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Episode 37: Let Your Conscience Guide You

Double Edged Sword ♱ Assyrian Church Podcast

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  1. In the name of the Glorious Trinity.

  2. Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

  3. Amen. Glory be to the Everlasting

  4. mercies which sent you to us. Oh, Christ the light of the

  5. world and the life of all give us wisdom by a law and Enlighten

  6. our impulses, by your knowledge, sanctify, ourselves by your

  7. truth, and Grant that we may be obedient to your words and may

  8. fulfill your Commandments at every hour.

  9. Oh, you who enlightens the rationale with the knowledge of

  10. your greatness do in light or my Lord are thoughts that we made?

  11. Meditate upon your holy and divine scriptures at all times

  12. O, Lord of all Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

  13. Double-edged sword. It Christian podcast Ministry

  14. presented by father jernard Lazar.

  15. Father, jernard is a parish priest of the mud of the Parish

  16. of a Serene Church of the east in Turlock.

  17. California. Here's father, jernard one of

  18. the many ways to growing stronger in our faith as we are

  19. waiting for the Go to return. That is the coming of the day of

  20. God. According to second Peter,

    2 Peter 3:12

  21. chapter 3, verse 12 as the virgin's, waited for the

  22. bridegroom. Matthew chapter 25, verse 6 is

    Matthew 25:6

  23. to work for the Lord, as we wait for the Lord, we are to work for

  24. the Lord. That is be occupied.

  25. Be engaged in the works of our faith.

  26. Saying Peter instructs Us in verse 14 of second.

    2 Peter 3 chapter mention

  27. Peter chapter 3 that we are to strive.

  28. That means toil continue being gauged struggle work that we may

  29. be found by him. The righteous judge Jesus Christ

  30. in peace without spot and without blemish.

  31. So as we wait for the return of the Lord, which is what Saint

  32. Peter is talking about in the previous verses, we are to

  33. strive that we may be found by him.

  34. Jesus Christ, Our righteous God, righteous judge who sees no

  35. partiality without spot them is found by him without spot and

  36. without blemish. So let's break it down found by

  37. Jesus Christ in peace. Peace with who will first and

  38. foremost. We need to be at peace with God.

  39. And how do we ascertain? What is peace with God is to

  40. understand and acknowledge and to know the cause and the birth

  41. of animosity between God and Men what was it?

  42. In the Garden of Eden Genesis 2:17.

    Genesis 2:17

  43. It was Disobedience, very simply.

  44. Put God said, do not and man did So as we wait for the return of

  45. Our Lord, for the Heavenly bridegroom, we are to strive to

  46. be at peace with God, that piece, which was made by God

  47. through the death of his son. Romans 5:10 notice, I said, God

    Romans 5:10

  48. made God initiated God graced upon us.

  49. He's peace in Romans 5:8-9 st. Paul writes God has manifested

    Romans 5:8–9

  50. his love towards us because if when we were sinners Christ died

  51. for us how much more shall we? Now be justified by his blood

  52. and me rescued from wrath by him.

  53. So God manifested God began the work being at peace with God and

  54. the peace that we received through his son, Jesus Christ

  55. and as Christian children of light Children of God, we need

  56. to be at peace with others. Now, others may not want peace

  57. with us. Others May at every time, be

  58. Waging War and hatred and persecution upon us.

  59. But st. Paul writes had beautifully in

  60. Romans 12:18, and if possible so far as it depends on you o

    Romans 12:18

  61. beloved Christians. Live in peace with every man.

  62. We are to initiate peace with every man just as God initiated

  63. his peace with us. We are to always be stretching

  64. out the hand of Peace as Children of Peace.

  65. We need to be peacemakers. Christmas is around the corner.

  66. Beloved, what are we seeing in the anaphora of the Divine

  67. Liturgy? When we begin at every Sunday,

  68. every time we celebrate The Divine Liturgy.

  69. Glory to God in the highest we repeat Thrice and on Earth

  70. peace. So when we celebrate Christmas

  71. beloved, we celebrate the gift of peace that God gave man and

  72. brought to man through his son Jesus Christ.

  73. So this Christmas make it your number one priority that before

  74. you give those gifts of iPads iPods.

  75. I this are this knows that give the peace Piece of forgiveness,

  76. pick up the phone on Christmas day.

  77. As we celebrate the birth of our Lord, The Peacemaker between

  78. God, his father and Men pick up the phone and make peace with

  79. someone that you have a beef with Christ did this.

