Episode 127: Healing of the Soul and Body

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. We continue our study of the

Acts of the Apostles, and we're going to start at chapter 14,

verse 8. Just to recap, we see Saint Paul

and Barnabas once again. Opposed by the Jews.

Who rejected their words and what is their?

What was their words? Jesus Christ, the Gospel, the

good news? And this was in Iconium.

However, when they were rejected, it didn't deter them.

They didn't flee until their lives were in danger.

And we learned that this is an instruction from Christ.

Matthew chapter 10, verse 23. And when they persecute you in

Matthew 10:23

one city now it doesn't say merely walk away, turn the other

cheek. You know what, just have a break

for a few days. Let him go.

No, no, no, the word is flee, escape to another.

Why? So that the preaching of the

gospel would not be deterred and hindered.

And that is why Jesus would at times not flee.

He didn't need to flee, but He would just walk away from

amongst them and go away to another city because his time

had not come. And to know what their words

were. What were they preaching?

We find them in the beginning from chapter 13, verse 13 or

chapter 13 itself, and it was in Antioch of Presidia preaching

the resurrected Christ seen by many.

This was their message, the message of the gospel or the

message of the letters mainly was Christ resurrected.

And this is the message of the church.

Why? Because it is the pinnacle, is

the foundation of Christianity. We worship, we honor, we

glorify, we adhere to, we obey, we praise, we give Thanksgiving

to a resurrected Lord, not one that is dead and that is decayed

and has seen corrupt like every other author of every other

faith, dead, corrupted, turned to dust.

Keep it in mind, beloved. This is the beauty of

Christianity. If you don't know your faith, if

you haven't read the scriptures, when people ask you why do you

believe in Jesus Christ? Simply because he is

resurrected. He is resurrected and when they

want evidence, well, you need to go and read the scriptures and

maybe listen to the double edged sword a little bit, you know, to

the to the programs and we have archives of play 127th program.

This is, I believe, OK. So why beloved?

Because in one Corinthians chapter 15, verse 14, this is

what Saint Paul writes. And if Christ be not reason,

then our preaching is vain and our faith is vain.

So if Christ wasn't resurrected, what am I doing here?

What are you doing there right now?

Whether you're in the car and you're washing your dishes,

you're vacuuming, you're ironing, or whatever you may be

doing, Why? Why have you tuned into the

Double Edged Sword podcast series?

Why? Why do we go to church?

Why do we praise? Why do we fast?

Why do why do we do good? Why, if Christ is not

resurrected, why it's all in vain.

But no, Christ is resurrected. And this is their word, beloved.

So let's pick it up from verse 8 and we'll read till verse 10 and

we'll, we'll expand on that. And they're dwelled in the city

of Lystra, a cripple who had been lame from his mother's

womb, who never had walked, never deprived of walking the

entire life. He heard Paul speak.

And when Paul saw that's a, that's an important word.

And when Paul saw him and perceived that there was faith

in him to be healed, he said to him with a loud voice, I say to

you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, stand upright on

your feet. And he leaped and walked.

Wow. You know, this reminds me of

when Christ would leave Jerusalem, would go to all these

other cities, you know, to Samaria to just to meet a

person. He would, he would walk a

specific path so that he could encounter Zacchaeus.

He would go to the well to see the Samaritan.

He would he would go places in particular to work his signs and

powers for one person at times beloved.

And the same thing is happening. So when they leave, when they

leave Iconium and came to Lystra, that's a 19 mile

distance. Now walking on one mile on a

week, a week's walk, you know, with rest, give it two weeks,

for example, right. So they walked what?

It wasn't just because they fleed.

Persecution, no. And death, no.

This was divinely inspired because they had to come to this

person. This man had been crippled the

his entire life. Now let's let's just presume

he's 30 years old, right? For 30 years, his feet were

tucked in beneath him. He couldn't walk, you know, it's

like when when the disciples asked Christ Lord, did this man

sin or his parents, he said no, neither this man nor his

parents, but the that the power of God, the power of the Lord

may be seen and we're going to see the power of the Lord.

