Episode 75: This New Year

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 rationale

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.

Happy New Year. Oh, I'm so sorry.

I shouldn't have said that. Too loud for those who have a

hangover and you're trying to drink your coffee.

And I'm going to speak softly so that I don't irritate your your

brains and your minds. But in any case, a happy New

Year to you all, however you celebrated it in the various

venues, at home with family and friends as we rang in this New

Year of 2024. And I always recommend and pray

that our prayer entering this New Year was Thy will be done.

The Lords will be done, and this is a one of my suggested New

Year's resolutions, and that's what we're going to talk about

today. I want to help you find one.

I want to suggest and recommend and encourage you and challenge

you actually with this New Year resolution that the Lords will

be done, rosaid Maria Paish to Mama.

And first and foremost, working on resigning on the Lord's will,

waiting for the Lord's will. Accepting the Lord's will takes

a little bit of work, beloved. And the Lord's will is obviously

God's divine plan and purpose for humanity and creation.

Why? Because according to Genesis 1,

Genesis chapter one, verse one, in the beginning.

God, did you hear that? I'm going to raise my voice a

little bit for those who don't have a hangover, but in the

beginning or in the in the beginning, God, not primordial

soup, not blend of gases, not a broth of organic molecules, not

amino acids, etcetera. God.

And I think those who've read up on evolution know what I was

talking about. God praises praise and glory be

to his name. But how do you resign to God's

will if you are not aware of it? Many people ask, what's God's

will for me, Robbie? How do I know what is God's will

and what is from God? What is not from God?

That's gonna be another episode actually.

But how do we determine? How do you determine?

How do you discern? How do you distinguish the will

of God? How do we begin to do this to

try to understand and distinguish the will of God?

Well, let me tell you off the bat, we will never, ever

understand completely in its fullness, the will of God, the

plans of God, the works of God. Why?

Because our minds are limited. They are limited by IQ measures,

right? Our minds are limited.

And we cannot limit God. We cannot limit an unlimited

God. We cannot claim that we know

exactly and completely, because then we have limited God to our

own understanding. But we can try to have an

understanding through prayer and according to God's revelation to

us what God grants us to understand and to do this.

Excuse me, I'm coming. I'm coming off the flu.

Just a few a week ago, so bear with me.

I'm going, I'm going to be coughing and and clearing my

throat. Excuse me, and what better time

than the new year when we make resolutions.

And you know, it's unfortunate and a little bit sad that our

resolutions are always tailored to our looks.

I'm going to lose weight. I'm going to get my health back

in order. I'm going to get my friendship

back in order, what have you. I think sometimes we leave the

relationship between God and ourselves to last.

But what better time than now When you get over your hangover,

when you've had your coffee, when we have completed listening

to this episode, don't just switch off your phone or your

radio or no what Radio your you know, your laptop, your phone

and then just start conversing with other people about how

great the New Year's Eve party was.

No. Spend at least 5 to 10 minutes

and ponder on what we're going to speak about Beloved.

Because now is the time to make these serious or this serious

genuine, live effecting resolution where everything is

basically going to be reset, renewed, renovated.

Now let's start off with what Saint Paul writes in Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 verse two. And here is the key.

Here's the answer on how do I find out what is God's will?

Well, be transformed. Romans chapter 12, verse two Be

Romans 12 · chapter mention

transformed by the renovation or the renewal of your minds, and

I'll add the word then. And then you shall distinguish

what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.

So let's begin this year with a renovation process, a renewing

process of our minds, thoughts, deeds and actions.

What does that mean? Now, when you renew or when you

renovate, first and foremost you examine what needs to be

replaced, what needs to be changed, what needs to be torn

down. Let's begin to examine our

lifestyle, our habits, our outlook on life, that is the

world, while keeping in mind always that there are two

worlds, There are two worlds. There is now and then this and

another. There is here and there, and

also that Each of these worlds, each each of these lives or

ages, has its own form, has its own pattern, has its own

formula, has its own style to which we in one way or another

conform to, We settle into or go with the flow.

And what I'm talking about is this present life and the

tangible season, seeable, desirable things which are in

it, and also the eternal life to come and the unseeable,

intangible things that are reserved in it and in relations

to both of these worlds. Saint Paul writes in the Second

Epistle to Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 18.

For we do not rejoice. Take heed to what he's saying.

We do not rejoice in those things that are seen, but in

these things that are unseen. We rejoice because things seen

are time related, but those things that are unseen are

eternal. Now here, since Saint Paul is

instructing that we are to transform, to renew our minds,

we are hinted that one of these two worlds is getting old, is

getting rugged. It's being damaged, is heading

for destruction, wickedness. And for this reason, we should

focus and conform to the virtues, the benefits of the

other, which is eternal. Putting it simply, what this

present world has to offer is more wickedness than good,

beloved, more destruction than construction, more heartbreak

than healing, more bad than good.

What this present world has to offer, understand and be assured

to know that it is most definitely passing away.

It will pass away. And Saint Peter writes in his

second Epistle, chapter 3 verses 11 to 13.