  80. I was talking to a friend who was complaining that whenever

  81. someone who is correct or someone who has a true Point

  82. regarding a certain, you know, circumstance or a certain issue

  83. that person is being called, you know, crazy or you're a little

  84. bit out of your mind and it was a little bit offensive, but I

  85. mentioned I said, well Christ, Our Lord, our King.

  86. Our God, God, incarnate was cold.

  87. The head of Bill zebub. He was called crazy.

  88. He was said to be out of his mind.

  89. So God making peace with you and I beloved who are we to withhold

  90. the peace with others. Saint Paul writes, it again,

  91. very strictly and very precisely while we are waiting for the

  92. Lord to return. We need to be working for the

  93. Lord. And one of the Is to make peace

  94. and to make peace with others. After all, we retain the

  95. gracious title of children of God, Christians are called the

  96. children of God. And when I say Christians, those

  97. who have received Jesus Christ, as their lord, and their Savior

  98. and have been baptized in Christ and have been put clothed with

  99. Christ. I have been buried with Christ

  100. in baptism and obviously believe faith comes forth and are living

  101. a christ-like. Life are called a graciously

  102. titled children of God. We retain the gracious title of

  103. children of God receive from the mystery of baptism Galatians

    Galatians 3:26–27

  104. chapter 3 verses 26 to 27 by being peacemakers.

  105. You know, we receive this baton. We received this gift, we give

  106. this gift. We become that gift.

  107. Peacemakers, Matthew chapter 5 verse 9.

    Matthew 5:9

  108. Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers for they will be

  109. called the children of God. They will continue to leave the

  110. title, The gracious title of being the children of God.

  111. So again, this Christmas when you do pick up that phone or you

  112. do send that It takes message to wish a friend, a relative a

  113. cousin who ever it. May be a blessed Feast of the

  114. Holy Nativity to make peace. Remember you are receiving that

  115. blessing ride back at you because the blessing that Jesus

  116. gives for the peacemakers who will be called the children of

  117. God. Matthew 5:9 will remain on you

    Matthew 5:9

  118. and for you, And lastly we need to be at peace with ourselves

  119. self peace. How do we attain this beloved?

  120. There's only one way we can do this is through our conscience

  121. and st. Paul in the Book of Romans

  122. refers to conscience as the natural law and conscious or the

  123. natural law, which is our secret that will, we will also be

  124. judged according to the gospel of Christ.

  125. Romans Romans 2:16 judged, according to the gospel of

    Romans 2:16

  126. Christ, Our conscience, the lateral law by that.

  127. We also will be judged according to the gospel of Christ along

  128. with our faith and our Deeds. It is our conscience that bears

  129. testimony to our peace with God and others.

  130. You want to know and confirm and and and affirm that you are at

  131. peace with God and others test. And Your conscience.

  132. Conscience will either rebuke you or vindicate defend you.

  133. According to Romans 2:15, when you get in trouble and you don't

    Romans 2:15

  134. know right from wrong. Give a little whistle, where's

  135. that from Audrina? Well, Stephen Pinocchio, I love

  136. Pinocchio because, I believe personally, there are biblical

  137. connotations to it. Number one, don't lie.

  138. Number two conscience, which were talking about. 03 to battle

  139. ends up in the whale and was that from Jonah.

  140. Yes. Jonah was in the well, and there

  141. is a, you know, there's a message of being honest and what

  142. have you? And he goes on, when you meet

  143. Temptation and the urges, very strong, give a little whistle.

  144. And he goes not just a little squeak pucker up and blow and if

  145. your whistles wake yell, Jiminy Cricket.

  146. As I said which was Pinocchio's conscience.

  147. Very important. You know, we need to speak about

  148. Conscience in depth in one of our episodes.

  149. But to know if you are at peace with God, you are at peace with

  150. each other. In order to be at peace with

  151. yourself knowing that you are at peace with God and others is to

  152. examine your conscience. So when the conscience is clear

  153. beloved peace with God and others can be at peace with

  154. yourself. Paul continues in verse 14, I'm

  155. sorry. Saint Peter continues in verse

  156. 14 of his Second Epistle chapter 3 to strive and to be found also

  157. not only at peace but without blemish and without spot.

  158. Now, Peter here is talking about the Holy activeness liveliness,

  159. which Jesus refer to, when he said in Luke chapter 12 verse

    Luke 12:37

  160. 37. Blessed, are those servants whom

  161. the master finds awake? When he comes when the master

  162. finds that are they are toiling. They are continuing to strive to

  163. please their lord. And to strive to enter that

  164. narrow gate, So, in order to avoid and to be found without

  165. blemish and spot, we need to strive to avoid our thoughts,

  166. our words, our deeds and actions, which defile us.