And remember Jesus promised these signs that I do you will

also do and you will do greater signs through him by his power,

by his grace. So the man was crippled from

birth. Now again I hear some bells

ringing. Right?

Ding Ding Ding Ding. What can I relate this to?

Yes, Acts chapter 3 verses 1 to 11 we read of Peter and John

Acts 3:1–11

curing the lame man. And now this lame the father say

this lame man in Acts chapter 3 whom Peter and John healed or

Acts 3 · chapter mention

cured, prefigured the salvation of the Jews who would believe

and follow the Christ. And this happened at the door of

the temple. Now this sick Lyconian man

prefigures the people of the Gentiles.

Remember in verse 13, Saint Paul says to the Jews who didn't

believe and and was was rising a coup to get rid of them.

He said, listen, it was, it was, it was right that you first hear

the gospel because you are the children of the people.

You know, you're the, you're the Jewish, you're the Israelites.

But since you don't receive it and you reject it, you have made

yourself to be unworthy. We are now going to preach to

the Gentiles, right? So this man here in in the city

of Lystra, he is prefiguring the gentiles who are now going to

hear the word, who for a long time were isolated, were distant

from the religion of the law and the temple.

They wouldn't go into the temple.

But now the time has come and this man is prefiguring because

they were crippled, they didn't have the law.

They were pagans worshipping idols and false gods.

Now these people, these Gentiles were brought in by the preaching

of the apostles Peter, Paul and Barnabas.

And this is what Paul says in Galatians chapter 2 verse 9.

Galatians 2:9

They meaning Peter, James and John gave to Barnabas and I the

right hand of fellowship. You know what that is?

They didn't just say it wasn't a a handshake.

It wasn't a high five for his face fist pump.

No, no, no. It was the laying on of the

hand, laying on of the hand. Now if you're saying, well, why

would Paul need the laying on of the hand of Peter, James and

John? Paul was chosen by Christ.

He was Christ's chosen vessel. You know, it was preserved for

this day. Well, let's go to Numbers

Numbers 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15, I believe where God chooses Joshua and God claims

and instructs to Moses that the Spirit is upon him.

But you, Moses, lay your hand on him so that you can give him

some of your power. Moses didn't say, well, Lord, I

don't need to do that. You've chosen him.

No, it was the laying on of the hand, the Apostolic succession.

And you know, we read that it was Peter, James and John, not

the entire church, raising their hand and praying and and

invoking the Holy Spirit to come down and to set apart our

brother for the ministry. No, no, no, it was the apostles.

And Paul goes on to say, so that we might go to the Gentiles, but

they go to the circumcised. So see even their rejection and

their persecution, it was meant to be, it was a divine work of

God, so that these people, Paul and Barnabas, would go to the

Gentiles, while Peter and theirs would stay and preach to the

Jews. And the time when the two cures

occur is significant as well, beloved.

The lame man cured by Peter and John, he was cured in the, you

know, early days of the faith when the word was not yet

believed by the Gentiles. It was being preached to the

Jews. And there it is.

Paul says it isn't as well. Again, it is for you that we

must preach to you. And when John, Peter and John

healed the lame at the temple, it was, you know, the early

missionary or the early stages of the preaching.

The Gentiles weren't hearing the word.

But this lame Laconian who was cured in the midst of the joy

and the gladness of the conversion of the Gentiles.

It was during the the marvelling of the Gentiles when they were

hearing Jesus Christ, the Messiah who was crucified.

God resurrected him when he was taken off from the cross.

And we're going to read that God resurrected him and he was seen

and he did many miracles and the Gentiles were being glad in the

heart while the Jews were being, you know, ticked off as as I

said last week. But these, these Gentiles were

accepting and, and leaving their paganism and coming to the

Christian world when the Jews had been excluded for their lack

of faith and brought upon themselves damnation because

they didn't believe and they rejected.

The Gentiles were being born receiving and were being cleared

and cleansed of their nation. Hence St.

Paul writes to the Romans, Chapter 11, verse 12.

Romans 11:12

By their offence, the Jewish offence, the people, the the

people. By their offence, life came to

the Gentiles. Through their rejection you, O

Gentiles believed, through their offence you, O Gentiles, came to

life. Through the word.

