Ep. 158: Following up on the work of God

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the Light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth, and grant that we may be

obedient to your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O you.

Who enlightens the rational with the knowledge of Your greatness?

Do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate

upon Your holy and divine Scriptures at all times, O Lord

of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Forever is a dead faith.

Faith confirms and complete is completed, is confirmed, is

completed, is fulfilled by our deeds.

This is what we spoke about last episode.

Faith confirmed and completed by deeds which precede the faith

that a baptism, what have you in a life of devotion to Christ.

And we quoted James chapter 2 verses 14 to 24.

James 2:14–24

We ascertained that the term or the words, you know, beloved,

the 2 words and I I had a post on post on post book on

Facebook. Faith alone.

These two words faith alone appear only once in the Holy

Scriptures. Faith alone, they appear only

once in the Holy Scriptures. And even there it is indicating

that faith alone is not sufficient for justification

made righteous or to be saved. And we we read James chapter 2

James 2:24

verse 24 where he writes, you see that by works a man is

justified and not from faith alone.

That's the only verse in the Scriptures that these two words,

faith alone appear. Our beloved brothers and sisters

from the Protestant churches like to quote Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2:8

2, verse 8. For it is by the by His grace

that we have been saved through faith.

Let me read it again. Did you pick that up?

For it is by His grace I'm going to talk about that, that we have

been saved through faith, not faith alone, the word faith

alone, the 2 words faith alone don't appear there, it's just

through faith. But James when he quotes faith

alone is telling us that by works a man is justified and not

from faith alone, right? Not meaning only works without

faith and not meaning faith without works.

Now also salvation, you know, again, many understands it, but

salvation, just putting it simply, is a gift of God's

grace, the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which was given

to us as a pledge. So salvation is a gift of God's

grace and we receive, we become a part, we become a candidate of

this salvation by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ and

through Jesus Christ. Now that's not an immediate

entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

So please, I ask this question, please clarify.

So when someone is asking me, am I saved, are they asking me if I

will enter the Kingdom of heaven?

Am I saved? Or does that mean is it alluding

that I am do will I enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

Because salvation is a is a alive, a continued life.

It's a continuous life lived through repentance, A life of

repentance, obedience, perseverance, communion with

Jesus Christ, fellowship with the the grace of our Lord Jesus

Christ and the love of God the Father and Father and the

fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It's a continued fellowship with

the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We need to know we need to know this when someone you know

possessed this possesses this or or or confronts us with this

question, Have you been saved? I think the correct answers

according to the teaching of the Church and the fathers and the

tradition of the Church and the understanding of the Holy

Apostolic Universal Church. Is this when one confronts you

with this question, presents you with this question, are you

saved? I think our answer should be,

well, I have been saved from sin and separation from God, which

was the repercussion of the dam and the damage of sin.

The repercussion, the cause, the outcome and the damage of sin

was of disobedience obviously was sin and separation from God.

Romans chapter 5 verses 18. The first part of that verse

Romans 5:18

Saint Paul writes because of the offence of the one that is Adam,

there was a guilty verdict to all the children of men, a

guilty verdict to all children of men.

So, you know, the guilty verdict was separation, sin, corruption

from God. So I have been saved from that.

Why? How?

My faith, first and foremost, not what I did.

Not because I offered meal for the commemoration of Saint Mary.

I've been saved from that. No, not because I paid jizya.

No, I didn't do that. That that's nothing.

That's that's invalid. What is it vain?

Not because I became a good person.

No, no, no, I had faith, I believed and I received the Lord

Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

All right, one side note, just because man sinned and there was

a separation, was that a direct go to hell?

So when Adam sinned and God gave him the the the punishment, did

he say you are going to go to hell?

No, God started working on the reinstatement of Adam one more

time. So too, just because you have

faith doesn't mean you're going to heaven.

No, it's, it's a salvation, a taking care of a dealing with an

atonement through Jesus Christ of that separation.

But hey, there's a life of devotion, OK?

He was headed there. Man may have been headed to

hell, but God started working through his prophets to bring

back this man one more time and that all was completed through

Jesus Christ. So I have been saved through my

faith and confession of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That's why we say in the ceremony of marriage blessings

of marriages for you know that those who the marriage union of

a the true marriage union of a Christian, which is those who

have I'm just paraphrasing confess the Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ and have been baptized in him in Jesus Christ,

my faith in Jesus Christ. Why?

