Episode 109: Set Apart by the Holy Spirit

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. Hello everyone, and welcome back

to another episode of I was going to say Vision of Hope, and

that's in the Assyrian segment. But no, this is the double edged

sword, right? We've been reading and studying

the book of the Acts of the Apostles chapter 12.

And as we prepare ourselves for that amazing celebration of the

birth of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, you

know, I see something there's a trend now when you know, I see

videos of people giving their Christmas messages and they flip

between seasons and holiday and Christmas and season and holiday

season. Christmas just called Christmas.

It's not a specific season. And if it is, you know, there is

reason for the season is Jesus Christ, Amen.

But Jesus is not just for the reason for that season.

Jesus is praise his name. So do a flip flop.

Don't be politically correct, if I may say it's Christmas, it's

the birth of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, period.

So those who don't want to hear that, well, there is.

It is that time where we celebrate that amazing birth and

that amazing gift of God to the entire world.

We closed off chapter 12 of the Acts of the Apostles and last

episode we learned that we have to give glory through faith,

through works, through deeds and through actions, not mere lip

service as ascribed in Isaiah chapter 21 verse 13.

Isaiah 21:13

These people honor me only with their mouth, but their hearts

and their their minds and their motives are not so far away from

me. My question is now have you,

that is ascribed glory to God by your faith, words, deeds and

actions? If yes, praise God, continue to

glorify Him in all that you do and say every minute of your

life. Don't claim victory, yet

continue to press on so that you may obtain that thing for which

Jesus Christ has seized you according to the Scriptures,

which is eternal life with him. If not, if you've been a little

lazy and reluctant and you've left it off for another day, you

know, let's put it on the back burner.

Well, no. If you haven't glorified God

with all that you have said and all that you have done, pray to

God. Pray to Him to be delivered from

being a mere hearer of the Word and not a doer of the Word.

According to Saint James. That's the danger, beloved.

God doesn't want lip service. God wants us to act upon our

words. So we're going to start with

chapter 13 and I'll read from verses one to four and we'll see

how far we go with discussing and expanding.

Now they were in the Church of Antioch, prophets and teachers

Barnabas and Simon, who was called Niger and Lucius from the

city of Cyrene. And Manel.

Manel means who is God? Manel, who is God, who was the

son of the man who brought up Herod the tetrarch, the leader

of four quarters, the same Herod that was struck down by Angel.

And this Manel was brought up in his house.

We're going to talk about him and Saul, who was later called

Paul. As they fasted and prayed to

God, the Holy Spirit said to them, Appoint for me Saul and

Barnabas, for the work to which I have called them.

So after they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands,

that is, the laying on of the hands on them, they sent them

away. Thus these two were sent forth

by the Holy Spirit, and they went down to Seleucia.

Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Let us go back and discuss this stereotyping.

I had to confirm with Steven what it actually meant, but I

was right. I was on the point.

We stereotypes sometimes, right? We're going to now be refuted.

Stereotyping is refuted in the scriptures.

This now some versions call him Manian.

You know all the other people, the Simon and the Barnabas and

Simon who was called Niger. Then we have Soul and Barnabas.

We know that these were apostles.

These were the apostles that were preaching the word of God,

which means Jesus Christ. Because remember, there was no

gospels then, There was no written word, there was no book.

So they were preaching Jesus. We're going to talk about that a

little. So this Manel or Manel is said

to be a foster brother of Herod. He was raised in the same

household. He they grew up together.

Now on one side we have Herod, an evil person who didn't want

to be converted, a self edified person basking in the Vainglory

of mankind. And what happened to him?

End of chapter 12. He was struck down by an Angel.

And on the other side, same household, beloved.

And now we're going to be put to shame for generalizing and

stereotyping. We have on the same on the other

side, this Manil who was raised in the same household, who was

considered worthy of the gift of prophesying.

Now prophesying doesn't only mean foretelling.

Preaching is prophesying. Expanding on the word of God is

prophesying as well. He must have been glorifying God

and not himself, living a life that is appeasing to the Lord.

