Podcasts about marcian

Duminica, Iunie 8 - Aducerea moastelor Sf. Teodor Stratilat; Sf. Mc. Nicandru si Marcian;

Joi, Iunie 5 - Sf. Sfintit Mc. Dorotei; Sf. Mc. Marcian, Nicandru, Leonid (Odovania Praznicului Pogorarii Sfantului Duh)

Les CAPSULES sont des fictions sonores jouées en Live sur twitch. Ici vous écoutez une rediffusion de notre quatrième édition faite en mars 2024. Nous sommes un collectif de comédien.nes, d'auteur.ices et de musicien.nes qui mettons toute notre énergie et notre savoir faire pour faire voyager nos viewers. Si tu as aimé ce contenu, n'hésites pas à le partager et à en parler autour de toi. C'était A bas la guerre, écrite par Clément Suparro. Vous retrouverez Jérémy Breut dans le rôle de Maliou, Nathan Hadjaje dans le rôle de Grazielli, Clément Suparro dans le rôle de Lequenne, Laura Bauchet dans le rôle de Soeur Geneviève, Frédéric Souterelle dans le rôle du Capitaine De Moncey, Marcian Buffard dans le rôle de Guegen et du sergent téléphoniste, Lou Heyman dans le rôle de Madame Arton, Marie Seguin dans le rôle du Sergent Billot et Alexis Breut dans le rôle du Commandant Lestraud. Cette fiction nous plonge dans la première Guerre Mondiale, précisément lord de la mutinerie des Poilus en 1917. C'est donc la seule Capsule de la soirée inspirée par une histoire vraie. Il y avait trois musiques, ponctuant cette fiction en trois parties : La chanson de Craonne, chant contestataire français de 1915 avec Nathan au lead, Marcian au piano et toutes les Capsules aux choeurs. Vous avez ensuite eu le plaisir d'entendre A bas la guerre mon âme, une composition originale de Marie et Marcian, avec Marie au chant et Marcian au piano. Et enfin, la chanson concluant ce triptyque était Lili Marleen, une vieille chanson d'amour allemande, interprétée par Laura au chant et Jérémy à la guitare.

Les CAPSULES sont des fictions sonores jouées en Live sur twitch. Ici vous écoutez une rediffusion de notre quatrième édition faite en mars 2024. Nous sommes un collectif de comédien.nes, d'auteur.ices et de musicien.nes qui mettons toute notre énergie et notre savoir faire pour faire voyager nos viewers. Si tu as aimé ce contenu, n'hésites pas à le partager et à en parler autour de toi. DISTRIBUTION : C'était SPACE HUNTER EPISODE 2, écrite par Nathan HADJAJE, interprétée par Alice James dans le rôle de Pok, Lou Heyman dans le rôle du Capitaine Beam, Marie Seguin dans le rôle de Viss, Frédéric Souterelle dans le rôle de Crack, Laura Bauchet dans le rôle de Heum Clément Supparo dans le rôle de l'Exopulse. Nathan Hadjaje dans le role du terrien i Suivi de Compo Space hunter, une composition originale des Capsules, écrite et composée par Lou, Alice, Marcian Buffard et Marie Seguin et Laura Bauchet avec Lou, Marcian, Marie, Alice, Laura et Fred au chant Jérémy à la batterie Marcian au piano Nathan à la basse

In AD 324 the controversy over Arianism was dividing Emperor Constantine's recently-unified Roman Empire. Constantine had converted a mere decade ago and achieved spectacular success on the battlefield over his rival Licinius , but was dismayed to return and find that the religion and church he had come to love to was torn apart with squabbling, division, and dissensions. So what happened? Did the church realize their need for clarity on the divinity of the Son and come together at Nicea because they knew they had to hammer out these doctrines? Did Alexander and Arius sit down willingly for the good of the church? Nope. Instead of the church leading the way, Emperor Constantine issued an imperial summons to the warring bishops of the East and West, demanding they convene at Nicea. The result of that month long council was the Nicene creed, a creed that has stood the test of time and is the foundational confession of practically all Christian traditions 1700 years later. This happened again under Emperor Theodosius I & II at Constantinople and Ephesus, under Marcian at Chalcedon, under Justinian again at Constantinople, and on and on. This pattern plays out again and again and again. The church wars, divides, errs, and even apostatizes, and the means of correction that God uses is often the State. This causes us Americans to bristle and protest but it is undeniable that the bulk of church reform has been initiated, carried out, and completed at the hand of the sovereign. Perhaps for all of our spirituality and airtight systematic theology we have forgotten the ordinary, practical means that God uses to save, purify, and protect his church. This episode is brought to you by our premier sponsors, Armored Republic and Reece Fund, as well as our Patreon members and donors. You can join our Patreon at patreon.com/rightresponseministries or you can donate at rightresponseministries.com/donate.Today we are going to defend the forgotten and controversial historical pattern that God uses the State to correct his often erring bride. Tune in now.*MINISTRY SPONSORS:*ENTER TO WIN 2 FREE TICKETS TO OUR APRIL 2025 CONFERENCE BY Signing Up For Private Family Bankings Email List1. Email Banking@privatefamilybanking.com2. Use Subject Line: April Ticket Giveaway3. Provide Your Full Name & Contact Phone Number4. Private Family Banking will be in touch for the winner of the tickets.*Private Family Banking*How to Connect with Private Family Banking:1. FREE 20-MINUTE COURSE HERE: ⁠https://www.canva.com/design/DAF2TQVcA10/WrG1FmoJYp9o9oUcAwKUdA/view⁠2. Send an email inquiry to ⁠chuck@privatefamilybanking.com⁠3. Receive a FREE e-book entitled "How to Build Multi-Generational Wealth Outside of Wall Street and Avoid the Coming Banking Meltdown", by going to ⁠https://www.protectyourmoneynow.net⁠4. Set up a FREE Private Family Banking Discovery call using this ⁠link: https://calendly.com/familybankingnow/30min⁠5. For a Multi-Generational Wealth Planning Guide Book for only $4.99, use this link for my affiliate relationship with "Seven Generations Legacy": ⁠https://themoneyadvantage.idevaffiliate.com/13.html⁠*Reece Fund: Christian Capital - Boldly Deployed⁠https://www.reecefund.com/*Dominion: Wealth Strategists* is a full-service financial planning and wealth management firm dedicated to putting more money in the hands of the church. With an education focused approach, they will help you take dominion over your finances.https://reformed.money/

Puntata 528 di Border Nights - La Notte ai confini, in onda ogni martedì alle 22 su Web Radio Network, in podcast su tutte le piattagorme digitali come ad esempio Spotify e la domenica sera in onde medie su Radio Briscola (Am 1449). Primo ospite Rosario Marcianò per parlare del caso di Enrico Gianini e anche del rapporto tra dissenso, giustizia e psichiatria. Poi con noi Chiara Corriga autrice de "Rivoluzioni dell'Essere". Paolo Franceschetti ospita Yuri Berti che ci presenterà la sua macchina del tempo. Tom Bosco torna a parlare di droni.Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/border-nights--654467/support.

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Les CAPSULES sont des fictions sonores jouées en Live sur twitch. Ici vous écoutez une rediffusion de notre quatrième édition faite en mars 2024. Nous sommes un collectif de comédien.nes, d'auteur.ices et de musicien.nes qui mettons toute notre énergie et notre savoir faire pour faire voyager nos viewers. Si tu as aimé ce contenu, n'hésites pas à le partager et à en parler autour de toi. DISTRIBUTION : C'était donc Méditation, by EURKT, écrite par Alexis Breut et interprétée par toute la troupe des Capsules avec, dans l'ordre, Marcian Buffard, Marie Seguin, Mael Contentin, Frédérique Souterelle, Alexis Breut, Lou Heyman, Clément Supparo, Nathan Hadjaje, Jérémy Breut, Alice James et Laura Bauchet. Suivi de Next life, une composition originale des Capsules, écrite et composée par Lou et Marcian avec Lou au chant Marie et Alice aux choeurs Jérémy à la guitare Nathan à la basse Alexis au synthé Marcian à la batterie.

Les CAPSULES sont des fictions sonores jouées en Live sur twitch. Ici vous écoutez une rediffusion de notre quatrième édition faite en mars 2024. Nous sommes un collectif de comédien.nes, d'auteur.ices et de musicien.nes qui mettons toute notre énergie et notre savoir faire pour faire voyager nos viewers. Si tu as aimé ce contenu, n'hésites pas à le partager et à en parler autour de toi. DISTRIBUTION : C'était Meutre au MondoMarket, écrite par Yunah Reisch, interprétée par Laura Bauchet dans le rôle de la détective Rachel Morille Alice James dans le rôle du cadet Girolle Jérémy Breut dans le rôle du boucher Nathan Hadjaje dans le rôle de Boscoiala Frédéric Souterelle dans le rôle de Hollywood John, Lou Heyman, dans le rôle de Haddidas Clément Supparo dans le rôle de l'homme de main Alexis Breut dans le rôle du garde. Suivi de Dans mon caddie, une composition originale des Capsules, écrite et composée par Lou, Alice, Marcian Buffard et Marie Seguin avec Lou, Marcian, Marie et Alice au chant Jérémy à la batterie Marcian au piano Marie au saxophone.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

G’day and welcome to Partakers and our series Church Moves Ahead, where we look together at the history of the early church, and in particular its persecution. We are taking brief excerpts from an ancient book, Foxes Book of Martyrs. Lucian and Marcian, two wicked pagans, though skilful magicians, becoming converts to Christianity, to make amends for their former errors, lived the lives of hermits, and subsisted upon bread and water only. After some time spent in this manner, they became zealous preachers, and made many converts. The persecution, however, raging at this time, they were seized upon, and carried before Sabinus, the governor of Bithynia. On being asked by what authority they took upon themselves to preach, Lucian answered, 'That the laws of charity and humanity obliged all men to endeavor the conversion of their neighbors, and to do everything in their power to rescue them from the snares of the devil.' Lucian having answered in this manner, Marcian said, "Their conversion was by the same grace which was given to St. Paul, who, from a zealous persecutor of the Church, became a preacher of the Gospel." The proconsul, finding that he could not prevail with them to renounce their faith, condemned them to be burnt alive, which sentence was soon after executed. Right mouse click or tap here to save this Podcast as a MP3.