Because of the righteousness of the one with a uppercase. 0 A

capital, O which is Jesus Christ, there shall be the

victory of life to all the children of men, which means to

all men Benainasha. So yeah, I have been saved

because I've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, accepted him

and confessed him. But I am now also continued

continuing and I've continued to be saved through the ongoing

sanctification, repentance and participation in that new life

that I received in the Church, that new life of Jesus Christ

that I live received in the Church and her sacraments.

You see the, the paying the debt to the original scene happens in

baptism itself. In baptism itself, you've been

put to death with Christ so that you have a participation in

Christ's crucifixion and suffering.

You've been put to death. You're born and you then through

chrismation, through the laying on of the priest's hand, Not

Pastor Smith and Pastor Agatha. No, no, no.

The priest's hand, laying on of the priest's hand.

And you have now been confirmed and have received the Holy

Spirit, the pledge, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the pledge you

have received, right? And then if you continue and

remain faithful and alive again of repentance.

Why am I saying repentance? Because we will continue to sin

and fall. But we have repentance.

We have the faith of repentance, the hope of repentance in Jesus

Christ through His blood, through the Church, the Holy

Eucharist, if we remain faithful to Him till the end, beloved.

And then I will be safe when he returns.

So I am safe, I'm being saved, and I will be saved if I

continue to remain. So you can't claim that I

believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your Savior entering the

Kingdom of heaven. That's why Saint Paul writes to

Jude that those who use the grace of God as a license to

sin. I've been saved.

I can do whatever I want. Great for this discussion.

Let let me, let me present this question.

I keep saying possessive. Let me present this question.

If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you've been saved and

you will enter the Kingdom of heaven regardless of what you

do. Well, if you commit suicide, God

forbid, God forbid. And if you do have suicidal

thoughts, I encourage you to seek professional advice.

If you commit suicide, God forbid, then that means you're

into the Kingdom of heaven. So why aren't Christians killing

themselves? Why aren't Christians committing

suicide? Because we know that.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we can't do that.

Why? But you believe you've been

saved? No, no, no.

We have to live a life devoted to Jesus Christ, meaning we do

not take life, period. Not getting into any politics.

I don't need to. It's ridiculous getting into

these politics justification of taking life, No, whether at

conception or at the age of 150 gazillion, right.

Life and the source of life is Jesus Christ.

He will give and he will take. That's why he said I have

authority to lay down myself, my life, and I have authority to

take it. Christ has given you the life.

Christ will take it, not you. OK, So if that's the case, well,

why aren't we doing this? Because it's ridiculous.

It's ridiculous. It's not biblical.

So we shall be saved if we remain faithful.

And this is what the jailer possessed after believing he

washed the apostles wounds and was baptized himself along with

the entire household and lived alive, devoted to Jesus Christ.

How he invited them to his house and then he rejoiced.

They shared a meal together being and glorified Jesus.

And this guy, this jailer was a Roman official, by the way.

OK, let's pick it up from verse 35.

And we're going to conclude Acts chapter 16 today.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Thank the Lord. It's been how many months?

Stephen? Stephen always makes a note of

these and he's rolling his eyes. Yeah, well, take longer,

Stephen, chapter verse 35, Acts chapter 16, verse 35 in the

Acts 16:35

morning, because what happened with the, the the power and the

miracle in in the prison was at night.

In the morning the soldiers sent the lectors, the the Lecter, the

lecters to tell the prison warden or the magistrate to

release those men because they saw what happened.

And when the keeper of the prison heard this, he went in

and told Paul saying the soldiers have sent orders to

release you now, therefore depart and go in peace.

But Paul wasn't satisfied. But Paul said to him, not having

committed any offence, they flogged us Romans citizens.

Paul's becoming a little nationalistic now, a little

political, not They flogged us Roman citizens in the presence

of the people and they cast us into prison.

And now do they let us out secretly?

No, no, verily, let them calm themselves and take us out.

And the lectors went and told the magistrates these words

which were told to them. And when they heard this, this

font is amazing, I think it's font -5.

When they heard that Paul said Paul and Silas were Roman

citizens, they were afraid and they came to them and urged them

to get out, go out and depart from the city.