You know, one man's loss is another man's gain. 1 man's loss

is another man's treasure, as they say.

Now regarding this man, we read something very interesting that

he was paying attention. It says to Paul's words, he was

attentive. That's why during the

Eucharistic service, Listen up everyone.

You know, when you're in church and you're on your Instagram and

TikTok and Facebook, how disrespectful is that?

And you know you're disrespecting all right now

you're you're thinking, oh, I do that.

Well, it's OK. Just repent.

Don't do it anymore. When the gospel reading is being

preached, what does the Deacon instruct the people?

Listen intently. Listen don't worry about who

walks in when you walk in late as well in respect to the word

of God. That's being the gospel that is

being read and preached and in in respect to your fellow

Christians who were there before you at the beginning of the

service. Don't walk down the island, kiss

the cross and high 5 everyone and then and then become a

disturbance. Don't do that.

Stand at the back, back wall. Listen to the word being read

intently. Listen, don't worry about who's

there. Don't worry about saying hello.

Hey, how you going to your friends?

No, listen intently. When the gospel reading is over,

then quietly and respectfully walk down the aisle, kiss the

cross and come back and be seated and start in praise and

Thanksgiving. Or when the sermon is being

presented. Don't be an instrument of

distraction for others. No, we do that.

You see, I've, it happens every day in church.

I'm always saying, excuse me, you know, can you please refrain

from walking down the aisle because we have a habit of being

distracted so easily when we're focusing on God.

No, we could be watching a film in the movies or on the

television when we're poised, like when someone says something

quiet, I'm listening to this, right?

But when it comes to Christ and the church and the, and the

liturgy and the service, we're so relaxed, right?

Don't do that. Don't walk down the aisle.

Just stop and wait and be respectful.

Show respect to the sermon because that is the lesson, that

is the teaching for those who have attended church.

So in the midst of his misery, this man is attentive.

He's listening to Saint Paul's words.

In no way did his condition hinder his eagerness, his

willingness to listen. This is why a healing to the

soul has come before the body. This is how his soul, we see

right now, his soul is being healed.

He must have been demoralized. He must have been faithless,

hopeless for 30 years. You know, we're saying just

presuming he's 30 for 30 years, a miserable life.

Imagine his soul, a broken soul, a broken heart.

Yet he hears the words of hope. The words of hope are only

through Jesus Christ, no one else.

Beloved, you want hope, You want healing.

Don't listen to any other words to be uttered but the words of

the Lord Jesus Christ found in the Holy Scriptures and the

liturgy of the of the Church. Don't go findings.

Don't go anywhere else. You know when Jesus said to

Simon when Jesus said he who does not eat the body of the the

Son of man and drink his blood, That's Borbana, by the way.

That's literally that's, that's the Eucharist has no life.

Listen, if you do not partake in the Holy Eucharist, you have no

life in yourself. That's what Jesus said.

All of his disciples thought these his words are very

difficult. How are we going to?

How are we going to uphold them? They walked away and Jesus said

to Simon, Simon, you too, Park it thought that they say in

Arabic, if there are Arabic speaking people, there you go.

You're most welcome to leave. What did Simon say?

Where am I going to go? Where do we find the words of

life, words to the soul? Where do we find them?

Unless it be from you, O Lord Jesus Christ, don't go looking

anywhere else. Don't go to clairvoyance.

And, and, and the cup, the, the coffee cup.

And I always say it's either a mother or, or a, a

mother-in-law. Always, there's always got to be

a mother or a mother-in-law in these cups.

These are evil, beloved. This is paganism.

This is blasphemy. This is heresy.

You want hope right now. Right now.

If you need hope, if you need your soul to be lifted up, your

life, read the Holy Scriptures. And I pray that during this

episode, right now, you're being uplifted.

Not because it's kasha general, no, no, no, it's not because

it's a double edged, no, it's nothing.

It's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking.

These are his words. This is the Gospel, this is

Jesus. This man's eagerness was to

listen to the words first. His soul must have, and I'm sure

death 100%, most assuredly his soul was brought to life.

His soul was rejuvenated. Hope came into his mind.