As therefore all these things are to be destroyed, it is right

for you to be in your way of life as those who are holy and

in the worship of God, while you expect and eagerly desire the

coming of the day of God in which the heavens being tested

by fire, the heavens, Shmaia, shall be dissolved and the

elements set on fire shall melt. But according to His promise, we

look for the new heavens and the new earth in which dwells

righteousness. That's why I love and I

sometimes chant my brother Fernando Ortega's Christian

song, You can have all this world.

Oh my, that was bad. That was a flat night, wasn't

it, Stephen? Well, you have to sympathize

with me. I have a flu, but give me Jesus.

There you go. Now going back to what Paul was

saying, beloved, that those things that are, we can see are

limited. We covered this, remember in one

of those episodes we spoke about this that the happiness, the

happiness, not the joy, the happiness this world has to

offer, is circumstantial. It's conditional and temporal,

as opposed to the concrete and unconditional joy the eternal

world has waiting for those who have lived a pious life with the

Lord Jesus Christ and have tried their utmost best and continue

to toil, to suffer, to go through challenges of life, to

appease God for the day of salvation.

So this year, Beloved, let us change our view of this temporal

world by renewing not only our minds, but our thoughts, our

words, our deeds, and our actions.

How, you may ask? By the practicing wisdom, which

is the fear of the Lord and reflection on the Word of God,

being both Jesus Christ, the Word of God and the Holy

Scriptures, the written Word of God, and also the spiritual

understandings of the laws. The new laws You see, the more

we read the Scriptures daily. And you know, yes, we have our

apps and we get all these daily devotionals, verses and with a

little commentary. No, no, no, actually, tangibly.

You know, I like tangibly reading the scriptures, opening

the Bible, not on your apps and on your phones.

Because while you're reading your holy scriptures, bang, you

receive a message. And then there's a disruption

and you see, you see an advertisement.

There's another disruption, and evil will start working to

devour your time that you're spending on the scriptures.

No, no, no, Put away your phone. And I'm not going to recommend I

command. I instruct you to put away your

phones and open your holy scriptures, the book, the actual

tangible pages, books and read. Because you're not going to get

any messages there because your phone is put on silent, right?

There's no advertisements for the book of the Bible.

You're not going to receive a page that's going to come up and

say, hey, buy these trousers, no, no, no, no.

You're going to actually concentrate on the written

words. The more we read the scriptures

daily and properly, I will add, and the greater our

understanding becomes, the more we are renewed, always and every

day. The more our wrongs, our sins,

our faults, our transgressions, our foolishness are exposed and

revealed to us. Why?

So that we may admit, confess, be forgiven, admit, confess,

repent, be forgiven, be cleansed, and be absolved.

Jesus writes this, speaks this in Matthew chapter 2229, his

response to the seduces who didn't believe in the

resurrection, but they try to come and argue with him about

the resurrection. Hypocrites, listen to what he

says. Now let's forget about the

seduces. They're gone.

This is you and I. Now you do err.

That means you stumble because you do not understand the

scriptures neither the mighty works of God.

And again Christ instructs in John chapter 5, verse 39.

John 5:39

Search the scriptures, for in them you hope that you have

eternal life and they testify concerning me.

You want to know the will of God.

If you want to renew your mind so that you will discern the

will of God, read the Holy Scriptures.

Read it properly again. I command you.

I instruct you, Pugdana. I may not be your Paris priest.

You may not be from the Assyrian Church of the East.

You may not even be a Christian. But I am still going to command

you as a spiritual, as a a servant of God, a spiritual

counselor that you commence to properly and everyday, Daily,

read your Bibles properly, open the Bible, put your phones

aside. You see, the mind which is

lethargic, sluggish, disconnected toward the Holy

Scriptures and the exercise of spiritual knowledge will

experience extreme difficulties. Beloved, if you're not

exercising a knowledge of the Spirit, meaning having a

relationship with God to understand what God's will is,

what God's commands are, what God's promote promises are,

what's God, what God's warnings are.

And when you're disconnected from the Holy Scriptures, I

assure you, and I'm sorry to rain on your parade, If you ever

thought, no, that's OK, no, I'm going to rain on your parade.

I'm going to give you a heart headache now I'm going to scream

a little bit, right? And I'm going to tell you that

you will experience extreme difficulties in renewing

yourself at all, in knowing the will of God at all.

You see, that's why people beloved are mistaking when they

claim they know the will of God, when actually they don't.

At no time. Let me tell you this and listen

to this, beloved. At no time has God ever accepted

compromised, being vague and uncertain when it comes to sin.

At no time He despises He hates sin.

God has never listened carefully.

God has never blessed the sin and the Sinner who is engaged in

the sin. The only blessings graciously

made available and provided in abundance to a Sinner are those

of confession, repentance, forgiveness, absolution, and

acceptance into his household, his flock, his church.

Today, today, and My mind has not ceased from being baffled

and boggled. Beloved, we want to impart God's

blessings upon the Sinner who is actively, joyfully, willfully,

and without any conviction or hesitation whatsoever, engage in

his, in his or her, her sin. We today want to make it OK to

impart God's blessing, meaning God is appeased, God is pleased,

God is accepting your sin. You know why, beloved?