And they went out of the prison and entered in the into the

House of Lydia, where they saw the brethren and confronted them

and departed. I promise I'm going to get a

larger font. In any case, you see what Saint

Paul is doing, beloved? He's taking his illegal

imprisonment. He's not taking it lightly.

He wants to prove a point. He wants to make his point.

He didn't want anything more than this, right?

The magistrate probably had not heard about of what happened in

the in the prison overnight. So the, you know, they, they

send these an order that you know what, release them now,

right. Sometimes, beloved the

government officials, they play ignorance.

Well, sometimes they're ignorant to what's happening.

Grass root, you know, in the streets, in the suburbs, right.

I remember Saddam Hussein's trial during one of his trials

where they were, you know, telling him of all the

atrocities that had been and all the, all the evil that was done

on the citizens of Iraq. He claimed that I didn't know.

I didn't, I didn't know everything.

You expect me to have heard everything and known everything,

You know, playing ignorant. Well, given the benefit of the

doubt, sometimes they don't know what they didn't know.

But very important is that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

See, a country is to be loyal to its citizens.

They are the children, the sons and daughters.

A church is loyal and always provides for her children,

always provides for her children.

A church does not provide some of the provisions of her

children. I won't go too much into it.

We can in another day. A church doesn't provide all of

her provisions. That is for the children to one

who is outside of the church. Yet the Church will is always

ready and prepared to receive new souls into the flock when

they have had faith, believed in the head of the Church which is

Jesus Christ, confessed him to be the Lord and Savior OK, and

have been baptized into Christ. They then become the citizens of

the Church, citizens of the heavenly earth, and then they

are, we say in the liturgy of Holy Baptism, they are members

of the mysteries of Christ, right?

So these people did wrong to their citizens.

They were Roman citizens and the Roman government did their

citizens, their sons. They did them wrong.

That's why Paul ruffles their feathers.

He ruffles their feathers. He didn't want anything, but he

want to say, listen, this is how evil you are right now.

We may be citizens of the heavenly land, heavenly

citizenship. We all have.

You know, when you receive your heavenly citizenship is when.

Isn't it amazing how earthly citizenship is so, so similar to

heavenly citizenship? This is secular.

This is spiritual. To be a citizen of the United

States of America or any other country, you have to know the

rules, know the constitution, you have to, you know, be able

to speak the language sometimes you have to be familiar with the

history of that country because you want to be a, a part of this

country. So what do you do you go

through? I know in Australia there's no

questions, there's no test. You don't go through a test.

But in America you have to go through that test.

You know, they give you 100 questions and they ask you 10 I

think, right? I remember when I went for my

citizenship, he only asked me 3 questions, and half the time he

wasn't even listening to me. I could have said anything,

like, what is the First Amendment?

Yeah, 3 cheeseburgers and one fries.

He would have said, yeah, that's right.

Thank God I was blessed. Right.

Once you do that and once you pledge allegiance to the

Constitution, to the flag, to the laws of that country, you

become a citizen. That means you have every rights

that this country has for her children.

Same too as in the in citizenship in the church.

You need to confess, you need to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you

need to have an understanding of the one true God and his Son

Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit and his Holy Church.

Once you have learned that and you are ready to accept going

back to the US citizenship, you can't say, well, you know what,

I'm not going to uphold the, the, the Constitution.

Well, you can't be a citizen. You can't come back and say,

listen, I believe in the Father, but I don't believe that through

going through the Father is only through Jesus Christ.

Well, I'm sorry, you cannot be a citizen of the church.

We continue to teach you, we continue to discipline, and we

continue to catechize you once that person is ready to make

that proclamation. Before the priests, the deacons

and the faithful, that I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of all things, visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus

Christ. And then proclaims the Nicene

Creed. And then the ceremony.

The ceremony is when the person is baptized as well, right?

So although we have a heavenly citizenship, we also are

citizens of the earth. We live under the authority of

the land and according to the scriptures, we must be subject

to the authority of the great, for there is no authority that

is not from saying God. Now don't tell me.

Oh, so God is telling us that we can murder, we can kill, we can

change our, our, you know, our, our sex.

We can do what? No, no, God doesn't say that.

The scriptures are very clear on that.

Very clear on marriage, on family, on, you know, piety, on

virtues. Very be clear what the Bible is

telling us that the concept of authority is from God.

