fallen humanity so that life and relationship can be restored. God told Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac at the last minute and instead Abraham found a ram caught in the thorns and that was the sacrifice. Jesus is the Lamb of God that The Father provided so that there could be peace between both God and Man. Not only an end to hostility, but a real life together of peace and joy and contentment and satisfying fulfillment. This is is why "The chastisement for our peace was upon Him". What was "the back of God" that Moses saw as God passed before him on Mt Sinai before the Law/Torah was given? God the Father has no form, and neither does The Spirit. He saw the back of The Messiah: The Lamb of God, The Son of Sufferings, sacrificed before the foundation of the Creation. He saw the very essence of all the law and the revelation of God. And until Jesus's resurrection, Moses had a unique revelation of God that could not be understood by any prophet until the sending of The Spirit to The Church. Today we are not only the inheritors of Divine life and made able to participate in the Revelations/Mysteries of God and also partakers of The Divine Nature but we are the beneficiaries of The Sacrifice of Love. So let us take a minute to make ourselves humble and honor The King who was a sacrificial lamb. Who died so that we may live, and let us pick up our own crosses and follow him. Better yet, let us live in imitation of Him and help our own brothers bear their crosses as our very own, after the example given us. The Messiah is our Passover lamb, sacrificed before the foundation of the Creation! Did this speak to you or edify your soul? Then share it with a friend or make a donation right now! It may be inconceivable that Jesus is not just Lord of Lords, but also Servant of Servants. But think about it: God made everything for us and to share it with us. Unlike in old pagan religions God was not part of the universe so he didn't need it to live, He made it for us to live with Him. Yet He served His disciples and then died for humanity as a lowly suffering slave. Today is Passover and take a look at the reading for today from the Gospels. It's not the part people like, it's the part they skim past. But don't skim past this as there is an important message that Jesus is teaching us about the true nature of being his disciple and about life. John 13:1-18 New King James Version (NKJV) Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet 13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then,your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Jesus Identifies His Betrayer 18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me Has lifted up his heel against me' I put the quotes from Jesus in red because I wanted you to all take this seriously and see what Jesus is saying, but it does need a little explaining. Washing someones feet was a very menial task that was done by women, and if they were rich then slaves or the lowly for the most part. It's like being a busboy at a restaurant, but it was also an act of hospitality. People would walk everywhere and wear sandals. They would go someplace for dinner and their feet would be all dusty and stinky. Plus they would walk over everything so the feet tracking in the world and the dust of the world was the lowest part and symbolizes a kind of ritual and spiritual uncleanness. To accentuate this point outside of the temple and tabernacle was a special basin specifically for washing feet. So you can imagine how the dinner party would smell like an old barn if they didn't get their feet washed. And Jesus must have purposely arranged for them not to get their feet washed to make this point as they certainly had dinner made for them. Then He talks about Judas raising his heel against Jesus. This was considered a grave insult for the very reasons I gave. Here Jesus is quoting Psalm 41:9 when he says this. So you can imagine the image of Jesus washing everyone's feet, making himself lower than them and giving his speech and Judas the snake just sitting there enjoying it all and then Jesus talks about the betrayal like Davids followers and closest friends betraying him and raising the heel. In other words, "I served you in love, but you just kicked me instead". It's like biting the hand that feeds you and then stabbing him in the back. Why would Judas do these things? Libraries and countless church fathers have written on Judas, but one thing is clear: Judas thought he was better than Jesus. It's the only thing I can conclude. Jesus wasn't being the Messiah that Judas wanted him to be, so it was time to destroy this Messiah until a real one showed up. When you are as big as