And when we say soul, that is his life before the body was

healed. The soul was healed.

And then it says that Paul also looked intently at him and saw

that he had faith to be made. Well, how do you see faith?

Question. How do you see faith?

There must be an expression. There must be an action.

Oh, faith is seen, is evident through an action, a deed.

James chapter 2. Many read James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention James 2 · chapter mention

They either ignore it or are arrogant or ignorant or because

James chapter 2 puts us in check.

James 2 · chapter mention

We don't want to preach it. We don't want to read it

anymore. There must have been some.

This man must have done something.

It must have been an expression on the face because he saw and

he knew by seeing. He knew this man.

Maybe after hearing the word of hope, the resurrected Lord Jesus

Christ healed and gave hope to the soul.

He must have tried to come closer to Saint Paul.

This is the action of the faith. This is the evidence of the

faith. So if you say I believe you have

no actions, well, that's a dead faith.

As Saint James writes in chapter 2, Saint Paul saw that the man,

and this was a Gentile, was already persuaded in his purpose

and determination. And what was it?

The purpose and determination was to receive healing.

So first, beloved, this is what we need to do.

Even learning from this, when someone is broken, we need to

lift up the spirit. When when someone is driven to

the point and, and I'm sad to say to the point of suicide,

there is a broken spirit, a broken soul, a damaged soul, a

helpless soul. What we need to do is we need to

give life, give purpose to the soul, reinstate the soul.

And how do we do it? We only do it through the words

of Jesus Christ in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Through the liturgies of the Church of Jesus Christ, when you

understand the liturgy, when you understand what is being prayed

and besieged and supplicated, and when you understand that

when you walk out the church after that 1 1/2 hour service,

you are cleansed by faith. Obviously you know your faith

has drawn you there. Regardless of your demands,

regardless of your misery. You know this man's misery was

he was crippled. Our misery when we enter the

Church, if we are sinners, we have sinned, we are defiled, we

stink, we stink. You know, when someone walks and

they have, I'm sorry to say, perspiration, they call it beer.

What do we do? Right?

But God doesn't do that. When God sees that, yes, he sees

it, but he says, come to me, I want to cleanse you.

And when you leave that church, it's because number one, your

soul has been one more time, rejuvenated, given life, given

hope. And then and then the action of

that is when you approach the Holy Mysteries in worthiness.

By the way, how do we make ourselves worthy?

How do we become worthy of the Eucharist?

By confessing our sins, by not justifying our sins because the

world says, because you know, this is what is it, the

amendments, legislation, what I think, what I believe.

No, no, no, Confess our sins according to the standards of

God, Repent from them and ask God to make us worthy, not like

the Jews, to make ourselves unworthy, but God, we have made

ourselves unworthy as well. Yes, we are like the Jews now

unworthy because of our sin, but you they must worthy to approach

the mysteries and then be healed.

That's why when you walk out the church, you have received by

both, you know the body, the soul and the spirit and the

mind. Your whole being has been

cleansed by the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in verse 10, he said to him, Paul says to him not listen, I

really can't say much because I'm scared I'm going to get

persecuted, get up and walk. No, he didn't do that.

He cried out, cried out so people could hear him because

there was going to be a power work.

Christ was going to be glorified.

And as I always say, you want to glorify God, do it properly.

You want to do the sound of the cross.

And I've always, I've always touched up on this and I pray

the Lord that it has made a difference in your in your life

when you're sitting at that table in the restaurant and

before the food is we jump into the food.

You pray, beloved, pray. And when you pray, do the sign

of the cross properly, not just the little itching of the of the

chest. No, no, no, do it properly.

Call to the name of the Trinity, in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit and one God.

Amen. Lord God, heavenly Father, bless

and sanctify this food of your worshippers in the name of your

glorious Trinity, and do the sign of the cross on it, so that

if they have been, they have been offered and cooked by

pagans and paganism, it'll be cleansed for you.

Jesus said what you whispered. Cry it out.

Now don't be ashamed to cry it out.

Don't be ashamed to do the sign of the Christ to talk about the

resurrected Christ. If you have nothing to say, tell

people Jesus is resurrected. Simple.

