Podcasts about his incarnation

John, in a sense, continues his Gospel as he introduces central themes of fellowship, truth, and light. The apostle begins with a proclamation of the eternal Word of life—Jesus Christ—emphasizing the tangible reality of His Incarnation as witnessed by the apostles. This message invites believers into fellowship with God and with one another, rooted in the joy of the Gospel. John contrasts walking in the light with living in darkness, exposing the lie of thinking we are without sin while highlighting the promise that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us through Christ's blood.  The Rev. Dr. Burnell Eckardt, pastor emeritus, and editor-in-chief of Gottesdienst, the Journal of Lutheran Liturgy, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 John 1.  In these epistles, John defends the truth of Jesus Christ against false teachings, calling believers to remain steadfast in their faith and grounded in the apostolic witness. He emphasizes the essential connection between truth, love, and fellowship, urging Christians to walk in the light, love one another, and reject anything that denies the person and work of Jesus.  Through 1 John, we explore the assurance of salvation, the battle between light and darkness, and the call to abide in Christ. In 2 John, we are reminded of the importance of holding fast to the truth while guarding against deceivers. Finally, in 3 John, we see a personal glimpse into the challenges of church leadership, hospitality, and Christian unity.  Together, these letters challenge us to live faithfully as God's children in a world that opposes His truth.   Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Fr. Kyrillos Ibrahim- Homily for the 4th Sunday of Kiahk. In the prayer of Zacharias at the birth of John the Baptist, he exclaims that God will "guide our feet into the way of peace." (Lk. 1:79) Christ is the Prince of Peace and peace is the gift and legacy of His Incarnation. It is precisely the peace of His presence with us and in us. Click the icon below to listen.

Revelation, Session Three Christ the Savior, Anderson SC Fr. Anthony Perkins We also went over: https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/orthodoxy/articles/tremors_of_doub Sources: The translation of the Apocalypse is from the Orthodox Study Bible. Lawrence R. Farley, The Apocalypse of St. John: A Revelation of Love and Power, The Orthodox Bible Study Companion (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2011), Bishop Averky, The Epistles and the Apocalypse (Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, Volume III. (Holy Trinity Seminary Press, 2018). Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011). Jack Norman Sparks, The Orthodox Study Bible: Notes (Thomas Nelson, 2008), 1712. Venerable Bede, The Explanation of the Apocalypse, trans. Edward Marshall (Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1878). William C. Weinrich, ed., Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005). Correction from Last Week Revelation was removed from active use because it was being used to support the Marcionists, not the Gnostics [or Montanism as I said in the class!].  Lord have mercy, my brain is too small! Review of Last Week 1:1-3. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants – things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.  Who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.  Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.   New Stuff 1:4 - 6.  (4) John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, (5) and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.  To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, (6) and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever.  Amen. (OSB) Orthodox Study Bible Notes 1:4 Church tradition maintains St. John dwelt and was bishop in Ephesus, in an area where the seven churches were located along a major roadway. The number seven signifies fullness, suggesting the entire Church is also in view. The doxology is Trinitarian, involving the Father (vv. 4, 6), the Spirit (v. 4), and the Son (vv. 5, 6). This initial greeting (lit., “the Existing, the Was, and the Coming”) may express the Father, the one who is (Ex 3:14); the Son, who was (Jn 1:1); and the Holy Spirit, who is to come (Acts 2) at Pentecost and shall always be present. Or it may denote the character of the Holy One, who is eternally present and exercises lordship throughout history (see Heb 13:8 – Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow). God reveals the meaning of the present in light of the past and the age to come. This title may be a paraphrase of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH (“I Am”), of Ex 3:14. Seven is the number of fullness or completion. The seven Spirits of God most likely refers to the Holy Spirit and His several gifts, as this phrase is included in the blessing with the Father and the Son. Alternately the term could refer to the seven archangels who, according to Jewish tradition, stand before the throne of God (Tb 12:15; see also 1En 20:1–8; 90:21, 22; TLev 8:2; “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.”). 1:5 Jesus Christ is presented as the Risen Savior, Lord of all (see Zec 12:10), giving hope to the early Christians that the Church will not always be dominated by a cruel state. Instead of washed, many Greek texts read “freed.” The term witness (Gr. martys), used only here and in 3:14 in the entire NT, refers to Christ, the authentic witness of all divine revelation; all that God has revealed is summed up in His life, witness, Passion, Resurrection, and exaltation. He has inaugurated the new age, for He is firstborn from the dead in His humanity and has achieved a universal sovereignty by His death, Resurrection, and revelation of His Kingdom for the world's salvation. 1:6 Those joined to the body of Christ in baptism comprise the messianic royal priesthood promised of old (see Ex 19:5, 6; Is 61:6; 1Pt 2:9; and the Anaphora of the Liturgy of St. Basil). This priestly ministry is to offer the world back to God in a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving—eucharistically—as in the Orthodox Church's Divine Liturgy. The universe itself thus becomes hallowed, transfigured, and sacramental. Amen is Semitic. It signifies ratification: an acknowledgment of something trustworthy. From Fr. Lawrence Farley John sends this message to the seven churches in Asia who were under his pastoral care. By choosing but seven of these churches, John widens the intended audience, for seven is also the number symbolic of perfection. Thus the Revelation is intended not only to the seven churches of Asia, but also for the perfect totality of all God's churches. In calling God Him who is and was and who is coming, John describes God the Father as the One who is sovereign over time and history and therefore over all the historical events that touch us. God sits enthroned as Lord of the present, the past, and the future, and therefore there is nothing in the past, present, or future that can ever hurt us. God is the Lord of time and of all our days. The message not only comes from the hand of God, it also comes from the entire heavenly court. All in heaven offer the Church on earth this word of encouragement and triumph. The seven spirits before His throne are the seven archangels (see 5:6, “the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth,” and 8:2, the “seven angels who stand before God”). (In chapter 20 of the Book of Enoch, these angels are listed as Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, and Remiel.) Once again, the number seven is symbolic, an image for all the archangels who stand closest to God's throne and hear His counsel. In saying that this message comes from the seven spirits before His throne, John means that this message comes directly from the Throne itself, with secrets not given to the world at large. Later liturgical usage, in which reference to the Father and the Son was always followed by reference to the Holy Spirit, has misled some interpreters into seeing this reference to the seven spirits as a reference to the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Book of Revelation, He is referred to simply as “the Spirit” (e.g. 2:7; 14:13; 22:17), always in the singular and never as “seven spirits” or as a “sevenfold” Spirit. These seven spirits stand before God's throne; that is, they are portrayed as waiting upon God as a part of His heavenly court. It is inconceivable that the Divine Spirit, co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son, could be portrayed as such a servant. Indeed, the other references to the Spirit in the Apocalypse carry the suggestion of His sovereignty and authority. The message also comes from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness (Gr. martus; compare our English “martyr”). Christ bore faithful witness before Pilate to the Truth, even at the cost of His Life (1 Tim. 6:13); John stresses this so that we may imitate His faithfulness. The Lord does not call us to walk in any place where He has not gone before. Jesus is further described as the firstborn of the dead. In using this Jewish concept of the firstborn (in which the firstborn son is the main heir), John shows that Jesus Christ is the heir of the whole age to come; the entire coming Kingdom belongs to Him. His faithfulness unto death resulted in His victory and His inheriting all the world. Our faithfulness unto death will result in our sharing that victory. Death has no terrors for Jesus Christ, and so it need have none for us. Thus Christ is also the ruler of the kings of the earth. Caesar may think he has no superior or master, but Jesus, the humble carpenter crucified under the governor Pontius Pilate, is the true Master of the Roman Empire and indeed of the whole cosmos. The Christians of St. John's day, haunted by a sense of their own powerlessness and humility, were thus made to see their true dignity and power. The Church is described as those whom the Lord loves and therefore continues to protect and care for (the present tense is used to denote Christ's ongoing care), and as those who were loosed from their sins by His Blood. This is an important theme in the Apocalypse. The Cross of Christ was seen by secular Rome as His defeat and proof of how pathetic and deluded the Christians were—that they would worship a crucified man. But for John, the Cross is proof of the power of God that defeats all other powers. The Lord Himself said of the Cross, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). For St. John, our faith in Christ and His Cross also “overcomes the world” (1 John 5:5). Thus the Apocalypse speaks not only of us “making our robes white” in His Blood (7:14) but also of us overcoming Satan “by the Blood of the Lamb” (12:11). The Christians are not to be ashamed of Christ's Cross, for through His Blood they overcome death, Satan, and the whole world. In describing the Christians as a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, John asserts the privileges of the Christians in the face of the pride of Rome. The Roman powers may think the Christians are but poor, uneducated, and powerless, to be utterly disdained. John knows them to be God's own Kingdom, one destined to outlast all the kingdoms of the earth, and to be priests to God Himself, with access to His awe-inspiring Presence. Priests had status and honor in the Roman secular world, and St. John says this is the true status of the Christians before God. Bishop Averky 1:4.  The number seven is usually taken as an expression of fullness.  St John addresses here only the seven churches with which he, as one who lived in Ephesus, was in especially close and frequent contact.  But in these seven he addresses, at the same time, the Christian Church as a whole. Grace to you and peace from the Tri-Hypostatical Divinity.  The phrase ‘which is' signifies the Father, Who said to Moses: I am He that Is (Exod 3:14).  The expression ‘which was' signifies the Word, Who was in the beginning with God (John 1:2).  The phrase ‘which is to come' indicates the Comforter, Who always descends upon the Church's children in holy baptism and in all fullness is to descend in the future age (Acts 2). (St. Andrew of Caeserea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, chapter 1). By these “seven Spirits,” it is most natural to understand the seven chief angels who are spoken of in Tobit 12:15.  St Andrew of Caesarea, however, understands them to be the angels who govern the seven churches.  Other commentaries, on the other hand, understand by by this expression the Holy Spirit Himself, Who manifests Himself in seven chief gifts: the spirit of the fear of God, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of might, the spirit of light, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of the Lord or the spirit of piety, and inspiration in the highest degree (compare Isa 11: 1-3; “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;.”) 1:5. The Lord Jesus Christ is called here “the faithful witness” in the sense that He has witnessed His Divinity and the truth of His teaching before men by His death on the Cross. “As Life and Resurrection, He is the first-born from the dead (Col 1:18, I Cor 15:20), and those over whom He rules will not see death, as did those who died and rose before, but will live eternally.  He is ‘prince of kings,' and Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15), equal in might to the Father and one in Essence with Him” (St Andrew, chapter 1). 1:5-6.  “Kings and priest” are to be understood here not in the strict meaning, of course, but in the sense in which God has promised this to His chosen people through the prophets (Exod 19:6); that is, He has made us, true believers, to be the best, the holiest people, which is the same thing that a priest and king are with relation to the rest of mankind. Venerable Bede. 4. seven. By these seven churches he writes to every church, for universality is wont to be denoted by the number seven, in that all the time of this age is evolved from seven days. Grace. Grace he desires for us, and peace from God, the eternal Father, and from the sevenfold Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, Who gave testimony to the Father in His Incarnation. He names the Son in the third place, as he was to speak further of Him. He names Him also the last in order, as He is the first and the last; for He had already named Him in the Father by saying, “Who was to come.” 5. the first-begotten. This is the same that the Apostle says, “We have seen Jesus Christ for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour.” And in another place, in setting forth the reproach of the cross, he added, “Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave Him the Name which is above every name.” 6. priests. Because the King of kings and heavenly Priest united us unto His own body by offering Himself for us, there is not one of the saints who has not spiritually the office of priesthood, in that he is a member of the eternal Priest 7. cometh. He Who was concealed, when at the first He came to be judged, will be manifested at the time when He shall come to judge. He mentions this, that the Church which is now oppressed by enemies, but is then to reign with Christ, may be strengthened for the endurance of sufferings. pierced. When they see Him as a Judge with power, in the same form in which they pierced Him as the least of all, they will mourn for themselves with a repentance that is too late. Amen. By interposing an Amen, he confirms that without doubt that will happen, which, by the revelation of God, he knows most surely is to come to pass. Gregory of Caesarea. 1:4. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the One who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Due to the existence of many churches in many places, he sent to only seven, mystically meaning by this number the churches everywhere, also corresponding to the present-day life, in which the seventh period of days is taking place. For this reason also he mentions seven angels and seven churches, to whom he says, Grace to you and peace from the Tri-hypostatic Divinity. For by the who is the Father is signified, who said to Moses, “I am He who is,” and by the who was the Logos, “who was in the beginning with God,” and by the who is to come the Paraclete, who always enlightens the children of the Church through holy Baptism, more completely and more strongly in the future. It is possible to understand the seven spirits as the seven angels who were appointed to govern the churches, not counting them equal to the most divine and royal Trinity, but mentioned along with it as servants, just as the divine Apostle said, “I call upon you in the presence of God and the chosen angels.” By the same token, this may be understood differently: the One who is, and who was, and who is to come, meaning the Father, who contains in himself the beginning, middle, and end of all that exists, and the seven spirits the activities of the Life-giving Spirit, following Christ God, who became man for our sake. For in many places each divine Person is indifferently placed and arranged by the Apostle. For this he says here: 1:5a. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the one who witnessed to Pontius Pilate, faithful to his words in all things, the firstborn of the dead as life and resurrection, for those whom he governs will no more see death, like those who were dead before and rose, but will live eternally. Ruler of the kings, as “King of kings and Lord of lords,” equal in power with the Father and consubstantial. Elsewhere, ruler of the kings of the earth is also said earthly desires. If, according to the Blessed [15] Gregory, this usage of he who is, who was, and who is to come, the ruler of all refers to Christ, then it is not unreasonable that words similar to those which will be said shortly after refer to him, to which also the ruler of all is attached and without the repetition or introduction of another person. For here the addition of and from Jesus Christ appears to confirm the understanding we have presented. For it would be unnecessary if he were talking about the only Logos of God and the person of the Son to add immediately and from Jesus Christ in order to show him as distinct from the other one, the expressions that befit God equally honor and are appropriate to each of the divine Persons, and are common to the three, except for their distinctive properties, that is to say, the relationships , as said by Gregory the Theologian, and except for the Incarnation of the Logos. also clear from the things from which we learn, that in the Gospel the thrice-holy hymn of the Seraphim16 is said about the Son, in the speech of Paul in the Acts about the Holy Spirit, and then about the Father, in the offering of the awesome mysteries, to whom we are accustomed to say this prayer,19 as the blessed Epiphanios says in his homily On the Holy Spirit. these things to show that our own understanding does not contradict the patristic voices, and also, with God's help, we continue. 1:5b–6. To the One who loved us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us kings and priests to God and his Father. Glory and dominion to him to the ages of ages. Amen. The glory belongs to him, it says, who freed us through love from the bondage of death, and washed the stains of sin through the outpouring of his life-giving blood and water. And he has made us “a royal priesthood” so that we may offer, instead of irrational sacrifices, “rational worship”22 as a living sacrifice to the Father.    

-The Incarnation - Why Jesus Came Among Us--Selected Portions of Hebrews, Chapters 1 and 2-August 11, 2024- --The opening verses of Hebrews affirm that while God had previously spoken to His people in many portions and ways, in these last days He has spoken through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer goes to great length in describing who Jesus is and what He has done, giving extended space to how Jesus is superior to the angels in every way. He then moves to His Incarnation and why that was necessary. As we make our way through these compelling verses, we will see that there were three primary reasons why Jesus humbled Himself as He did in coming to live among us as a man.

-The Incarnation - Why Jesus Came Among Us--Selected Portions of Hebrews, Chapters 1 and 2-August 11, 2024- --The opening verses of Hebrews affirm that while God had previously spoken to His people in many portions and ways, in these last days He has spoken through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer goes to great length in describing who Jesus is and what He has done, giving extended space to how Jesus is superior to the angels in every way. He then moves to His Incarnation and why that was necessary. As we make our way through these compelling verses, we will see that there were three primary reasons why Jesus humbled Himself as He did in coming to live among us as a man.

"The Incarnation – Why Jesus Came Among Us"Selected Portions of Hebrews, Chapters 1 and 2August 11, 2024 ​The opening verses of Hebrews affirm that while God had previously spoken to His people in many portions and ways, in these last days He has spoken through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer goes to great length in describing who Jesus is and what He has done, giving extended space to how Jesus is superior to the angels in every way. He then moves to His Incarnation and why that was necessary. As we make our way through these compelling verses, we will see that there were three primary reasons why Jesus humbled Himself as He did in coming to live among us as a man.