UN PODCAST PENTRU BĂRBAȚI, DAR ȘI PENTRU FEMEI: SĂNĂTATEA UROLOGICĂ CU CONF. DR. MARCIAN MANU #164

RISPOSTA A MARCIANÒ - MAZZUCCO live - Puntata 289Con Massimo MazzuccoDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/border-nights--654467/support.

Este episodio de En Diario es presentado por Claro PR.  -- Las noticias para hoy: Presentamos la nueva entrega de Las Caras del Crimen sobre la narcoganga “Hasta los Marcian”. Además, el Senado se prepara para atender un paquete de medidas que abordan la violencia de género y violaciones a la Ley de Tránsito y la Autoridad de Puertos invierte en arreglos de la torre de control del aeropuerto Rafael Hernández, en Aguadilla. -- En Diario es una producción de GFR Media. Este episodio fue producido y editado por Johstean Miguel Santiago Colón y presentado por David Cordero Mercado.  La música original utilizada en esta edición fue compuesta por Rigoberto Alvarado. ¡Buen día! 

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Had a fun hang and conversation with Sacramento comedian Marcian Evans at the tommy ts parking lot

Nella seconda parte del suo racconto di vita, Ernesto Marcianò ricorda le gioie della sua giovinezza in Calabria, le soddisfazioni del suo percorso professionale e personale e alcune delle avventure vissute, tra qui quella di perdersi due volte nel Sahara.

This is part 21 of the Early Church History class. In the fifth century Christians waged a theological civil war that ended in a massive church split. The issue was over the dual natures of Christ. How was he both divine and human? Did he have a human soul and a divine soul? Did his two natures fuse into one new nature? Although such abstruse distinctions would hardly get anyone's blood boiling today, these doctrinal distinctives resulted in a zero sum war for supremacy involving not only theological argumentation, but also political conniving and outright gangster tactics in the battles that led to the famous Council of Chalcedon in 451. Though church history textbooks often whitewash this period of theological creativity, this episode will give you a brief but unapologetic overview of the major players and their deeds in the dual natures controversy. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKQafdCPXAk&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=21&pp=iAQB —— Links —— More Restitutio resources on Christian history See other classes here Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Options for Two Natures Athanasius (c. 357) affirmed Jesus as God and man but did not explain how the natures united. He called Mary Theotokos (God-bearer). Apollinarius of Laodicea (d. 382) said the Word became flesh without assuming a human mind (Apollinarianism). Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390) condemned Apollinarius and said that what God has not assumed, he has not healed. Eutyches of Constantinople (380-456) said the divine and human natures combined to form one new nature (Eutychianism/Monophysitism) Nestorius (c. 429) denied Mary as Theotokos, calling her instead Christotokos, and allegedly taught that Christ had two distinct natures in two persons (Nestorianism/dyophysitism). Leo I said Christ had two natures united in person, though the two natures remained distinct (Chalcedonian dyophysitism). Condemning John Chrysostom John Chrysostom represented the Antiochene school of thought (as opposed to the Alexandrian). 397 Chrysostom became bishop of Constantinople. Eudoxia, wife of the emperor Arcadius, worked with Theophilus of Alexandria to depose Chrysostom. 403 Synod of the Oak deposed Chrysostom. 404 Chrysostom exiled. 407 Chrysostom marched to death Condemning Nestorius 428 Nestorius became bishop of Constantinople. He immediately began persecuting “heretics” as a defender of orthodoxy. 429 Anastasius of Antioch preached in Constantinople that no one should call Mary Pulcheria, sister of emperor Theodosius II, worked with Cyril of Alexandria to depose Nestorius. 431 1st Council of Ephesus deposed Nestorius. Condemning Flavian 446 Flavian became bishop of Constantinople. 448 Held a synod that interrogated and condemned Eutyches 449 2nd Council of Ephesus reinstated Eutyches and condemned Flavian. Dioscorus of Alexandria instigated violence against Flavian that resulted in his death. Known to history as the “Robber Synod” Chalcedon 450 Theodosius II fell from his horse and died, leaving Pulcheria, his sister the nun, to marry Marcian, the new emperor. 451 Marcian and Pulcheria called the council at Chalcedon to reverse the 2nd Council of Ephesus and depose Dioscorus. Pope Leo's tome was read and accepted. After much debate, they codified the definition of Chalcedon, declaring Mary as Theotokos and Christ as having two natures in one person. When Nestorius read Leo's tome, he agreed with him and called it orthodox. Several important groups of churches, both Nestorian and Monophysite, rejected Chalcedon, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Syria, and Persia. Review Deciding how the divine and human natures worked in Christ became the chief focus for many Christians in the fifth century. Apollinarius of Laodice proposed that the logos (Word) replaced the human mind, the rational part of the soul, in Christ (Apollinarianism). Eutyches proposed that Christ was one nature after the union of the divine and human (monophysitism). Pope Leo I said the two natures retained their distinctive characters in the one person of Christ (dyophysitism). Nestorius allegedly taught that the two natures in Christ were not united in one person (Nestorianism), though this was probably a misrepresentation of Cyril of Alexandria. Powerful Alexandrian bishops worked with powerful empresses to outmaneuver and depose Constantinopolitan bishops John Chrysostom in 404 and Nestorius in 431. Nestorius tried to steer people away from calling Mary Theotokos (God-bearer) by calling her Christotokos (Christ-bearer), but this offended many. Alexandrian bishops from Theophilus to Cyril to Dioscorus increasingly used gangster tactics to intimidate, coerce, beat, and even kill their theological-political opponents. The Chalcedonian definition of 451 condemned Nestorius and Eutyches while endorsing Cyril and Leo, promoting a diophysite statement of two natures in one person, united but not confused. Though trumpeted as "orthodox", Chalcedon alienated a huge portion of Christianity, including the Coptic Church, Ethiopian Church, Syrian Church, Armenian Church, and Assyrian Church.

Joi, Iunie 8 - Aducerea moastelor Sf. Teodor Stratilat; Sf. Mc. Nicandru si Marcian;

Luni, Iunie 5 - Sf. Sfintit Mc. Dorotei; Sf. Mc. Marcian, Nicandru, Leonid (Odovania Praznicului Pogorarii Sfantului Duh)

In AD 453, the eastern Roman emperor, Marcian, dreamed an angel brought him a broken Hunnic bow. Two days later, news reached Constantinople that Attila the Hun was dead. Now, his great empire began to unravel. 

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

On Episode 18 of The Hash Wednesday Podcast Comedian Catherine Maloney & Minister Mary Magee get into some of "Black Magic" Saints for the sake of Halloween. St. Lucian and St. Marcian started off on the other side before converting and becoming Roman Catholic Saints! We keep the Halloween theme going with Catherine's Top 10 Halloween Movie Picks, some Alien conspiracy theories and a little spooky story.... wooooooohooooowahahahaha!!!! These 2 crazy Witches will leave you in stitches. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Miercuri, Iunie 8 - Aducerea moastelor Sf. Teodor Stratilat; Sf. Mc. Nicandru si Marcian;

Duminica, Iunie 5 - Sf. Sfintit Mc. Dorotei; Sf. Mc. Marcian, Nicandru, Leonid (Odovania Praznicului Pogorarii Sfantului Duh)

