Ep. 156: Miracle confirmed by Actions

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. Amen.

Thank you to my brothers and sisters in the Diocese of

Canada, which I visited last week for your feedback, in

particular, the beloved youth, your feedback in regards to the

podcast ministry, Double edged Sword.

I thank you. I'm encouraged and I'm glorify

God, always give glory to God. I was even more encouraged that

not only the children of the Assyrian Church of the East

listening to these programs, but there are brothers and sisters

from other faiths and other nationalities as well.

That only goes to show that everything we do, we do for the

glory of God and for the salvation of souls.

I'm always open to your comments, in particular the

negative ones, the positive ones.

Great, thank you. Praise God, that's all you need

to do. But I want the negative ones.

I want those that that will help to enhance the program, the

topics and how we do present these programs so that we are

not lacking so that we are reaching out to those hearts

that are thirsty, those minds, those souls that are searching

that in God's miraculous ways. He uses this ministry along with

many ministries that are out there.

Brothers and sisters, the Christian and Christ of them

that are preaching the the gospel of the Lord so that we

may be more effective through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Remember this is not us. We we are not doing anything.

This is this is the Spirit working through those most

putrid vessels that God has taken in his hands, the most

rustiest of tools in the shed that God has taken and using for

his glory and for the salvation of souls.

Thank you, God bless you. Please do share the links, the

QR codes and you know, I asked my beloved brothers and sisters

that they may post the fly with a QR code so that we have many

people listening to this. And this is not about making

money. There's we don't, we don't make

any, we don't want to make any money.

No, no, no. This is not about likes and

followers, millions and trillions and gazillions.

It's not about that. It's about reaching that one

soul, that one sheep that has gone astray and through the

grace of God and the by the power of the the Holy Scriptures

and Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior, we may one more time

bring back that sheep in the fold, which is the holy church.

We're studying the book of Acts. Last episode we we spoke about

praising during our hardship, particularly when knowing that

if we are suffering for Christ, we are exposing evil.

When we suffer for Christ through any means and by any

hands, they are evil and when we do, we are exposing the evil.

Just like Saint Paul and Selas were thrown into the prison

because they exposed the demon that was following them.

So today we will continue. I'd like to read again the same

verses and delve a little bit more deeper into to understand

why what happened happened. What was the purpose of what

happened in the jail, in the prison when Paul and Silas were

there? We'll pick it up from verse 26.

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the

foundations of the prisons were shaking, and immediately all the

doors were open and the bands or the shackles of all were loosed.

When the keeper of the prison awoke and saw that the prison

doors were open, he took a sword and would have killed himself

for the thought that prisoners had escaped.

But Paul cried out a loud voice, saying to him, Do not harm

yourself, for we are all here. No one's escaped, because if

they had, his life was over, he would have been put to death.

Then he lied on the lamp and sprang in trembling, and threw

himself at the feet of Paul and Selas, and he brought them out

and said, Sirs, what must I do to live or to be saved?

Now this was a miracle, beloved. It was a miracle sufficient for

the jailer, and not only the jailer, maybe those prisoners

that were there as well to convert and to believe, to

convert them to be believers, faithful.

Now it wasn't such a great miracle, a huge one where the

heavens opened and the night was lit and and the angels were

coming down. No, no, it was something simple,

natural as a earthquake. Now we're going to talk about

critiques and we're going to answer the critiques as well.

Something natural as an earthquake.

It was it was that faith that they they quickly gained and

worked on as small as a mustard seed.

You know, sometimes in life we expect and wait for great

miracles, huge miracles, right? We want God to come.

We want Christ to appear before us and to audibly speak to us

and to grant us the the, the, the permission to touch him as

he did with Thomas. Sometimes we want our prayers to

be answered there and then to claim a miracle, but that

doesn't happen. What miracle are you looking for

today? Heaven's opening up, As I said,

the dead walking, the Dead Rising, Seeing a dead person

rise, well, that's like wanting to hear God's voice, God's

calling, God's rebuke, admonishment in a mountain

ripping and rock breaking voice. We want to hear that crack and

crumble and to then realize that it's God working.

We want to hear it in an earthquake, not just an

earthquake. We want to hear the sound of God

in an earthquake or in fire. Or are we always attentive and

waiting for that soft voice as heard by Elijah in One Kings 19?

God works not through great, he can perform miracles, I mean to

that, but sometimes your miracle you could be so neglecting.

You can be so not aware to the miracle that God is working in

your life because you are waiting for that miracle

according to how you want to perceive that miracle.

What are you waiting for in life?

Do you need help? Do you need strength?

