Episode 123: Beware therefore...

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're going to continue our reading, our study from the book

of the Acts, chapter 13. We left off at verse 30 last

Acts 13 · chapter mention

episode. Just a recap.

St. Paul is preaching in Antioch.

His first sermon. He rebukes a little, but what he

says is quite amazing and you know, awe inspiring.

I believe those audience, his audience were mesmerised and

we'll see that. We'll see that when, when they

want to leave, not so much the Jews, but the Gentiles actually

tell him to come back and stay. Can you come back next week,

please, and continue these amazing words?

Obviously they're not the Saint Paul's words, but they are words

inspired by the Holy Spirit. So we read that Christ fulfilled

prophecies regardless of being positive or negative prophecies.

St. Paul tells the Jews and the

Gentiles and he introduced a new law.

And we as Christians should be honoured to have Christ's

fulfilment of his prophecies and his warnings and his

commandments in US. And we looked at some examples

and Saint Paul also talks about the crucifixion, that Christ was

crucified because the Jews would say, well, if he's the Messiah,

why would the Messiah be crucified?

Because in Deuteronomy it says that the Messiah, the, the man

that's hanging on the cross is cursed.

So how can the Messiah be cursed?

Well then there was a crucifixion.

Yes, you crucified him and he is the Messiah.

But the greatest fulfilment we we ascertained is not what

happened to Christ or what what what is happening to fellow

Christians today, but what's what, what was, what came after

Christ's suffering and the cross and what is awaiting those in

whom Christ's words and warnings and prophecies and commandments

and statues are being fulfilled. Verse 30 God raised him from the

dead, but God raised him from the dead.

And there's the glory, beloved, we're reading Psalm, chapter

Psalms 145 · chapter mention

145, Psalm 145, verse 14. The Lord upholds all who fall

Psalms 145:14

and rises up all who are bowed down.

So if we've fallen because of the world, because of the

rejection of the world, because of our faith and the holiness

that we're trying to live, because we're being called to

sanctification and holiness and we have been bowed down and we,

we, we're, we're crooked. We're, we're, what is it

hunchback they call. I think, you know, God will lift

up some, God will lift us up and God will uphold us on that

amazing day when the Lord returns.

Let's continue from verse 31. And Saint Paul continues.

And for many days he that is Jesus was seen by them who had

come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his

witnesses to the people. Who is he, Jesus?

Who are them? The apostles, the disciples.

Remember in verse 1, chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles, we

read that Jesus, right? Jesus commands and Jesus

instructs that when the Spirit of holiness, that is the Holy

Spirit comes upon you, he says you shall receive power, you're

going to be empowered, and then you shall be my witnesses.

You're going to be my witnesses. You're going to be witnesses to

me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and also among the Samaritans

and onto the borders of the earth.

So there's a fulfillment of Christ's prophecy of Christ's

commandment at the same time again, so Jesus praise and glory

be to his name say, I mean, everyone keep driving.

Thank you, Stephen high on the road.

Before he was born, there were prophecies.

When he was conceived, his fulfilling prophecies in his

mother's womb, his his fulfilling, fulfilling

prophecies. Because it's life.

It's life. At the point of conception, it

is life. He is fulfilling prophecies.

By his birth, he fulfilled prophecies.

During His three ministry was fulfilling prophecies.

When he was captured, he fulfilled prophecies.

When He was crucified, when he was beaten, he fulfilled

prophecies. When he was crucified, he

fulfilled prophecies when he was buried, he fulfilled prophecies.

When he resurrected, he fulfilled prophecies and on

earth for 40 days. That's during these days,

remember, we celebrated the resurrection.

We have 40 days of of celebration because Christ is on

earth. You know, according to the

scriptures, when after he died, he was resurrected, he was seen

in his ascension. He is filling fulfilling

prophecies and from his ascension to his return, his

prophecies are being fulfilled in you and I.

What a glory. Yeah, what an honor again.

Say, I mean, I will hear it's theorem.

Thank you. And for 40 days, as I said, he

was on earth. In Acts chapter one, verse 3, we

read those to whom also he showed himself.