God you can be concerned with the smallest things and when you love someone even the smallest things about them matter to you. Think of parents and children and you can really see that. And when you have spiritual power and wealth beyond the horizons of the imagination, then you can lower yourself to be a servant and to lead by example without losing anything. When you are eternal no one can take advantage of you because your resources are so enormous anything taken is microscopic by comparison. With one exception: When things are personal. But then things got personal When things are personal and its heart to heart then that is the level playing field. And here we have Jesus as a person instructing, correcting, empowering, and illuminating those men he loved and gave his life for and here we have Judas as both Satan and Adam kicking Jesus, the very Messiah who loved Judas back. There is a lesson here for all of us to keep close to our hearts to learn. Adam betrayed God's love in Eden because he thought he was better than God and he worshiped the Devil by turning his heart away from God to worship himself, becoming the first idolater and apostate. The first command was "I am the Lord God and you will not have other gods along side of me". And here is Judas deciding what is a god and what is a good Messiah. It's as if Judas was begging Jesus to be a king like Solomon or the Roman Cesar and put him in his place. Judas was even embezzling Jesus' donations and Jesus knew it and let it go. The contempt must have been staggering. But why be surprised? We have churches filled with Judases. They betray Christ every day and minute of their lives. Even Spirit filled, bible quoting, sacramentalized, and water baptized Christians. They sit in pews and on church boards and have the contempt of Balaam the false prophet. They live as functional atheists with no fear of judgement or of God's feelings. They live their lives with some aspects of morality, but there is no real connection and for a lot that I meet they don't even want a connection with God. They like the idea that God is Heaven far away and over there not meddling in things. not embarrassing them with miracles and signs of divine life. This is a harsh word from me, but its a harsh lesson if you don't learn it. In the old tradition the church fasts from meat (a type living by the flesh) every Wednesday and Friday. Why? Because Wednesday was the day of creation that God said, "let there be light" and instead Judas, as a kind of humanity, tried to kill the light and insulted and betrayed the personal love of God instead. It's a reminder to us to subdue that impulse of self destruction to kick God out of our lives. Friday was the day that God made the first Human to live and have a very close relationship with Him of real connection. The first Adam committed a kind of suicide by denying life but the Love of God is not like our love. God loves us more than we can ever love ourselves, so God gave us a new Adam in order to save us. God the Father understood that we were helpless int eh grip of the fear of death and of judgement so it was time for Jesus to conquer the cosmos and to give life to our fallen humanity by descending into hell and conquering the Devil there and with his Resurrection freeing Adam from hell so he could return to Paradise. the importance and lesson of this is why we quote it in the Nicean creed every week. It is time for all of us to take this holy week and ask ourselves a very serious question: Am I the kicker or am I the washer? If you are the "washer" don't feel so bad if you get a few kicks. Even Jesus got that so you are in good company. Christ is risen for us! When Jesus cursed the Fig tree what was He talking about? Why was he calling the Priests at the Temple a bunch of gangsters? The blind men calling to Him, did they already see? All these things and more in this sermon. Plus, the true nature of repentance explained. This weeks Readings: Its very important to do the readings and to see all the prophesies concerning Christ so you can see how they tie into the Gospel. Genesis 49:1-13; Genesis 49:22-27; Zechariah 3:7-4:7; Zechariah 3:11-4:1; Zechariah 7:9-11; Zechariah 8:4-6; Zechariah 8:12; Zechariah 8:16-20; Zechariah 9:9-13; Romans 11:13-25; Matthew 20:29-21:23 (New King James Version) You've probably been told your whole life that repentance is always about sorrow, shame, and self incrimination. There might have even been an accusingly sinister, hateful, and sadistic tone to talking about repentance as I had encountered from both Catholic priests and Baptist preachers when I was a boy. But shame and sorrow is not always the case as is shown in the Gospel