Bible Study – Job Class Four: Job 1:13 – 2:15 From the Orthodox Study Bible. Job Loses His Children and Property 13.  Now there was a day when Job's sons and daughters were drinking wine in the house of their elder brother, 14.  and behold, a messenger came to Job and said, “The yokes of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were feeding beside them. 15.  Then raiders came and took them captive and killed the servants with the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 16.  While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, and likewise consumed the shepherds; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 17.  While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Horsemen formed three bands against us, surrounded the camels, took them captive, and killed the servants with the sword.  I alone have escaped to tell you!” 18.  While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Your sone and daughters were eating and drinking wine with their elder brother, 19.  and suddenly a great wind came from the desert and struck the hour corners of the house; and it fell on your children, and they died; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 20.  Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved off the hair of his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped, saying, 21. “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.  The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.  As it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass.  Blessed by the name of the Lord.” 22.  In all these things that happened, Job did not sin against the Lord or charge God with folly.   Let's break this down. St. Gregory the Great. On the compounding of affliction.Lo again, lest any thing should be wanting to his grief for the adversity that came of man, he brings tidings that bands of the Chaldeans had broken in, and lest the calamity that came from above should strike him with too little force, he shews that wrath is repeated in the heavens… He who is not laid low by one wound is in consequence stricken twice and thrice, that at one time or another he may be struck to the very core. Thus the blow from the Sabeans had been reported, the Divine visitation by fire from heaven had been reported, tidings are brought of the plundering of the camels, by man again, and of the slaughter of his servants, and the fury of God's displeasure is repeated, in that a fierce wind is shewn to have smitten the corners of the house, and to have overwhelmed his children. For because it is certain that without the Sovereign dictate the elements can never be put in motion, it is covertly implied that He, Who let them be stirred, did Himself stir up the elements against him, though, when Satan has once received the power from the Lord, he is able even to put the elements into commotion to serve his wicked designs. On the timing of the attacks We ought to observe what times are suited for temptations; for the devil chose that as the time for tempting, when he found the sons of the blessed Job engaged in feasting; for the adversary does not only cast about what to do, but also when to do it. Then though he had gotten the power, yet he sought a fitting season to work his overthrow, to this end, that by God's disposal it might be recorded for our benefit, that the delight of full enjoyment is the forerunner of woe. On Job's response.But in that it is added that he worshipped, it is plainly shewn that even in the midst of pain, he did not break forth against the decree of the Smiter. He was not altogether unmoved, lest by his very insensibility he should shew a contempt of God; nor was he completely in commotion, lest by excess of grief he should commit sin. But because there are two commandments of love, i. e. the love of God, and of our neighbour; that he might discharge the love of our neighbour, he paid the debt of mourning to his sons; that he might not forego the love of God, he performed the office of prayer amidst his groans. There are some that use to love God in prosperity, but in adversity to abate their love of Him from whom the stroke comes. But blessed Job, by that sign which he outwardly shewed in his distress, proved that he acknowledged the correction of his Father, but herein, that he continued humbly worshipping, he shewed that even under pain he did not give over the love of that Father. But be it observed, that our enemy strikes us with as many darts as he afflicts us with temptations; for it is in a field of battle that we stand every day, every day we receive the weapons of his temptations. But we ourselves too send our javelins against him, if, when pierced with woes, we answer humbly. Christological Interpretation When his sons were destroyed in the ruin of the house, Job arose, because when Judæa was lost in unbelief, and when the Preachers were fallen in the death of fear, the Redeemer of mankind raised Himself from the death of His carnal nature; He shewed in what judgment He abandoned His persecutors to themselves. For His rising is the shewing with what severity he forsakes sinners, just as His lying down is the patient endurance of ills inflicted. He rises then, when He executes the decrees of justice against the reprobate. And hence He is rightly described to have rent his mantle. For what stood as the mantle of the Lord, but the Synagogue, which by the preaching of the Prophets clung to the expectation of His Incarnation? For in the same way that He is now clothed with those by whom He is loved, as Paul is witness, who says, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot nor wrinkle; (for that which is described as having neither spot or wrinkle; ALLEG. Eph. 5:27. is surely made appear as a spiritual robe; and at once clean in practice, and stretched in hope;) so when Judæa believed Him as yet to be made Incarnate, it was no less a garment through its clinging to Him.     Job Loses His Health 2.1.  Then again as it so happened another day, the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the devil also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2.  The Lord said to the devil, “Where did you come from?”  Then the devil said before the Lord, “I came here from walking around under heaven and going about all the earth.” 3.  Then the Lord said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, since there is none like him on earth: an innocent, true, blameless, and God-fearing man, and one who abstains from every evil thing: Moreover he still holds fast to his integrity, though you told me to destroy his possessions without cause.” 4.  Then the devil answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin.  Whatever a man has he will pay in full for his life.  5. Yet truly, stretch out Your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he will bless You to Your face.”  6. So the Lord said to the devil, “Behold, I give him over to you; only spare his life.” 7. Thus the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with malignant sores from head to foot. 8.  So he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge and sat on a dunghill outside the city. 9.  When a period of time passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you hold out, saying, 10. ‘Behold, I will wait a little longer, looking for the hope of my salvation'? 11. Listen, your memory is wiped out from the earth; your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, which I suffered in vain and with hardships. 12. You yourself are sitting down, spending the nights in the open air among the rottenness of worms; 13. and I go about. As a wanderer and a handmaid from place to place and from house to house waiting for the setting of the sun, so as to rest from my labors and pains that now beset me. 14. But say a word against the Lord and die!” 15.  Then Job looked at her and said, “You have spoken as one of the foolish women speaks.  If we accepted good things from the Lord's hand, shall we not endure evil things?”  In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God.   Let's break this down. St. John Chrysostom.  The angels.  Why does the author describe the angels in the act of presenting themselves daily before the Lord? He does so that we might learn no actual event is overlooked by God's providence, and that the angels report what happens every day. Every day they are sent to settle some question, even though we ignore all this. That is the reason why they were created; that is their task, as the blessed Paul says, “They are sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” “And the devil,” the text says, “also came among them.” You know why the angels are present. But why is the devil present? The latter is present to tempt Job; the former, in order to regulate our matters. Why is the devil questioned again before the angels themselves? Because he had said before them, “He will curse you to your face.” What a shameless nature! He has dared come back! St. John Chrysostom.  On the wife.  Notes that a long time passed, and she was not able to handle the temptations.  The devil hopes this will be like Eve.  Fr. Patrick Reardon.  Indeed, we do perceive a change in Job at this point. If he does not curse God, Job also does not explicitly bless God as he had done in his first affliction (1:21). Instead, he humbly submits to God's will (2:10).  In each case, nonetheless, God's confidence in Job is vindicated. Satan has done his worst to Job, but Job has not succumbed. Like Abraham in Genesis 22, Job has met the trial successfully. Having done his worst, Satan disappears and is never again mentioned in the book. The rest of the story concerns only God and human beings. St. Gregory the Great.  On temptation.The old adversary is wont to tempt mankind in two ways; viz. so as either to break the hearts of the steadfast by tribulation, or to melt them by persuasion. Against blessed Job then he strenuously exerted himself in both; for first upon the householder he brought loss of substance; the father he bereaved by the death of his children; the man that was in health he smote with putrid sores. But forasmuch as him, that was outwardly corrupt, he saw still to hold on sound within, and because he grudged him, whom he had stripped naked outwardly, to be inwardly enriched by the setting forth of his Maker's praise, in his cunning he reflects and considers, that the champion of God is only raised up against him by the very means whereby he is pressed down, and being defeated he betakes himself to subtle appliances of temptations. For he has recourse again to his arts of ancient contrivance, and because he knows by what means Adam is prone to be deceived, he has recourse to Eve. For he saw that blessed Job amidst the repeated loss of his goods, the countless wounds of his strokes, stood unconquered, as it were, in a kind of fortress of virtues. On the nature of evil.See the enemy is every where broken, every where overcome, in all his appliances of temptation he has been brought to the ground, in that he has even lost that accustomed consolation which he derived from the woman. Amid these circumstances it is good to contemplate the holy man, without, void of goods, within, filled with God. When Paul viewed in himself the riches of internal wisdom, yet saw himself outwardly a corruptible body, he says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels. 2 Cor. 4:7. You see, the earthen vessel in blessed Job felt those gaping sores without, but this treasure remained entire within. For without he cracked in his wounds, but the treasure of wisdom unfailingly springing up within issued forth in words of holy instruction, saying, If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive evil? meaning by the good, either the temporal or the eternal gifts of God, and by the evil, denoting the strokes of the present time, of which the Lord saith by the Prophet, I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. Is. 45:6, 7. Not that evil, which does not subsist by its own nature, is created by the Lord, but the Lord shews Himself as creating evil, when He turns into a scourge the things that have been created good for us, upon our doing evil, that the very same things should at the same time both by the pain which they inflict be to transgressors evil, and yet good by the nature whereby they have their being. On how the Church responds to both kinds of “evil”Holy men, when fastened upon by the war of afflictions, when at one and the same moment they are exposed to this party dealing them blows and to that urging persuasions, present to the one sort the shield of patience, at the other they launch the darts of instruction, and lift themselves up to either mode of warfare with a wonderful skill in virtue, so that they should at the same time both instruct with wisdom the froward counsels within, and contemn with courage the adverse events without; that by their instructions they may amend the one sort, and by their endurance put down the other. For the assailing foes they contemn by bearing them, and the crippled citizens they recover to a state of soundness, by sympathizing with them. Those they resist, that they may not draw off others also; they alarm themselves for these, lest they should wholly lose the life of righteousness. And more on thisHoly men, when fastened upon by the war of afflictions, when at one and the same moment they are exposed to this party dealing them blows and to that urging persuasions, present to the one sort the shield of patience, at the other they launch the darts of instruction, and lift themselves up to either mode of warfare with a wonderful skill in virtue, so that they should at the same time both instruct with wisdom the froward counsels within, and contemn with courage the adverse events without; that by their instructions they may amend the one sort, and by their endurance put down the other. For the assailing foes they contemn by bearing them, and the crippled citizens they recover to a state of soundness, by sympathizing with them. Those they resist, that they may not draw off others also; they alarm themselves for these, lest they should wholly lose the life of righteousness. ___ Saint Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 1 (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; J. G. F. and J. Rivington, 1844), 83. Robert Charles Hill.  St. John Chrysostom Commentaries on the Sages, Volume One – Commentary on Job.  Holy Cross Orthodox Press. Patrick Henry Reardon, The Trial of Job: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Job (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2005), 22. Manlio Simonetti and Marco Conti, eds., Job, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 4–5.   What we will cover next week: The trial of ideas begins.  Job 2:16-7:14

Friends of the Rosary: Today, on the third day of Christmas, the universal Church honors the apostle and evangelist St. John (d. 101), the beloved disciple of Jesus and author of the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and the Apocalypse. He is the evangelist of the divinity of Christ and His fraternal love. On Christmas Day, we read his passages on the pre-existence of the Word, who by His Incarnation became the light of the world and the life of our souls. Born in Bethsaida, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother to St. James the Greater, both of whom were fishermen. The two were called by Jesus to be disciples as they were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee. With James and Peter, he witnessed the Transfiguration. At the Last Supper, he leans on the Master's breast. At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusts His Mother to his care. John's pure life kept him very close to Jesus and Mary for years to come. He was the only one of the Apostles who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion and Death. He was brought to Rome and, according to tradition, was cast into a caldron of boiling oil by order of Emperor Domitian, but he was miraculously preserved unhurt. John was then exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse or Revelation. Afterward returned to Ephesus where he founded many churches in Asia Minor and passed away in peace at about ninety-four years old. "My dear children, love one another," was his message. Ave Maria!Jesus, I Trust In You!St. John, Pray for Us! To Jesus through Mary! + Mikel A. | RosaryNetwork.com, New York • ⁠December 27, 2023, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

The Messianic community of faith presently finds itself at a very serious crossroads, not just a crossroads in determining its long term purpose and where it is going to be in the next few decades, but most seriously in its theology and how we are to approach the Bible. The enemy desperately wants us to get off course and away from the mission of seeing the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel accomplished (Acts 1:6). He wants us to not be a movement of positive change and transformation, where people are empowered by the Lord to accomplish His tasks in the world—but rather be one of mischief, confusion, and apostasy. The enemy wants us to seriously “mess up” and gain a bad reputation so that people will (rightly) stay away. One of the most significant ways that this has happened over the past several years has been seen when various Messianic individuals deny the Divinity of Yeshua the Messiah. There have been both Messianic teachers and laypersons who have decided that Yeshua the Messiah was nothing more than a human being empowered by God, but certainly not God in the flesh. They have stripped away the reality of His Incarnation, and made Him little more than a mortal like one of “us.” It is not all that surprising, but among a significant number of those who deny Yeshua's Divinity are those who later deny His Messiahship. Not content with their entirely human Yeshua, these people then question whether or not Yeshua is even the Messiah and whether they truly need Him. Outsiders to the Messianic community who witness this trend, often believe that the Messianic movement is not something that God has raised up to restore the lost Hebraic and Jewish Roots of the faith, or even just see a generation of Jewish people brought to Yeshua—but rather is a move of the Adversary to lead people away from the salvation available in Yeshua and the truth of the gospel. Is this truly the case? Are we nothing more than a revolving door, leading people into our midst for a short season, and then into the open arms of a Messiah-less Synagogue?

If we are generous with God, God is generous with us. Though sometimes difficult to see in our world, God bestows untold blessings, including the great miracle of His Incarnation. We never depart from God empty-handed.Subscribe to receive every sermon here: https://sspx-sermons.captivate.fm/listenSee all our Sermons: https://sspxpodcast.com/sermons/Donate: https://sspxpodcast.com/faq/#donateView on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SSPX

A few years ago, my colleague Dr. Glenn Sunshine wrote an introduction to one of the greatest works of Christian antiquity, Athanasius' On the Incarnation of the Word. Athanasius (born in Alexandria in the 290s) is best known for defending the divinity of Christ against the heresy of Arius, who taught that Jesus was not equal with God the Father but a lesser, created being. Arianism had gained significant ground in the Church, but Athanasius fought to preserve the biblical view that Jesus is “in very nature God.” In the process, he became known as Athanasius Contra Mundum: “Athanasius Against the World.”   In his introduction, Dr. Sunshine describes Athanasius' teaching:  "[T]he Image of God made it possible for us to know the Word of God; with sin the Image was defaced, and we lost the knowledge of God. But since the Word is the perfect Image of God (Col. 1:15), He was able to renew that Image in us, and by His life, works, and teaching to renew and restore true knowledge of God. His works of power revealed Him as the Word of God, the Lord of all Creation and thus the one through whom true knowledge of God comes."  That the Word of God came, not just to live, but to die for our sins is another important theme of On the Incarnation:   "How could He have called us if He had not been crucified, for it is only on the cross that a man dies with arms outstretched? Here, again, we see the fitness of His death and of those outstretched arms: it was that He might draw His ancient people with the one and the Gentiles with the other and join both together in Himself. Even so, He foretold the manner of His redeeming death, 'I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men to Myself.'" By becoming fully human, the incarnate Word of God draws fallen human beings to Himself, forging them into a new humanity:  "He manifested Himself by means of a body in order that we might perceive the Mind of the unseen Father. He endured shame from men that we might inherit immortality. He Himself was unhurt by this, for He is impassable and incorruptible; but by His own impassability He kept and healed the suffering men on whose account He thus endured. In short, such and so many are the Savior's achievements that follow from His Incarnation, that to try to number them is like gazing at the open sea and trying to count the waves. One cannot see all the waves with one's eyes, for when one tries to do so those that are following on baffle one's senses."  On the Incarnation can speak to the heresies of our time, too. For example, Arianism lives on in Mormonism, the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, and any teaching that denies the Trinity. It also is reincarnated among those who label Jesus as merely a good teacher who came as an example for us, but not as our Savior.  C.S. Lewis famously encouraged his readers to balance the reading of new books with old ones. As Dr. Sunshine reminds us in his introduction to On the Incarnation, Lewis wrote this in his own introduction to Athanasius' work:   "Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light."   So, Lewis said,  “The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.”   On the Incarnation of the Word is an especially helpful read during Advent and Christmastide, when we celebrate again the coming of the Incarnate Word of God, who became flesh and dwelt among us.  This Breakpoint was co-authored by Kasey Leander and Dr. Glenn Sunshine. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org. 

Theme- God calls you to believe on Christ, His only begotten Son, and worship Him---1. Christ's Eternal Existence-2. His Eternal Communion with the Father-3. His Incarnation in Time-4. His Great Salvation

Watch Trevor Johnston this week as we start of the season of Advent with Christmas at Community of Hope! In this week's message, Trevor talks about how Jesus gets us because of His Incarnation, and how that can allow us to be set free.

Our ongoing, heartfelt, gazing upon the glory Christ in His Incarnation, is a sure antidote against the deadly sin of pride, and what propels us to a life of greater humility and loving service toward others, following the supreme example of our Lord. Pastor Kempiz Hernandez

“The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:11–12If you were to plan out the ideal future for yourself, what would it look like? Imagine if you were not constrained by budget or resources. Imagine if you could pick to do anything you wanted, to go anywhere you wanted, and enjoy any activity that you wanted. Imagine the greatest experience you could possibly have. What would that be? Most people would immediately think about indulging in the greatest pleasures imaginable. A life of the most luxurious accommodations, the best food, the most beautiful scenery and the most relaxing and enjoyable time possible. But would that truly be the “ideal future for yourself?”The Gospel passage above is very clear. Greatness is found in servanthood. Exaltation is enjoyed only through humility. Is the ideal lifestyle one that is filled with indulgence, entertainment, luxury, and the like? Certainly not. The ideal life, the greatest life, the most exalted life is the life of the most humble service of others as possible. That's essentially what Jesus tells us in this passage. Do you believe that?Note that Jesus uses the words “greatest” and “must” in the same sentence. These two words are both quite definitive. There is no one greater than the “greatest,” and the path to that greatness requires, without exception, that the greatest be a servant of everyone else. In many ways, this truth defies most human conceptions of greatness. Most often, if someone is considered “great,” then they are served and treated with an honor and respect not given to most. For example, if you had someone of great importance over to your home for dinner, you would most likely wait on them. Of course, service in this context is much more than waiting on tables or providing a meal. Though that is a blessed way to serve others and to express love, Jesus' concept of service goes far beyond this. How do we serve as one who is truly great? We do so especially by humbling ourselves. Humility is the greatest form of service we can render another.Jesus was, without question, the humblest person to ever live. Only His mother shared perfectly in this holy virtue. Humility enables a person to break out of every selfish tendency and turn their love to the good of the other. Jesus did this first by becoming Incarnate in the womb of His dear mother. The Eternal Son of God did not become man because it somehow benefited Him in a self-centered way. He did it because He loved us and His Incarnation benefited us. The Son of God did not allow others to mock Him, ridicule Him and ultimately murder Him because it somehow benefitted Him. He did it so that He could enter death and destroy it so that we could rise with Him. He did it for us. And we could go through every passage of the Gospels and see that everything Jesus did was done for others and never done out of a selfish desire. This self-giving service our Lord offered every day was a fruit of the incredible humility that He lived. Jesus did everything He did out of His love for others and with humility so as to bring salvation and transformation to their eternal souls.In our lives, we need to make a fundamental choice. Am I going to live for myself? Or am I going to live for others? It seems as though very few people live fully for others. It is difficult to take our eyes off ourselves and turn them only to the good of others. But if we realize that living for others is also the path to our own greatness and ultimate exaltation, then it becomes much easier. Serving others, especially in a spiritual way by which you do all you can to help them grow closer to God, is what will make you great. Nothing else can do so. Believe that and live it.Reflect, today, upon a life of true greatness. Reflect, especially, upon how you can live such a life. How can you more completely serve others? How can you make their holiness your primary goal? How can you help others grow in their love of God? Humble yourself and turn your eyes from yourself to others. Doing so will make an eternal difference for others and also for yourself. My exalted Lord, You are exalted far above all others. You are Greatness Itself. The life You lived, dear Lord, was one of the greatest humility. But it was in this humility that You accomplished the salvation of the world. Help me to imitate Your greatness by making the service of others my most central mission in life. I love you, my Lord. May I love and serve others with You. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“The Example for Unity”Philippians 2:5-111) His Incarnation     A. He did NOT lay aside His Deity    B. He gave up HIs Rights as God

John 17:1-13.  Sunday after Ascension, Commemorating the 318 Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicea.  Today Fr. Anthony offers a reflection on the mystery of fellowship, noting that while that of the nation can point us toward something greater, only Christ can save.  He briefly describes how Christ created a new humanity for full fellowship through His Incarnation.  Note that he misused the word "essence" when he was describing the new shared humanity we have in Christ (he repents sincerely!).  Enjoy the show! 