Marcian Ted Hoff 130 Creating the Microprocessor and beyond with Marcian "Ted" Hoff BIOGRAPHY OF MARCIAN E. HOFF   Dr. Marcian Edward "Ted" Hoff was born in Rochester, New York.  His degrees include a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York,  (1958) and  an MS (1959) and a Ph.D. (1962), both in Electrical Engineering, from Stanford University, Stanford, California.  In the 1959-1960 time frame he and his professor, Bernard Widrow, co-developed the LMS adaptive algorithm which is used in many modern communication systems, e.g. adaptive equalizers and noise-cancelling systems.   In 1968 he joined Intel Corporation as Manager of Applications Research and in 1969 proposed the architecture for the first monolithic microprocessor or computer central processor on a single chip, the Intel 4004, which was announced in 1971.  He contributed to several other microprocessor designs, and then in 1975 started a group at Intel to develop products for telecommunications.  His group produced the first commercially- available monolithic telephone CODEC, the first commercially-available switched-capacitor filter and one of the earliest digital signal processing chips, the Intel 2920.  He became the first Intel Fellow when the position was created in 1980.   In 1983 he joined Atari as Vice President of Corporate Research and Development.  In 1984 he left Atari to become an independent consultant.  In 1986 he joined Teklicon, a company specializing in assistance to attorneys dealing with intellectual property litigation, as Chief Technologist, where he remained until he retired in 2007.   He has been recognized with numerous awards, primarily for his microprocessor contributions.  Those awards include the Kyoto Prize, the Stuart Ballantine Medal and Certificate of Merit from the Franklin Institute, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, the George R. Stivitz Computer Pioneer Award, the Semiconductor Industry 50th Anniversary Award, the Eduard Rhein Foundation Technology Award, the Ron Brown Innovation Award, the Davies Medal and induction into their Hall of Fame from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.   He has been recognized with several IEEE awards including the Cledo Brunetti Award (1980), the Centennial Medal (1984), and the James Clerk Maxwell Award (2011).   He was made a Fellow of the IEEE in 1982 "for the conception and development of the microprocessor" and is now a Life Fellow.  He is a named inventor or co-inventor on 17 United States patents and author or co-author of more than 40 technical papers and articles.       We talk about   How do you see the value of IP? what should investors be thinking when they are studying a company's IP?   What technologies were developed long ago that we are just now starting to see or as a society to adopt? What was it like being one the inventors of the microprocessor? How did Intel grow after the invention of the 4004 How have “Innovation” in Silicon Valley Changed over the decades   And much more...   Connect with Marcian “Ted” Hoff Best to connect through Mike, President of Intel Alumni (2) Mike Trainor | LinkedIn  

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls "an unseemly location," presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.   The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.   The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.   The Prologue observes: "It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles."

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls "an unseemly location," presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.   The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.   The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.   The Prologue observes: "It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles."

Attila the Hun! Does his name conjure up images of savagery in your mind? Of a bloodthirsty warrior-king who ruthlessly tortured and killed his enemies as he sacked city after city?  An especially barbaric man who stood out for violence in a time known for so much violence? OR - was he a man of his times? Was he no more or less violent than the Romans, whose historians wrote his story? And when they wrote his story, how much was truth and how much was hyperbole and slander? Today we look into 5th century CE Europe, when the Western Roman Empire is falling, when Attila and his Huns are sacking city after city. We try to separate fact from fiction, and get to know the real Attila, not the evil cartoon presented in clickbait articles and videos. The Bad Magic Charity of the month is SEO: Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. SEO's mission is to create a more equitable society by closing the opportunity gap for young people from historically excluded communities. To find out more, go to seo-use.orgWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/95AGdmpbw88Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/  Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard?  Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Monday of the First Week of Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Marcian; lived in the Fifth Century; from a Roman family of Constantinople; ordained 455 A.D., and was the treasurer of Hagia Sophia; composed hymns, and was a miracle worker Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 1/10/22 Gospel: Mark 1:14-20

„Das Jahr des Greifen“ ist wohl das bekannteste Setting Aventuriens. Die Fantasy-Welt Aventurien ist für „Das Schwarze Auge“ absolut essentiell. DSA gilt als das erfolgreichste deutsche Rollenspiel und hat seinen Erfolg auch den Romanen und Abenteuerheften von Bernhard Hennen zu verdanken. In „Das Jahr des Greifen“ werden die Ereignisse um Greifenfurt während des Dritten Orkensturms thematisiert. Zentral ist hierfür die bekannte Roman-Serie, die 1993 ihren Anfang an. Der Klappentext lautete damals: Die gefährlichen Orks haben Greifenburg, die größte Stadt von Aventurien, besetzt. Da zettelt der Inquisitor Marcian einen Aufstand an, um die Stadt für seinen Prinzen Brin zu befreien. Doch statt der erwarteten kaiserlichen Armee, die eigentlich zu Hilfe eilen sollte, stehen plötzlich weitere Orks vor den Mauern von Greifenfurt. Mit wenigen Soldaten nimmt Marcian dennoch den Kampf auf…Host der Show: Moritz BögerGast der Show: Johannes HeckMusik: Johannes Klan

The descendants of Marcian and Mary Pollok have carefully preserved a secret recipe that has been in the family for more than 150 years. Alex Pollok, Patsy (Pollok) Bordovsky, and Leslie Ray Pollok Jr. are the fourth-generation owners and operators of Pollok's Meat Co. & Deli in Falls City. The family will celebrate the 100th anniversary of their business in November. The Pollok family attributes much of their long-standing success to the Polish sausage or “Polska kielbasa” recipe their great-grandparents passed down to them. The beginning of an era In 1854, Marcian and Mary moved from the upper Silesian side...Article Link

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

It took some doing, but the adventurers: Alwyn, Otto, Amos and Dela (with more than a little help from Nadja and Chardonnay) have finally brought down Marcian and his Ogres. But just as they are starting to lick their wounds, more thugs arrive through the door! Are the group in any condition to face them down? How tough is this patrol? Will everyone live to fight another day?   Adventurers - Are you ready?   Tales From The Twenty Side is an actual play RPG podcast based on Paizo's Pathfinder 2nd Edition, as played by a group of British Actors.   Follow us on: Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/TalesTwenty Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TwentySide Discord - https://discord.gg/ffaB2BXyXn Produced by www.FeegleFilms.com in association with Juicy Falls.

Desperate to get Ringeirr released from captivity by Marcian and his thugs, our adventurers are in the midst of battle... But they have a man down! Will they survive to continue the quest, or do we say goodbye to a key character?   Adventurers - Are you ready?   Tales From The Twenty Side is an actual play RPG podcast based on Paizo's Pathfinder 2nd Edition, as played by a group of British Actors.   Follow us on: Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/TalesTwenty Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TwentySide Discord - https://discord.gg/ffaB2BXyXn Produced by www.FeegleFilms.com in association with Juicy Falls.

The jailbreak seemed to be going according to plan - at leats whilst dealing with the less-than-smart Ogres. But now they face down the leader of these thugs, Marcian. And he is not only intelligent enough to see through the ruse, but also more than meets the eye!   Adventurers - Are you ready?   Tales From The Twenty Side is an actual play RPG podcast based on Paizo's Pathfinder 2nd Edition, as played by a group of British Actors.   Follow us on: Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/TalesTwenty Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TwentySide Discord - https://discord.gg/ffaB2BXyXn Produced by www.FeegleFilms.com in association with Juicy Falls.

One of the most powerful woman in the Ancient World - Pulcheria was a Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother emperor Theodosius II  and then became wife to emperor Marcian.  Her influence of Christian dogma is huge and she convened some of the most significant Church Councils 

Marti, Iunie 8 - Aducerea moastelor Sf. Teodor Stratilat; Sf. Mc. Nicandru si Marcian;

Sambata, Iunie 5 - Sf. Sfintit Mc. Dorotei; Sf. Mc. Marcian, Nicandru, Leonid (Odovania Praznicului Pogorarii Sfantului Duh)

This one is dedicated to our boy Marcian! Get well, send him good vibes. Holler at us on socials, we ask for fan input day of recording now - Twitter: https://twitter.com/GenGpodcast IG: https://www.instagram.com/gengpodcast/

Fessi&Fasci a Montecitorio, con tanto di cosplay da sciamano. Non mancava nulla. Ah no: le mascherine. Ma poi sciachimicazzari, nonna Maura, Marcianò, Boris che ha ragione, e tutti a Belgrado (che Koki ha sonno)... #ioapro #maapristaceppa #manifestazione #roma #podcasting #podcasteritaliani #podcastitaliani

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Le onde più alte di tutti gli oceani, le montagne che dominano sull'intero pianeta: è un viaggio attraverso la Natura e le emozioni quello che Dario Ricci fa oggi a Sfogliando Olympia, la biblioteca dello sport di Radio24. Ospiti della puntata due campioni egli sport estremi, che ci presentano i loro ultimi libri: il surfista Alessandro Marcianò, autore di "Onda Maggiore" (Gribaudo editore), biografia di un atleta partito dal litorale laziale per arriva in cima alle onde più grandi del mondo, e lo scialpinista Cala Cimenti, che ha scritto "Sdraiato in cima al mondo" (Sperling&Kupfer), in cui narra la sua ascesa (e discesa ) dal Nanga Parbat e dal Gasherbrum VII. olympia@radio24.it La regia della puntata è a cura di Andrea Roccabella

Le onde più alte di tutti gli oceani, le montagne che dominano sull'intero pianeta: è un viaggio attraverso la Natura e le emozioni quello che Dario Ricci fa oggi a Sfogliando Olympia, la biblioteca dello sport di Radio24. Ospiti della puntata due campioni egli sport estremi, che ci presentano i loro ultimi libri: il surfista Alessandro Marcianò, autore di "Onda Maggiore" (Gribaudo editore), biografia di un atleta partito dal litorale laziale per arriva in cima alle onde più grandi del mondo, e lo scialpinista Cala Cimenti, che ha scritto "Sdraiato in cima al mondo" (Sperling&Kupfer), in cui narra la sua ascesa (e discesa ) dal Nanga Parbat e dal Gasherbrum VII. olympia@radio24.it La regia della puntata è a cura di Andrea Roccabella