When when God chose Moses to take out his people from

slavery, he gave him authority. That authority.

Moses dropped the ball, didn't he?

He stroke on the the rock. It was angry and he hit the rock

twice. I said, well, you know what?

No, it's not the authority. It's Moses being a human being,

right? So the authorities from God.

So we also have to be careful, have a spirit of discernment.

What is from God coming from the authorities?

What it's not, what's not from God.

We will die. We'll go to the grave not

adhering to what is not from God.

We'll do that. That's why our forefathers are

martyrs. They did not denounce Jesus

Christ and they did not pay the jizya.

They didn't want to do that. They said, no, we're not paying

jizya. We're not denouncing Jesus

Christ. Now please use your sword.

Now get it over and done with. I'm sorry to take it lightly.

It's not something to be taken lightly, but do it.

That was because no, no, no, they, they respect it.

We will live in peace. You know, the, the, the

Assyrians, especially the Christian, the Assyrians,

Assyrian Christians that are all over the world, especially in

the Islamic countries have lived in peace.

We've been law abiding citizens. But when time has come for our

spiritual and religious rights, I'm not going too much into our

humanitarian rights. That's another issue as well,

not to be taken lightly. But religious rights, No, no,

we're not going to do that. We'll burn your churches.

We'll go ahead. Go ahead.

Please send me to the Kingdom of Heaven, Right?

So authorities from God and those authorities who are from

God are under order. Romans 13, one, Jesus himself.

What did He say to Pilate in John chapter 19 verse 11 when he

John 19:11

was judging Him? You have no power at all over me

unless it has been given to you from above.

This is not your authority. God has given you this authority

and this is going to happen. Therefore, whoever has delivered

me to you has greater sin than yours.

And during the diaconate litany for the feasts, the Deacon

proclaims for kings, rulers, judges, and all in authority

that they may govern with justice and righteousness, which

is very lacking today, very lacking.

But we pray for it. We pray so knowing that we are

knowing that they were Roman citizens, Paul and sealers and

weren't offered a fair trial. The magistrate trembles.

You know, a simple ruffle some feathers to show them how evil

they are. So they start all please, you

know, can you please go with sorry, like just don't make too

much noise. Like just just go, go, go and

they depart. We say in in Persian Saturday.

They didn't they didn't they didn't you know they didn't lock

horns with them. They departed.

Why? It wasn't in obedience to the

magistrates, but they rushed to work for preaching.

Why were they stiff necked? Were they thick skinned?

Were they doing it in spite and stubbornness?

No, it was because the city had been sufficiently benefited by

the miracles, the powers, the casting of the demon from the

young lady in in Acts 15. What happened in the prison?

Maybe people heard it, so they started to become asked

questions again. What shall we do to be saved?

And Paul said just believe and probably would have been

baptizing. It was necessary that they don't

lock horns. You know, sometimes don't lock

horns. This is this is this is what we

need to be be cautious of my beloved brothers and sisters.

Yes, it pains us. It truly breaks our heart to see

that the world, the governments, are so distanced and distancing

themselves from the truth of God and the holiness of God and the

sanctity of life. It hurts us, but we should not

focus on that too much. We should continue to preach, we

should continue to tell people that the Lord and Saviour Jesus

Christ is not affected by this. He will still return to judge

the dead and the living. It was necessary for for them to

go and remain no longer. It was a follow up, beloved,

follow up is very important. You know, you're talking to a

friend and you know, not not over overwhelming.

Let's not be overwhelming and scare people away from Christ,

right? Let's just just give God the

opportunity, not give God it is God's timing.

Let's wait for God's timing, but follow through.

This is what the church does. This is what the church must do.

Saint Paul writes it in Acts 15, chapter 36.

He says, and after some days, Paul, this is Luke writing by

Luke is writing, yeah, Paul and Barnaba, they were still

together before they departed over Mark.

Paul said to Barnaba, let us just return and visit the

brethren who are in every city in which we preach the word of

God and see how they are doing. Follow up.

That's what the children. That's why the Bishop of a

Diocese of parishes, we could call it the Bishop of parishes,

the overseer of parishes. I I saw on on on Facebook he's

Grace Mark Paulus, Bishop of Eastern USA, right Stephen

Eastern USA yes is visiting Detroit.

You know, he visits other parish parishes in his in his diocese.