One of the most difficult concepts for our finite minds to understand is that of the Trinity. Listen to this message to learn that God is a unity and there is not more than one God but there are three Persons in the Godhead. Hear a number of passages both in the Old Testament and the New Testament that refer to this unity and name the personages. See that Christ not only pre-existed mankind but had eternality like the other Members of the Trinity. Realize that as you listen and study these passages you will begin to get a glimmer of who Jesus was before His Incarnation, during His Incarnation and is now.

Date: 18 April 2022 Parish: St Mary and St George, Manor Park Season: Holy Week In this sermon, His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London, encourages us to ensure we do not place obstacles and burdens on others but remove them as our Lord teaches us through His Incarnation

Friends of the Rosary: Merry Christmas! Today is the Feast of St. John Apostle and Evangelist. St. John, the son of Zebedee and brother of St. James the Great, become the beloved disciple of Jesus. He wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and the Book of the Apocalypse or Revelation. St. John was present with Peter and James at the Transfiguration of Christ and witnessed His agony in the Garden. At the Last Supper, he leaned on the Master's breast. At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusted His Mother to his care. He was the only one of the Apostles who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion and Death. John's pure life kept him very close to Jesus and Mary for years to come. St. John described in his Gospel the pre-existence of the Word, who by His Incarnation became the light of the world and the life of our souls. He was later exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, but afterward returned to Ephesus to take care of the Holy Virgin. St. John died in peace at Ephesus, at the age of ninety-four years old. “My dear children, love one another,” was the message of his preaching. Ave Maria! Jesus, I Trust In You! St. John, Pray for Us! + Mikel A. | RosaryNetwork.com, New York • December 27, 2021, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

To remember and honor the Lord correctly for His advent, we must know that His Incarnation was only the means to the end of the "Immanuel-ation," God indwelling within us. 

To remember and honor the Lord correctly for His advent, we must know that His Incarnation was only the means to the end of the "Immanuel-ation," God indwelling within us. 

From the Gospel of Matthew (1:18-25): “Advent, Part 4: Prelude to Jesus' Birth”  MESSAGE SUMMARY: In Matthew 1:1-17, the Apostle Matthew presents the genealogy for Jesus from the lineage of Joseph, even though Joseph was not Jesus' natural father. Whereas, Luke's Gospel presents Jesus' genealogy from Mary's lineage. As was prophesied by Isaiah more than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, both Joseph and Mary were of the lineage of King David. This fourth Sunday in Advent points us to the first coming of Jesus and His birth as a human child. Jesus birth was His Incarnation as both God and human. The coming of Jesus was a real event in the history of mankind. Often, things and events in our lives take unanticipated courses; and God intervenes in our lives just as God intervened in Joseph's life, through the Angel, when Joseph found out about Mary's Devine pregnancy. “Do not be afraid because this {pregnancy} is of the Holy Spirit.” The message, in Matthew 1:21-23, from God's intervening Angel, in Joseph's dream, was simple; however, it changed the world for eternity: “'She {Mary}will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet {Isaiah 7:14}: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us).". In Matthew 1:24-25, Joseph responds without question and with faith and obedience to God's intervention: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.". Therefore, God intervened in both the lives of Joseph and Mary, to fulfill His promise of more than five hundred years previously, to enter the world as the vulnerable baby Jesus. Jesus, who was the Incarnate God and man, would save the world from its sins. We know that we can be saved from our sins, and the effect of our sins, by coming to God in repentance of our sins and in true faith that Jesus is God and walking with Jesus, in our lives, as our Savior. Also, God has given us the Holy Spirit to facilitate our walk and to provide a personal relationship with Him.   In this time of Advent, why do we have such a difficult time of sharing this good news that was given to Joseph in God's intervention: “and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)”? We can break out of this reluctance, to share the good news of Jesus, by bringing someone to church during Christmas and by living our lives to reflect God's Grace when: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17).   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, Sabbath rest is truly an unbelievable gift! Thank you that there is nothing I can do to earn your love; it comes without any strings attached. As I close my eyes for these few minutes before you, all I can say is, thank you! In Jesus' name, amen.    Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 133). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:13 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):   Matthew 1:18-25; Isaiah 7:11-25; Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17. SCRIPTURE REFERENCE SEARCH: www.AWFTL.org/bible-search/ WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “As a Jesus Follower, the Greatest Witness for the Gospel that You Can Give Is for Others to See Jesus IN You”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

From the Gospel of Matthew (1:18-25): “Advent, Part 4: Prelude to Jesus' Birth”  MESSAGE SUMMARY: In Matthew 1:1-17, the Apostle Matthew presents the genealogy for Jesus from the lineage of Joseph, even though Joseph was not Jesus' natural father. Whereas, Luke's Gospel presents Jesus' genealogy from Mary's lineage. As was prophesied by Isaiah more than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, both Joseph and Mary were of the lineage of King David. This fourth Sunday in Advent points us to the first coming of Jesus and His birth as a human child. Jesus birth was His Incarnation as both God and human. The coming of Jesus was a real event in the history of mankind. Often, things and events in our lives take unanticipated courses; and God intervenes in our lives just as God intervened in Joseph's life, through the Angel, when Joseph found out about Mary's Devine pregnancy. “Do not be afraid because this {pregnancy} is of the Holy Spirit.” The message, in Matthew 1:21-23, from God's intervening Angel, in Joseph's dream, was simple; however, it changed the world for eternity: “'She {Mary}will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet {Isaiah 7:14}: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us).". In Matthew 1:24-25, Joseph responds without question and with faith and obedience to God's intervention: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.". Therefore, God intervened in both the lives of Joseph and Mary, to fulfill His promise of more than five hundred years previously, to enter the world as the vulnerable baby Jesus. Jesus, who was the Incarnate God and man, would save the world from its sins. We know that we can be saved from our sins, and the effect of our sins, by coming to God in repentance of our sins and in true faith that Jesus is God and walking with Jesus, in our lives, as our Savior. Also, God has given us the Holy Spirit to facilitate our walk and to provide a personal relationship with Him.   In this time of Advent, why do we have such a difficult time of sharing this good news that was given to Joseph in God's intervention: “and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)”? We can break out of this reluctance, to share the good news of Jesus, by bringing someone to church during Christmas and by living our lives to reflect God's Grace when: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17).   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, Sabbath rest is truly an unbelievable gift! Thank you that there is nothing I can do to earn your love; it comes without any strings attached. As I close my eyes for these few minutes before you, all I can say is, thank you! In Jesus' name, amen.    Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 133). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:13 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):   Matthew 1:18-25; Isaiah 7:11-25; Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17. SCRIPTURE REFERENCE SEARCH: www.AWFTL.org/bible-search/ WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “As a Jesus Follower, the Greatest Witness for the Gospel that You Can Give Is for Others to See Jesus IN You”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”  Luke 12:39-40This Scripture offers us an invitation.  It can be said that Jesus comes to us at an unexpected hour in two ways.First, we know that He will return one day in glory to judge the living and the dead.  His Second Coming is real and we should be aware of the fact that it could happen at any time.  Sure, it may not happen for many years, or even for many hundreds of years, but it will happen.  There will be one moment when the world as it is will end and the new order will be established.  Ideally, we live each and every day in anticipation of that day and that moment.  We must live in such a way that we are always ready for that end.Second, we must realize that Jesus does come to us, continually, by grace.  Traditionally, we speak of His two comings: 1) His Incarnation, and 2) His return in glory.  But there is a third coming we can speak of which is His coming by grace into our lives.  And this coming is quite real and should be something to which we are continually attentive.  His coming by grace requires that we be continually “prepared” to meet Him.  If we are not prepared, we can be certain we will miss Him.  How do we prepare for this coming by grace?  We prepare first and foremost by fostering a daily habit of interior prayer.  An interior habit of prayer means we are, in a sense, always praying.  It means that no matter what we do each and every day, our minds and hearts are always turned toward God.  It's like breathing.  We always do it and do it without even thinking about it.  Prayer must become just as much of a habit as breathing.  It must be central to who we are and how we live.Reflect, today, upon your life of prayer.  Know that the moments you dedicate exclusively to prayer each day are essential to your holiness and relationship with God.  And know that those moments must help to build a habit of always being attentive to God.  Being prepared this way will allow you to meet Christ at every moment that He comes to you by grace.Lord, help me to foster in my heart a life of prayer.  Help me to seek You always and to always be prepared for You when You come.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

It is hard to talk about gender, sexuality, and identity today. How can Christians think well about these topics and find strength to live according to what the Scriptures teach? They should start with Jesus, holding fast to the Head. His Incarnation demonstrates the goodness of the human body and reveals the fact that we will be forever gendered, embodied beings. These facts have profound implications for those who are married, single, young, same-sex attracted, gender dysphoric, and more. Pray with us that these reflections will help our church think and act in ways that glorify our Lord Jesus Christ!

It is hard to talk about gender, sexuality, and identity today. How can Christians think well about these topics and find strength to live according to what the Scriptures teach? They should start with Jesus, holding fast to the Head. His Incarnation demonstrates the goodness of the human body and reveals the fact that we will be forever gendered, embodied beings. These facts have profound implications for those who are married, single, young, same-sex attracted, gender dysphoric, and more. Pray with us that these reflections will help our church think and act in ways that glorify our Lord Jesus Christ!

Reflections on the Readings for Good Shepherd Sunday. We begin with the Gospel (John 10:22-30) in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I want to focus on the final lines of the reading:My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one."From these lines, I want to attend to the oddity of one detail: Jesus says that what his Father has given him is “greater than all else”—the realest of all realities. And he insists that no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. Consider that claim for a moment. What has been given to him is still kept for him. What is kept for him is what has been given to him. What is his is his. What is his is his because it is the Father's. What he has received as his own remains in his Father's care for him as Son. And because it remains in the Father's care for him, what he receives is truly his, truly his own. What does this mean? It does not mean that the Father continues to clutch at what he has given, to hold it “over” the Son as leverage. The Father does not cling to the Son any more than the Son grasps at his equality with the Father. No, the gift the Father gives is given in such a way that it is securely the Son's. Jesus is who he is because of how he is loved by the Father. And it is that love, which is greater than all else, that holds the Son in such a way that he is freed to be fully, excessively, abundantly himself. Precisely as the one so loved, Jesus loves us and shares with us his eternal life. Precisely as the one so held, he cannot be snatched out of the Father's hand and we cannot be snatched out of his.In Revelation 7, John the Revelator sees a throng, all robed in white. He is asked who they are and where they've come from, but he is wise enough to admit he doesn't know. He is told, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.For this reason they are before the throne of God,and worship him day and night within his temple,and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;the sun will not strike them,nor any scorching heat;for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."Notice, these white-robed overcomers are thronged before the throne. They are praised for worshipping within God's temple. And for this reason, they are assured they will be sheltered by the One Seated on the Throne. But we know from John's Gospel that Jesus' body is the temple. So, we know that it is in him that these saints shall be sheltered.Again and again, including at the beginning of this reading, John has spoken of the Lamb as standing before or beside the throne, in the presence of the One Seated on the Throne. Now, however, John hears him named as the one standing at the center of the throne. What has happened? The Father, the One Seated on the Throne, has made room for the Lamb in his rule, his reign. Jesus has been sheltered and just in that way has become a shelter, the Father's shelter. Earlier in the Apocalypse, he promised that those who overcome would be granted to sit with him on his throne. So, what we have described in Revelation 7 is the fulfillment of that promise. These overcomers are being moved to and into the center of the throne of God, made to share in God's joy in being Christ's and Christ's joy in being God's. The Lamb, the one who now stands with the Father at the center of the throne, is the one who shepherds us. The shepherd is himself a sheep. The messiah, the king, has been kind to us by become one of our kind, by making himself our kin. The creator has become a creature without in any way changing what it means for him to be creator. And in so doing he has changed forever everything about what it means for us to be creatures. He has become one of our kind, making us his kin, so we can share in his kingdom as co-heirs and co-regents, kinging with him.As the Father shepherded the Son, so the Son shepherds us. And we are as secure in him as he is in his Father. We cannot be snatched away from him any more than he can be sundered from the Father and the Spirit. John 1 makes clear that Jesus' own human life, his creaturely liveliness, the liveliness which came alive in him in the beginning, is nothing but the Father's gift. And that life, that liveliness, is what Jesus has shared with us. The Father has made room for the Son. And the Son has made room for us—and all of that is realized by the Spirit who is the roominess of God.Once we've gotten some sense of this logic, we can begin to hear Psalm 23 as promising not a good life, and anything but what we've been told is the good life, but a share in God's life. The “right pathways” along which we are shepherded are the pathways opened up within God's life with God. To be led by Jesus, to be shepherded by him, is to be caught up in the flow of his Spirit-enlivened communion with the Father, to be borne along with him and in him by the giddy giving and receiving that the eternal Spirit eternally makes possible.The Psalm begins with a profession: “The Lord is my shepherd.” In these opening lines, the psalmist speaks of God in the third person. He speaks about God. Suddenly, however, at the heart of the Psalm, he begins to speak to God: “you are with me.” What has changed? He has been led away from the still waters and green pastures down into the dark valley. His suffering has turned his profession into prayer.Now, I want to be as clear as I can: God does not bring suffering on us. God does not want us to suffer. Suffering, in itself, does no good for us. But God does bring the suffering ones to us, and God leads us to them. God does not want us to go through suffering. But God does want the suffering to go through us. God is the God of the suffering. God is the God who suffers with and in the suffering. So, if we are to know God as God is, if we are to become one with God as God wants us to be, then we cannot not suffer with God alongside those who're hurting. Jesus is a guest who stays only in the house of the wounded. So, we cannot be with him unless we are willing to be with them. There is no other way to know God. There is no other God to know.We need to remember this, too: the shadow in the valley of death is cast by the wounded body of Jesus, hanging on that tree. The darkness of his sorrows is the deepest darkness, a darkness so deep it's luminous. So, if we can learn to be at peace in the shadow of his body, suspended on the cross, then we can be at peace in any shadow, even the shadow of other deaths. In fact, we can learn to be even more at peace there, in that darkness, than we ever were beside the still waters. But we can learn that only after our professions, our declarations, have been shattered into desperate prayer.Anyone can speak of God in the third person. Indeed, everyone does! Wolves do that, as well as sheep. Hirelings do that, as well as shepherds. But what we need, obviously, especially in times like these, is to allow the good shepherd to lead us into the vicinity of those who're suffering—especially those whom we think deserve their suffering—so we become so sick of what we've being saying about God that we have no choice but to speak to him on their behalf—and to listen to what he's saying not about us, even less about others, but to us about ourselves for their sake.Then, and only then, we will find we have been led through the darkness into a new light: “You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me.” Why? So we will make room for our enemies at his table, as he has made room for us on his throne. So we can serve them as God serves us. So we can enjoy them as God enjoys us.Each week, we're called to the Lord's Table with these words: “The gifts of God for the people of God.” But we hear that invitation rightly only if we hear it as a call to welcome others into the center of the throne with us. Christ, as temple, opens himself to us so we can open ourselves to others. He offers us the gifts of his body and blood so we can be enlivened with life, so we can live that life with him in a way that lights the world.Look at the Psalm's final line: “Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” Now, at the very end, the psalmist is finally able to speak truly in the first person. Speaking not only to God but with and within God as God speaks. And this, and nothing less than this, is what the Psalm promises: we are all being borne along by God's love for God—and God's love for God's love for us—learning to love ourselves not only because God loves us but with God's love for us. This is the empowerment the Spirit gives, an empowerment which frees us from all shame and presumption, all anxiety and pretension because it grounds us in the incredible hospitality of the God who welcomes us to dwell in his house, not as sometime guests, but as kin, as family—and something more than family.Maximus the Confessor said it like this (QThal 60):For it was fitting that the Creator of the universe, who by the economy of His Incarnation became according to nature what He was not, should preserve without change both what He Himself was by nature and what He became in His Incarnation. For it is not natural to contemplate any change in God, in whom we cannot conceive of absolutely any movement whatsoever, and it is because of movement that things in motion are subject to change. This is why we must be shepherded, led out into green pastures, down into the valley of the shadow of death, and out into the open space where the table has been set. St Maximus continues: This is the great and hidden mystery. This is the blessed end for which all things were brought into existence. This is the divine purpose conceived before the beginning of beings, and in defining it we would say that this mystery is the preconceived goal for the sake of which everything exists, but which itself exists on account of nothing, and it was with a view to this end that God created the essences of beings. This is, properly speaking, the limit and goal of God's providence, and of the things under His providential care, since the recapitulation of the things created by God is God Himself. This is the mystery which circumscribes all the ages, and which reveals the grand plan of God, a super-infinite plan infinitely pre-existing the ages an infinite number of times. The essential Word of God became a messenger of this plan when He became man, and, if I may rightly say so, revealed Himself as the innermost depth of the Father's goodness while also displaying in Himself the very goal for which creatures manifestly received the beginning of their existence.No doubt you've been told that the world does not revolve around you. And that's true. But God does. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cewgreen.substack.com/subscribe

Derek reveals the order of events at a Passover Meal, and shows how all the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper harmonise, once it is understood that it was a Passover Meal. In particular, he shares the 2 stages of the Afikomen ritual (before and after the meal), and shows how Christ fulfilled both stages: (1) in His Incarnation, Death and Burial, and (2) in His Resurrection and Distribution. He shows how Christ used the Afikomen as the basis for instituting Holy Communion, for it was when He broke the Afikomen and gave it to His disciples, that He said: "Do this in remembrance of Me." The symbolism shows that in Communion, we are invited to partake of the risen Christ, who is the Bread of Life.

Derek reveals the order of events at a Passover Meal, and shows how all the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper harmonise, once it is understood that it was a Passover Meal. In particular, he shares the 2 stages of the Afikomen ritual (before and after the meal), and shows how Christ fulfilled both stages: (1) in His Incarnation, Death and Burial, and (2) in His Resurrection and Distribution. He shows how Christ used the Afikomen as the basis for instituting Holy Communion, for it was when He broke the Afikomen and gave it to His disciples, that He said: "Do this in remembrance of Me." The symbolism shows that in Communion, we are invited to partake of the risen Christ, who is the Bread of Life.