of Luke with Zacceus the Tax Collector. The Old testament and event the New have a lot of sorrow involved in repentance, and that is understandable when you suddenly realize that you have led a wasted life as was the case of Mary Magdalene. Those tears of repentance can also be tears of release as the chains of the Devil are broken off of your soul, But sometimes there is joy instead. Take a look at the life giving words of Luke 19 to see the clear picture of this: 1And when Yeshua entered and passed through Jericho, 2A certain man was there whose name was Zakkai; he was a rich man and Chief of Tax Collectors,3And he wanted to see who Yeshua was and he was not able to from the crowd because Zakkai was small in stature. A short man, in a way this is symbolic of humility. His smallness eventually made him a giant. In the Jewish thought of the day any birth defects or health problems were the result of sin. As a small man he would have been mocked and shunned his whole life. This might have led him to eventually become a tax collector which was also a hated profession. 4And he ran before it to Yeshua and he climbed up a bare fig tree to see him because he was going to pass by there. The fig tree is often a symbol of Israel and spiritual fruitfulness. 5And when he came to that place, Yeshua saw him and said to him, “Hasten, come down, Zakkai, for today I must stay at your house.” Here Jesus prophetically calls to Zakkai. 6And he made haste and he came down and received him rejoicing. 7But when all of them saw it, they were all complaining and they were saying, “He entered and lodged with a man that is a sinner.” Because Zaccheus was a tax collector the Jews viewed him as a servant of the Roman opressors. Tax collectors were also known to notoriously corrupt and would add their own personal taxes on top of the taxes for Rome, but as we will see Zaccheus wasn't so corrupt. To the Jews a "Sinner" wasn't the same as a non-jew. They called them "the goyim" or "Godless nations". A sinner was a person who had received knowledge of God but chose to live apart from that and so they went "Off the path", also called "Trespases". Today we would call that an apostate. 8Then Zakkai arose and he said to Yeshua, “Behold, my Lord, I give half my wealth to the poor, and anything that I have seized I repay fourfold to every man.” Who told Zaccheus to do that? Jesus didn't say, "give money to the poor". He didn't ask him if he cheated anyone. All he said was' "Let me come to your house today". This is the effect of holiness and the Holy Spirit with conviction. It doesn't always blame you, but it does show you what you should do. In this case giving to the needy was a command of God and an act of repentance and righteousness (tsedaka or charity or setting things right, a form of a lifestyle of repentance) on the part of Zaccheus who had heard but now inwardly knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God. Jesus had reached out to Zakkai with love and now Zakkai was going to reflect that love to the object of Gods love: The needy. Furthermore, he had not been cheating anyone but pledged to pay anyone he had wronged 4 times that amount in keeping with the Law of Moses. Zakkai was making the inner house of his heart ready for Jesus. Jesus said "I must come to your house today", now Zakkai was getting it ready with repentance in the same way you prepare a room with nice linens and furnishings for an honored guest. 9Yeshua said to him, “Today, The Life has come to this house, because This One also is The Son of Abraham.” 10“For The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Notice how Jesus calls this "The Life". He didn't say, "getting saved", He was talking about something ongoing, that is "The Life". The life and The Path are inseparable in that Jesus is "the Life and The Path". But what really sticks out to me is the unmitigated joy Zaccheus felt. He gave half his belongings and gained the whole universe and eternal life. As Jesus arrived and chose him by name Zaccheus joined Jesus in an act of righteousness with his charitable act of giving half his wealth. Just as the tears are an outward reaction of the inward reality here too Zakkai, the small man in a barren fruit tree, has made room for Jesus in his house and become a giant tree bearing the fruit of righteousness. + Stan Did this help you or speak to you? Then make a donation right now. The Great Fast/Lent is about Repentance, but I find the concept to generally be greatly misunderstood. Its not crying - although you may cry. Its not about sackcloth and ashes - although that can be part of it. What it is about is changing your direction. The literal meaning is to turn around.