And this happens today, beloved, in the case of stereotyping

within families, we generalize 1 member of the family and we we

pass on the same judgement and the same conclusion and the same

understanding according to the entire family within a group of

friends, schools, governments, you know, there's, there's some,

some Christian Congress people or senators regard, I'm not sure

what they called in many other countries, but senators and

congressmen that are Christian, that are not reluctant, they

don't hold back to mention the name Jesus Christ.

They don't feel awkward. Yet there are some politicians,

congressmen and senators who cringe at the name Jesus Christ

and when they've caught out, when they've been put on show

and they've been fact checked, you want to call that, they come

back and tell us, oh, I go to church and I pray.

Well, those who go to church and those who pray, and I'm sure

that church would teach us to glorify and jump for joy and be

in Jubilee when the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned.

Don't cringe and disrespect the name of Jesus Christ, because

then we know you're now being a hypocrite and you want those

votes, right? No, no, no, at schools we have

good students. We have bad students.

You cannot, you cannot stereotype and generalize the

entire students because the school has a bad reputation.

Just from this Mannell and Herod grew together in the same

household. Herod was evil, Menel wasn't.

He was holy and pleasing to God and was worthy to be called an

apostle and to be given the gift of preaching.

You see, God's gifts, God gives His gifts, imparts His gifts

without showing partiality. And we read this in Romans

Romans 2:11

chapter 2, verse 11. You want to read it up?

We too, beloved, should not throw the baby out with the

bathwater as they say. We should judge righteously.

That's why Jesus instructs us and warns us that if you've got

to make a judgement, do it righteously.

Be fair, don't stereotype type and don't generalize.

And we see it from the example, but unfortunately, it is common

among many. And why?

Why is it a common among many? This is due to the fact that

those, all of us, we have not not only understood God's grace

and righteousness, but more so that we haven't experienced it

in our lives. You see, is anyone worthy,

beloved? Is anyone worthy of God's

gracious gifts and provisions? You may say yes.

Jesus died for us and he cleansed us.

We are the children of God we weren't worthy of.

That's grace. That is grace.

Grace saved by grace from being a child of perdition to a child

of God seized by Jesus Christ for good, good works.

That is salvation by grace. We haven't experienced it.

No one is worthy beloved, keep in mind that we have all

according to the scriptures, Romans chapter 3 verse 23.

Romans 3:23

We have all sinned and have failed of the glory of God.

When God examines your spiritual resume or curriculum vitae, your

CV, he searches for love, for faith, in an obedience to Him.

He doesn't look at what family you've been grown in or you've

grown up in. He doesn't look at what school

you have graduated from, what university, what college.

He doesn't examine what your profession is.

No, no, no, because he doesn't need those.

Beloved, God doesn't need our experience, our profession, our

knowledge, our education for His glory, for His work, because He

works it through His power. The only experience He requires

is our experience with Him, with His Son, with his Holy Spirit.

Now that is the experience we share together.

Beloved as Church, we share together as His Church in His

house and through the divine sacraments each time we gather

to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. You're now saying hang on, hang

on, what's that got to do with it?

Yes, it has a lot to do with what we're reading.

Beloved, our experience. Why did I mention that?

Let's read again verse 2 as they fasted and prayed to God.

See they were worshipping at the 1st right?

The church in the Antioch, they were worshipping as they fasted

and prayed to God. The Holy Spirit said to them,

what were they doing while they were worshipping the Lord and

fasting? The Holy Spirit spoke to them.

That sounds like an experience, right?

That sounds like what we do. What worship is Luke talking

about here? Now remember, at that time there

was no Bible, there was no Gospels, there was no book.

They came to worship. They came to celebrate the

liturgy in the synagogue, and the liturgy pertained to the

Torah, the first five books of Moses, the Pentaton, the

Septuagint. Why were they fasting, beloved?

Then is it ringing bells, You know?

So they read the Scriptures of the Old Testament, but they were

fasting. What do we do at church?

When we come to church on a Sunday, we listen to the

Scriptures and we're fasting. Why are we fasting?

We're fasting to partake in the Holy Eucharist.