Derek reveals the order of events at a Passover Meal, and shows how all the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper harmonise, once it is understood that it was a Passover Meal. In particular, he shares the 2 stages of the Afikomen ritual (before and after the meal), and shows how Christ fulfilled both stages: (1) in His Incarnation, Death and Burial, and (2) in His Resurrection and Distribution. He shows how Christ used the Afikomen as the basis for instituting Holy Communion, for it was when He broke the Afikomen and gave it to His disciples, that He said: "Do this in remembrance of Me." The symbolism shows that in Communion, we are invited to partake of the risen Christ, who is the Bread of Life.

Romans 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them."  6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or," 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW vs. RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH IN CHRIST (5-15) Ro 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them." That is to say, Moses speaks of the righteousness which is of the law and defines what it is and he also speaks of the righteousness of faith. For the former Leviticus 18:5 is quoted and for the latter Deuteronomy 30:12, 14 If a Jew or anyone is to receive righteousness by keeping the demands of the Law, that would be human achievement; it would not be from God. However, a Jew or anyone would need to keep the entire Law perfectly all his life—an impossible task James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. But then Paul also quoted Moses in support of his righteousness-by-faith position centered in Christ as “the end of the Law” and the means by which righteousness is available for everyone who believes. It does not seem appropriate that Paul was merely borrowing Moses' words and applying them to something foreign in Moses' thought. This says that righteousness by faith is not a new concept, but had been proclaimed to Israel by Moses. Paul quoted from the Old Testament to prove to his readers that they did not even understand their own Law. He began with Leviticus 18:5 which states the purpose of the Law: if you obey it, you live. “But we did obey it!” they would argue. Galatians 3:10 "For as many as are of the works of the law,” as many people as want to live by the works, as many people want to live by law, want to be self-savers, “are under the curse."  They are all accursed.  "For its written, cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do them."  So if you've ever not done something you ought to do, or ever done something you should not have done, you're out, you're cursed.                 “You may have obeyed it outwardly,” Paul would reply, “but you did not believe it from your heart.” He then quoted Deuteronomy 30:12–14 and gave the passage a deeper spiritual meaning.                The theme of Moses' message was “the commandment” (Deut. 30:11), referring to the Word of God. Moses argued that the Jews had no reason to disobey the Word of God because it had been clearly explained to them and it was not far from them. In fact, Moses urged them to receive the Word in their hearts When we think of the truth expressed in Deuteronomy 30:12–14, we can see the appropriateness of the use of this passage to show that the same principles over which the Jews stumbled are the principles which verify to the fullest extent the truth of the passage from which the apostle quotes. De 5:29 'Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever De 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.13:3 De 30:6 "And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.). The emphasis in Deuteronomy is on the heart, the inner spiritual condition and not mere outward acts of obedience. Involves the mouth and the heart (6-8)                Ro 10:6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or," 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).  8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):                The material in Deuteronomy was part of Moses' charge to the generation of Israel about to enter the land of Canaan. This exhortation was the conclusion of Moses' prophetic description of God's dealing with Israel. Blessing was promised for faith and obedience, and chastisement would result from rejection and disobedience. If Israel forsook God, Moses said, she would face worldwide dispersion and affliction. When the people then finally do turn to God in faith, He will restore them to blessing, prosperity, and prominence among the nations (Deut. 30:1–10). The point of Moses' exhortation (Deut. 30:11) is that the generation to whom he was speaking had the message (it was very near you and in your mouth, Deut. 30:14) and they could respond by faith (in your heart, Deut. 30:14) and walk with God in obedience. Since the Israelites in Moses' day had the message, they did not need to ask that it be brought down from heaven or that someone “cross the sea to get it” (Deut. 30:13). Instead, the word (Moses' instructions) was “near” them (Deut. 30:14). De 30:10 "if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. The Jews were trying to do the impossible.  They were trying to ascend to heaven. That's what a works system does; save yourself, get up, and crawl up to heaven on your own.  Descend into the deep.                 Those are two Jewish proverbs.  In fact, to be high and afar off was a Jewish way of saying something is unattainable.  Thou art high, it says of God, that art very high.  It says of the wicked, God sees them afar off, that is there's no way to reach them.  To the Jew to be high in the heavens or deep in the depths, to ascend to heaven, to go down to hell was to do what was impossible.  So he reaches back to Deuteronomy 30 and says Moses says that the righteousness of faith is not available just for those who can do the impossible.  It's available for anybody.  It's right there.                 Paul assures us that the intent of this passage in Deuteronomy is a call to faith.  He even calls it in Romans 10:8 the word of faith.  It is a call to a heart response.  It is a call to faith.  It is the obedience of the heart that he is after, not just some external behavior.  A call to faith, a call to a true heart relationship to God in Deuteronomy, is based on the covenant of grace. Deuteronomy is not simply a call to legal externalism; it is a call to respond in faith to a covenant of grace. De 9:4 "Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you. 5 "It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 "Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. It is better, therefore, to take the statement as implying that the Jews are saying Jesus never came down from heaven and the preceding question as the taunt of unbelief. What Paul is insisting on is the accessibility, the nearness of revelation. That Christ came down from heaven and tabernacled among men is the most significant proof of this fact. We dare not say: who shall ascend to heaven to find the truth? For this question discounts the incarnation and is a denial of its meaning. In Christ, the truth came to earth. Ro 10:7 or," 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). The other statement: “that is, to bring Christ up from the dead” (vs. 7) should be interpreted as a denial of the resurrection. The question: “who shall descend into the abyss?” echoes the same kind of unbelief as that of verse 6. It is to the effect: who shall go down to the abyss to find the truth? The abyss as representing that which is below is contrasted with heaven as that which is above. The question, as the language of unbelief, discounts the significance of Christ's resurrection. The second phrase means that Jesus went to the realm of the dead and returned to life again. We do not need to go down to the abyss to find the truth any more than we need to ascend to heaven for the same purpose. For as Christ came from heaven to earth so also did he come again from the lower parts of the earth and revealed himself to men. Eph 4:8 Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." 9 (Now this, "He ascended" --what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)                1Pe 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.                In effect, Paul indicated that the same truth applied to his generation, with the added fact that Christ had come in the flesh (John 1:14) and had been resurrected. Therefore there was no need for anyone to ask to bring Christ down (in His Incarnation) or to bring Christ up from the dead; He had already come and had been resurrected. The message of righteousness by faith in Paul's day was “near” his readers (available to them) and this was “the word” (rhēma, “saying”) of faith he was proclaiming (rhēma, “the spoken word” is also used in Eph. 5:26; 6:17; 1 Peter 1:25). Thus the gospel, “the word of faith,” is available and accessible Isa 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain'; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Ro 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): Verse 8 is the affirmation of what is the burden of Deuteronomy 30:12–14 and is, with slight alteration, quotation of verse 14. Paul now specifies what this word is: it is “the word of faith, which we preach”. So the word of Deuteronomy 30:14 is applied directly to the message of the gospel as preached by the apostles. “ The word of faith” is the word to which faith is directed, not the word which faith utters. It is the word preached and therefore the message that brings the gospel into our mouth and heart. Deut 30:10 Original Context if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 11 "For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'                Paul gave us the spiritual understanding of this admonition. He saw “the commandment” or “the Word” as meaning “Christ, God's Word.” So, he substituted “Christ” for “the commandment.” He told us that God's way of salvation was not difficult and complicated. We do not have to go to heaven to find Christ, or into the world of the dead. He is near to us. In other words, the Gospel of Christ—the Word of faith—is available and accessible. The sinner need not perform difficult works in order to be saved. All he has to do is trust Christ. The very Word on the lips of the religious Jews was the Word of faith. The very Law that they read and recited pointed to Christ.                God doesn't scorn the lost soul by mocking him with an offering of salvation that is utterly unattainable and expecting him to go on an impossible quest. Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32 Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.  hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don't go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions

TITLE: The Celebrityship of the Lord Jesus Christ and The Doctrine of Kenosis; Part 2. This past week we began a study on the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ and we also began a study on the Doctrine of Kenosis. We begin with the greatest passage on the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read the passage on the Celebrityship of Christ. PHI 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; PHI 2:4 do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. PHI 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, PHI 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, PHI 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. PHI 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. PHI 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, PHI 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, PHI 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father Now, without going back and exegete each word, let me show you why our Lord is the only Celebrity in the Christian life. First of all, let's look at PHI 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; Now, when it says “let each of you regard one another more important than himself” that is the attitude of our true Celebrity, TLJC. Regard is the pres-act-part of the verb hegoumenoi meaning to esteem, to guide, to honor, to consider, to be sensitive towards. This was the attitude of our true Celebrity, TLJC. The present tense tells us this is the attitude of what habitually occurs when the believer follows in the footsteps of their true Celebrity. The active voice, the believer who loves the Lord produces the action of the verb. The participle = the purpose. ”as more important than” is the pres-act-part from huperecho meaning to be better than, to think about others more that yourselves. And the present tense tells us what habitually occurs when a person follows in the footsteps of the Celebrityship of Christ. He is completely relaxed and is not trying to prove anything. And he is not in competition with other believers. The active voice, the mature believer produces the action of the verb. Corrected translation then if I were to translate every word would look like this:. PHI 2:3 Do nothing motivated by contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself; Now, what does this mean? Let's get a few points down. 1. This is the true principle of sensitivity and thoughtfulness of others based on grace thinking. This is true sensitivity. There is false sensitivity and then there's true sensitivity. This is grace orientation producing a true sensitivity and insulating you from hang-ups and competing with others. This system of thinking protects us from looking at others in terms of arrogance and pride. When you walk around with arrogance and pride, you are sticking your neck out. And someone's going to pop it. Also: When pride gets popped, it automatically brings our jealousy, bitterness, implacability, anger, hatred, maligning, gossip, revenge etc. 2. Hypersensitive believers are subjective about themselves and insensitive of others. Lack of thoughtfulness of others is a true sign of arrogance. 3. Look out for people who are hypersensitive, they will be nothing but trouble for the rest of your life. You'll never really please them, you'll never satisfy them. Therefore: 4. Hypersensitive people have a facade of sweetness and light. The next verse that reveals the Celebrityship of Christ is PHI 2:4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. The phrase “do not merely look out for your own personal interests” is the pres-act-part of skopeo which means to look out for, to regard, to notice, to respect. Our Celebrity, the one we will be in awe of when we see Him for the first half-hour in heaven at the big Genuflex, will look out for, regard, notice, and respects others. (explain) Now, let's get a corrected translation so far. PHI 2:4 do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, What does it mean your own personal interests? It means that not only should you respect the privacy of others but you also must be very thoughtful of those advancing with you toward the objective. This also means that while advancing to the ultimate objectives in life, there is the danger of hindering others who are growing with you. All of the ambushes and pressures should come from reversionistic believers not from those that are growing together with you. You don't shoot down your own people in spiritual adulthood. The pressure is so great and the opposition is so concentrated that many believers develop something they have never had before which is hypersensitivity and they become casualties as a result. Therefore: The believers advancing to spiritual adulthood must be very alert as they are advancing to be thoughtful towards others as they are advancing in the PPOG. So PHI 2:4 should say so far, Do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Meaning: 1. This is the principle of thoughtfulness especially toward those who are advancing with you in the spiritual life. 2. Thoughtfulness and sensitivity are needed among members of the Royal family of God because the pressures are intensive when you are in spiritual adulthood. 3. There are problems in the spiritual advance as well as the fact that believers have their own personal problems. They may not show it but they have problems too.... which is why you do not judge them, you do not malign them and do not conform to any form of subjectivity. Therefore: 4. In concentration on your advance to spiritual maturity remember others who are advancing with you. Be thoughtful toward them. Especially because of passages like HEB 1:1-2. HEB 13:1 Let love of the brethren continue. HEB 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. TLJC often came as a man in the Old Testament. For example, He was the one who rescued with Jacob in Gen 32:24-30. GEN 32:24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Now, who is the man? Not “Who's the Man? But who is the man in verse 24? GEN 32:25 And when he [TLJC] saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. GEN 32:26 Then he [Jacob] said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." GEN 32:27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." GEN 32:28 And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." When it says God, it refers to our Lord Jesus Christ. GEN 32:29 Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. Only God can pronounce blessings. GEN 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." He also came as the burning bush to Moses in EXO 3:1-6. In the Old Testament, He appeared as the angel of the Lord or the angel of Jehovah. There are passages where TLJC is not only called the Angel of Jehovah but at the same time He is also called Jehovah. Let me show you what I mean in GEN 16. GEN 16:7 Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. GEN 16:8 And he said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai." GEN 16:9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority." GEN 16:10 Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count." GEN 16:11 The angel of the Lord said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. GEN 16:12 "And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers." GEN 16:13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "Thou art a God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?" Look at GEN 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." GEN 22:12 And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." GEN 22:13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. GEN 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided." GEN 22:15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, GEN 22:16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, GEN 22:17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. GEN 22:18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Go forward to GEN 31:11 "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' GEN 31:12 "And he said, 'Lift up, now, your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. GEN 31:13 'I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'" In GEN 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, GEN 48:16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." Those are just a few passages. In all of these passages you will find TLJC mentioned in context as the angel of Jehovah. Now, there is also something else that is very interesting, the angel of Jehovah is also distinguished from Jehovah. Why? Because, the angel of Jehovah is always Jesus Christ. There are times that Jehovah can refer to God the Father, God the Son, or God the Spirit. For example, Let's take the word Elohim. Elohim is in the plural is translated God in the Old Testament, it refers to the entire Trinity. The plural pronoun for God, Elohim, is used in passages like Gen 1:26, 3:22. GEN 1:26 Then God [Elohim] said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; GEN 3:22 Then the Lord God [Jehovah Elohim] said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; ISA 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Now, Whenever one or more persons are going to be mentioned we have the word Jehovah. It is used for God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit. However, It is only the Son who is the "angel of Jehovah". TLJC is the only visible member of the Trinity. JOH 1:18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained {Him}. JOH 6:46 "Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father." 1TI 6:16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. 1JO 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; The point is that Jesus Christ is the only the manifest person of the Godhead but He is still God. He is the only person of the Godhead who is manifest to man as a man or in another form like the burning bush or the pillar of fire at night or the cloud by day. For example, look at the burning bush passage. EXO 3:1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. EXO 3:2 And the angel of the Lord [TLJC] appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. EXO 3:3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." EXO 3:4 When the Lord [Jehovah] saw that he turned aside to look, God [Elohim] called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Notice that the Lord is also called Elohim. EXO 3:5 Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." In verse 6, notice that the Lord said: EXO 3:6 "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Prin: Moses knew the angel of Jehovah was God. The angel of Jehovah is called a Theophany which is an Old Testament manifestation of the person and work of Jesus Christ in His preincarnate state. This is a theological category for the appearances of Jesus Christ before the First Advent. So, Obviously when some other member of the Godhead is involved in the passage where the angel of Jehovah is functioning it will say Jehovah said to the angel of Jehovah. Why? Because the Father is Jehovah too. And so the Father is talking to the angel of Jehovah in these passages. For it was God the Father who said EXO 23:20 "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Go forward to EXO 32:34 "But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you;" Note that in these passages, the angel of Jehovah is distinguished from Jehovah. So, back in PHI 2:6, we now meet TLJC as He was before His incarnation. Verse 6 answers the question, what was Jesus Christ like before the first advent before He became a member of the human race? And this was our corrected translation as we noted in PHI 2:6; PHI 2:6 who [Jesus Christ], although He preexisted in the essence of God, So far then we have noted His preexistence in the essence of God. What does this mean? Verse 6 answers the question, what was Jesus Christ like before the first advent before He became a member of the human race? What was Christ like before the incarnation? Before the virgin birth? This question must be answered in order to understand and see what happened at the incarnation and to see what the humiliation of our Lord really was. And so, we continue in more detail our study on the Celebrityship of Christ so that: We will be in awe of Him when we see Him for the first time at the Big Genuflex which happens immediately after the Rapture. We build our happiness on Who and what Christ is — not on who and what people are. There is no shortcut to this relaxed mental attitude. It requires the daily function of the “PMA of doctrine” under the pastor-teacher consistently communicating doctrine and the believer learning doctrine on a daily basis. The only purpose for the worship service and for the existence of a pastor-teacher is to enable believers to advance to the highest stage of super-grace. There is no greater life for the Christian Soldier then living in the realm of the recognition of the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ. Now, PHI 2 is the greatest chapter in the Bible that reveals the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that we already noted PHI 2:5 which says. PHI 2:5 Keep on having this mental attitude in you which also in Christ Jesus. The Greek word for attitude is phroneo which means “to think objectively or to think of others.” When our mental attitude” meets the standards of this word, we have arrived at the highest and noblest point in the Christian life. Mental attitude divine viewpoint is having the mind of Christ which is the objective and command for every believer. The only way you can obey this command is to have doctrine in you in the right lobe. In verse 6, we read: PHI 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, This speaks of the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ in His preincarnate state. Preincarnate means before our Lord became true humanity. The corrected translation looks like this: PHI 2:6 Who [Jesus Christ] preexisting in the essence of God in His grace-thinking thought it [His deity] not a treasure retained being equal with God. Now, this verse means that Jesus Christ always existed; there never was a time when He was not God. He is eternal; He never grows old. As we are noting, He is our true Celebrity! What is a "celebrity"? A celebrity is someone who is glamorous, someone who has status in life, someone with great ability or talent. What happens to celebrities in the human realm? They deteriorate; they lose their ability and their popularity; they grow old; their glamour fades; they die! Our true celebrity is perfect. And that's why…. A believer with any knowledge of doctrine would never make a celebrity of an angel or of any human being. Our true Celebrity is perfect; He has neither a beginning nor an end REV 1:8. REV 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Jesus Christ has never changed His essence for anyone or anything. His character remains intact and will continue to do so throughout time and eternity; HEB 13:8. Our true Celebrity knew every person in the world from eternity past meaning He has always known every need, every problem, every heartache, every frustration in your life. He has gone through the entire angelic conflict without being inconsistent or unstable in any way. That's our Celebrity! And so in PHI 2:6: our Celebrity did some thinking. In fact, He did some "grace-thinking" [hegeomai] and here we learn something else about our Celebrity Jesus Christ. Not only are His thoughts infinite, but He thinks about you and me in terms of grace. This means that there never was or ever will be one believer who has earned or deserved anything from God. And His grace-thinking toward us indicates that He is the only source of blessing. If you have anything that is wonderful, worthwhile or valuable, it is because Jesus Christ is ultimately the source, no matter what intermediate agency may be involved. This gives Him all the honor and glory. And one fact that characterizes the believer who has the capacity to appreciate the Celebrityship of Christ is that To Him, the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is more important than anything else in the world. So, "in grace-thinking, Jesus Christ thought it not a treasure or a prize to be retained." The treasure is Christ's deity - His equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. There is nothing greater or more valuable than the essence of deity. Yet He did not consider His deity more important than our souls! The very nature of deity precluded the fact that any Member of the Trinity could ever be judged for sin. Eternal life can neither be born nor die Holiness cannot have anything to do with sin. Omnipresence cannot be reduced to one point - the Cross. Immutability cannot change. Omniscience cannot live by faith. Veracity cannot associate with lies. Therefore, Since nothing can be subtracted from deity, something must be added. To be able to go to the Cross and pay the penalty for sin, deity must also become true humanity. Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other Members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained. And so there never was a time when Christ was not occupied with you. You and I were "the joy" (HEB 12:2) that occasioned His Incarnation and His substitutionary death on the Cross with all its shame and pain. You and I were in His thoughts when all the grace blessings were provided in eternity past. It is important for you to realize that you now have the privilege of occupation with Him, Col 3:10-11. When you reach this stage, the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ will be a reality in your life. And although you will have tremendous capacity to enjoy all the blessings that God will pour into your "cup," they will seem insignificant compared to the One who gave them. So, let's get some principles down concerning this verse. 1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan. Our Lord was willing to move out of heaven and become true humanity. 2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. This all began at His birth, LUK 2:7. LUK 2:7 And she gave birth to her first born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. ISA 53:2 He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. Look at MAT 8:20 And Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Go forward to MAT 20:26 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, MAT 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; MAT 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." So again 1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan. He was willing to move out of heaven and became true humanity. 2. This means that His deity was not a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father. There is no plan of grace without the incarnation. There is no salvation without the incarnation. There is no eternal life for us, no hope, without the incarnation. And…. The plan of God called for the incarnation and Jesus Christ did not think that He had to hang on to Heaven and say no to the plan of God the Father in eternity past. He said yes to becoming true humanity in eternity past even before the creation of the angels. This is why Jesus Christ is called the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, REV 13:8. REV 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. ACT 2:23 He was "delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God," So, all these passages illustrate why our Lord did not use His deity as a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father. Therefore: 3. The Lord Jesus Christ did not cling to being deity but instead He chose to become true humanity when the Word became flesh. JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. JOH 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 4. God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, was positive toward the plan of God the Father even though it involved the humiliation of being made lower than angels and true humanity. HEB 2:7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; 5. The mental attitude of TLJC as true humanity was positive toward the plan of God the Father even though it involved the humiliation of death on the cross. And that's the kind of attitude we are commanded to have. The mental attitude of Christ in submission to the Father's plan must become the mental attitude of the mature believer as he goes forward in the plan of God. 6. The mature believer must not regard leisure or rest and relaxation as a gain to be seized and held but must be willing to saddle up and move out and go back to fight. 2TI 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 7. Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained. Your soul was so valuable that He did not consider His deity a treasure to be retained. And He can't change His deity so something had to be added to it which was humiliation known to our Lord as becoming true humanity. Jesus Christ was so occupied with you that He didn't think His equality with the Father and the Spirit more important than your soul. And If you are going to have the same mental attitude that Christ had you must come to a point where you're occupied with Him. Billions of years ago He was occupied with you. Now it's your turn to be occupied with Him. No sheep can ever become occupied with Christ unless they have a pastor-teacher who teaches the Word of God consistently and faithfully. PHI 2:5 "Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus," PHI 2:6 who, although He preexisted in the essence of God, did not think equality with God a gain to be seized, So this passage says have the same attitude that Jesus Christ had. In other words, He moved out of heaven and He became true humanity and we should be willing to do anything that the Father's plan calls for us to do.