You need prayer right now. I'm I'm in need of so much

prayers. Robbie, you know, please pray

for me and you know we we text one another pray warriors prayer

points. I'm sure every church has a, has

a website, has a AQR code to scan and send your prayer

requests. Amen.

And we need to do that. We need to be praying for one

another. We need to be confessing our

sins to what? What?

Confessing our sins to one another.

Who is the other person? Why should I confess my sins to

another person? Well, that's what Saint Paul is

commanding, confessing our sins to one another so that we can

offer prayers. Well, if we're waiting for

prayers of the mere mankind, Beloved John 16, Jesus has

prayed for you. Jesus has prayed for you after

confirming who He is, where He has come from, and where He is

going. And what is He's is the fathers.

And what is the Fathers is He's simply tending, telling us He is

God Incarnate, taking on our flesh.

And then after praying for his disciples who would be The

Pioneers of the one true Church, the holy Apostolic and universal

Church, and then after praying for every people or every person

that would believe in Him by the words of his apostles, He prayed

for us, beloved. And His prayer was that we may

know Him to know God. How do we know God?

By fulfilling his commandments, according to the same apostle

John. But his, his, his first Epistle,

chapter 2, verse 3 to 6, to know him, to claim that we know him,

to fulfill his will. What are you pray waiting for?

Do you want again earthquakes? Do you want an Angel to appear

before you? We don't need that, beloved.

We don't need miracles. No miracle will be wrought.

Why do I need to see a miracle to believe in Jesus Christ?

The greatest miracle. That's 2 greatest miracles in

the history of the world until today and forever. 2 greatest

where, where mankind is still trying to belittle and to prove

and to rebuke and to revoke and to whatever do whatever they

want to do is the virgin birth, the virgin conception, and the

empty tomb. What else do you want?

No, no, no, simple simplicity of faith.

Sometimes God gives you that miracle, but we are so focused

on how I want that miracle. Beloved, look around yourself,

look around yourself, examine your life and you can sometimes

pinpoint where God truly spoke to you.

But you were wanting an earthquake.

You're wanting a crackling of a of a Thunder.

No, no, no, He's whispered to you, but you've neglected it.

Go back to God, praise and glory be to his name.

But if you're content and that miracle in life you are content

with and you're trying your best to appease that same God that

has spoken to you, you're on the point, you're on the track.

Continue, continue. If not, pray, beloved, pray.

And the earthquake happened now so that the critiques would not

say that the earthquake was a natural occurrence.

Earthquakes have been happening in the world from the beginning

of time. So it's just a normal

earthquake. You can't tell me that God

created it and God divinely inspired it, or God commanded

it, or there was a specific purpose.

Yes, you can. Now when you see an earthquake,

you know, you've seen pictures of earthquakes where a house is

rubble to the ground, but you see one door and the door is

still not open. The door is shut when an

earthquake happens. If the door has not been

destructed as well, if the door has not collapsed, you'll see

the door is still closed, right? So the doors opening is a

confirmation that this earthquake was a miracle and it

was divinely, but it was an act of God.

And the point here is, beloved, that miracles are followed by

confirmation. The miracle of the birth or the

conception of Jesus Christ was confirmed where there was no

father. No one claimed Jesus to be his

son except Mary because he was born of her.

Joseph was said to be his Father and we know why.

If not, then Mary would have been stoned to death and they

would have claimed adultery. So they said, no, no, Joseph is

the father, but not biologically, no, no, no.

The miracle of that, of that conception was seen in the life

of Mary, was seen when he was born.

The miracle of that conception was when he was born and he

called God his Father. The miracle of that conception

is where Jesus says who can be my mother, my brother, not my

father? The miracle of that, that

conception, that spiritual conception by the power of the

Holy Spirit was foretold in Ezekiel.

See, the miracle was confirmed. It was a testimony.

The miracle of Christ's resurrection was confirmed and

testified by many people, and some of those went to their

their death. They touched him, they saw him,

they ate with him. The miracle of the ascension of

our Lord into heaven again was testified by thee, those who saw

it and died testifying about it. So every miracle beloved is

confirmed and testified the miracle of the changing of the

warring to wine in Cana at the wedding was the head of the the

the the gathering said, you know, he said to the to the

invited that you know, people leave the good that they serve

the good wine 1st and then when people are drunk, then they give

them the fake ones. I remember I used to work at

Cabrivale Diggers on your mate. They shall not grow old as we

that are left grow old Cabravel Diggers.

And I used to be a bartender. Yes, I was a shamash.

I used to be a bartender. And when you saw that you know,

and and obviously it was against the law to to to sell alcohol to

someone who was already intoxicated.