Not peekaboo, He showed himself. Thomas saw him, the disciples

saw him. He showed himself alive, by the

way, not a spirit hovering in the air and a, a flashlight and

A and a image in a cloud. And you know, no, no, no, he

didn't. He showed himself alive after he

had suffered by many signs. Saint Luke writes for 40 days

when he was appearing to them and he spoke about the Kingdom

of God. He wasn't wasting any time.

He wasn't hanging out and, and chatting and joking around and,

you know, glorifying himself and, and, you know, bragging

about himself. You know, I died and I, he, he,

he would have told them what happened after he died.

That's why Saint Peter writes that he went to Shoal.

So for 40 days, he's telling his disciples, his followers, the

apostles, about the Kingdom of heaven.

And this is the first mission of the church, beloved.

The mission of the church is to tell her children and to tell

the world about the Kingdom of God being Christ himself.

Life in himself is a is a Kingdom and the eternal Kingdom

that awaits you and I and all those who have believed in Jesus

Christ. So much for his body being

stolen, right? Right.

So much for his body being stolen.

Wow so if his body was stolen, why for 40 days he was appearing

and they were seeing him? Not just one day for 40 days.

John chapter 20 verse 7 seals it.

John 20:7

This seals the ridiculous notion or understanding or claim that

Jesus body was stolen and a grave cloth.

A grave cloth which had been bound about his head, not with

the linens, not with a shroud, but it was wrapped and set on

the side in one place. So if the disciples stole him,

or maybe let's say not the disciples, someone, someone came

and stole his body, why then wrap the cloth and make it

really nice, fold it nicely and put it on one side.

No, no they didn't. Then the another disciple

entered, that is John, who came first to the tomb, but he didn't

enter. He allowed Simon to enter 1st

and he stared and he believed. Thank you to the disciples and

the apostles for their spectism, spect skepticism.

Thank you. Thank you for their doubt, their

inquisitiveness. Glory to God, it divinely

inspired. Thank you, Saint Thomas, for

doubting. Thank you.

Yes, you Miss Norman the doubting Thomas.

No. But thank you because we have

all these evidence now. And this was all because of you

that were at times skeptics, maybe had, you know, divided

thoughts and minds, doubts, and you were inquisitive.

You you wanted to know. Thank you.

Because through that I know today, through that I believe

that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is alive and he's

resurrected. And he goes on in verse 32.

And behold, not that not only we saw him, Behold we also that saw

him preach to you that that very promise which was made to our

fathers, we're preaching to you this promise.

Now, what did God preach through the prophets?

By the way, the prophets weren't frauds because now Saint Paul,

he's talking to them saying, listen, all those prophets that

your forefathers were prophesied to, hey, they weren't frauds.

Some of them you stoned as Jesus said.

Some of them you persecuted, you didn't accept it.

But they weren't frauds. They were right.

They were true, they were genuine.

And what did God promised their forefathers?

Not wealth, not property, not power.

No, he didn't. He promised them salvation

through Jesus Christ. He promised them the dying and

rising through Jesus Christ. And this always concluded in

Jesus Christ through his death, burial and resurrection.

Jesus has also promised us beloved new life, a glorious

life, a humble and peaceful life.

Find me in the scriptures, in the Church, Father's writings,

in the liturgy, liturgy of the Church, where it states that

Christianity have been promised wealth, power and property.

Spiritually, yes. In the Kingdom of heaven, of

course, I mean, not on earth. Actually, Christianity is a

faith of poverty, of humility, and of suffering.

We spoke about this. But that's the glory, beloved.

The glory is that we, through our humility, through our

poverty, we die in Christ. Through baptism we live in all

newness of life in Him and we have a part and we are partakers

in the resurrection from the dead when He returns.

That's what the God promised the forefathers, that all the wrongs

that your forefathers did, all the rituals, everything BC was

all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And that now what we have is we

have a new life in Jesus Christ through faith and baptism and

life with him. And he goes on to quote

scriptures now evidence, you know, when we, I've always said

when, when we talk God, when we talk the church, when we want to

want to, you know, bring people to God and preach the Lord Jesus

Christ. We need to, we need to have an

idea of the scriptures. You know, sometimes people quote

from the scriptures that verbatim.

It's not even there. Now you search, you think maybe

I've missed it and you Google it and there's no such words.