Why to make sure he's following up to make sure that the church

is providing for the for the the flock.

The church is not in any specific need.

The clergy and the deacons, the clergy are all in unison.

And you know, it's a, it's a follow up, just what I suppose.

And also to part the blessing of the paternal blessings as a

leader, as the overseer to, to encourage the, the faithful, the

flock to continue. God bless.

You know, sometimes a Bishop will visit a parish who've just

recently have launched a program or have completed a project.

What does the, the Bishop say? God bless you.

We are so proud of you. You are supporting the church.

You're always, you know, attending the church.

You're always in unity with the church and the priesthood and

continue. If this is a follow up and this

is what Paul did and they rushed to do that didn't wait and lock

horns with evil authorities. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 to

Hebrews 10:24–25

25. Paul again commands this and let

us pray, pay attention to one another in the encouragement of

love and of good works. And we should not be forsaking

our meetings, those who don't attend church at least on the

Sundays, because oh, my toe was aching.

Because oh, I hit my toe on the chair last night and I couldn't

come. That's just excuses.

Do not forsake your meetings as is the custom for each person,

but plead with one another all the more as long as you see the

day drawing near. You know, in fellowship.

This is what we do. And I've said it and I will say

it. I will be an advocate for this.

Steven, this is a campaign we're going to start.

Let's not call it the Breakfast Tanta because when I hear Tanta

is prepared, there has to be food.

I have to receive food, I have to eat and be filled with food.

But we should refer to it as fellowship.

Ahuta, please join fellowship. Even if it's One Cup of coffee

and 1/3 of a doughnut, Krispy Kremes or what else is there?

Whatever, 1/3 of a doughnut, that's plenty.

That's not for me to to full in food.

Full be filled in food. That's for me to break my fast.

And then I go and talk to, you know, as I said in a serious

section, you know, we we complain about youth.

Oh, we have too many clicks. Yeah, You know what, Basmagan at

Ourhokhan? Yeah, thanks to your 4th.

Your parents, they have cliques as well.

When they come to church, do you look, you look around to see

where am I going to sit with my friends and my family and my

relatives? No, go and sit with someone

else, even if you don't know that person.

And don't go and sit there and, and, and, and gossip youth,

don't just hang around one another and pull out your phone

from behind your pocket because you've been honoured all, all

during the service. Some of you when you leave to go

to the bathroom, you're not going to the bathroom because I

don't know how someone can go 6 times to a bathroom unless they

have some issues. That's fine.

No, you want to go and check your, your texts, right?

You want to go and call your friend?

You want to go and post something?

You want to go into the bathrooms and and take a

picture, a selfie of yourself and post it during service?

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

No. Go and find someone.

Someone who's new and someone who's not.

You go and sit and talk to that person.

You know what? Don't gossip.

Hey, why? You break up your banner.

May your oblation be blessed upon you.

What did you think of the Father?

The priest's sermon, You know? No, it was great.

You know, it was moving. Oh, I haven't seen you.

You know, can this is the first time.

Hey, we have youth. Hey, we have the ladies

committee. Hey, we have Sunday school.

Hey, we have choir. Would you like to help?

Would you like to serve? We don't have that Libbe Litlan

Aruja. We don't have that spirit.

We don't, but we should. And the church should encourage

and emphasize that spirit of love and fellowship and follow

up beloved Galatians 6 two and bear the burdens of one another,

for it is the way you fulfill the law of Jesus Christ.

Someone is sick in the family. You've heard the priest asking

for praise for someone who's ill and the parents and the friends

that they go up and say, hey, Leah, you know what, I'm here

with you. I'll continue to pray for you.

If there is anything I you need, I'm in.

I'm here for you. I'm speaking in Assyrian and I

know you know why. Why are these things strange?

Why are these things like, so unreal and unrealistic, You

know, like they're so unreal? No, you're unreal.

You're not a real Christian. Let me tell you that.

You're a fake Christian if you think these things are unreal.

Proverbs 2717. Iron sharpens iron, and a man

sharpens the person of his neighbor.

Let's do that. Follow up, encourage one

another. This is what Paul and Silas did.

They went to the House of Lydia. She had recently converted.

They wanted to follow up so that Christ would be glorified at all

times, praising glory be to his name now and at all times and

forever. Amen.

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double edged sword. Until next time, God bless you

all.