So were they possibly celebrating the liturgy of the

Old Testament, but still celebrating the breaking of the

Eucharist? Not the bread and wine, the

breaking of the Eucharist. Was this during this Sacramento

service? Well, it was.

That's what the Fathers are saying.

That's what they were required to do.

They were fasting. Henceforth, those who asked why

do we have to fast before the Eucharist?

Because the apostles would do that.

And we fast so that the first thing that we consume, we're

intake in our bodies is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus

Christ. And fasting pertains to

abstinence. You see, when we read the

Scriptures, beloved, we must always remember that at that

time, at the time of the Acts of the Apostles, it took 100 years

for the Bible to be canonized. At that time there was no Bible

per SE. The scriptures refer to the Old

Testament were the Old Testament were the five books of Moses.

I think the misunderstanding is not knowing and keeping the mind

in mind when we read the Holy Scriptures.

This is where we start misunderstanding because we

forget that there was no book as we have today.

For example, one misinterpretation is Revelations

chapter 8, verse 22, and it reads, I testify to everyone who

hears the word of this prophecy, of the prophecy of this book.

Whoever will place upon these things or whoever will place

upon these things or change these things, God shall place

upon him the plagues that are written in this book.

What book? The Scriptures.

No, no, he's talking about that prophecy, that prophetic book,

because there was no Bible then. So the early church would gather

in the synagogue on a Sabbath to worship, to celebrate the

liturgy of the Old Testament. You know, they say they would

come out with with celebration to read the books.

They would read from the book of the books of the Torah, the

Pentateuch, but they would preach the word of God.

And what word of God is that? Is Jesus himself, the Word of

God, the word Incarnate, which is Jesus Christ.

And this is evident in Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Simon and John went up together to the temple.

This is after the ascension. Hang on.

But everything was abolished. Come on, What are they doing

going to the temple? That's wrong, Simon, John, you

shouldn't be going to the temple because the law was abolished.

Everything was abolished. Jesus abolished.

No, he didn't. He fulfilled by the way, but

they still went to the temple on the Sabbath at the time of

prayer, which was the 9th hour, that's three PM.

They went to the temple and they would listen to the readings.

They would partake in the liturgical service of the Old

Testament and listen to the readings of the Holy Scriptures

of the Old Testament. So it seems that they may have

worshipped in the synagogues on the Sabbath, but they would have

celebrated the Holy Eucharist with the believers only in the

upper room on the first day of the week, that is, on Sunday.

And this would happen continually later on.

Later on during the history of the church, we know that they

were expelled from the synagogue because they were preaching

Jesus, not the Bible. They were preaching Jesus, the

word of God. The living Word of God is Jesus

Christ. As we read in John Chapter 9

John 9:22

verse 22, when the parents of the man born blind were

questioned, is this your child? They said yes he is.

Well how is it? Was he born blind?

Yes he was. Well how is it that he sees it?

And they said, listen, ask him, he's old enough to reply for

himself. Why?

Because they were scared that they would be cast out of the

synagogue, because the Jews would cast those who preached

Jesus Christ and believed in Jesus Christ out of the

synagogue. So these apostles were praying

and worshipping and they were offering the Holy Eucharist.

And during this time the Holy Spirit talks to them and says

separate soul and Barnaba or Barnabas.

The Holy Spirit, beloved, is perfect God, because unless it

had the same authority, He not it, unless the Holy Spirit had

the same authority, He would not have dared to say this without

mentioning of the name Father or of the Son.

No, no one in power. Hence the Holy Spirit speaks

just as God spoke, just as Jesus spoke without granting or

requesting permission from one another.

No, because it is one God. Praise be to His name, one of

the Church Fathers, Ammonius of Alexandria, late 6th century

comments. It must be noted that the Holy

Spirit does not speak to those who happen to be there by

chance, but to those who serve Him and observe fasting.

Wow. And it must be noticed, he goes

on again, that they did not lay hands on the deacons at random,

but on those who were previously fasting and praying.

And those who fast and those who pray are in the faith.

Verse three, we read that they ordained them.