What are you giving up for Great Fast/Lent? You aren't giving up anything, instead you are putting something on: You are taking off the clothes of the fallen world and you are putting on the resurrected Christ. You are giving up lies, and illusions, and prison, and you are putting on life and immortality. You are preparing to meet Christ at Passover and to participate in his victory over death. 12The night has passed and the day has arrived, therefore let us strip off the works of darkness from us, and let us put on the armor of light. 13And let us walk in a right manner as those in the daytime, not in partying, not in drunkenness, not in orgies, not in envy or in fighting, 14But put on our Lord Yeshua The Messiah and do not be concerned for the desires of your flesh. (Rom 13 - Aramaic Bible in Plain English) Just as you only need a mustard seed of faith and the rest can be grown, you only need to have the same amount of repentance and the rest can be grown also. Just as every small sin can lead to bigger sins then every act of righteousness is rewarded with bigger acts of righteousness. That is, you are rewarded with further participation with God in mystical life and a qualitative life worth living. Turning around in your walk is not only leaving sin. In which case you would still be selfish, but rather you are walking towards the spiritual Jerusalem where Jesus is seated and you are walking with The Spirit. The Written Law had kept us while we were closed off to the faith that was going to be revealed. 24The Written Law was therefore a guide for us to The Messiah that we would be made right by faith. 25But when the faith came we were not under a guide. 26For you are all children of God by the faith of Yeshua The Messiah. 27For those who have been baptized into The Messiah have put on The Messiah. (Gal 3 - Aramaic Bible in Plain English) So you are giving up something for lent? Not really. It's time to go the extra step and to put on Christ. Don't tell me what you aren't doing for the Great Fast/Lent, tell me what you ARE doing for God. Read from the words of the Holy Prophet Isaiah: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ The true meaning of the fast linked with the repentance is to give up mortality and everything associated with death and the fallen world and to put on the immortal life which is not only a gift of duration - in that you wont truly die, but also a life of meaning and quality. Are you a Meat Head?
I used to love All in The Family when I was a kid. It was really the biggest show on TV. In that show Archie Bunker would call his son in law a "Meat Head - Dead meat from the neck up". The Season of The Great Fast/Lent isn't about not eating meat. That is a childish view. It is about breaking the grip of the flesh on the soul and your life so you can participate with God in a demonstrable way. So are you a meat head? Do you run your life by your own reasoning? Are you motivated by your passions, or anger, out of control need for power, fear, or feelings of jealousy, inadequacy, or revenge? Are you always trying to promote yourself? Are you unable to feel love or empathize with the struggles of others? "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." (Rom 7:22-23) Then its time to get a grip on yourself and you gotta get rid of what you don't need to give room to God. And you do this very precisely by living by the fruit of the Spirit. Not floating and living by your impulses under the false guise of spirituality but by LIVING through your ACTIONS by the fruit of the Spirit: Peace, love, joy, gentleness, patience, kindness, meekness, etc. Fasting is good and prayer is essential, but ultimately you really have to do it. You have to make yourself forgive and be generous even to people you don't like. You have to make yourself be patient even though you want to run away. You have to make yourself be gracious even though you want to slap someones stupid mouth. You have to make yourself have self control when you want to really give someone a piece of your mind. You have to make yourself be brave when you are really stunned by fear. You have to make yourself go on when you don't know for certain the outcome and go step-by-step, and day-by-day by faith in God. And we have the Spirit to help us. Or, you can be a meat head, destroy your own life, live consumed by your childish needs and struggles, hurt other people, and in general be a jackass with less sense than Balaam's ass. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom 8) Carnally minded means to be a Meat-Head. It sounds more poetic, but that's what it means. Regarding adversity and adversaries: "2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
Adversity and adversaries knock off the burrs and smooth our rough edges. It's always easier in hindsight to look fondly at foes and misfortune but it is the hardship that grows a man. Yet, it is the victory that makes the struggle worthwhile and turns the bitterness to sweetness. But, as James points out, You have to have the ardor and perseverance to get to the sweet part. Perhaps it is the struggle that makes you value the prize more. |
Bsp-Elect Stan SmithWith the Apostolic Church of St Thomas (Formerly Orthodox Church of The East in America) teaches apostolic faith and apostolic power in the love of Christ. Archives
January 2016
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