Now paraphrasing is different, but paraphrasing's a

paraphrasing must also be, you know, close to what the

Scripture actually is verbatim, right?

But it is so distant even from paraphrasing.

So when we want to speak Jesus Christ and we want to teach

people what Jesus has told us or commanded us or what God has

said, we must be careful. So here are some quotes Saint

Paul gives to the Jews and the non Jews, the Gentiles.

And for many days he was seen by them who had come up with him

from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to

the people. And behold, we also preach to

you that that very promise which was made to our fathers, behold,

God has fulfilled it. The promise has fulfilled it to

us, to us, their children, the children of the fathers.

For He has raised up Jesus, just as it is written in the second

Psalm. You are my Son.

This day I have begotten you that Jesus Christ is the Son of

God, and God raised him from the dead.

No more to return to corruption, as he said.

I will give you the sure mercies of David.

And again he said in another place, You shall not suffer your

Holy One to see corruption, or you shall not leave your holy

One to see corruption. And so that we are not mistaken

that God was talking to Isaiah, the two prophecies were from the

book of Psalms and the prophet prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 55,

Isaiah 55:3

verse 3, so that we don't remain in thinking that no, no, he's

talking about Isaiah, he's talking about David.

No, this is not talking about Jesus Christ, those who detest

or those who do not accept the resurrection.

Well, let's continue for David after he had served his own

generation according to that will of God.

So David was on earth according to the period that God wanted

him to be on earth. He served his generation.

He lived his life on earth. He died though he was a greater

man than his father's, yet he saw corruption.

So David died and was corrupted. His body was corrupted.

Isaiah died and his body was corrupted.

But Jesus Christ, his body was not corrupted because it was

resurrected and he was seen, He was seen by many for 40 days.

He was with his disciples. But be it known to you, He

continues verse 38. Be it known to you therefore,

brethren, that through this very one is that is Jesus Christ

through this very one is preached to you.

The forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, through Jesus

sacrificial body and blood. This is what they were

preaching. The purification that Moses's

law didn't bring, Jesus did. Through his death, burial and

resurrection. Everything was new, renewed.

The promises were fulfilled. The atonement had been

graciously given to mankind. Remember in the Old Testament,

the sin offerings, the guilt offerings, you know, they

brought so many offerings of sins and guilts.

And by the way, the sin guilt offerings were goats, right?

In Deuteronomy, goats were offered.

The priest would lay his hands on the goats and he would pray.

And then all the sins, all the prophecy of Jesus Christ.

So Jesus was called the Lamb of God, but he became a goat,

right? He became a goat.

He took on our sins, the, the, the sin offerings.

All the priest would place his hand on the goat and all the

sins would be transferred to the goat and the goat would be

released into the wilderness because they wouldn't hold it,

they wouldn't sacrifice that goat.

The goat would be released in the wilderness, which was

associated with demons. It was bare right?

Wild animals. That's why Jesus went to the

wilderness to confront the accuser, Satan.

He he went there to confront the one who caused sin to enter

through man's disobedience, obviously, right and once a year

the high priest would go to then purify the Tabernacle, the tent,

because I was saying it was so many, so much sin in here,

right? We got to clear this.

That was all concluded by the blood of Christ, one precious

blood of Christ. No more blood offerings, no more

no. And then he closes off verse 41

with a quote. Beware of 40, sorry.

Beware, therefore, lest that which is written in the prophets

may come up upon you. Verse 41.

Be careful, O you despises. This was a prophecy of Habakkuk.

Be careful of O you despises, for you shall wander and perish.

For I will do a great work in your day which you will not

believe, even if a man tell it to you believe he's telling the

Jews and the Gentiles leave. But verse 40, let's close it off

with verse 40. Beware, therefore, lest that

which is written in the prophets may come upon you.

Let's leave the prophets. Let's talk about Jesus Christ,

the prophecies of Jesus Christ, the warnings of Jesus Christ,

the gospel of our Lord, now Savior Jesus Christ.

Look at these warnings as we leave, awaiting for the Lord to

return. Be aware that these warnings

Jesus has given us, and I'm going to read them, don't come

upon us when he returns because there's not a second chance.