They ordained soul. And Barnabas, let's look at

soul. Let's just concentrate on soul

and see how the three konome hypostasis, which is Konoma,

which are the reality of the essence of a nature, the

essence, the reality of Christ divine nature was seen in his

konoma, divine konoma. Let's see how these three Konome

in the one Godhead in the Trinity are one in nature and

they are divine beloved. Let's read Acts chapter 22

Acts 22:12–14

verses 12 to 14 first and this all pertains to the conversion

of soul Acts chapter 2 verses 1222.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I'm sorry, Acts chapter 22, verses 12 to 14.

Acts 22:12–14

And he said to me, this is Ananias who was instructed by

Jesus Christ to go and meet soul.

Look at what he said, and I'm going to not go chronologically,

OK? And he said to me, the God of

our fathers has appointed the God of our Father.

God the Father has appointed you to know his will and to see the

righteous. Now if we say no, no, he's still

talking about the God of our fathers, He's talking about

Jesus Christ. No, let's be careful.

He goes on. And he said to me, the God of

our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the

righteous one. That's Jesus Christ, to hear the

voice of his mouth. So God the Father has appointed

soul to then meet God the Son. Now that is the Father.

So there is the Father, the first kunuma of the Holy

Trinity. Let's see where the sun comes

into it. Act Chapter 9.

We read that this is in the conversion that while Saul was

on his way to Damascus to capture those of the way that is

Christians, the way Jesus Christ Jesus appeared to him.

Saul, why are you persecuting me?

You cannot kick a upon. You cannot not, not strike your

feet upon thorns. This is now Jesus.

God the Son speaks to him. And this was all prepared by God

the Father. And then we read in these verses

that the Holy Spirit tells them to set aside soul for the

missionary work. So it is God the Father, God the

Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God, praise and glory be to His

name, that He's working in the soul of other life of soul, and

his missionary and his calling. Hence we worship and we must

worship the three of the Holy Trinity equally.

And we certainly pray not only to the Lord God in the name of

Jesus, we pray to the Holy Trinity and in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And we see this in the Acts of the Apostles, beloved, and they

lay hands on them. Now, let me ask you this

question. The Holy Spirit has already

chosen. The Holy Spirit has has

appointed, has elected, it is appeasing to the Holy Spirit,

and let's not forget to God the Father, God the Son, and God the

Holy Spirit. It's already chosen.

Why was there need for these people, these apostles to lay

hands on them? Remember Saint Paul, soul Jesus

appeared to soul he, he, he chose him, He elected him.

He he set him apart, He blinded him and he again gave him his

sight. He preserved him.

He was a chosen vessel by the Lord God.

Why was there a need for someone ordinary to lay their hand on

them? Well, that is the way.

That is what we call the Apostolic succession.

Beloved, God's work is through his people.

God uses his people. God has used his people, those

he called. We cannot take people away.

We cannot take anyone away from the equation of God.

No, when God has used the apostles to continue the work of

the Church, we today, the Church must continue the work of the

apostles. We cannot just say no, I don't

feel it doesn't matter what you feel, what you don't feel.

Look at the scriptures, look at the life of the church.

Jesus chose these apostles. He gave them authority and again

he, the Holy Spirit, Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, one

God, this time God the Holy Spirit speaks to them and moves

them and commands them. It's just like when in Numbers,

I think it's 26 now it's 25 or 26 where Moses time is coming

up. You know he's getting old.

There must be someone, Moses says, who's going to take over

Lord when I die, when I leave, who's going to take over my

responsibility, my calling to lead these people?

God says take for yourself, Joshua, the son of nun Joshua,

take for yourself. He has the Spirit.

Go and check it out, Numbers 25 or 26.

Google it, you'll find it. He has the spirit.

A man who has the spirit. What spirit is God talking

about? Khasli cleans me, Lord.

Is it the evil spirit? No, no, no, the spirit of

knowledge and understanding and professionalism and academia?

No, no no, He has the Holy Spirit.

Set him up before Aaron, set him up before the congregation for

they to see, and then lay your hand upon him so that you may

give him you, you may give him a portion of your authority.