Le onde più alte di tutti gli oceani, le montagne che dominano sull'intero pianeta: è un viaggio attraverso la Natura e le emozioni quello che Dario Ricci fa oggi a Sfogliando Olympia, la biblioteca dello sport di Radio24. Ospiti della puntata due campioni egli sport estremi, che ci presentano i loro ultimi libri: il surfista Alessandro Marcianò, autore di "Onda Maggiore" (Gribaudo editore), biografia di un atleta partito dal litorale laziale per arriva in cima alle onde più grandi del mondo, e lo scialpinista Cala Cimenti, che ha scritto "Sdraiato in cima al mondo" (Sperling&Kupfer), in cui narra la sua ascesa (e discesa ) dal Nanga Parbat e dal Gasherbrum VII. olympia@radio24.it La regia della puntata è a cura di Andrea Roccabella

Le onde più alte di tutti gli oceani, le montagne che dominano sull'intero pianeta: è un viaggio attraverso la Natura e le emozioni quello che Dario Ricci fa oggi a Sfogliando Olympia, la biblioteca dello sport di Radio24. Ospiti della puntata due campioni egli sport estremi, che ci presentano i loro ultimi libri: il surfista Alessandro Marcianò, autore di "Onda Maggiore" (Gribaudo editore), biografia di un atleta partito dal litorale laziale per arriva in cima alle onde più grandi del mondo, e lo scialpinista Cala Cimenti, che ha scritto "Sdraiato in cima al mondo" (Sperling&Kupfer), in cui narra la sua ascesa (e discesa ) dal Nanga Parbat e dal Gasherbrum VII. olympia@radio24.it La regia della puntata è a cura di Andrea Roccabella

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Summary of the Christmas and Hanukkah Special – Episode 3 –Judaism and ChristianityThis is the third episode of our mini-series on the story of Christianity and Africa.On this episode we continue with the story of Abraham and his Descendants.We explore further the Promise between the Jewish People and God. But canthe Jewish people keep their side of this Promise?We continue to discuss the chaos and conflicts in Canaan.We discuss the Council of Nicaea, the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed.We introduce the debates between the Founding Fathers of Christianity aboutthe nature of Jesus Christ.Starring: Abraham; Marcian; Constantine the Great; Solomon; King David;Manessah; Moses; Nicene Creed; Council of Nicaea; Apostle’s Creed; andmuch more See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Luni, Iunie 8 - Aducerea moastelor Sf. Teodor Stratilat; Sf. Mc. Nicandru si Marcian;

Luni, Iunie 8 - Aducerea moastelor Sf. Teodor Stratilat; Sf. Mc. Nicandru si Marcian;

Vineri, Iunie 5 - Sf. Sfintit Mc. Dorotei; Sf. Mc. Marcian, Nicandru, Leonid (Odovania Praznicului Pogorarii Sfantului Duh)

Vineri, Iunie 5 - Sf. Sfintit Mc. Dorotei; Sf. Mc. Marcian, Nicandru, Leonid (Odovania Praznicului Pogorarii Sfantului Duh)

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls "an unseemly location," presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.   The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.   The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.   The Prologue observes: "It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles."

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls "an unseemly location," presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.   The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.   The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.   The Prologue observes: "It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles."

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hum and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls "an unseemly location," presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.   The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.   The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.   The Prologue observes: "It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles."

Life of St Marcian

Both lived in Constantinople and were disciples of the Patriarch St Paul the Confessor (November 6), who was murdered in exile by the Arians. During the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius, they fearlessly confessed that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father and is truly God. For their confession they were beheaded by the Arians and buried outside the city. Soon afterward, miracles began to be wrought at their tomb, and St John Chrysostom later built a church over it.

Omelia che l'Ordinario per l'Italia ha pronunciato ai funerali del Vice Brigadiere, parole del Mons. Santo Marcianò (Ordinario Militare)

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls "an unseemly location," presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.   The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.   The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.   The Prologue observes: "It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles."

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. 'According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches' teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hum and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.'(Great Horologion).   St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.

Morning Glory 22.10.2018 invitati Marcian Petrescu si Mihai Alexandru Tacoi

Morning Glory 22.10.2018 invitati Marcian Petrescu si Mihai Alexandru Tacoi

Morning Glory 13.03.18 invitati Marcian Petrescu si Mihai Alexandru Tacoi

Morning Glory 13.03.18 invitati Marcian Petrescu si Mihai Alexandru Tacoi

Morning Glory 12.03.18 invitat Marcian Petrescu

Morning Glory 12.03.18 invitat Marcian Petrescu

It takes a brave man to stand up to Attila, it takes a lucky one to survive. Find out just how brave or lucky Marcian was. Also, find out: How an eagle save Marcian's life, where Marcian was during the wars and what Marcian got up to on his honey-moon (not much).

Puntata speciale dedicata in gran parte al fenomeno delle scie chimiche e della bioingegneria occulta con il lungo intervento di Rosario Marcianò, il più grande esperto italiano della materia. Dopo l'inizio con "Divenire" di Ludovico Einaudi e la sorpresa musicale per Paolo Franceschetti ("Abele" di Edoardo De Angelis), lungo collegamento con Marcianò seguito dall'imprevisto intervento di un giovane pilota commerciale che dice la sua sull'argomento. Poi ancora Paolo con le tradizionale domande&risposte. Per commenti e opinioni: bordernights@virgilio.it gruppo Facebook: Border Nights

Puntata speciale dedicata in gran parte al fenomeno delle scie chimiche e della bioingegneria occulta con il lungo intervento di Rosario Marcianò, il più grande esperto italiano della materia. Dopo l'inizio con "Divenire" di Ludovico Einaudi e la sorpresa musicale per Paolo Franceschetti ("Abele" di Edoardo De Angelis), lungo collegamento con Marcianò seguito dall'imprevisto intervento di un giovane pilota commerciale che dice la sua sull'argomento. Poi ancora Paolo con le tradizionale domande&risposte. Per commenti e opinioni: bordernights@virgilio.it gruppo Facebook: Border Nights