Let me tell you. Let me tell you why.

Because they claim they know the Holy Scriptures, but they do not

know the Holy Scriptures. They claim, they claim that they

can see, but they are blind. Jesus put it simply, Luke

Luke 3:13

chapter 3, verse 13. I say to you, all of you also

shall likewise be destroyed, not blessed, not.

OK, I'm gonna bless you, but because you want blessing.

No, no, no, no, no, no. No sugarcoat, no wishy washy.

No, no, no. All of you also likewise will be

destroyed unless you repent came from the life giving precious

mouth of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.

This because they do not know the scriptures, because we don't

know the scriptures, and to renew our minds, our thoughts,

our hearts, so that we know the will of God.

We know the holiness, the truth of God's ways and precepts.

We need to begin a life of Scripture reading, beloved, and

this is going to be the resolution, and this resolution

when executed. Consistently, Seriously,

wholeheartedly, properly. Then and only then will we be

able to distinguish what is the will of God, what is good and

acceptable and perfect. Hence we pray Thy will be done.

We don't pray this because we came up with these prayers.

Beloved, this is not a prayer of Lord Jesus.

Come in my heart. Oh, I love you so much, Jesus.

No, no, no. This prayer.

And it's it's so sad. Some Christians who claim, well,

Christians, you know, at times are mocking the Lord's Prayer.

All you do is pray the Lord's Prayer.

You know, let me tell you something, let me tell you

something. If I continue to pray the Lord's

prayer until the Lord returns and his will is done in my life,

I will be saved. I will enter the Kingdom of

heaven. I don't need to preach to God in

my prayers. I don't need to tell God what

vertebrate in my back is hurting me so that he can heal me.

No, God knows this, right? And that's why Jesus taught us

this prayer. Thy will be done and when we

want to do the will of God when we first want to know the will

of God, we need to change our mindset.

According to Saint John Chrysostom, this may mean he

writes either that we should be renewed in order to learn what

is beneficial for us, or that if we learn what is useful for us,

we shall be renewed. Six of one and half a dozen of

the other, as they say. Do you guys use that term here,

Steven? Six of 1/2?

OK, my Aussie friends know what I'm talking about, 6 of 1/2 a

dozen. They're both the same.

So we say 6 of 1/2, A dozen of the other, right?

And that's what Saint John St., John Chrysostom is saying.

And according to one of the church fathers origin of

Alexandra, listen to what he says that sometimes God will

allow. It is His will, but then it is

not perfect, not God's will. What we receive, God wills to

give us because of his love, his care and his mercies and

compassion, even though what he wills and allows to happen and

to we allows us to accept is at times not perfect because it's

our will and origin. Brings the example of the

Israelites in one Samuel chapter 8, verses 4 to 22, who asked for

soul to be anointed as king. When you read those verses, God

is saying, listen, let me put it this way.

Listen, what do you need the king for?

They're going to divide you. They're going to tax you.

They're going to put some pressures on you.

I'm your God. I am your king.

But they insisted, no, we want a king.

Like every other nation, God said, OK, choose for yourself, a

king and anoint, and he was anointed.

God's will was done in granting them their request.

But God was angry at the people because they refused to have him

as their king and he and they and he ordered a man to be set

over them as king. So sometimes when we ask and

we're not receiving, it's not that God doesn't want to give it

to us. It's that God knows that if I

give it to you, this is no good for you.

This is not going to be beneficial for you.

But because we plead and plead and plead like a prodigal son,

the father says, OK, I will give it to you, but you'll see what

will happen. So God's will, beloved, that

when we ask, when we pray, when we seek not only that it is

will, the will of God, but that it is perfect and acceptable to

God as well. Lord, I pray.

I pray for, I pray that I find a partner and A and a a fiance.

And I I'm, I want to be married, Lord, But let it be acceptable

for you that when I do find that person, that person is

acceptable and is truly pleasing to you.

And not only because of your gracious, loving care that you

provide for me, Father, but I want that that provision to be

according to a perfect goal. And then you have to resign to

God's perfect will and not complain.

Every time I kept praying and I prayed, I've been praying for 10

years. You maybe have to pray for

another 20 years, or maybe for even 99 years. 99 years.

Abraham and Sarah were praying. Zechariah and Elizabeth were

waiting for a child. And when God gave them that

child, it was God's will. He provided them with a child.

But it was pleasing, it was acceptable, and it was perfect

because it was completely in his will and not like the prodigal

son. So in this year of 2024,

beloved, let me recommend this to you.

Commit to renewing your mind by the word of God, so that when

you seek for what you seek and what you desire, though it be

God's will to be granted. It, however, is also acceptable

and perfect at the same time, so that not only God's will, but

God's appeasing is completed as well.

And I blessed New Year to you all, and may be not only

according to God's will, but also acceptable and pleasing to

Him. Praise and glory be to the one

triune Godfather and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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God bless you all.