  167. We pray this after having received the Holy Mysteries, the

  168. priest prays may. He, that is Jesus Christ.

  169. Our Lord who has deemed us worthy to partake in his also,

  170. The fine body and blood may he grant us to please him in our

  171. thoughts, words, deeds and action.

  172. And we continue to pray that God will grant us the urgency, the

  173. seriousness, the desire, the will and the faith to cut off to

  174. throw away the arm, and the Hand, the leg and the feet, the

  175. eye and ear that are the cause of our defilement.

  176. And these Beloved, the church fathers, refer to Saint, John

  177. chrysostom refers to these as As close friends and relatives.

  178. These can be also our addictions and I refer to them at times the

  179. demons. So we need to be on the alert.

  180. We need to be striving. You cannot sit back, kick back,

  181. relax and claim that you read two verses of the scriptures and

  182. that you have spoken to someone about Jesus Christ.

  183. And that you have said, three to four Words in your prayer or

  184. you've done the sign of the cross before you sleep, or you

  185. do the sign of the cross. Each time you pass a church or

  186. you see the holy crucifix of our Lord and our Savior Jesus

  187. Christ, or during Christmas and Thanksgiving, you fed one or two

  188. homeless people kick back and say I'm done.

  189. This is my work. No, because they are what God

  190. refers to in the Old Testament as dirty rags if they are not.

  191. If they are done in blemish and in spot and not in peace, what

  192. use is there when you feed a homeless and you, you nourish a

  193. homeless person and yet, your brother, your sister, your

  194. friend, your relative is starving for forgiveness,

  195. because they have wronged you, you know, Jesus says, if your

  196. brother Or your sister, or your relative, if they sin against

  197. you, you are to go and try to make peace beloved.

  198. We have been called to live in peace with God, with others and

  199. ourselves, and we have been called to live a life that is

  200. without blemish and spot. New Year's is coming along as

  201. well, news, even everyone has their resolutions, right?

  202. You know, I think a Christians resolution should be let God's

  203. will be done whatever the Lord pleases that shall be According

  204. to some, but at the same time, beloved, you know, not so much

  205. focusing on how we look and our weight and our, you know, our

  206. appearance. But more focusing on our

  207. spirituality. How we look spiritually before

  208. Christ, how we look ourselves in the mirror when we see ourselves

  209. in the mirror. Can I truly say I can see Jesus

  210. Christ if not. Well, there is a hindrance,

  211. there could be blemishes and it could be spots.

  212. I always mention and I always harp on this and I don't know if

  213. I'm the only person that actually continues to beat this.

  214. Drum our social media activities.

  215. What we say, what we speak, what we do, what goes through our

  216. minds? Yes, the urgency is extremely

  217. urgent. Beloved, if the internet causes

  218. me to sin and causes me to be found blemish and with spot when

  219. the righteous judge returns, well, let's get away and let's

  220. do away with the internet, you know what I'm talking about.

  221. About. So this is how we can strengthen

  222. our faith. This actually helps us to grow

  223. in faith as well. There is not a secret remedy.

  224. A click of the finger Remedy or take two pills and you'll be

  225. okay. No Christianity is a continuous

  226. life. Faith is not of the emotion of

  227. the feeling faith is God said, don't I will not God said do.

  228. I will do. Christ has commanded this.

  229. I will do that. Cried Christ is deterring us

  230. from this. I will not do that.

  231. The Apostle's have called us to this.

  232. I will go there. The church has commanded us to

  233. do this. I will do that.

  234. This is Faith being obedient to the Commandments of God, his

  235. son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, his Apostles, the church, the

  236. scriptures. So, let's let's Ponder on On

  237. that during this time. Bill it beloved let us truly see

  238. that. Do we stand in peace with God?

  239. Are we at peace with others and we can do that by knowing and

  240. seeing an examining that if we are at peace with ourselves, is

  241. our conscience clear, if our conscious is clear, and we are

  242. truly attentive to the voice of the Lord, not our own

  243. understanding, then we praise God.

  244. If our conscience is eating Us Alive, then we pray to the Lord.

  245. Pray and ask that the Lord will strengthen us to be that son or

  246. that daughter that child that God has called us to be so that

  247. we may praise him at all times and glorified in at every season

  248. forever. Amen.

  249. One last thing. Please also don't forget to rate

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  254. sword. God bless you all One last

  255. thing. Please also don't forget to rate

  256. and review this podcast and share with your friends and

  257. family if you'd like to suggest future episodes or give us

  258. detailed feedback, please visit the link in the description or

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  260. sword. God bless you all