Well, this morning, we're beginning our study in the book of Hebrews. And as we begin our study, of the book of Hebrews, some intriguing questions will come immediately to mind. Questions that are unique to this book, and that are different than any set of questions that we address in any other book in the New Testament. There are peculiarities about the book of Hebrews that immediately come to our mind when we ask some basic questions about: for whom it was written, who were the first readers, who wrote it, when exactly was it written, and what was the context of its writing? When you read the letters of the apostle Paul, for example, there's a unique context. There's a discerned audience. There is a clear understanding of how this letter came to be in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul.When we read the gospels, similarly, there is a context. There are Authorial issues. There is the issue of the original audience. We understand this, in the book of Acts, similarly. Certainly, the book of Revelation is used in such a powerful way by John, the apostle, and the vision that he received on the island of Patmos. But in the book of Hebrews, we encounter a book that is so rich with necessary theological biblical data for us, a book that gives us so much of our understanding of the gospel. And we know very little about the book, we know very little about who wrote it or to whom it was first written, or the context of its writing in order to get into those questions. I want us actually to read from the text. This morning, as we begin our study in the book of Hebrews, we're going to do something a bit unusual, and that is we're going to begin and end it in the compress of just a few moments.Actually, I'm sure there are many Sundays out before us in the book of Hebrews. But I want us both to look at the beginning and the end of this book together. So, we'll begin in Hebrews 1:1-4. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”Those of course are just the first four verses of chapter one of the book of Hebrews. And what we notice immediately is that in the book of Hebrews, we dove right into the deep end of the doctrinal pool. Whereas with Paul's letters we have, in general, as the norm, a greeting, a salutation, some words of encouragement and exhortation, perhaps even an early word of correction. But in the book of Hebrews, we have this immediacy of going into the deepest issues of the Christian faith.As a matter of fact, we are given a clue about the importance of the book of Hebrews in terms of how it begins. We read, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” There's an immediate recognition here that the church has fathers. There is a patrimony here. There is ancestry to the Christian faith. That ancestry is Jewish.We have to look back to Israel and we look back to the Old Testament in order to understand the necessary context for the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And yet one of the greatest difficulties for the church, one of the greatest difficulties for Christians throughout the ages has been to look to the entirety of scripture. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, Christians look to discover an adequate and faithful understanding of how they are to read and understand the Old Testament.Now, the book is entitled Hebrews, or to the Hebrews. It is identified as a letter in the subscript to the title as is found in the most ancient documents. So, it is an epistle or a letter. It's a letter much like what we would find from the apostle Paul. Although, as we said, it doesn't have the same kind of structure.Well, at least it doesn't have the same kind of structure at the beginning. It does have a very similar structure as we shall see at the end. But at the beginning, there is this dive into the deep, into the pool. When I read the opening verses to the book of Hebrews, my mind immediately goes to two very different books. The first of these is Genesis. We have a chronological reference in Hebrews, “Long ago and many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” It's the kind of declaration we find in the very first verse of scripture. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Did you ever notice that the Bible doesn't have a lengthy preface or introduction? That in the book of Genesis we're right into it immediately? Here's the entirety of the truth claim of theism, right here at the very beginning, Genesis 1:1 establishes the truth claims. And the very first few words of the scriptures, that there is a God and that He has created all. That idea is similar to the Prologue of John's Gospel. My mind goes there immediately. John is in many ways, the New Testament twin verse to Genesis 1:1. When we come to John 1:1, we are told, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”We are also told that he was the Creator, the agent of creation. “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”Now we come to Hebrews 1:1. “Long ago, at many times. And in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” What are we to do with the Old Testament? Christians have struggled with this. We know that there are at least two disastrously wrong ways of understanding how Christians are to read the Old Testament.The first, disastrously wrong way for Christians to read the Old Testament, is to read it as if it's someone else's book. There is the temptation that comes to the church. And as a matter of fact, it sometimes reflects the way we describe ourselves when we describe a Baptist church. When we say, “What are you?” We seek to be a New Testament church. What we mean by that of course, is that we are grounded upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as is revealed in the New Testament. It also means that we're seeking to be a church that is ordered in accordance with the pattern for the church, for our ecclesiology that is set forth in the New Testament. But there's a danger. Anytime we say, “We're a new Testament church,” that can insinuate, that our Bible is the New Testament. It begins with Matthew. But our Bible is not just the New Testament. It begins with Genesis.At the end of the book of Romans in the final chapters, Paul tells us that the Old Testament was given to the church for our encouragement. In our knowledge, there is no way you can understand the gospel of Jesus Christ if you don't understand the Old Testament. There is no way we can come to understand the new covenant unless we understand the old covenant. The first disastrously wrong way, the church has looked at the Old Testament is to dismiss it. To say, “It's not for us. It's not to us. It's not binding upon us. This is a book, a collection of books that is Jewish.”Marcian, one of the most famous heretics of the church said that the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament. Very early on in the Christian Church, there arose the heresy that the Old Testament isn't addressed to us. That is, it's not our story. And the suggestion is even that there is a severe theological distinction in the presentation of God between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The early church very quickly came to smell the sniff of heresy. This is the aroma of deadly error. But that very idea has come back.You will find theologians today, routinely on the liberal side, dismiss the Old Testament as presenting a crude and rudimentary understanding of God and theology. That's disastrous. Equally disastrous, although less ideological, as the approach taken by many Christians who simply say, “I don't understand the Old Testament. It seems alien to me. I don't know what to do with the old Testament. So, I'll just lean into the New Testament.” That is the first disastrous way Christians look to the Old Testament.There is a Second disastrous way that Christians look to the Old Testament and it's equal and opposite. That is, we assume that we find our primary grounding in the Old Testament. And that is not. So that is the sense in which it's healthy to say, we're a new Testament church. We are New Testament people. We are a new covenant people, but when we look back to the covenant of old, we do not look back with resentment or with a dismissive attitude, but rather we are to look back with gratitude to the realization that the old covenant was a necessary context for the new. As Jesus himself made very clear, our Lord did not repudiate the Old Testament nor the old covenant. Rather he, by his perfect obedience, perfectly fulfilled the old covenant. He perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament and it still speaks to us.So, who were the original recipients of this letter? It's addressed to Hebrews. So, our first thought is it'd be addressed to Jewish people. That doesn't exactly fit the letter. This assumption doesn't exactly fit for a couple of reasons that I will demonstrate as we'll go verse by verse through the book.Early in the church, the suggestion that this might be a letter addressed to those who formerly had been Jewish priests. The audience may have converted as priests from Judaism to Christianity. There were those who were of the tribe of Levi. They were priests. They had their identity and their function in the time of the old covenant as the priests of Israel. So how are they to understand the gospel? Well, what we have in the book of Hebrew is a massive, symphonic display of the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood in and by Christ. But, you know, as tempting as it is to think, maybe in terms of some of the technicalities, what we have here is a letter to Jewish priests who have now become believers. That's just too unique, and particularly for the audience to fit the totality of this book.There are some interesting clues in this book. It's written obviously to people who have a knowledge of the Old Testament. Not just a little bit of knowledge, but a great deal of knowledge of the Old Testament. These persons have a knowledge of what is called “Hellenistic Judaism”. The references within the book of Hebrews are to the Septuagint, rather than to the Hebrew Old Testament. So, it's likely that this was written to a cosmopolitan audience made up, at least in part, of Jews who were Hellenized, when they were Hellenized. That meant that they had become a part of their Greco-Roman empire. Indeed, Greek was their primary language. And there are only two cities that fit that category. Those two cities are Alexandria in Egypt and Rome.From the very beginning, the church's encounter with the book of Hebrews, the suggestions have come that this was written to Christians living in Alexandria, or in Rome. And one of the clues internally to Alexandria, is that the most famous Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, was a man by the name of Philo. There are unsighted references to Philo within the book of Hebrews. But there are equally valid arguments for why it may well be this addressed to Hellenized Jews who were part of the Christian Church in Rome. The bottom line, however, is that it's given to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's addressed to all of us.It's not just written in order that those who had been Jewish priests can now find their understanding of how the political priesthood is fulfilled, in Christ and by Christ. It's not even just to early Christians who may have had the background of Hellenistic Judaism. Hebrews is given to all of us because it is incumbent upon all of us as Christians to come to an understanding of how we are to read the Old Testament; To understand the Old Testament and the old covenant, and who wrote it.Well, we don't know biblical author. The inerrancy of scripture requires that we affirm the authorship of every book as is attributed within the scriptures. So, we're right to contend for the fact that, for instance, Peter wrote second Peter. The claim is made within the text itself. Similarly, evidence we find in the epistles of the apostle Paul. We see him as the author. Or we find very good reason to understand from the text that it was Luke who wrote both Luke and Acts. We could go book by book. The only book that would lead us to this particular quandary in the entire New Testament, the book of Hebrews, because there is absolutely no claim of authorship.Now, when I am teaching and preaching the book of Hebrews, that there is an inclination, it's kind of just right there. It happened to me before. I know it, I will often accidentally say, “As Paul says here,” but there is no reference to Paul being the author of this letter. As a matter of fact, the Greek structure of grammar and syntax and the expression that's found in the book of Hebrews is not really characteristic of Paul. And I'll tell you, what is characteristic of Paul? Every time Paul wrote something, he made it clear that he wrote it. I is because he was writing on apostolic authority. There's another reason to believe that, almost certainly, Paul is not the writer of the book of Hebrews. That is because the writer of the book of Hebrews assumes second-hand knowledge.In other words, this is what was revealed to the church that the author of Hebrews now affirms as true. The apostle Paul spoke of direct revelation, something very different. The apostle Paul spoke of his apostolic authority. He cites his apostolic authority. He bases his authority to instruct the church on that apostolic authority, which is completely missing here.Other suggestions as to who