Our saint for discussion this month is one with an amazing nickname: St. Francis de Sales, aka the Gentleman Saint. Our intention this month is for joy. May the joy of Christ, especially in the celebration of His Incarnation at Christmas, follow you and hold you all your life. Please pray with us. St. Francis de Sales, pray for us! This podcast is a production of Journeys Revealed Ministries. Check out the website! journeysrevealed.com

“The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:11–12If you were to plan out the ideal future for yourself, what would it look like? Imagine if you were not constrained by budget or resources. Imagine if you could pick to do anything you wanted, to go anywhere you wanted, and enjoy any activity that you wanted. Imagine the greatest experience you could possibly have. What would that be? Most people would immediately think about indulging in the greatest pleasures imaginable. A life of the most luxurious accommodations, the best food, the most beautiful scenery and the most relaxing and enjoyable time possible. But would that truly be the “ideal future for yourself?”The Gospel passage above is very clear. Greatness is found in servanthood. Exaltation is enjoyed only through humility. Is the ideal lifestyle one that is filled with indulgence, entertainment, luxury, and the like? Certainly not. The ideal life, the greatest life, the most exalted life is the life of the most humble service of others as possible. That's essentially what Jesus tells us in this passage. Do you believe that?Note that Jesus uses the words “greatest” and “must” in the same sentence. These two words are both quite definitive. There is no one greater than the “greatest,” and the path to that greatness requires, without exception, that the greatest be a servant of everyone else. In many ways, this truth defies most human conceptions of greatness. Most often, if someone is considered “great,” then they are served and treated with an honor and respect not given to most. For example, if you had someone of great importance over to your home for dinner, you would most likely wait on them. Of course, service in this context is much more than waiting on tables or providing a meal. Though that is a blessed way to serve others and to express love, Jesus' concept of service goes far beyond this. How do we serve as one who is truly great? We do so especially by humbling ourselves. Humility is the greatest form of service we can render another.Jesus was, without question, the humblest person to ever live. Only His mother shared perfectly in this holy virtue. Humility enables a person to break out of every selfish tendency and turn their love to the good of the other. Jesus did this first by becoming Incarnate in the womb of His dear mother. The Eternal Son of God did not become man because it somehow benefited Him in a self-centered way. He did it because He loved us and His Incarnation benefited us. The Son of God did not allow others to mock Him, ridicule Him and ultimately murder Him because it somehow benefitted Him. He did it so that He could enter death and destroy it so that we could rise with Him. He did it for us. And we could go through every passage of the Gospels and see that everything Jesus did was done for others and never done out of a selfish desire. This self-giving service our Lord offered every day was a fruit of the incredible humility that He lived. Jesus did everything He did out of His love for others and with humility so as to bring salvation and transformation to their eternal souls.In our lives, we need to make a fundamental choice. Am I going to live for myself? Or am I going to live for others? It seems as though very few people live fully for others. It is difficult to take our eyes off ourselves and turn them only to the good of others. But if we realize that living for others is also the path to our own greatness and ultimate exaltation, then it becomes much easier. Serving others, especially in a spiritual way by which you do all you can to help them grow closer to God, is what will make you great. Nothing else can do so. Believe that and live it.Reflect, today, upon a life of true greatness. Reflect, especially, upon how you can live such a life. How can you more completely serve others? How can you make their holiness your primary goal? How can you help others grow in their love of God? Humble yourself and turn your eyes from yourself to others. Doing so will make an eternal difference for others and also for yourself.My exalted Lord, You are exalted far above all others. You are Greatness Itself. The life You lived, dear Lord, was one of the greatest humility. But it was in this humility that You accomplished the salvation of the world. Help me to imitate Your greatness by making the service of others my most central mission in life. I love you, my Lord. May I love and serve others with You. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Last episode, we read chapter 21 which was the transition from thinking about the soul's powers of understanding, the will, and the passions to thinking about the power of sensation. Fr Scupoli gave us tips for how to think about the perfection, beauty, and being of God based on what we experience with our five senses. In the following chapter, he gives us ideas for using what we sense NOW to think back to what it was like in the time of CHRIST. In this episode, we will read about twenty different sensible things that can make us remember the mystery of Christ, especially His Incarnation and His Passion.

The Epistle to the Hebrews is a rich part of the New Testament canon. In a unique fashion, it exalts the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so, it makes immensely valuable contributions to the doctrines of His Incarnation, His substitutionary death, and His priesthood. Among the other truths to which the epistle effectively contributes are those involving the relationship between the New Covenant and the Old, the interpretation of the Old Testament, and the life of faith. The church would indeed be incalculably poorer without the teaching of this inspired book.But despite its unquestioned value, little is known with certainty about its occasion, background, and authorship. Ignorance in these matters, however, does not seriously affect the understanding of the epistle’s message. That remains timeless and relevant whatever the circumstances out of which it arose.The epistle to the Hebrews stands alone in the New Testament in both its message and its purpose. It offers a ringing endorsement of Christ as superior to all elements of the old order (written revelation, angels, Moses, Aaron, and the entire Levitical system of sacrifices, and earthly tabernacle). It is a rousing call for believers enamored with the old order to embrace the superiority of Christ and go on to maturity in their faith. It signals the fulfillment of what the Old Testament promised. Hebrews unites the old and the new. It calls believers to a triumphant faith in this life and to a rewarding hope in the next.For more information about this show, which includes additional notes and details, please visit the show page here or visit our home page at SeekingourGod.comMusicLife of Riley by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3976-life-of-rileyLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

In his Sacred Meditations, Johann Gerhard helps us ponder and proclaim the saving benefits of our Lord Jesus Christ in His Incarnation. Source: Sacred Meditations by Johann Gerhard, pages 82-83.

How would you answer if you were asked to explain the Ascension of Christ? Some people may argue that the Ascension, while it may not be THE foundational doctrine of our faith, is one of the anchors of our faith. This episode is the part 5 of the 6-episode series where we study the doctrine of Christology with Pastor Jeff Cranston and Jen Denton. Today we will be talking about The Ascension of Jesus Christ. If you missed our previous episodes, please go back and listen to episodes 35 to 38 on Christ's Deity, His Incarnation, and the Crucifixion and Resurrection.[00:01 - 05:03] Opening SegmentWe talk about each segment’s significant role in Christ deity’s doctrine, how they are tied together, and which doctrine is perhaps the most foundational of them all.Pastor Jeff gives us a brief introduction of The Ascension of Christ as the anchor of our faith.[05:04 - 11:59] The Ascension of JesusPastor Jeff talks about the anchor concept of Christ’s ascension in the Apostle’s Creed.The importance of the ascension based on Luke's gospel.The visualization of Christ’s ascension, according to His disciples.Pastor Jeff elaborates on what the ascension is all about and why it was necessary. [12:00 - 18:55] Post-Resurrection Ministry Pastor Jeff talks about the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus and His ascension.The ascension is the beginning of trinitarian worship.Pastor Jeff talks about commemorating the ascension and its celebration.Pastor Jeff shares a fun fact about the ascension day .[18:56 - 23:15] Closing SegmentPastor Jeff talks about the second coming of Jesus and its correlation with the ascension.Final words from Pastor Jeff and Jen.Tweetable Quotes:“ If Jesus had not ascended into heaven, He would not have sent the Holy Spirit to His followers ” - Pastor Jeff Cranston.“ The second coming of Jesus is rooted in the reality of His ascension into heaven” - Pastor Jeff Cranston.“ I find it most curious that the author of Hebrews regards the Ascension of Jesus as the anchor for our souls.” - Michael F. Bird. Bible Verses and Other Sources Mentioned:The Apostles’ Creed Timothy 3:161 Petter 3:22Hebrew 4:14Luke 24:51Acts 1:9John 14 :16-17, 26John 15:26John 16:7What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles’ Creed. By Michael F. Bird Join the ConversationWe love your feedback! If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. If you have any questions or comments on today’s episode, email me at pastorjeff@lowcountrycc.org.Visit my website jeffcranston.com and subscribe to my newsletter. Join me on Sunday mornings at LowCountry Community Church. Check-in with us on Facebook or Instagram @pastorjeffcranston.Remember, the real power of theology is not only knowing it but applying it. Thanks for listening!

A new MP3 sermon from Lakewood Bible Chapel is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: His Incarnation and His Cross, Connected Speaker: Chris Rew Broadcaster: Lakewood Bible Chapel Event: Sunday Service Date: 12/20/2020 Bible: John 1 Length: 41 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Lakewood Bible Chapel is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: His Incarnation and His Cross, Connected Speaker: Chris Rew Broadcaster: Lakewood Bible Chapel Event: Sunday Service Date: 12/20/2020 Bible: John 1 Length: 41 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Lakewood Bible Chapel is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: His Incarnation and His Cross, Connected Speaker: Chris Rew Broadcaster: Lakewood Bible Chapel Event: Sunday Service Date: 12/20/2020 Bible: John 1 Length: 41 min.

"In accordance with the eternal purpose of God, who willed to prepare a most pure habitation for Himself in order to take flesh and dwell among men, Joachim and Anna were prevented from having children for many years. Their barren old age was symbolic of human nature itself, bowed down and dried up under the weight of sin and death, yet they never ceased begging God to take away their reproach. Now when the time of preparation determined by the Lord had been fulfilled, God sent an Angel to Joachim in solitude on a mountain, and to Anna in her affliction weeping in her garden, to tell them that the ancient prophecies were soon to be fulfilled in them: a child would be born to them, who was destined to become the veritable Ark of the new Covenant, the divine Ladder, the unburnt Bush, the living Temple where the Word of God would take up his abode. Through the conception of Saint Anna, the barrenness of human nature itself, separated from God by death, has on this day been brought to an end; and by the wondrous birth-giving of her who had remained childless until the age when women can no longer bear fruit, God announced and testified to the more astonishing miracle of the Conception without seed, and of the immaculate coming to birth of Christ within the heart and the womb of the Most Holy Virgin and Mother of God.   "Even though the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place through a miraculous action of God, she was conceived by the union of man and woman in accordance with the laws of our human nature, which has fallen through Adam's transgression and become subject to sin and corruption (cf. Gen. 3:16). As the chosen Vessel and precious Shrine prepared by God since the beginning of time, she is indeed the most pure and the most perfect of mankind, but even so, she has not been set apart from our common inheritance nor from the consequences of the sin of our first parents. Just as it was fitting that Christ, in order to deliver us from death by his own voluntary death (Heb. 2:14), should by His Incarnation be made like to men in all things except sin; so it was meet that His Mother, in whose womb the Word of God would unite with human nature, should be subject to death and corruption like every child of Adam, lest we not be fully included in Salvation and Redemption. The Mother of God has been chosen and preferred among all women, not arbitrarily, but because God foresaw that she would preserve her purity and keep it perfect: conceived and born like all of us, she has been worthy to become the Mother of the Son of God and the mother of us all. So, in her tenderness and compassion, she is able to intercede for us with her Son, that He may have mercy upon us.   "Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was the fruit of the virginity of the holy Mother of God, so she herself was the fruit of the chastity of Joachim and Anna. And by following the same path of chastity we too, monks and Christian married people, can bring Christ to be born and grow in us." (Synaxarion)   In the Latin church, this day is called the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, reflecting the erroneous Latin view of the conception of the Holy Theotokos.   "The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed by the Roman Catholics in 1858 is rejected by the Orthodox Church, but without in any way detracting from the dignity of the Mother of God. In fact, according to the Fathers, the inheritance from Adam consists not in a personal responsibility of all men for original sin, but simply in the inheritance of the consequences of sin: death, corruption and the passions (including procreation and fleshly union). Hence the Orthodox have no difficulty in recognizing that the Mother of God was heir, like us, of all the consequences of Adam's sin — Christ alone was exempt — but at the same time pure and without personal sin, for she freely kept herself from all attraction for the world and for the passions, and she voluntarily co-operated in God's purpose by obeying His will with docility: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word, she replied to the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38)" (Synaxarion)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”  Luke 12:39-40This Scripture offers us an invitation.  It can be said that Jesus comes to us at an unexpected hour in two ways.First, we know that He will return one day in glory to judge the living and the dead.  His Second Coming is real and we should be aware of the fact that it could happen at any time.  Sure, it may not happen for many years, or even for many hundreds of years, but it will happen.  There will be one moment when the world as it is will end and the new order will be established.  Ideally, we live each and every day in anticipation of that day and that moment.  We must live in such a way that we are always ready for that end.  Second, we must realize that Jesus does come to us, continually, by grace.  Traditionally, we speak of His two comings: 1) His Incarnation, and 2) His return in glory.  But there is a third coming we can speak of which is His coming by grace into our lives.  And this coming is quite real and should be something to which we are continually attentive.  His coming by grace requires that we be continually “prepared” to meet Him.  If we are not prepared, we can be certain we will miss Him.  How do we prepare for this coming by grace?  We prepare first and foremost by fostering a daily habit of interior prayer.  An interior habit of prayer means we are, in a sense, always praying.  It means that no matter what we do each and every day, our minds and hearts are always turned toward God.  It’s like breathing.  We always do it and do it without even thinking about it.  Prayer must become just as much of a habit as breathing.  It must be central to who we are and how we live.Reflect, today, upon your life of prayer.  Know that the moments you dedicate exclusively to prayer each day are essential to your holiness and relationship with God.  And know that those moments must help to build a habit of always being attentive to God.  Being prepared this way will allow you to meet Christ at every moment that He comes to you by grace.Lord, help me to foster in my heart a life of prayer.  Help me to seek You always and to always be prepared for You when You come.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

The Jewish Feast of Shelters, pinnacle of ancient Israel's fall festivals, commemorates how God dwelt among His people in the Tabernacle during their sojourn in the wilderness. It's also a symbol of Jesus dwelling among humankind via His Incarnation & a promise of our hope ahead when "the dwelling place of God is now among the people" (Rev 21:3). In Luke 21, Jesus describes how to discern the signs of the times that will signal the arrival of God's Kingdom in our world. ​ SCRIPTURE TEXT: Luke 21:7-36 PREACHER: Lead Pastor Courtney Hall DATE: Oct. 11, 2020 JOIN US LIVE ONLINE AT 10AM* SERVICE TIMES: 8:30am (Outdoor) & 10am (Online) SERIES: A FALL HARVEST - Pt. 2 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pcflosangeles/message

The Jewish Feast of Shelters, pinnacle of ancient Israel's fall festivals, commemorates how God dwelt among His people in the Tabernacle during their sojourn in the wilderness. It's also a symbol of Jesus dwelling among humankind via His Incarnation & a promise of our hope ahead when "the dwelling place of God is now among the people" (Rev 21:3). Jesus' Parable of the Minas in Luke 19 gives guidance today as to how we shall faithfully "occupy" until Jesus returns to make all things new. -SCRIPTURE TEXT: Luke 19:11-28 SUNDAY SERVICE : 10am Pastor Courtney Hall DATE: Oct. 4, 2020 SERIES: A FALL HARVEST (Pt. 1 of 2) SERMON: "Shelter in Place: Occupy Until I Come" --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pcflosangeles/message