So some of the friends would come to the bar and, you know,

you can tell that he's had a few drinks to have had a few glasses

too much to drink. So he would say, I want to, for

example, Scotch and ice. Oh, yes, sure.

And we would pretend that there is Scotch and we'll just fill it

up with Coke. Scotch and Coke.

Sorry. There you go.

Thank you. It was only Coke, right?

He was drunk. He didn't know what he's

drinking. The miracle was this, when the

confirmation was that this is beautiful wine.

When you claim that you have experienced a miracle, it should

be confirmed, confirmed and testified by the change in your

lifestyle. That is, from evil to good, from

cruel to kind, from mean to mild, from immoral to moral,

Then and only then, my beloved, your miracle can be deemed true,

genuine and from God. If you claim that you have

experienced a miracle, but there is no change in your mindset, in

your lifestyle, in your walk, well then that miracle is flawed

and questionable. And also, we read that this

appeared at night. Why?

Why didn't this appear daytime? So that people, well, everyone

was asleep, right? At night time, the streets are

deserted. Why didn't this happen during

daytime where there was a lot of people going about and their

lifestyle? Why?

So that the apostles would understand and know, and we

learn from this, that this was to save.

It was for the salvation of those souls and not for the vain

glory of the apostles. No, no, no.

See, when we do something, we do it at night.

Do all your good deeds at night. Now I don't mean night time in

the darkness, meaning where no one can see.

What did Jesus command? Do not do your good deeds as to

be seen by men. No, don't do that.

That's why I I suggest humbly and and encourage our beautiful

brothers and sisters when especially the youth when they

are doing their charitable work feeding the homeless.

Don't go there and take selfies and and to post and brag and and

you know, sound the trumpets. Oh such a parish youth helping

the needy. No, no, no, what did Christ say?

Let not your left hand, which means evil.

Know what your right hand do is your righteousness.

Keep it between you and your God.

This is a this is an example. Do it in the darkness where

people cannot see your good deeds in darkness, beloved.

And never, ever do it for Vainglory.

You know, sometimes we're always complaining and we're whinging

and then we, we, our disclaimer is, well, I'm doing it for God.

I'm doing it for the church. We'll stop whinging and

complaining. Just do it for God.

And that's it. Do it, finish it, walk away.

Praise God. Praise God for making you,

granting you that worthiness, deeming you worthy to do good.

Just as the apostles who were beaten, who were persecuted, who

were beaten and whipped and persecuted were jumping for joy,

not because they didn't die, they're still alive, but because

they were made worthy, deemed worthy to be persecuted for

Jesus Christ. See, look, this is the lessons,

you know, this is the beginning of the church and This is why

the book of Acts is not preached so much.

It would preach from the Old Testament and the book of

Revelations and Romans and Hebrews, right?

What about these? What about these books in that?

It's in the Bible, it's in the Scriptures, it's Holy

Scriptures. You know why?

Because this is the truth of the Church, This is the truth of the

Church. This is how the Church was

established, how the apostles of Christ who were equipped and

vested by the power of the Holy Spirit, which we will celebrate

in in a week's time, the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost,

giving them the authority, the authority to go out and set

rules and canons that affect our Christian life, which ultimately

will affect our eternal life. Eternal life we do in humility.

This is the book of the the the Acts of the Apostles on how the

churches should go back and those who preach in the church

should go back and examine and read and learn how did this

church begin? How did the gospel not meaning

the Bible as in a physical book, the gospel?

They've ascertained that through our past chapters in the book of

Acts. That means Jesus Christ.

How was he preached and when he was received, what was the way,

the path, the the correct way, the the truth of worshipping and

having a relationship with this, with this Jesus Christ, How the

church set that rule. And today we see, beloved, that

the apostles are taught from this and we learn from this that

whatever we do in the church, whatever we do for God, we do in

the evening, meaning in darkness that no one can see.

Let us not do it so that people can see.

And we see that the prison also shook.

Why that the, the faithless mindset of the prisoners and the

jailer, they were boggled. They, they got disturbed and to

start setting these guards and the prisoners to be freed and to

have the opportunity so that they, you know, it attracted

their attention so that the word of God would be preached.

Do you see how the nature of shackles, that is Paul and

Celis's shackles destroyed the shackles of those who are in

darkness? Didn't the death of our Lord put

death through death? He put death to death through

His death? Didn't He conquer the tempter

through temptation? Didn't He conquer sin by taking

on the sin of the world and being sin?

Didn't He take away our shame by being shamed and ridiculed and

crucified naked as some of the Father's right, and proclaim so

also the shackles of Paul and Selas set these captives free

and shook the the prison and open the doors.