wrote the book and the history of the church have included Apollos or Barnabas. Now those two men are interesting proposals. Luke also has been offered as a potential author of the books of Hebrews and Luke. However, he comes from a Gentile background. That's a key to understanding both the Gospel of Luke and the book of acts. And so, it doesn't seem natural that Luke would be the author of Hebrews. At the end of the book, there is a reference to Timothy. Which could well be that Luke was one of the reasons why we often, in the history of the church, see references, if not to Paul, then to Barnabas or Apollos or Luke.So clearly, there are links to the Pauline circle, and whoever wrote this knew Timothy intimately and makes reference to him. But, you know, this is where we need to limit our imagination and trust that the Holy Spirit has given us all that we need.Let me give you, a contrasting example. It's important to understand that Paul wrote the book of Romans. It's key to understanding some passages in the book of Romans because it is tied so closely to Paul's spiritual autobiography. If you take Paul out of the book of Romans, it's far more difficult to understand some of what the Holy spirit has revealed to us in the book. Since the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that letter to the church in Rome, and Paul wrote it with references to his own experience, his authorship provides necessary background.It follows a certain chronology. Paul refers in the opening chapter of the book of Romans that he has been delayed. He has been prevented from arriving in Rome, even though he intended to go there. This explains the reference to the Macedonian vision in the book of Acts. It all fits together. We understand the context that helps us to understand the book of Romans. We do not have that here. We do not know the original date, although it's clear we believe before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD since there is no reference to it.We don't know the author. We don't know specifically, or for sure, the original recipients, evidently because we are not meant to know. We are not given that data in this book, because if we had that data, presumably we might read the book differently than the Holy Spirit intends for us to read it. The Holy Spirit intends for us to read this book as written to the church. As written to all of us with no general reference to any specific time, any specific author, or any specific context. And that's how we are to read the book of Hebrews; understanding that it is our responsibility to come to terms and to come to a knowledge of how we as Christians are to read the Old Testament.The affirmation we find here at the very beginning of the introduction is poetic. It's beautiful. It's soaring. It gets right to the incredibly high Christology the book of Hebrews contains. We encounter what we do not find in this form elsewhere in the New Testament. This is the symphonic, comprehensive presentation of what it means for Jesus to be the mediator of a new covenant. For Jesus to be our great high priest. Earlier this summer, in the hottest place— I'll say on the record, I think I have ever been to— Palm Springs, California, I spoke to a large Resolved conference. This conference of college students, several thousand of them. It was so hot; my eyeballs were hot.And these college students that come from all over the country to be here for hours and hours and hours of expository preaching, that defies the wisdom of the age. I preached one of my messages on Jesus, the great high priest. I began by saying it to these college students. “I know what you think and what you're thinking is partly right, but it's also very wrong. You think you don't need a priest. When, if we do not have a priest, we are not saved. The reality is we do not believe in an ongoing human priesthood. But, if Jesus is not our great high priest, we have not been cleansed of our sins. The Old Testament has not been fulfilled. The old covenant has not been fulfilled and our sin is still upon us. Oh, we need a priest. And we need a priest, not only because of what Christ did on the cross, but we also need a priest who intercedes for us, right now; who intercedes for us at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. We need, we are desperately dependent at every single moment in our lives on Jesus. Our great high priest, who is for us, right now. The mediator of a new and better covenant as the writer of the book of Hebrews will make very clear. This is our priest who in the incarnation became so much like us, that he understands us. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet, without sin. The writer of the Hebrews will make clear. This is a priest. Yes, a priest who fulfilled the Levitical priesthood because he entered a tabernacle, not made with human hands. But rather, on the cross he entered the heavenly tabernacle. And when our great high priest performed atonement for us, he did atone as the priests of old, with the blood of a heifer or a lamb. Rather, he shed his blood.”Thus, he has become for us the mediator of a new covenant. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers,” right here at the beginning of Hebrews. We had this absolute affirmation that God did speak through the Old Testament. That was his revelation that he spoke through the prophets that he spoke through the entirety of the Old Testament that he spoke through the sacrifices of old. That he spoke through the priestly ritual of Israel. That he spoke in the tabernacle. That he spoke in the temple. He did speak. He spoke it many times. He spoke in many ways, even a passing familiarity. The Old Testament reminds us of many times and many ways that God spoke.My book on preaching is entitled He is not silent, a title I borrowed from Francis Schaeffer. That is the crucial fact for us; God is, and he speaks. Schaeffer's book was entitled He is there, and He is Not Silent, and it had a such a massive impact on my life, back in the 1970s. I was a teenager. He said, “You see, if there were a God, a silent God, we wouldn't know him. We have no ability to seek him out. We have no ability to come to terms with him. The only way we can know God is because he speaks to us. And this is grace and mercy.” Carl Henry, in so many ways, my theological mentor, a man not given to expression, was an absolute poet when it came to defining revelation. When he defined it this way, he said “That revelation is God's gracious act whereby he forfeits his personal privacy so that his sinful creatures might know him.” Time and time again, various times, and in various ways, the one true and living God forfeited his privacy, that his sinful creatures might know him.He spoke through a bush that burned. It was not consumed. He spoke through prophets. He spoke on a mountain that shook with fire. He spoke through tablets of stone inscribed with these 10 words. He spoke through the graphe, through the writings, the scriptures of the Old Testament. At one point he spoke through Balaam's donkey. He's a speaking God. He spoke to him many times and in many ways, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”So the writer of the book of Hebrews, at the very beginning tells, us that the definitive revelation of the speaking God is in his Son. Now, again, we go immediately back to John 1:1. “In the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, Logos. Then, the Son is the Logos who created the world. And through the Logos, whom we come to know. Now we are told that God, having spoken to our fathers by the prophets many times, and in many ways in these last days, here's the conclusion. In other words, there is not something else that is coming. That will become very clear through the book of Hebrews, as it lays out symphonically and comprehensively, the deep truths of the gospel. This is it. It is finished.There is no mediation in terms of atonement for sin that is left to be done. There is no sacrifice to be repeated. This is conclusive in these last days; he's spoken to us of whom he appointed him heir of all things.The next time we are together, we'll be following through these verses and looking at the Christology of the book of Hebrews. At the very beginning, we'll come to understand what it means for him to be the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature.God did not send the son in order to show us what he's like. God sent the son in order to show us himself. Jesus isn't like God, he is God. He isn't merely a picture of what God is like. He is the exact representation of his nature. Hebrews chapter one is so rich with Christology. And we will see, verse by verse, word by word, what the writer of the book of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is telling us that we are to know about Christ, before he actually goes back to the Old Testament. Which is another reminder to us that we have to get our Christology right before we can get our Old Testament theology right. And, obviously, it has to be in the conversation because much of what we come to know of who Christ is and what Christ has done for us is revealed against the backdrop of the Old Testament. Christ's fulfillment of the Old Testament. But we come to understand that we now read the Old Testament as Christians. But, we do not read the Old Testament as if we do not have the New Testament. We're not reading the Old Testament as if we do not know how Christ has fulfilled these things. We are reading the Old Testament as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ. And without apology, we have a Christological interpretation of the scriptures.That's why it's so appropriate that we are now in Hebrews. After having concluded Matthew, of the four gospels, it is Matthew's Gospel, that makes much this same point: placing the life ministry of Jesus within the context of Old Testament prophecy. Matthew writes, “These things happened in order that the scriptures might be fulfilled,” over and over again. We have in the gospel of Matthew, pointed reminders and very clear displays of how Christ has fulfilled the law, the Old Testament, and the prophets. Now we find the same in the book of Hebrews. But as we begin our study, of the book of Hebrews, I want us to look not only at the first four verses but also to look at the last chapter.The book of Hebrews begins with this incredible Christology. This testimony to who Christ is, as we've said. It begins by diving into the deep end of the pool. We're completely wet. There's no introduction to get us ready for the deep stuff. We're in it. But notice how it ends. In particular, look at verses 20 and 21, the benediction to the letter. Thirteen chapters later reads, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”If that doesn't stir your soul, you're untirable. We have the testimony to God who brought from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep.So, we go from Christ, being the exact representation of the nature of God, to Christ being the great Shepherd of the sheep. We have a reference here to the blood of the eternal covenant by which we've been saved. But the prayer is that God through Christ will equip believers with everything good. Why? That we may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.I think it's important to begin at the beginning and then to move very quickly to the end. Remember, as we are beginning our study of the book of Hebrews, to be recognize that we are studying the book of Hebrews not merely that we would come to a deeper understanding of the things of God. Not merely so that we can have in our minds a better intellectual doctrinal and theological framework for understanding the New Testament and the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ. Not merely so that we would be better armed, better equipped to understand the gospel. But, our study book of Hebrews should be in the background of the prayer that God will use this study in order that we may be equipped for every good thing. To do his will, which is pleasing in his sight.This is rich theological material; incredible biblical material. It's exhilarating. The study of the book of Hebrews is like looking through lenses, a set of binoculars, and realize when you put it into focus, things are a lot clearer.But the ultimate reason we study not only the book of Hebrews, but scripture is in order that the Holy Spirit will work within us. That which is pleasing to the Father, and to the great shepherd of the sheep. in order that we would work his will.Let's pray together. Our Father, we are so thankful that you have given us this book. We're thankful that you have given it to us just as you've given it to us without reference to place, without reference to context, without reference to the author, without reference to date. Father, may the absence of those things remind us emphatically that this is for your whole church throughout all the ages. It is to be read as addressed to all of us from the beginning until now. And Father, we pray that by our study of this book, we will indeed be able in a way we otherwise would not be able, by your grace and to your glory, to do your will. That which is pleasing in your sight. And we pray this as we begin this study in the name of the great Shepherd of the sheep, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.You can find Dr. Mohler's other Line by Line sermons here.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.