Study Notes Ed Underwood Zephaniah: Judgment and Deliverance in the Day of the Lord “Be alert before the Lord God, for the Lord’s day of judgment is almost here.” (Zephaniah 1:7) The seventeen Books of Prophecy record the messages of the writing prophets (those whose messages are preserved in writing) God raised up to speak for him following the ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The failings of the Divided Kingdom Era prompted God to speak to Israel in the north and Judah in the south. They continued to speak to God’s people for over 400 years, including the exile to Babylonia and the return to the Promise Land. (1 Kings 12-Esther) The prophets spoke for God to His people concerning the enforcement of terms of their covenant relationship with God. Each spoke to a specific generation of Israel or Judah to enforce the conditional covenant (Mosaic) in the context of the unconditional covenants flowing from the Abrahamic Covenant. Their message can be summed up in these sentences: You are mine! (Unconditional covenants, Romans 11:29). Walk with me and I will bless you. Walk away from me and I will call you back to myself through loving discipline (Conditional covenant, Romans 9-11). Zephaniah was the great grandson of godly King Hezekiah of Judah. His name, “Yahweh hides,” probably means that he was one of the descendants of David hidden from the atrocities of evil King Manasseh. As royalty, Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem and spoke primarily to the leaders and the privileged of Jerusalem during the reign of his relative, King Josiah. The prophet spoke to Judah during a time of relative peace and top-down reform under Josiah. However, the fifty years of enforced idolatry and gratuitous injustice and immorality had entrenched the Judean society in wickedness and rebellion against God. King Josiah’s reforms failed to penetrate the culture, and the Babylonians were emerging as a powerful enemy. God sent Zephaniah to tell Judah to embrace Josiah’s reforms in their hearts. He warns them of the coming Day of the Lord—a phrase repeated 23 times in only 3 chapters! Obadiah and Joel introduced the concept of the Day of the Lord, but Zephaniah speaks more of the ultimate Day of the Lord when God will destroy His enemies, remake creation, and keep all of His promises to Israel and Gentiles who trust in Him. The Day of the Lord is any “day,” or time, in history when God intervenes dramatically to control human events. “Zephaniah’s purpose was to announce coming judgment on Judah in the Day of the Lord. However, he said that judgment would extend to all the nations of the earth, indicating that the Day of the Lord would also bring deliverance of Israel and the Gentiles.” (Charles H. Dyer, The Old Testament Explorer, p. 809) This little book is a grim reminder to those who oppose God that He is not ignoring their callous rebellion. But it also offers great hope to all who trust in the God of Zephaniah: Zephaniah: Rejoice in the assurance of the coming Day of the Lord! The Lord Jesus alluded to this Minor Prophet on two occasions (Matthew 13:41; 24:29) to connect Zephaniah’s Day of the Lord with His Second Coming. I. JUDGMENT IN THE DAY OF THE LORD: The prophetical oracle begins with an awesome statement of God’s coming judgment upon all the earth because of the sins of humanity. The Day of the Lord will come with wrath and irrevocability, and God will have the last word. (1:1-3:8) JUDGMENT ON THE WHOLE EARTH AND JUDAH: God vows to make an end to both humanity and the animal world (1:2-3). Zephaniah then concentrates on the judgment of Judah (1:4-18), listing some of her offenses. Judah is poisoned with idolatrous priests who promote the worship of Baal and nature. Her leaders are completely corrupt. However, by His grace, Yahweh appeals to His people to repent and humblethemselves to avert the coming disaster before it’s too late (2:1-3). (1:4-2:3) JUDGMENT ON JUDAH’S NEIGHBORS AND JERUSALEM: Like Amos before him in the north, Zephaniah pronounces God’s coming judgment on the nations that surround Judah (2:4-15). Then he turns his attention to Jerusalem, the city of his ancestor, David (3:1-8). Like the pagan nations around her, Jerusalem “is disobedient; she refuses correction. She does not trust the Lord; she does not seek the advice of her God” (3:2). (2:4-15) II. DELIVERANCE AND BLESSING IN THE DAY OF THE LORD: Zephaniah assures his readers who trust in His God that the Day of the Lord isn’t all bad news. God’s dramatic intervention in history will bring deliverance and blessing to those who turn to God. (3:9-20) A. FUTURE BLESSINGS FOR GENTILES: With imagery from humanity’s original rebellion at Babel, Zephaniah looks forward to the time when human language will become a unifying factor and God’s people will gather from all nations to worship Him. (3:9-10) B. FUTURE BLESSINGS FOR ISRAEL: The remnant of Israel will be gathered, redeemed and restored. They will rejoice in their Redeemer, and He will be in their midst. (3:11-20) ZEPHANIAH AND YOU: The Day of the Lord is a consistent theme of the Bible. I believe Zephaniah speaks of several “days” of the Lord. The day of judgment when the Babylonians would take Judeans into captivity and the day of blessing when God returned them to the Land. The future day of judgment for Israel during the Great Tribulation and its day of blessing during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. However, the most specific Day of the Lord Zephaniah pictures and Jesus and the Apostles spoke of is the coming Day of the Lord when God will destroy sin by recreating the heavens and the earth after the Millennium. 2 Peter 3 is the “Zephaniah of the New Testament.” Just as in the days of Zephaniah, doubters and critics will always say that prophecies concerning the Day of the Lord are invalid because God hasn’t intervened in human history as dramatically as the writers of Scripture predict (2 Peter 3:1-10). Don’t make that mistake! Just as He did at His Incarnation, Jesus will show up again. He will fulfill every Biblical prediction concerning His Second Coming. Just as in the days of Zephaniah, God’s people are given something to do until the Day of the Lord arrives. For us, it is to join God in His relentless pursuit of those who need to turn to Him (2 Peter 3:8-9). This is a great motivator for us! We can become part of the answer to our Breakthrough Prayer to bring us 250 more who are folded into our redeemed community. Please pray for the privilege of reaching just one who is outside of the grace and mercy of God in your world by name. Just as in the days of Zephaniah, our society is irreversibly polluted by injustice and rebellion against God. The solution isn’t top-down through reform and legislation. This doesn’t mean we’re not politically astute and active. It means that our hope isn’t in America; it’s in our God. Our sin, the sin of humanity is too severe to be “fixed” by earthly reform. God will have to intervene by recreating everything to erase the impact of our sin. The only deliverance from sin is through Jesus’ work on the Cross. The only final solution for sin’s stain on Creation is the Day of the Lord. Messiah: Jesus associated Zephaniah’s day of the Lord with His second advent, making it clear that He is the One who will fulfill the great promises of the prophet.

"In accordance with the eternal purpose of God, who willed to prepare a most pure habitation for Himself in order to take flesh and dwell among men, Joachim and Anna were prevented from having children for many years. Their barren old age was symbolic of human nature itself, bowed down and dried up under the weight of sin and death, yet they never ceased begging God to take away their reproach. Now when the time of preparation determined by the Lord had been fulfilled, God sent an Angel to Joachim in solitude on a mountain, and to Anna in her affliction weeping in her garden, to tell them that the ancient prophecies were soon to be fulfilled in them: a child would be born to them, who was destined to become the veritable Ark of the new Covenant, the divine Ladder, the unburnt Bush, the living Temple where the Word of God would take up his abode. Through the conception of Saint Anna, the barrenness of human nature itself, separated from God by death, has on this day been brought to an end; and by the wondrous birth-giving of her who had remained childless until the age when women can no longer bear fruit, God announced and testified to the more astonishing miracle of the Conception without seed, and of the immaculate coming to birth of Christ within the heart and the womb of the Most Holy Virgin and Mother of God.   "Even though the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place through a miraculous action of God, she was conceived by the union of man and woman in accordance with the laws of our human nature, which has fallen through Adam's transgression and become subject to sin and corruption (cf. Gen. 3:16). As the chosen Vessel and precious Shrine prepared by God since the beginning of time, she is indeed the most pure and the most perfect of mankind, but even so, she has not been set apart from our common inheritance nor from the consequences of the sin of our first parents. Just as it was fitting that Christ, in order to deliver us from death by his own voluntary death (Heb. 2:14), should by His Incarnation be made like to men in all things except sin; so it was meet that His Mother, in whose womb the Word of God would unite with human nature, should be subject to death and corruption like every child of Adam, lest we not be fully included in Salvation and Redemption. The Mother of God has been chosen and preferred among all women, not arbitrarily, but because God foresaw that she would preserve her purity and keep it perfect: conceived and born like all of us, she has been worthy to become the Mother of the Son of God and the mother of us all. So, in her tenderness and compassion, she is able to intercede for us with her Son, that He may have mercy upon us.   "Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was the fruit of the virginity of the holy Mother of God, so she herself was the fruit of the chastity of Joachim and Anna. And by following the same path of chastity we too, monks and Christian married people, can bring Christ to be born and grow in us." (Synaxarion)   In the Latin church, this day is called the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, reflecting the erroneous Latin view of the conception of the Holy Theotokos.   "The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed by the Roman Catholics in 1858 is rejected by the Orthodox Church, but without in any way detracting from the dignity of the Mother of God. In fact, according to the Fathers, the inheritance from Adam consists not in a personal responsibility of all men for original sin, but simply in the inheritance of the consequences of sin: death, corruption and the passions (including procreation and fleshly union). Hence the Orthodox have no difficulty in recognizing that the Mother of God was heir, like us, of all the consequences of Adam's sin — Christ alone was exempt — but at the same time pure and without personal sin, for she freely kept herself from all attraction for the world and for the passions, and she voluntarily co-operated in God's purpose by obeying His will with docility: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word, she replied to the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38)" (Synaxarion)

When we pray we experience the reality of the Holy Spirit working through us and revealing how He worked in and through Jesus from His Incarnation. It allows us to take prayers and add in our own words so they become more than just things we say. For they truly become words whereby we express our hearts to God. To learn more, give us a listen. If you like what you hear, check out our website dtesh.com for more information.

In this last sermon from the God Our Shelter series, Pastor Greg Whaley takes us to Hebrews 2 for a message entitled "Incarnation in an Instant World." When crises come, we would rather shrink away from the broken world around us rather than entering into the brokenness and sharing the Christ life in us with the world.  And yet, entering in (living incarnationally) is and always has been the will of the Father.  Jesus did not withdraw from becoming like us in His Incarnation and He calls each of us to live in the same way.  Where the mission meets the needs is the faith-filled soul.  This message was delivered on Sunday, May 31, 2020.  This podcast is a ministry of First Baptist Church of Bogalusa, Louisiana.  Thank you for listening!

In one way, Jesus' death is just the consequence of His Incarnation. But, it was the most awful of all deaths, as the devil used all his power to try to tempt Jesus to come down from the cross. But He showed His Love for us, until the end. For He loved His own who were in the world.  So we can have confidence of His Love for us, and when we encounter suffering, we know He knows are pain and is with us. When we feel like we cannot be forgiven, we know we are because He died for our forgiveness, and when we feel alone, we are never alone. He Loves us, He is with us, and He is strong. He has triumphed over evil, sin, and death.

What is the human being? Modernity has had a very difficult time trying to answer that question. Ancient mythology and philosophy all had something to say about the nature of the human being. The early Church also had a teaching on what it means to be human. Further, this is brought into focus because the Son of God became human. The early Church's understanding of the human being also bears on the early Church's understanding of sin and how our Lord Jesus Christ heals sin by His Incarnation. The early Church's understanding of humanity also engages with modern thinking on education (and how to possibly fix modern educational methods), and modern psychology with respect to emotional regulation. You can follow me to get updates by by signing up to my mailing list by clicking here: bit.ly/32VDhKY or follow me on Facebook by clicking here: goo.gl/tXwi7i Music played at the beginning and end of the podcast is titled "Prelude No. 6" by Chris Zabriskie from his album Preludes used under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"In accordance with the eternal purpose of God, who willed to prepare a most pure habitation for Himself in order to take flesh and dwell among men, Joachim and Anna were prevented from having children for many years. Their barren old age was symbolic of human nature itself, bowed down and dried up under the weight of sin and death, yet they never ceased begging God to take away their reproach. Now when the time of preparation determined by the Lord had been fulfilled, God sent an Angel to Joachim in solitude on a mountain, and to Anna in her affliction weeping in her garden, to tell them that the ancient prophecies were soon to be fulfilled in them: a child would be born to them, who was destined to become the veritable Ark of the new Covenant, the divine Ladder, the unburnt Bush, the living Temple where the Word of God would take up his abode. Through the conception of Saint Anna, the barrenness of human nature itself, separated from God by death, has on this day been brought to an end; and by the wondrous birth-giving of her who had remained childless until the age when women can no longer bear fruit, God announced and testified to the more astonishing miracle of the Conception without seed, and of the immaculate coming to birth of Christ within the heart and the womb of the Most Holy Virgin and Mother of God.   "Even though the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place through a miraculous action of God, she was conceived by the union of man and woman in accordance with the laws of our human nature, which has fallen through Adam's transgression and become subject to sin and corruption (cf. Gen. 3:16). As the chosen Vessel and precious Shrine prepared by God since the beginning of time, she is indeed the most pure and the most perfect of mankind, but even so, she has not been set apart from our common inheritance nor from the consequences of the sin of our first parents. Just as it was fitting that Christ, in order to deliver us from death by his own voluntary death (Heb. 2:14), should by His Incarnation be made like to men in all things except sin; so it was meet that His Mother, in whose womb the Word of God would unite with human nature, should be subject to death and corruption like every child of Adam, lest we not be fully included in Salvation and Redemption. The Mother of God has been chosen and preferred among all women, not arbitrarily, but because God foresaw that she would preserve her purity and keep it perfect: conceived and born like all of us, she has been worthy to become the Mother of the Son of God and the mother of us all. So, in her tenderness and compassion, she is able to intercede for us with her Son, that He may have mercy upon us.   "Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was the fruit of the virginity of the holy Mother of God, so she herself was the fruit of the chastity of Joachim and Anna. And by following the same path of chastity we too, monks and Christian married people, can bring Christ to be born and grow in us." (Synaxarion)   In the Latin church, this day is called the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, reflecting the erroneous Latin view of the conception of the Holy Theotokos.   "The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed by the Roman Catholics in 1858 is rejected by the Orthodox Church, but without in any way detracting from the dignity of the Mother of God. In fact, according to the Fathers, the inheritance from Adam consists not in a personal responsibility of all men for original sin, but simply in the inheritance of the consequences of sin: death, corruption and the passions (including procreation and fleshly union). Hence the Orthodox have no difficulty in recognizing that the Mother of God was heir, like us, of all the consequences of Adam's sin — Christ alone was exempt — but at the same time pure and without personal sin, for she freely kept herself from all attraction for the world and for the passions, and she voluntarily co-operated in God's purpose by obeying His will with docility: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word, she replied to the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38)" (Synaxarion)

MESSAGE SUMMARY:    From the Gospel of Matthew (1:18-25): “Advent, Part 4: Prelude to Jesus’ Birth” In Matthew 1:1-17, the Apostle Matthew presents Jesus’ genealogy from the lineage of Joseph even though Joseph was not Jesus’ natural father. Whereas, Luke’s Gospel presents Jesus’ genealogy from Mary’s lineage. As was prophesied by Isaiah more than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, both Joseph and Mary were of the lineage of King David. This fourth Sunday in Advent points us to the first coming of Jesus and His birth as a human child. Jesus birth was His Incarnation as both God and human. The coming of Jesus was a real event in the history of mankind. Often, things and events. in our lives, take unanticipated courses; and God intervenes in our lives just as God intervened in Joseph’s life, through the Angel, when Joseph found out about Mary’s Devine pregnancy: “Do not be afraid because this {pregnancy} is of the Holy Spirit.” The message, in Matthew 1:21-23, from God’s intervening Angel, in Joseph’s dream, was simple; however, it changed the world for eternity: “’She {Mary}will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet {Isaiah 7:14}: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).". In Matthew 1:24-25, Joseph responds without question and with faith and obedience to God’s intervention: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.". Therefore, God intervened in both the lives of Joseph and Mary, to fulfill His promise of more than five hundred years previously -- to enter the world as the vulnerable baby. Jesus, who was the Incarnate God and man, would save the world from its sins. We know that we can be saved from our sins and the effect of our sins. Through God’s Grace, we are saved by coming to God in repentance of our sins and in true faith that Jesus is God and by walking with Jesus, in our lives, as our Savior. Also, God has given us the Holy Spirit to facilitate our walk and to provide a personal relationship with Him. In this time of Advent, why do we have such a difficult time of sharing this good news that was given to Joseph and to us in God’s intervention: “and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)”? We can break out of this reluctance, to share the good news of Jesus, by bringing someone to church during Christmas and by living our lives to reflect God’s Grace when: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17).   TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM A CHILD OF GOD. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12f).   SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Matthew 1:18-25; Isaiah 7:11-25; Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17; Psalms 70a:1-12.   WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Today, the World Needs to be Renewed With an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit - a Global Spiritual Awakening”: www.AWFTL.org/watch.   A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.   DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Three ComingsAdvent is an overflowing treasure of beauty: all the ancient prophecies, with their ever-new relevance; all the subtle harmony of the Old and the New Testaments; all the lasting appeal of the Antiphons, of the Hymns, and of the Carols.  This is a season of Hope and of Wonder. It is so full, so filled, so flowing over that it seems too much for sober adults, even a ‘confusion,’ perhaps.  During Advent, it is by tradition that we speak of the three comings. What does the Three Comings of Jesus at Advent mean ? One of our penitential rites sets before us the “Three Comings.”  He “did come,” it says. He “does come,” it says. He “will come,” it says.  This is the time to warm to that sacred pattern, to allow it to shape your pre-Christmas days. Somehow, they all run together, these comings, they are all connected.  Each is a preparation for the other in our human time. Each builds on the other in our human time.  We can never have one of these without the other, because God’s own time has slipped into our human time.  Advent is the time to accustom yourselves to remembering His Incarnation, for He did break into our world; to looking for His sacramental and his providential comings, for He does break into our world each day; and to longing for His final coming at the end of days, for He will break into our world bringing it to conclusion.   