Could God be using your experience, your circumstance,

at home, in your church, in your community, amongst your friends,

your peers? Could He be using your

experience, your circumstance, your sufferings to set others

free? God works in mysterious ways.

God is amazing. So at times when we are

suffering, again, I must reiterate, not suffering because

of our foolishness, our stupidity, our immoral

immorality, our own understanding and philosophy.

No, no, no, no, no, that's your fault.

Suck it up as they say. But when we are being persecuted

for Christ's sake to expose evil, God could be using your

persecution to also relieve and release the shackles of those

who are bonded and held and held captive by Satan and sin.

Then the jailer prisoner, the, the, the, the, the jailer, the,

the, the, the God says something amazing.

What must I do to be saved or to live now?

Do you think he's talking about salvation, eternal, eternal

life? No, this he didn't know about

it. He must have.

Maybe he heard about it. But hey, he, he's, he's now

talking about his life. How do I now escape being

executed, being put to death because the jails, the the doors

are open. What am I going to say?

What am I going to do? That's why they said no, no, no,

don't do anything. We're all here.

We are all here. But then Saint Paul, we're going

to read in our episode to come. He's going to now introduce

salvation through Jesus Christ and what we must do after being

saved by and through Jesus Christ.

We're going to talk about salvation and eternal life in

our next episode. So learn from this, beloved,

that your miracles will not come according to your own

understanding and how you perceive miracles.

No, no, God can speak to you through a whisper.

Be attentive. That's why in church we say

listen intently when the priest says the holy Gospel of our Lord

Jesus Christ according to the preaching or proclamation of

Saint John, because the gospel is Jesus's Gospel is Jesus

himself, but it's according to the proclamation of the

evangelist. And then what?

Do deacons instruct the people? Listen intently.

Get off your phone you disrespectful child of God.

Get off your phone in the church in the presence of God.

Don't worry about what someone just recently posted from last

night at the bar. Get off your phone.

Have some respect for the Lord, handsome respect for the for the

House of God. Have some respect for the gospel

that is now being being presented to you.

That is God Incarnate, that is Jesus in the body, in the flesh.

You have the priest holding the Christ, the cross, which is

Jesus's humanity. You have the priest holding the

gospel. It's the word of God.

Have some respect. Listen intently.

Don't worry about who walks in and walks out.

Don't worry about that. Don't follow the person that

walks in and disrespectfully wants to walk in through the

middle and take it. No, no, no, stand back.

You know, you enter the House of the Lord.

A few pointers, beloved, a few pointers, you know, share it

with your parents as well. When you enter the House of the

Lord and the gospel is being read, is being presented or the

sermon is being presented, stand at the back wall.

You don't to walk through the middle aisle and be a

distraction because we're human beings.

We get distracted. That's why I'm forever saying,

listen to me, look at me, don't worry about this person that's

walked in. Listen, it's not about me.

It's not about Jenard. It's about you listening to the

Word of God, the interpretation, the exposition on the Word of

God, so that when you walk out of this church, you don't just

walk out and say I took the Qurbana because I'm here for a

baptism. No, no, no.

You walk out of that church knowing that Christ had spoken

to you and you take it with you and you start changing,

building, living your life according to that gospel.

So when the Deacon proclaims, listen intently, listen with

your heart, with your mind, with your ears blank everything out.

You know, have those features on on the the iPhone when you're

when you're Facetiming, you can blur out the back and you you're

more predom dominant on in the picture.

Do that black out everything. Yes, I know some of you people

complain. So there are people in the

church that are constantly talking.

What do you do with people that come to church and constantly

talking? What do you politely say to

them? You are in the House of the

Lord. Excuse me, I want to listen to

Christ. For those who are singing along

with the priests and the deacons, just to show, you know

what it is, Just to show that I know the liturgy.

And for all your grace and aids towards us, I know the liturgy

well. You know what you are after Vain

glory, during darkness, during, during your heart.

Sing. God is a God of order.

Order. Sing when you're supposed to

sing, when the liturgy permits you and instructs you to sing.

The liturgy, the order that the apostles vested by the Holy

Spirit set. Sing where you are encouraged

and you're permitted to sing. That's why we have the priest,

says the deacons. Reply all, reply, do that.

But whenever in the House of the Lord, beloved, we respect God.

And when the Scriptures are being presented, we listen

intently because that could be the whisper through which God is

going to speak to you, to your heart, to your circumstances, to

your pain, to your suffering, to your life, whatever it may be.

That could be that whisper that you will receive the

encouragement that you're on the right track.

Continue, good and faithful servant, praise and glory be to

Christ our Lord now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

message. Please don't forget to rate and

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Until next time, God bless you.