Well, Ephesians 6 is where were at today. In this passage, Paul sounds the alarm. Weve been following the news, this big earthquake in Chile, and a tsunami is going to follow, so in Hawaii and Japan and other places, they were bracing yesterday for the tsunami. It turned out that it wasnt that bad, but they didnt know what was going to happen; so sirens were going off. People were driving around in cars warning people to evacuate and head to higher ground because there is a threat. Its very real, and its coming. Weve spotted the tsunami at sea. Were not sure how large its going to become, so move to higher ground. Evacuate. They were pretty confident that if they responded to that, they would be safe. They boarded up their homes. They headed to higher ground to wait out the tsunami. So thats wisdom. Thats wisdom because when there is a threat, you prepare. You take every means you can to protect yourself and your family. Paul is going to talk here about a very real threat, a very real enemy that is seeking to destroy anyone in his path. Hes going to introduce us to a spiritual world of darkness, a hierarchy, a struggle in which there is conflict between the forces of God and the forces of the enemy. He sounds the alarm, and he says, Prepare yourselves. Get ready so that youre able to stand. Verse 10 (page 1160 of pew Bibles) Paul writes, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Notice Paul says you have to stand in His power. You dont fight a tsunami because it will defeat you. Youre not powerful enough to fight it. In the same way you cannot fight the force of darkness in and of your own strength. You have to fight and stand in the power of God, and hes going to tell us how to do that. He says to do that, you must, Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly realms, or in the Greek, it just says in the Heavenly. So he talks about this hierarchy, this unseen force. We see the manifestation of evil in our world, but he says, We are talking about principalities and powers that we cannot see. We cannot see the wind, but we see the effects of the wind. We see what it does. We cannot see the earthquake. We cannot see the platelets moving. We see effect. So we cannot see the enemy, but we can see his effect. We can feel the opposition. Ill tell you when this really became real to me. Ill give you a couple dramatic stories. Ill just tell these really quickly because we want to get in the text, but these are times when this whole idea of warfare became real to me. It went from beyond just words in the Scripture to a reality that I was engaged in. If you are skeptical here today-if you dont believe in spiritual warfare or you dont believe in the existence of a literal devil as Jesus obviously did-these stories arent necessarily going to convince you otherwise; but I share these because these were defining moments for me, and they were very early on in my ministry. I was in my 20s. I was pretty green, and Rockford-where Im from-actually became a hotbed for satanic activity. There was a church of Satan-and may still be; I dont know-that was in conflict with one of the local churches in the community. There was satanic ritual activity at the local parks. One of our pastors had a deliverance-based ministry, and people would come out of that lifestyle and want to be delivered. Theyd come to our church, so we had to deal with this on a regular basis-people who had taken part in various satanic ceremonies and activities who were wanting freedom. That pastor would work with law enforcement because they would try to track down [victims who participated in this satanic lifestyle] because crimes had been committed. There were evidences of it in the parks and so forth. Our pastor would work with investigators, so it was not uncommon for us to deal with this in Rockford, Illinois. One particular time, this young man about 17 years old [came to us]. Hed had a real troubled childhood, was really depressed, and he was on his bed listening to Motley Crew. I think it was a Shout at the Devil, song like that. On his bed, he said, I asked Satan to possess me. I asked him to come and live inside of me. Im really afraid now because things are happening in me that I dont understand. This morning at school, I wrote a letter. Its almost like it wasnt even my words and something dark was writing through me, and Im scared. I need help. So several of us began to pray for this young man named John. As we were praying, he gets this sinister grin, and he opens up the desk, almost as if he knows where to look, and he grabs a large pair of scissors-not school scissors, but a large pair that really was a weapon. He stars to glare at everybody in the room. One of the pastors goes, Jeff, you go find the letter. We have to take him on a prayer to renounce these things he said. This letter Im sensing is a key, so go back to the classroom and find this letter. Id like to tell you that I was real brave. Id like to tell you that I was like, Yeah, Satans going to get it now! but I leave the room where he is holding a knife on these guys. I go to the classroom, I have to find the letter! I have to find the letter! Hes going to kill people! (Pastor is saying this with a shaky voice.) So Im just all in a dither, and I get to the room; and there is no trash in the trashcans. We had said, What did you do with the letter? He said, I threw it away. I saw the janitor, Where, where is the letter? Wheres the trash? He goes, Oh, I just emptied everything into the dumpster. I went, Great! I go outside to the dumpster, a big dumpster. I open up the lid, and you know we have a school K-12. He has just emptied every trash can in all the classrooms. Do you know whats in pretty much every trashcan? Crumpled up white pieces of paper, so literally the bin is entirely full with crumpled up white pieces of paper. I mean there are hundreds and hundreds of crumpled up white pieces of paper, and Im supposed to find one letter. Im like, This is impossible. Hes in the church. He has a knife. I dont know if hes stabbing people right now. Im supposed to find this letter. I was like, Lord, please help me find this letter. Im not going to climb in the bin and start looking through hundreds of sheets of paper. What am I going to do? I reach in and I grab a piece of paper, and I unfold it. The first one-gang, the first one, I grab-is the letter from the kid. I couldnt believe it! That was a real sign to me. Now you might be skeptical and say, Well, it just happened, you know. People win the lottery too. Thats fine, but for me, that was really something-that I would find that letter on the first shot. I took it in, read it. It was like, Im going to kill the principal. Im going to kill myself. I hate God! It was just filled with all this bad stuff. We led the kid on a prayer of confession and renouncing of the decisions that he made. Long story short, I got a call from him actually a year ago, just to let me know he was doing well and say he was doing well and thank you for helping me when I was a young man. Now Im a father, and blah, blah, blah; and we reminisced for a little bit. The second story, really quick, is when a guy called the church. He said, Ive made some bad decisions, and Im involved with what I shouldnt be. I feel like Satan has really attacked me. I dont know if Im possessed or oppressed or what, but I need help. So he came to church. Id never seen him before in my life. I open up the door. Have you ever met somebody who just gives you the heebie-jeebies when you meet them? This guy had these beady eyes and this kind of devilish grin. I was like, Hello, come in. I was like making sure my door handle was not locked because I didnt trust this guy. I was like, I dont want to be in the office with this guy with the door locked. I was like triple checking it, Okay, its not locked. Great. I shut the door and sat down. I had not my main desk-which was behind me-but just this desk a bit smaller that I just met with people at and so forth. Its a light desk. It wasnt wood or anything like that, just a light desk. We were sitting there talking, and he started telling me all the perverse things he was involved with. I was like, Man, no wonder. This is just bad. You have to confess this to the Lord. You have to ask His forgiveness, His cleansing, ask Him to come into your life. We have to get rid of this. This is bad stuff! I said, Can I pray with you? At that point, I was young. I wasnt even old enough to realize, Does this guy even want to get rid of this stuff? I would have handled this situation a whole lot differently now than I did then, but we started to pray. As we were praying, have you ever just sensed somebody was glaring at you? I sensed he was glaring at me. I could just sense it. I knew if I opened my eyes, he would be looking at me with an evil look. That was creeping me out. So I was just praying, and pretty soon his hands started to shake violently, and Im just holding on. Then he starts to go, Grrrr. GRrr! GRRR! He started to growl. I just kept praying. I felt like I got on the back of a tiger now, and I didnt know how to get off. He started to shake even more violently and growl louder. I was like help us, Jesus! Help us, Lord! (Pastor is talking with a shaky voice.) Im just scared. All of the sudden, he stands up; and when he stand up, he pushes the table onto me. The table is now at my waist, and his full body weight is against the table; so I cant move my lower body. Im trapped. He takes my suit coat-yes, my boss made us wear a suit coat-grabs it, pulls it up over my head so sleeves are where my elbows are, and I cant move my arms. Im like in a straight jacket. I literally cant move. Im trapped by the table; he was over me; the suit coat was over my head; and he was shaking me while going, Rrrr! RRRR! Im going, Help. Help. Im in my 20s and Im scared! This guy is… Gary, the expert over here, says, Im on my way! I hear him through the wall. He comes around the door, and he goes shake, shake, shake [on the doorknob]. Just a second. The door is locked. I have to go get a key. Im like, The door is not locked. Im thinking, How can this be locked? and right there in that moment, I said, This is real. I know I didnt lock it. I know that door is not locked! How did that door get locked? Something is going on here. Long story short, they got the key. They came. We restrained the guy and prayed with the guy. It was a battle. He was very violent to himself. Eventually, we got him calmed down; and last I heard about this fellow was he was a pastor in Freeport, Illinois. Last I heard-that was many years ago. This would have been almost 30 years ago that this story took place; so a lot transpired in that time. That event, that locking of the door-when I knew that the door was not locked-how did that happen? I had no explanation for that. So those events kind of woke me up early to the fact that spiritual warfare is real. Now hes going to use an interesting word in this passage. It says, Our struggle. That is the word wrestling. We wrestle not, some of your translations may say. We wrestle not. This wrestling, it would be very similar to our wrestling. This would have been the first Olympic sport that did not involve running in 707 B.C.-pale (pay-lay). Its where you throw your opponent several times. You have to throw your opponent, and then you are the victor when you can stand over your opponent and put your hand on this throat, signifying you are the victor. He uses that word and that word picture. He says, We are in a heated match. I have to tell you I respect wrestlers out here. How many of you high school wrestlers or college wrestlers do we have here today? Yeah, dont mess with those guys. That is a grueling sport. I just thank God He made me a basketball player. I used to see their workouts, and I know what they went through to lose weight, to get in shape. It is a hard sport. So he picks one of the most grueling, physical sports-wrestling, and he says, This is like a wrestling match. Paul is acting here as a scout. A good scout, or a good coach, scouts the other team and say, Okay, your opponent today, here are his strengths. Heres what he likes to do. Here are your weaknesses. Heres where youre vulnerable in your match today, so dont let yourself get in this position. Make sure you dont put your hand here or your foot here. Be on guard against this because heres where he always attacks. Hes going to dive for your legs. When he does that, do this. The coach is helping you in advance. Hes warning you in advance of how your enemy will attack. He says, We are not ignorant of his schemes, of his devices, or of his trickery. Paul is saying he has the same moves every time. He has the same moves every time. The place where he attacks first and foremost is where our greatest strength is because if he can attack our greatest strength and have victory there, then everything falls in place like dominos. What is the greatest strength we have? What is the greatest weapon in our arsenal? Its the first weapon that Paul gives us. He gives it to us first for a reason. The greatest weapon that you and I have is Truth. Well I thought the goodness of God or the love of God is the greatest thing we have. The greatness of God, the goodness of God, and the love of God are only wonderful and great because they are true. The Gospel and our faith, I thought that was the greatest weapon we had. We can only have faith because it is based upon what is true, so Truth is our greatest strength; so when Satan attacks, he will attack the Truth. I guarantee you that, and he will always attack it in the same way. He operates by the if its not broke, dont fix it school of thought. Hes been using the same techniques