"In accordance with the eternal purpose of God, who willed to prepare a most pure habitation for Himself in order to take flesh and dwell among men, Joachim and Anna were prevented from having children for many years. Their barren old age was symbolic of human nature itself, bowed down and dried up under the weight of sin and death, yet they never ceased begging God to take away their reproach. Now when the time of preparation determined by the Lord had been fulfilled, God sent an Angel to Joachim in solitude on a mountain, and to Anna in her affliction weeping in her garden, to tell them that the ancient prophecies were soon to be fulfilled in them: a child would be born to them, who was destined to become the veritable Ark of the new Covenant, the divine Ladder, the unburnt Bush, the living Temple where the Word of God would take up his abode. Through the conception of Saint Anna, the barrenness of human nature itself, separated from God by death, has on this day been brought to an end; and by the wondrous birth-giving of her who had remained childless until the age when women can no longer bear fruit, God announced and testified to the more astonishing miracle of the Conception without seed, and of the immaculate coming to birth of Christ within the heart and the womb of the Most Holy Virgin and Mother of God.   "Even though the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place through a miraculous action of God, she was conceived by the union of man and woman in accordance with the laws of our human nature, which has fallen through Adam's transgression and become subject to sin and corruption (cf. Gen. 3:16). As the chosen Vessel and precious Shrine prepared by God since the beginning of time, she is indeed the most pure and the most perfect of mankind, but even so, she has not been set apart from our common inheritance nor from the consequences of the sin of our first parents. Just as it was fitting that Christ, in order to deliver us from death by his own voluntary death (Heb. 2:14), should by His Incarnation be made like to men in all things except sin; so it was meet that His Mother, in whose womb the Word of God would unite with human nature, should be subject to death and corruption like every child of Adam, lest we not be fully included in Salvation and Redemption. The Mother of God has been chosen and preferred among all women, not arbitrarily, but because God foresaw that she would preserve her purity and keep it perfect: conceived and born like all of us, she has been worthy to become the Mother of the Son of God and the mother of us all. So, in her tenderness and compassion, she is able to intercede for us with her Son, that He may have mercy upon us.   "Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was the fruit of the virginity of the holy Mother of God, so she herself was the fruit of the chastity of Joachim and Anna. And by following the same path of chastity we too, monks and Christian married people, can bring Christ to be born and grow in us." (Synaxarion)   In the Latin church, this day is called the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, reflecting the erroneous Latin view of the conception of the Holy Theotokos.   "The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed by the Roman Catholics in 1858 is rejected by the Orthodox Church, but without in any way detracting from the dignity of the Mother of God. In fact, according to the Fathers, the inheritance from Adam consists not in a personal responsibility of all men for original sin, but simply in the inheritance of the consequences of sin: death, corruption and the passions (including procreation and fleshly union). Hence the Orthodox have no difficulty in recognizing that the Mother of God was heir, like us, of all the consequences of Adam's sin — Christ alone was exempt — but at the same time pure and without personal sin, for she freely kept herself from all attraction for the world and for the passions, and she voluntarily co-operated in God's purpose by obeying His will with docility: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word, she replied to the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38)" (Synaxarion)

Biblical prophecy prepares God's people for the celebration of a Trinitarian Christmas by revealing that the three Divine Persons of the One Godhead co-eternally and co-equally worked in harmonious concert and perfect unity for the first Coming of Christ in His Incarnation. The Birth of JESUS was the result of the unified will and work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Biblical prophecy proves this point for God's people to celebrate-

Let us always ask Jesus for the grace to use His Incarnation as a reference point in our daily lives, because with the Incarnation, nothing makes sense.

Original Broadcast: January 2009 Monthly Theme: Jesus' Exaltation (Apostles' Creed) Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12) Exaltation The Second Article of the Creed is really two sections: Jesus' state of humiliation, or His Incarnation, and Jesus' state of exaltation. Looking at the Christmas story throughout December, we saw how everything in the Incarnation points to His death on the Cross. This month, as we also begin a new year, we'll see Jesus' state of exaltation as an effective "New Year's Day" for Jesus in His ministry and life. The Creed contains the exaltation in the words: "He descended into Hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead." As we look through these phrases from the Creed, we see what St. Paul also said about Jesus, "Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11). May that be your wish this morning--to bow the knee and confess Jesus as your Lord to the glory of Your Father in Heaven. Amen.

Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship [Jesus] did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6-7) A Servant If we go all the way back to the Old English meaning of steward, we see that it is, above all, a "household keeper". In its basic essence, a steward is a servant to the master of the house. And that's what we see Jesus being praised for by St. Paul: becoming a servant--a steward of God. When Jesus was preparing the Apostles for His death, He sat in the upper room on Maundy Thursday and washed everyone's feet. That was the steward's job in the house. He was to make sure that everyone who entered had the dust and dung washed off his feet as he entered the house. He teaches throughout His ministry, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve" (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). Jesus truly made Himself nothing in His Incarnation. But as He said to His disciples after washing their feet, He says to all Christians, "I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you" (John 15:15). Jesus was the servant for everyone He came into contact with. That's the example He gives for His faithful stewards. We're to be everyone's servant. Be a faithful steward today by being a servant to someone in your life. Amen.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." (Matthew 5:7) "Merciful" The merciful will receive mercy. You reap what you sow. That's basically the idea Jesus starts here in the Sermon on the Mount and expounds in many parables throughout the rest of His ministry. "Mercy" in the Bible is the external act of sympathy in response to the misery of another. Mercy is what caused Jesus to come down from Heaven to assume our human nature--yet without sin--so that we may be delivered from the misery of eternity in Hell. His Incarnation at the first Christmas was the beginning. He showed sympathy to everyone around Him during His earthly ministry. Jesus' death on the Cross was the conclusion as He suffered the misery and torments of Hell in your place so that you could receive His mercy and have the slate of your sins wiped away to show as if there had never been a sin there in the first place. That's mercy. Amen.

Find in these passages the summary of Christ’s life and His Irreversible Revolution by His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension/Return.

The Book of Ruth both connects us to the storyline of Jesus (they’re related!) but also to the beauty and blessing of Jesus--in particular His appearing in the flesh, His Incarnation. The struggle found in the story is in fact the struggle of all our...

The Book of Ruth both connects us to the storyline of Jesus (they’re related!) but also to the beauty and blessing of Jesus--in particular His appearing in the flesh, His Incarnation. The struggle found in the story is in fact the struggle of all our...

Theme: The Incarnation of Christ Point 1: The History of His Incarnation, Point 2: The Humiliaiton of His Incarnation, Point 3: The Profit of His Incarnation

1 John (1:1–4)(1:5—2:2)   The doctrinal foundation of all true fellowship is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no true fellowship with those who hold false views concerning Him. The first two verses teach His eternity and the reality of His Incarnation. The same One who existed from all eternity with God the Father came down into this world as a real Man. The reality of His Incarnation is indicated by the fact that the apostles heard Him, saw Him with their eyes , gazed upon Him with deep meditation, and actually handled Him. The Word of life was not a mere passing illusion, but was a real Person in a body of flesh.   "Jesus is The Voice of Truth" with Michael Montoya known for his radio ministry "The Voice Of Truth" on 99.5 KKLA jesusisthevoiceoftruth.com voiceoftruth411@gmail.com

This week, Pastor Jerry wrapped up his series on the Incarnation. He focused on the mysterious New Testament teaching, our union with Christ. Jesus taught that union with Himself is the basis of our Salvation, and it begins with His Incarnation.

This week, Pastor Jerry wrapped up his series on the Incarnation. He focused on the mysterious New Testament teaching, our union with Christ. Jesus taught that union with Himself is the basis of our Salvation, and it begins with His Incarnation.

When Jesus removed his robe, bent down and washed his disciples’ feet (John 13), He provided a powerful, dramatic picture of His Incarnation (when He laid aside His majesty and came down to earth to rescue mankind) and of His imminent Crucifixion (as He gave up His life to cleanse us from sin). As king David wrote centuries earlier, “You have stooped to make me great” (Ps 18:35) - and in this devotional message we stand in awe of the work of Christ and consider some of the ways we can respond.

O Holy Night! I love that song. Hello! My name is Brian Niebrugge, and I work with the Office of Stewardship and the Annual Catholic Appeal for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Our Jesse Tree reflection today focuses on the Blessed Virgin Mary and our symbol is the lily. Isn’t it wonderful, at this time of year, to see so many images of Mary on display? I know, it is difficult sometimes to see the over-commercialization of Christmas. But isn’t it awesome to walk into a public place and hear “Ave Maria” or “Silent Night” being broadcast through the PA? Isn’t it great to see images of the Holy Family in public places of honor? I am convinced that God uses the over-commercialization of Christmas to draw more attention to his Mother and to keep the mystery of His Incarnation present to an unbelieving world. Mary, like the lily, pure and white, is the Mother of the Church and the Mother of the world. As the Mother of God, Mary received, nurtured, and brought forth the physical body of Christ. Now, she works constantly to nurture and grow the mystical body of Christ, His Church. She is your mother, too. She loves you, and longs to bring you, adoring on bended knee, to the little manger in Bethlehem. To your Saviour. To her Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let’s walk with Mary this Advent on the road to Bethlehem. As we prepare our homes for Christmas, let’s ask her to help us prepare our hearts, to clean them up with Reconciliation and penance, to decorate them with prayer and good deeds, so that we can make of them a fitting birthday gift to her Son. And when the Holy Night of Christmas comes, the night of our dear Savior’s birth, let’s make sure we aren’t so busy celebrating our Lord’s birthday that we forget to spend time with Him and His mother. Mary has a unique and special role in salvation; you do too! If you are enjoying these Jesse Tree reflections, today, right now, would be a good moment to share them with someone else. Maybe Mary is asking you to help her bring your friends and family closer to her Son this Advent. I hope you have the merriest and most prayerful Christmas ever. Musical credit: "O Holy Night" · Christine Westhoff · Timothy Allen Hark ℗ 2014 Christine Westhoff

Christ in the Old Testament, Part 12 - This week we turn again to the tabernacle and the tent of meeting to see how they point towards Christ and His Incarnation. What does it mean for Christ to be the Rock?

Christ in the Old Testament, Part 12 - This week we turn again to the tabernacle and the tent of meeting to see how they point towards Christ and His Incarnation. What does it mean for Christ to be the Rock?

Summary of today's show: The season of Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ and the best way to prepare is to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to confess our sins and to receive the graces to live holier lives. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor are on location at St. John Seminary where they talk with Vince Lynch, who gives his view from the pew as a Catholic who loves this sacrament and as a licensed social worker with insight into the human need for reconciliation and forgiveness. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor Today's guest(s): Vince Lynch, Director of Continuing Education at Boston College's School of Social Work Links from today's show: Today's topics: Sacrament of Reconciliation 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O'Connor, his co-host, to the show, recording on location at St. John Seminary in Brighton. It's the season of Advent, preparing for Christ's coming in three ways, in the Incarnation of Christmas, at the end of time and the Last Judgment, and at our own individual judgment. Fr. Chris said we celebrate Advent where we prepare for that great day of Christmas. As the days grow darker and the nights grow longer, we long for the light of Christ to come. Scot said one of the good steps to take to prepare for Christmas is embracing the Sacrament of Reconciliation sometime during the season of Advent. Fr. Chris said Isaiah talks of preparing the way of the Lord and making straight his paths, in language that refers to the destruction of sin, and preparing our hearts to be ready for the Christmas season. We can hear Christ himself speak to us through the priest that our sins are forgiven and we are to go and do better. Scot recalled Msgr. James Moroney's admonition during an episode of TGCL earlier in Lent that as St. Joseph prepared the manger for the arrival of the Christ Child, we should clean out hearts as well. We clean out the garbage and sin and bad habits. We then receive an infusion of sacramental grace to enable us to live holier lives. Fr. Chris compared it to the energy and excitement of spring cleaning. We feel the urgency and expectation as we prepare to receive our newborn Savior. Advent calls us to begin anew and fresh and with a greater zeal. Fr. Chris advised that people to go to the Sacrament of Confession sooner rather than later and don't wait until the last minute to go or you'll be standing in lines. Fr. Chris said that people tell him that they don't want to go to their parish priest for fear of embarrassment, so he tells them to find another parish nearby. They can look up parishes online at , which will show them the nearby parishes. He said people can also go to the many shrines and chapels throughout the archdiocese as well. We forget in this sacrament that our sins are forgiven and then God's graces are showered upon us to do better in our lives. Scot said some people say they'd go, but they forget how. He said there are tremendous resources for adults and children at . But even if you can't go to the website, go to the confessional and tell the priest that you don't know what to do. He will be thrilled that you're there and will be happy to help you out. Fr. Chris said all the Lord is looking from us is for us to say we're sorry, and if we don't know the formal Act of Contrition, we should express our sorrow in our own words. Scot said Vince Lynch will be joining them to talk about his experience and insight with the sacrament of reconciliation, both as a practicing Catholic and as a licensed social worker. Fr. Chris said Vince is a friend of the seminary, works with the seminarians and is a man of great faith himself. He's here to give a view from the pew. The two phrases we need in all our relationships is “I'm sorry” and “I forgive you.” 2nd segment: Scot Landry welcomed Vince Lynch to the show. Vince said 15 years ago he made a decision to become more serious about his faith and during Holy Week he felt a strong desire to go to confession. He went to St. Anthony's Shrine and was apprehensive and wasn't sure where to begin. He met with a friar for face to face confession and told his sins to the priest. The priest welcomed him back and told him to thank God for the grace of this good confession, a phrase he's heard time and again. He then heard the loveliest words this side of paradise: I absolve you of your sins. He said confession is a major treasure of the Church. Scot asked Vince how long it had been since his last confession. He said it had been a number of years where he had been lukewarm in his faith. For a number of years he had been gently led by the Lord to come back. He had been teaching near Worcester at Annamaria College and would attend the Liturgy of the Hours each day and was gradually drawn closer to the Lord again. Fr. Chris added that he can't tell how many times he's heard from people that it's been decades and that they don't know why they're there now. But he knows why: The Lord has been calling to the person, to prompt them, to urge them to think in a new about this sacrament and how important God's forgiveness is to them. Scot said many people don't love going into the confessional and thinking about telling someone else about their sins. But people love the feeling after leaving the confessional. Vince said he felt like he was entering a new chapter of his life as he left the confessional that day. He said it felt powerful and didn't want it to be a one-time experience. It's now become almost second nature for him. He's found in recent years that he enjoys experiencing confession with different priests in different circumstances and experiencing it differently each time. He's come to see confession as a friend with spiritual and psychological benefits and no longer fears it. Scot thinks back to a conversation with a friend in marketing about how to describe confession in a way that connects with people. He told him that it's hitting the reset button in your relationship with God and the Church. Once you've hit that reset button, for instance, confessing mortal sin you can go back to communion. Vince said one of the things that's been powerful for him in going to frequent confession. In all that time, he's never experienced a harsh word, a criticism or a belittling. It's truly been a healing experience. Scot asked how frequent confession helped him in the spiritual life. Vince said as he become comfortable with his status as a sinner, someone who's human and wounded like everyone, he can bring that woundedness to confession who brings healing. In talking to the priest, he's talking to Jesus Christ who is present in the sacrament. Fr. Chris asked the difference between confession and a counseling session. He said it's that confession is a sacrament, a gift instituted by God to give grace. It's unique in that way. What he does as a counseling involves helping people look at areas of their life, and maybe even sin, which are stumbling blocks in their life and look at strategies to help them resolve. Confession provides relief for those symptoms, but is fundamentally about reconciling our relationships with the Lord. Scot said the act of verbalizing sins to God through the priest is taking ownership of those actions has a lot of human benefits. Vince said as we become aware of that woundedness, there's a growing sense of humility with God and the people in our lives that allow us to relate in more comfortable ways. Scot asked what advice Vince would give to someone who thinks their sins would scandalize the priest or embarrass themselves. Vince said in his own experience with his confession with the friar is that people should pray for the desire to return to confession. The person needs to know that the priest is not judging you in some sense, he's not going to grade you. Frequent use of confession enables that to grow. The sacrament becomes more and more a part of you. Fr. Chris added that the best confessors are themselves regular users of the sacrament and understand their own woundedness and need for the sacrament. Fr. Chris said we often carry around huge boulders and put the pebbles down. When we go to confession, get out the big sins first and the rest comes easily. Fr. Chris said the only thing that scandalizes him is that people don't come to the sacrament enough. He said never remembers individual confessions. The priest isn't concerned about the sin; he's concerned about the soul. Scot said the Devil often distracts us by making us focus on our sins and not on God's desire to forgive us. Vince said the Lord wants us to approach with a contrite heart and the rest will begin to flow. Fr. Chris said of Adam and Eve, they run from the Lord when they sin, but in the story of the Prodigal Son, we see the Father who runs to the Son. The Truth and sunlight are the greatest disinfectants, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said. 3rd segment: Scot said the topic of today's show was inspired by the remarks of Cardinal Timothy Dolan at the fall meeting of the US Bishops Conference where he spoke powerfully about confession: But, the Sacrament of Reconciliation evangelizes the evangelizers, as it brings us sacramentally into contact with Jesus, who calls us to conversion of heart, and allows us to answer his invitation to repentance — a repentance from within that can then transform the world without. ​What an irony that despite the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of the Sacrament of Penance, what we got instead was its near disappearance. We became very good in the years following the Council in calling for the reform of structures, systems, institutions, and people other than ourselves.That, too, is important; it can transform our society and world. But did we fail along the way to realize that in no way can the New Evangelization be reduced to a program, a process, or a call to structural reform; that it is first and foremost a deeply personal conversion within? “The Kingdom of God is within,” as Jesus taught. The premier answer to the question “What's wrong with the world?” “what's wrong with the church?” is not politics, the economy, secularism, sectarianism, globalization or global warming …none of these, as significant as they are. As Chesterton wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What's wrong with the world?' is just two words:'I am,'” Vince said one of the troubling things about our culture today is the loss of the awareness of sin. An awareness of sin can translate into greater empathy, greater love of God and our neighbor. Fr. Chris said we live in a world in which everything is okay, there's no sin. Vince said in counseling they have an idea called evidence-based practice. They may see in their work with clients that they minimize their problems in life as no big deal and don't affect their life. As a therapist, they bring to the attention of the client the evidence of how those things really impact others. Scot said he likes how the cardinal says the sacrament evangelizes the evangelizers. Reflecting on the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, you can truly appreciate how you are loved by God. When we are aware of that, it becomes easier to love others and ourselves and to carry out what we know we should do. Vince said fear of the Lord is not based on punishment, but that we love the Lord so much we fear falling short. Scot said the words “I'm sorry” and “I forgive” are very freeing. Vince said after hearing those words, the anger and upset begins to melt away. I am! Admitting that leads to conversion of heart and repentance, the marrow of the Gospel-invitation. I remember the insightful words of a holy priest well known to many of us from his long apostolate to priests and seminarians in Rome, Monsignor Charles Elmer, wondering aloud from time to time if, following the close of the Council, we had sadly become a Church that forgot how to kneel. If we want the New Evangelization to work, it starts on our knees. Remember a few years back, when Cardinal Cahal Daly led us in our June retreat? Speaking somberly of the Church in his home country, he observed, “The Church in Ireland is in the dirt on her knees.” Then he paused, and concluded, “Maybe that's where the Church is at her best.” We kneel in the Sacrament of Penance because we are profoundly sorry for our faults and our sins, serious obstacles to the New Evangelization. But then we stand forgiven, resolute to return to the work entrusted to us – as evangelizers of the Gospel of Mercy. Vince said it speaks to the humility mentioned earlier. If one can embrace this call and humble oneself to acknowledge one's shortcomings. But to experience that and do it in a way that you can feel forgiven and then rise and carry on with our efforts to evangelize. Fr. Chris said of the story of the woman caught in adultery, you see in that public scene where Christ writes in the sand and the crowd drifts away. The woman is on the ground and Christ is right there with her to lift her up. Christ does that in confession, lifting us up from all that mires us down. Scot said Christ came into the world to reconcile all of us to the Father. This was the purpose of His Incarnation, his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. But we need to participate in this, we need to respond. Vince said God loves us so much He sent His Son. As I began my talk this morning, my brothers, so I would like to end it, with Blessed John XXIII. It was the Sunday angelus of October 28, 1962.The message the Holy Father delivered on that bright Roman afternoon never even mentions the phrase New Evangelization.But it strikes right at the heart of the mission entrusted to each of us as shepherds. “I feel something touching my spirit that leads to serenity,” Good Pope John remarked. “The word of the Gospel is not silent.It resonates from one end of the world to the other, and finds the way of the heart. Dangers and sorrows, human prudence and wisdom, everything needs to dissolve into a song of love, into a renewed invitation, pleading all to desire and wish for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. A kingdom of truth and life; a kingdom of holiness and grace; a kingdom of justice, love and peace.” How could we not see it alive in those holy men and women of every time and place, the heroic evangelizers of our faith, including most recently St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Marianne Cope? We have beheld it in the Church's unrelenting corporal and spiritual works of mercy, in the heroic witness of persecuted Christians, in the Church's defense of unborn human life, the care of our elders and the terminally ill, advocacy for the unemployed, those in poverty, our immigrant brothers and sisters, victims of terror and violence throughout our world, of all faiths and creeds, and in our defense of religious freedom, marriage and family. And, I have suggested today, that as we “come and go” in response to the invitation of Jesus, we begin with the Sacrament of Penance.This is the sacrament of the New Evangelization, for as Pope Benedict reminds us, “We cannot speak about the new evangelization without a sincere desire to conversion.” (Homily for the Opening of the XIII Ordinary General Synod of Bishops). With this as my presidential address, I know I risk the criticism. I can hear it now: “With all the controversies and urgent matters for the Church, Dolan spoke of conversion of heart through the Sacrament of Penance. Can you believe it?” To which I reply, “You better believe it!” First things first! Vince said the words touched him deeply because he reflects on how perhaps he hasn't been doing such a good job of bringing the Good News out to others about his experience of the Sacrament of Penance. Scot said the New Evangelization begins with conversion of ourselves first so we can be effective witnesses. Fr. Chris said the Church understands who we are. We receive most of the sacraments only once, but the Church understands that there's sin, repentance, conversion, repeat. Greater than the fall into sin is the Cross of Christ.