Through you, through this vessel, my will will be done,

beloved. So do you see the Holy Spirit,

the Holy Trinity has been working in the church, in the

life of the church. It mind boggles me for

Christians to say, you know, they, they claim they preach the

name of Jesus Christ, but then they don't believe there is a

Holy Spirit. What Jesus Christ are you

preaching, brother or friend? What Jesus?

Who is this Jesus you are preaching?

Or there's only the Lord and there's only Jesus Christ.

What about the Holy Spirit? They are one in unity.

They are one in power, one in glory, one in might, one in, in,

in, in understanding. They are one.

Hence, when we mention, we mention the three.

We pray to the three. In the Holy Scriptures the three

have always been mentioned. We see these in Jesus's baptism.

The Son has been baptized By who?

By John the Baptist. No, John did not baptize.

Hang on, Rob is changing the 2024 years of of of doctrine.

No, no, no, John did not baptize.

You know, when the priest baptizes hands in the Church of

the East, I do not proclaim that I baptize.

No, no, no, I proclaim that Stephen is baptized, John is

baptized, Mary is baptized. Because you know who baptizes?

It is God the Father. It is God who baptizes.

When Jesus came out of the water, it was God the Father's

voice that was heard through his Spirit that rested upon Jesus as

a form in a form of dove. So the Holy Trinity is evident,

beloved, and today we see this. We see it in, in, in Saint

Paul's or souls calling and ministering until now.

The Holy Spirit now is it was the Father who had planned for

souls conversion to hear the voice of the righteous one which

was Jesus Christ God the Son. Jesus Christ God the Son

appeared and the Holy Spirit now we see is sending and they were

fasting and they were praying. Beloved, the Holy Spirit is

always at work during fasting and praying.

Our 2 keys of communication with our Lord Jesus Christ.

They complement one another. You can't pray without fasting.

You can't say I only pray. We don't need to fast.

You know. Again, again, another mind

boggler, another another state of being dumbfounded.

Where in the Bible does it say or where in the scriptures does

it say today that you don't need to fast anymore?

Well, Jesus says when you fast, what does that mean?

When you fast, that means there will come a time that you need

to fast. The the apostles were fasting

again. Find me in the Scriptures.

Two things. Find me in the Holy Scriptures.

Beloved, where in the Holy Scriptures does do we read that

fasting was abolished? You know, people use that term

abolish very, very lightly. It was abolished.

No, nothing's abolished. Fulfilled, yes.

Completed, yes. Made perfect, yes, through Jesus

Christ. Where in the scriptures do we

read that we do not need to fast?

That's a matter of fact. Jesus says that when you want to

take on evil demons, you need to do it through prayer and

fasting. Now if some versions have done

away with the word, well, that's now altering the Word of God.

Woe, woe, woe to those people. Woe to those who have rewritten

the scripture in the pretense that we want to make it simple

and incorporated their their authority and doctrine.

Woe to those people for taking out the word.

Fasting. No, no, no, we fast yes, because

the apostles fasted. You know why did the apostles

fast? Because Jesus fasted.

Where did fasting come from? God praise his name when he said

Adam do not eat. That's fasting, that's

abstaining. Do not eat simple don't dare to

do away with God has instituted and confirmed through his Son

and through the Holy Spirit. And the second question before

we end is where in the scriptures do we read that the

apostolicity of our faith in the church has been abolished?

When did it end? Show me, tell me it ended.

See Father, go and read my book according to my understanding

chapter, my chapter, my verse. It is being, no, no, you don't

find in the Scriptures, beloved, no, no, no, the Holy Trinity has

been working through the church, has been working through the

authority of the church, vested by the apostles as we see today,

because the apostles continue to lay hand until today.

This most weak vessel of God, Dasha Gennard, Father Gennard

was ordained. I have this authority by the

grace of God, by the laying on of the hand, and that laying on

of the hand was concluded in the name of the glorious Trinity,

Father and Son, and Holy Spirit, one God forever.

We hope you enjoyed this week's message.

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double edged sword. Until next time, God bless you

all.