Beloved Luke 624 to 26 in contrast to the to the

Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 and 6.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

But woe, Jesus is speaking Jesus.

Woe to you rich men. Yes, woe to those who are

physically rich, earthly rich. Yeah.

Don't go and squander your money on on roulettes and bet 25,050

thousand 100,000. I was talking about the, the

video I see. I don't know if it's true or if

it's fake. Let me know.

There's a machine where you know that there's this big steel that

pushes back and forth and there's all these gambling

chips, roulette chips, whatever you call them, and each 100,000

or 10,000, what have you, right? And then you need to go and buy

coins to put in. You can't use your own coins, so

you buy coins and each pop is 5,000,010 million. 20 million,

bro, as they say, as Steven says, bro, if you have 50

million, why are you doing gambling?

If you can bet 50 million, what are you doing?

Gambling. OK, let's not go to that extent.

It could be fake, it could be false.

What about today we know of people that God is blessed with

wealth. Go to casinos and pop 10,015

thousand 20,000. Are you serious?

Is this what God gave you the wealth to do with to to do with

to do with your wealth. And when you ask for a donation,

they frown upon you. You're always asking me for

money, not me. I'm not asking you for me when I

come and say listen, can you pay my loan off housing loan off

Yeah, you know frown upon me. But when I say.

Help the House of God, help those who are in need.

The children who are starving, they're homeless, right?

There's always that rolling of the now.

Not all are like that, right? But let's talk spiritual because

this is all spiritual. But woe to you, rich man that is

rich in spirit, that is proud. You're so proud of yourself as

Adam was. Adam aspired to become like God.

He was proud. Adam was proud and brought

death. Jesus Christ was humble and

raised us. Adam through his pride caused

men to fall. Jesus through his humility

raised humanity. Jesus goes on to say, for you

have received your comfort, you want to live in this lavish

style, you know prayer, be proud of yourself.

Great. Don't expect comfort.

Woe to you. Satisfied ones satisfied in

unrighteousness, impurity, immorality, evil, despicability.

These are all from Galatians Chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Fornication, impurity, whoredom whoredoms means prostitutions or

another unrestraining sexual activity.

Woe to you who are satisfied in this, the worship of idols,

witchcraft, hate, contention, rivalry, that is enmity, rage,

disrespect, dissensions, that is quarrels, divisions, envy,

murder, drunkenness, reveling, rave parties, right Galatians 5.

Woe to you who are satisfied with this now temporary, for you

shall hunger eternally, because you will not see the face of

God, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Woe to you who are laughing now, right now.

Maybe you're laughing yet. Here we go.

That's a case. That's all he speaks about.

That's all he speaks about. I will speak about that until

the Lord returns. I will speak about that.

I will toot that horn. I will beat that drum.

I will continually hammer and hammer that message.

I'll hammer it and I'll do it again.

Woe to you who are satisfied in unrighteousness, immorality,

evil, despicability, fornication, impurity, whoredom,

prostitution or other unrestrained sexual activity,

the worship of the worship of idols, witchcraft, hate,

contention, rivalry, enmity, rage, disrespect, dissensions,

quarrels, divisions, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelling,

that is, rave parties. Woe to you, for you shall hunger

eternally. Woe to you who are laughing now,

for you shall weep, and you shall wail.

Why? Matthew chapter 13, verse 42.

Matthew 13:42

They will cast them into the essence of fire.

Let's be careful. I'm going to read verse 40

again. Acts 13.

Beware therefore, lest that which is written in the Gospels

may come upon you. Woe to you when men shall say

wonderful things about you, For so were their fathers doing to

the false prophets, right? Isaiah chapter 4-5, verse 20.

Isaiah 4 · chapter mention

Woe to you who call your evil. Woe to you who call your evil

good and your good evil. And you take pride in that, as

opposed to saying away from me, Satan.

No, my evil cannot be justified. My evil will not be accepted

before the Lord. My good I will be rewarded for.

So beware. Be aware, therefore, lest that

is written in the Gospels. Come upon us, beloved.

What was written in the Old Testament came upon those who

didn't accept Jesus, came upon those who didn't accept God's

prophets. They were prophesying.

Let's not be in the same place as they are now or where they

will be in eternity. Praise and glory be this Jesus

name now and that 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.