In the angelic announcements to Mary and Joseph, God reveals the nature and purpose of Jesus in His Incarnation. We look at the Gospels of Matthew and Luke to find Jesus, His character, His activity.

TITLE: The Celebrityship of the Lord Jesus Christ and The Doctrine of Kenosis; Part 3. There is one fact that characterizes the believer who has the capacity to appreciate the Celebrityship of Christ is that is: To Him, the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is more important than anything else in the world. We have been noting how our Lord did not think that His deity was a treasure or a prize to be retained. The treasure is Christ's deity which reveals His equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. There is nothing greater or more valuable than the essence of deity. Yet He did not consider His deity more important than our souls. The very nature of deity precluded the fact that any Member of the Trinity could ever be judged for sin. Why? Because God is eternal life Eternal life can neither be born nor die Therefore, God could not die for your sins. And Jesus Christ is God, so He had to take on another nature, which He did. God is also Holy. Holiness cannot have anything to do with sin. God is also Omnipresent Omni means all or everywhere. Present refers to His existence as God. This is how our Lord could say what He did beginning in MAT 28:16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. MAT 28:17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped {Him}; but some were doubtful. MAT 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. MAT 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, MAT 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." How could He be with them always? Because He is omnipresent. Omnipresence cannot be reduced to one point - the Cross. Therefore, our Lord could not die on the cross as God, He had to become a man. God is also immutable. Immutability cannot change. He is God yesterday, today and forever, so He cannot change. Therefore, to die in place of us, He had to become like us, so He chose to become a human being. God is omniscient. Omni = all Science = knowledge or knowing. The Bible says that we must have faith and without faith we cannot please God. So, being omniscient: Omniscience cannot live by faith -- God cannot live by faith since He knows all things. God is also veracity which means truth. Veracity cannot associate with lies. Therefore, Since nothing can be subtracted from deity, something must be added, not to deity but, to the person of Christ which is to become 100 % true humanity. To be able to go to the Cross and pay the penalty for sin, deity must also become true humanity. Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other Members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained. And so there never was a time when our Lord was not occupied with you. You and I were "the joy," (HEB 12:2), that occasioned His Incarnation and His substitutionary death on the Cross with all its shame and pain. You and I were in His thoughts when all the grace blessings were provided in eternity past. It is important for you to realize that you now have the privilege of occupation with Him, Col 3:10-11. When you reach this stage, the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ will be a reality in your life. And….. Although you will have tremendous capacity to enjoy all the blessings that God will pour into your "cup," they will seem insignificant compared to the One who gave them. So, let's get some principles down that my daughter gave you concerning this verse which I have added some more information. 1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan. Our Lord was willing to move out of heaven and become true humanity. 2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. This all began at His birth when He came into the world as a child and He had nowhere to stay; LUK 2:7. LUK 2:7 And she gave birth to her first born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. We are also told what He appeared like in ISA 53:2. ISA 53:2 He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. Matthew tells us where our Lord lived. MAT 8:20 Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." So again: 1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan. He was willing to move out of heaven and became true humanity. This means that: 2. His deity was not a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father. There is no plan of grace without the incarnation. There is no salvation without the incarnation. There is no eternal life for us, no hope, without the incarnation. And…. The plan of God for the incarnation was that Jesus Christ did not think that He had to hang on to His deity and ever say “no” to the plan of God the Father back in eternity past. He said “yes” to becoming true humanity in eternity past even before the creation of the angels. For in JOB 38:4 notice what our Lord said to Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, JOB 38:5 Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? JOB 38:6 "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, Then notice who was there then and what they saw JOB 38:7 When the morning stars [another reference to angels] sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? This is why Jesus Christ is called the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, REV 13:8. REV 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. In fact, it was God who planned for our Lord to suffer on the cross. How do we know that? ACT 2:22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know ACT 2:23 this {Man}, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put {Him} to death. Go forward to ACT 4. ACT 4:27 "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ACT 4:28 to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur. All these passages illustrate why our Lord did not use His deity as a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father. Therefore, the third principle: 3. Our Lord chose to become true humanity when the Word became flesh. JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. JOH 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ was positive toward the plan of God the Father even though it involved the humiliation of being made lower than angels. For deity to become an angel is a step down from the reality of who our Lord is. HEB 2:7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; 5. Even though it involved the humiliation of death on the cross, the mental attitude of Christ in submission to the Father's plan must become the mental attitude of the mature believer. Let this mind me in you which was also in Christ Jesus. For in……1CO 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. This is the importance of what the believer does in his mind or mental attitude. For in MAT 16:23, Satan is rebuked because he does not set his mind on God's interests, but man's." In MAT 22:37, the mind is the place where we love our Lord. In LUK 24:45, the mind is the first place the believer hears the word of God. In ROM 1:28, the mind is the first place where depravity enters into. Look at ROM 8:5 which is a great passage on the importance of the mind, ROM 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ROM 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ROM 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able {to do so}; ROM 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The mind is the first place where you are transformed; ROM 12:2. ROM 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, The mind is the place where the believer gets hardened; 2CO 3:14. 2CO 3:14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. The mind is the place of unbelief; 2CO 4:3-4. 2CO 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, It is also the place where Satan deceives the believer and the unbeliever. The mind is the place where vanity of life begins; EPH 4:17. EPH 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility [vainity] of their mind, The mind is the first place where vanity develops. The mind is the first place where the believer is also renewed; EPH 4:23. EPH 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, The mind is the place of unity; PHI 2:2. PHI 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, Ultimately: COL 3:2 is a command when it says: COL 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. The reason why it says to set your “mind” on things above and not your heart is that God cannot violate our free will and commands us to believe what is being said. All of this is to reveal our fifth point: 5. Even though it involved the humiliation of death on the cross, the mental attitude of Christ must become the mental attitude of the mature believer. 6. The mature believer must not regard rest and relaxation as a gain to be seized and held on to, but he must be willing to go back to the fight he has been called to. Then we will be able to say with the apostle Paul: 2TI 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; Again, you have heard this principle over and over again throughout our studies. Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained. Your soul was so valuable that He did not consider His deity a treasure to be retained. And….. He can't change His deity, so something had to be added to it which was humiliation known to our Lord as becoming true humanity. Jesus Christ was so occupied with you that He didn't think His equality with the Father and the Spirit more important than your soul. And If you are going to have the same mental attitude that Christ had you must come to a point where you're occupied with Him. Billions of years ago He was occupied with you. Now it's your turn to be occupied with Him. Over and over again, throughout our study on the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ we need to note the fact that: He refused to function in His deity and chose to rely on His true humanity so He could die as a substitute in place of us. 1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, {the} just for {the} unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; All of these principles now will lead us back to our study on the Doctrine of Kenosis. And the main reason why I decided to go back to PHI 2:3-11, was simply to increase out love for our Lord Jesus Christ. This should make our study on the Doctrine of Kenosis a lot more meaningful. So, back to our doctrine and I have switched some things around for those of you who may notice. Turn to 1JO 3. The Doctrine of Kenosis. Point 1. The introduction The introduction of the Doctrine is derived from the Greek word kenoo which means to deprive oneself of a proper function, Phi 2:7a. PHI 2:7a "but He deprived Himself of the proper function of deity Point 2. Definition = Kenosis is based on the fact that the union of the deity of Christ to unglorified humanity is a necessary factor in His humiliation. This is why He taught us that in: JOH 15:20 "A slave is not greater than his master." Or in….. JOH 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." He says this should be the attitude we all should have as the apostle John says in 1JO 3:11-20. 1JO 3:11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 1JO 3:12 not as Cain, {who} was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous. 1JO 3:13 Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you. 1JO 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 1JO 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1JO 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1JO 3:17 But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 1JO 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 1JO 3:19 We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him, 1JO 3:20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 1JO 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 1JO 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 1JO 3:23 And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. Under Point 2, our definition: The plan for the incarnation not only called for the judgment of our sins, but simultaneously it also called for the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. The Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily took on Himself true humanity in order to redeem mankind from sin, in order to propitiate God, the Father and to reconcile mankind to God. Propitiate means to satisfy, and our Lord satisfied the demands of God the Father for the judgment of the sins of the whole world. Therefore, during the incarnation, Jesus Christ did not even once exercise the independent use of His own divine attributes to provide for Himself or to glorify Himself. Point 3. The True Humiliation of the Incarnation. This is one of the most powerful points in the doctrine. During the dispensation of the hypostatic union: Our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes in compliance with the Father's plan for the incarnation, the birth of Christ. This means that: Jesus Christ did not use the attributes of His divine nature to glorify Himself or to act independently of the plan of God for the entire human race. All have been selected but not all have been elected. One compromise of the human nature of Jesus Christ to the spiritual life and there would not be any spiritual life in the Church-age. The objectives of the dispensation of the hypostatic union were related to the human nature of Jesus Christ. To resist this temptation, the human nature of Jesus Christ must not call on the divine nature for help. He had to use the three spiritual skills and the four mechanics of the spiritual life to maintain His human perfection and to be qualified to go to the Cross and be judged for the sins of the world. The three spiritual skills are: 1. The filling of the Holy Spirit and the use of divine power. 2. The understanding of Bible doctrine and the use of divine power. 3. The execution of the PPOG and therefore, the use of divine power. Our Lord used these three spiritual skills during the dispensation of the hypostatic union, Our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes and chose rather to live among men with their limitations. By so doing, He established in His humanity a spiritual life which is precedent for the Church-age. Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes, but certain functions of deity continued to function, such as holding the universe together. Jesus Christ gave up the independent exercise of His divine attributes only during the dispensation of the hypostatic union. He did not give up His divine attributes--that is a heresy. During the dispensation of the hypostatic union: Our Lord veiled the preincarnate glory of His deity by giving up the outward appearance of God and voluntarily taking on Himself the form of man. This means that the glory of Christ was veiled, but never surrendered. In fact: This glory was temporarily revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration, and at Gethsemane there was just a flash of that glory. MAT 17:1 And six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. MAT 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. MAT 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. MAT 17:4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." MAT 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!" Even though the humanity of Christ in the hypostatic union was perfect and impeccable, nevertheless, the deity of Christ was united with unglorified humanity. Our Lord Jesus Christ chose not to surrender any of His attributes of His deity - called The doctrine of the Humility of Christ. The union of Christ to unglorified humanity is a necessary factor of humiliation. While the deity of Christ was united to a perfect true humanity, He was still subject to temptation, distress, weakness, pain, sorrow, limitation, and to more temptations than we will ever face, Heb 4:15. HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as {we are, yet} without sin. And therein lies the truth of the humiliation of the First Advent. He solved these problems from the spiritual life of His humanity by the use of the problem-solving devices. The glorification of the humanity of Christ was not completed until He was resurrected, ascended, and was seated at the right hand of the Father. In the hypostatic union, the divine and human natures are united without transfer of attributes. No divine attributes were transferred to His humanity and no attributes of humanity were transferred to His deity. The attributes of deity cannot bleed over into humanity and the attributes of humanity cannot bleed over into deity. To rob God of a single attribute of His deity would pervert His divine nature. Moses perverted the divine nature when he struck the rock twice when God just said to speak it once; NUM 20:11-13. NUM 20:11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. NUM 20:12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." NUM 20:13 Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them. Moses was usurping God's place. He said to the people, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" Why was God so upset with Moses for striking the rock? What happened when Moses smote the rock twice? At once, water gushed from the rock, and the people and their livestock had water to drink. Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly and provided the congregation and their cattle all the water they needed. Why did God gush out the water for the people when Moses disobeyed Him and struck the rock twice? I personally believe that He did that openly so that the people would recognize that: Moses was their leader so God honored His Word in front of the people, but He will deal with him privately, behind closed doors, as it were, because it is a family affair. And if you are involved in legalism, you may not like this but learn the lesson now which is: Do not touch God's anointed. As David said in 1SA 26:9 "Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt?" What does the Bible say about Touch Not my anointed ones? PSA 105:15 "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." The point is: To rob the humanity of Christ of a single attribute of humanity would destroy His humanity in the hypostatic union. Point 4. The Manifestation of Kenosis in our Lord's Evidence Testing. The true doctrine of Kenosis is illustrated by the humanity of Christ in facing evidence testing, MAT 4:1-11. Let's begin with the passage. MAT 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. MAT 4:2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. MAT 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." MAT 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" MAT 4:5 Then the devil *took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, MAT 4:6 and *said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, #'He will give His angels charge concerning You'; and ' On {their} hands they will bear You up, Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'" MAT 4:7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" MAT 4:8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain, and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; MAT 4:9 and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." MAT 4:10 Then Jesus *said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'" MAT 4:11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and {began} to minister to Him. In all three tests, He utilized the power of the Word provided by the omnipotence of the Father and the power of the Spirit provided in the PPOG for His life. The first test illustrates the principle. In the first test, MAT 4:3-4, Jesus had gone forty days without food and was extremely hungry. MAT 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." MAT 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" The humanity of Christ was tempted in relationship to the delegated power of omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord used doctrine learned in the PPOG to solve the problems that He had. He did not use His omnipotence to turn the stones into bread. In His state of extreme hunger, Satan said to Him, MAT 4:3 "If you are the Son of God [and you are], command these stones to be turned into bread." Jesus Christ as God is infinite, eternal, immutable omnipotence and the Creator of the universe, which Satan recognized. And when Satan said “Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread,” Satan should be more careful because our Lord had the power to turn the entire universe into bread. In fact, our Lord could turn Satan into a “Pillsbury doughboy.” Or into a “devil dog.” ButUnder the doctrine of kenosis, He did not use His omnipotence independently of the Father's will. He refused to function independently of the Father's plan. He refused to rely upon His own omnipotence at any time during the incarnation. The false doctrine says He surrendered His omnipotence; not at all. He had it all the time; He simply did not use it. He used only the omnipotence of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Our Lord continued to be hungry, and met Satan's temptation with the quotation from DEU 8:3 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." By this, our Lord established the fact that Bible doctrine had #1 priority in His life, and He used the power of Bible doctrine. The temptation of Satan was designed to lure the humanity of Christ away from reliance upon the OP of the Father for His logistical grace, and upon the OP of the Holy Spirit inside the PPOG. Under the doctrine of Kenosis: Had our Lord used His own omnipotence to turn the stones into food, He would have operated independently of the Father's plan. His humanity would have received food, but He would never go to the cross. Our Lord used Bible doctrine to meet the test, the doctrine He had learned inside the PPOG. For according to LUK 2:40 And the Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. LUK 2:52, our Lord "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." That is a reference to His humanity inside the PPOG for His life. Notice: He had to grow in wisdom even though He has omniscience and all-knowledge. Why? Because our Lord's humanity depended upon two categories of divine omnipotence, which had never before been available on such a grand scale: The omnipotence of the Father in logistical grace support, and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit only inside the PPOG. This is why our Lord did not use His own omnipotence to turn stones into bread, but instead used Bible doctrine metabolized under the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Point 5. The False Doctrine of Kenosis. The traditional view says that the relative divine attributes of Christ were surrendered during the First Advent. The gnostic view denies that Christ had a real body or that His body was made of some heavenly substance instead of human flesh. The Lutheran view denies that the incarnation involved any humiliation. All of them are absolutely unequivocally wrong! When it comes to the doctrine of Kenosis, there are many well-known theologians who do not rightly divide the Word of God. There are many pastors that don't even know the doctrine but refuse what they do not know or what they do not understand. Point 6. Objections to the False Doctrines of Kenosis.