This is what they did and this was a fulfillment of prophecy.

He leaped, he leaps. He doesn't just struggle.

You know, it's, you know, you think it by the time his legs

would go straight and you know, it took him a few minutes, but

he leaped, jumped. Why?

Because there was a prophecy. Isaiah 35, six Yeah, I know this

is about Jesus, but these people did it in Jesus name.

The miracle, the Son was in Jesus name.

Then the crippled one shall leap like a stag.

That is a male deer. Now, in closing, let's examine

the process of the healing of this lame man.

Beloved, and these are very important #1 we see the

apostles, Saint Paul and St. Barnabas, called by the Holy

Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit.

They weren't elected by a group of people.

They didn't check their curriculum Vitara or resume.

Oh yeah. Oh, Master's in theology, 00,

PhD. No, no, no, the Holy Spirit

elected them. When, and this was while the

prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon and Lucius and Mana

in in Acts chapter 13. And these were the four leading

Acts 13 · chapter mention

the Christian community in the Church of Antioch while they

were fasting and beseeching God while they were fasting.

It boggles my mind where people tell you you don't need to fast.

You don't need to fast. No, we don't have to fast.

Who said we don't have to fast? Please show me a scripture verse

where it says you don't have to fast.

Let's be solid scripture, right? Why is solid scripture only

beneficial good when it's beneficial for you, but when

it's not. No, no, you know what?

Yeah, pastor this or or commentator that said no, no,

no. If the disciples were fasting

and the prophets and the teachers in the church, these

are the Christians who are fasting.

We need to fast. We continue fast and not because

of the prophets. Jesus fasted I fast period.

They were fasting and beseeching God.

Then we see that they were set apart.

What does that mean? That means they were ordained.

They were sanctified right now set apart means they didn't just

say you guys come on this side, I'm sorry, you 3 on the other

side. No, no, no.

This is what happens when there is an ordination.

The candidate being ordained to a diaconate or a priesthood has

been set apart. The priest that Bishop actually

lays the hand says has been sanctified.

This name has been sanctified, has been set apart for the work

that he's being called to do, right?

These people were set apart. The Holy Spirit commands set

them apart. Again, if you're going to say,

well, why the Holy Spirit shows, well, God chose Joshua, but God

commanded Moses to lay his hand on him and they were set apart

for the work to preach the word, preach Jesus, preach the gospel.

Then while preaching, they touched the soul, they moved the

soul, they drew the soul by simple words, not so much.

Do you know Jesus? Are you saved?

Have you found Jesus? You know, there was a mockery of

that. I saw a what was it?

I can't remember where it was someone telling another person,

have you found Jesus? And the reply was I didn't know

he was lost right? Mocking Jesus.

It's our fault. It's it's it's it's we are being

the cause. Are you saved or have you found

Jesus? If you die where will you end

up? They didn't say that simple

words yet effective and soul moving.

This was their word. God raised him from among the

dead. He appeared for many days to

those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they

are now His witnesses to the people.

This is what people heard. And obviously as the powers that

He worked and what He promised, right?

And they accepted and they drew souls to the Word and drawing

souls willingly, soul meaning life, drawing the life, the soul

willingly to the Word. They saw the genuine faith, and

the genuine faith in the Word was evident by some sort of the

deed or an action. And lastly we see the healing of

the weak flesh, healing the soul and the body with the double

edged sword which is the Word of God.

And again seeing the effect and evidence of the healing.

This was the sign. This is the evidence and the

effect of the healing in the sign being the lame man leaped

and was walking. And again, fulfillment of

prophecy. Isaiah 35, six.

All this was also foretold. Beloved, what did Saint Mark

write in his Gospel chapter 16, verse 20?

This is the last chapter, but they went forth and they

preached in every place and our Lord was helping them and

confirming their words with the signs that they were doing and

their the signs. So Christianity is not only a a,

a, a religion of faith, but accompanied by deeds, willing

genuine faith, accompanying by deeds, and those deeds and those

signs worked by Jesus Christ in His Church, through His Church,

through His apostles, for His glory and for the salvation of

souls. Praise and glory be to His name,

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 all.