since the dawn of Creation. They always work, so he continues to use those techniques. So if we want to say, In this wrestling match, we know his schemes. What are his schemes? What do they look like? How does he operate? Then we can expect them and respond to them when they happen. I was talking with a woman in our 9:30 service, and she was able to connect the dots in something she was going through, a struggle she was going through. She said, I didnt realize that what I was going through was a spiritual attack until the message today. She said, Now Im ready! Im ready! I have my armor on. Now I understand whats coming, who it is, and how I can defend against it. Lets turn to the Book of Genesis 3 (page 3 of pew Bibles). The setting is Eden; its paradise. The account is the fall of men, and our concern is with the first five verses of the chapter. We kind of know what happens in the rest of the story, but were going to focus on Verses 1-5. It says, Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden? Method number one is doubt, to get you to question the Truth. Thats method number one that the enemy will use. He will get you to doubt what you know to be true. Now, Im not talking about a healthy doubt or a healthy skepticism. Every one of us should have that. If you hear something that doesnt sound quite right or read something that doesnt seem quite right, you go to the Word of God and you say, Is this true or not? Im just doubting what I hear today-Im not talking about that. Thats good. You keep that up. However, Im talking about doubting what we know to be true. Eve knew that was true. He tries to introduce doubt to get her to question the Truth. Thats how he operates. He gets us to try to question the Truth. Our children in the schools-growing up in the church-understand that theyve been made imago Dei, in the image of God. Theyre learning that they are evolved, and that they are simply an accident from cosmic goo. Theres no divine plan or purpose for their life. They simply happen. Theyre an accident. They begin to doubt what theyve been taught that is true. Sometimes because of our sin, were ashamed or we feel guilty because of things weve done or said or the things we didnt do that we should have done or didnt say that we should have said. We start to feel like well, God doesnt love me or I cant be a Christian. He will get us to doubt our salvation. God doesnt really love you. You do not really belong to Him. If you really belonged to Him, then you wouldnt do this. You wouldnt say that. He gets us to question what we know is true. Thats how the enemy operates. There were times when the Apostle Paul, I think, struggled with everything that were going to talk about today. One thing we know about Paul is that Paul was a very timid individual. He writes really bold in his letters. He even talks about that. He says, You know, I came to you. You thought youd see this bold man, and when you actually met me, you saw how timid I was, and you were surprised. You were like, Is this Paul? Youre so loud and demonstrative in your letters, but when we meet you, youre just timid. Thats the way he was. There were times when Paul would say, Pray for me that I can proclaim the Gospel. Pray for me that I have confidence to speak the Word as I should. There were times Paul struggled with doubts, even though he knew God had called him to that mission. He knew the Truth. There were times when he began to question what he knew to be true, and he asked for help in that area. So thats how Satan works, because if he can get us to doubt, then we are susceptible to deceit, to desires-the other things were going to talk about-and begin to fall like dominos. Well, Eve holds up pretty well in this first test. If you question and try to get them to doubt the Truth-what did Jesus do in the wilderness? When Satan tried to get Him to question the Truth, He quoted the Scripture. He quoted the Truth. The woman said, We may not eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say… She affirms the Truth. …that you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. Then Satan goes, Oh, okay. Ill leave you alone then. Thanks. No, no, no. Hes relentless. He tries another tactic. Verse 4, You will not surely die. The serpent said to the woman. He tries the tactic of deceit-deceit. Deceit is when you have some truth, and you just twist it a little bit. She wasnt going to physically die. She was going to spiritually die. She said she would physically remain alive, but there was going to be a death. There was going to be a separation, but he was like, Oh, youre going to be fine. Deceit. And with this deceit comes a false justification. We begin to say, I am justified in my behavior because it has just enough Truth even though the Truth is skewed. Ill give you a couple examples. Somebody is working, and theyre handling money. Maybe its their job or maybe theyre a volunteer, but theyre around funds. Thats a very trustworthy thing. I have no authority to sign checks. I dont transfer payroll. I cant determine wages. I dont see deposits or offerings. I just try to stay out of that. Im part of the board, but I dont handle any monies. I dont have the authority to handle any monies as far as writing checks or authorizing salary. I just stay out of that, but there are some people that have been put in that position where they have to handle finances. Maybe things are difficult for them. Theyre struggling. Maybe something has happened in their lifestyle where they have bills to pay and they have a lot of pressures; so they take the money, and they say, I know this money isnt mine, but Im going to pay it back. Because they have an intention to pay it back, they take the money, and they use it for their own purposes. Or they might say, I work hard, but Im just underappreciated. Im not paid what Im worth. This company needs to pay me more, so they actually take the money not with the intention of paying it back. They take it because they think they deserve it. They work hard. But the truth of the matter is it was not authorized. They dont have the authority to take it, but they tell themselves they do. They say, I work hard, which is true. They say, I should make more than I do, which might be true, but theyve not been authorized or entitled to take more; and they take it anyway because of this deceit. They cover it up. They hide it. I had a friend who told me this week that an employee embezzled $200,000 from his company-a person that he had trusted for these very reasons. A person is in a relationship, in a marriage, and theyre not happy. The marriage is not going well. Maybe one of the spouses is just very absent, emotionally or physically absent. Theres another person thats paying attention to him, and they start to have feelings for that person. They say, Well, you know, these feelings are justified because after all, so and so doesnt love me anymore. Theyre always gone. That is true. Theyre always gone. It might be true that they dont feel the same way about you, but its not true that youre justified in having this relationship while youre married; so deceit sets in, and they follow and they act on that impulse. What happens? Counselors will tell you this. People in the mental health profession will tell you this. People in the ministry will tell you this-that a person who lives enough in the pattern of deceit pretty soon is not able to discern truth from a lie. They become so wrapped up in deceit that that becomes their reality. They will tell you without feeling any guilt. Its almost like in their minds its not a lie because theyve just lived with that deceit so long, its become a part of who they are. You probably know some people like that. It started with a lie; it started with deceit, twisting of the truth. That justified our actions, our attitudes. The next thing you know, we are engrained in this pattern of deceit, and Satan has us exactly where he wants us. Theres a third way that he attacks the Truth. Verse 5, the serpents says, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Be like God. Those words ring over in her mind-to be like God. In this tactic, he takes a lie and magnifies it. He takes our desires and then magnifies a lie, and that lie has to do with the promise, the promise of some sort of pleasure, promise of some sort of gain-a promise thats never delivered. Its a promise that never lives up to expectation, but the promise goes like this: If you just had this person… If you just had this object… If you just had this accomplishment… If you just had this much money…then you will happy. Then you will be fulfilled. Then you will be satisfied. Then life will be good. So a person will compromise their integrity. Theyll compromise their family. Theyll sacrifice their family on the altar. Theyll sacrifice any number of things to obtain what they believe is going to bring them happiness. Youve seen that, havent you? Youve even heard that in your ear. Youve heard a little voice telling you when youre looking at something-this forbidden fruit that youre not supposed to have- and saying, Even if you had that, youd be so much better. If you had that, life would be so good, so youre willing to compromise your standards, your ethics, to acquire because theres this promise. The problem is when you finally sink your teeth into that fruit-and you partake of it and taste it-it is not what it was built to be. It does not live up. It does not satisfy. It leaves you empty and void until the next thing comes along, the next promise comes along and says, Well, not that, but this. So this whole idea of being like God was a temptation. Sometimes its not even these things that we would say, Well, thats blatant sin. Sometimes Satan can tempt us with something that is good, but its not the will of God. You know how the Apostle Paul would say, Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and work with your hands? Hed write that. That's Scripture, Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and work with your hands. I bet you there were times when Paul would write that, and he would go, Man, that sounds good. I bet there were times when Satan would whisper in his ear and say, Paul, youve worked really hard. Youve put up with a lot of stuff. Pauls life was anything but quiet-shipwrecks, riots in which he was the focal point, imprisoned, beaten, starved-all these threats upon him-ridiculed, mocked. And whats more-the pressures of the church as he fights a false doctrine and he fights against those who attack the Truth of the church. We talked earlier about the importance of standing up to deceit. Much of the New Testament was written as a response to deceit, as a response to people who were twisting the Truth. There was a group that would attack the deity of Christ. They were called the Docetists. They began to teach false doctrine about who Jesus was and of His nature. Paul had to attack docetism. There was another heresy called Gnosticism which attacked how a person received salvation; and much of the New Testament is written as a response to defend the Gospel against Gnosticism. There was another school of thought called antinomianism, which is against the law. It was thought that there was no law. As a Christian, you could live any way you wanted to live. Paul defends that in the Book of Romans and elsewhere. He comes against antinomianism. All these other isms, we could go on. They all existed in the first century, and they attacked the church. They attacked the church. All the problems with ethics that we have, they had. Utilitarianism-which says the end justifies the means, that existed in the first century. So Paul, Peter, and the others write against these twistings of the Truth, to uphold and defend the Truth-the very fact that our New Testament exists. Now I understand its the Holy Spirit who inspired the Books and wrote the Books through men and put it all together, but what Im saying to you is understand it didnt drop from Heaven like this. It didnt drop where they picked it up and say, Oh, its the New Testament! It didnt happen that way. The church put together the cannon, or the rule of Scripture. Why? Because the Gospel was attacked. There was man by the name of Marcian, and Marcian attacked the New Testament and the Old Testament. Any reference to the God of the Old Testament was removed. He was an anti-Semite, and by the time he got through slicing and dicing the New Testament, just a little bit of Luke was left and a little bit of some other Books. Hed say, Here, this is all thats left. This is all thats from God. The church went, Oh, we have to do something about this hieratic, Marcian. So they assembled the Books of the Bible together. For the first time-the oldest time we have-is called the Moratorium Fragment from 170 A.D. They wrote a letter and said, Here are the inspired Books of the Bible. They have Apostolicity. Theyd been written by an Apostle. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that was a response to somebody twisting the Truth. Paul was right in the thick of this, right in the heart. There was never a days rest for Paul. He was advancing the Gospel, but while he was doing that, he was encountering opposition from every front. Sometimes it was heresy within the church. Sometimes it was attacks outside of the church. Sometimes it was his health. Sometimes it was any number of things. He was a tent maker. Thats what he did to support himself. Im sure it was tempting for Paul that the enemy would just whisper in his ear as he was writing and say, Make it your ambition to live a quiet life and work with your hands. Doesnt that sound good, Paul? How about when you go to one of those islands to share the Gospel, why dont you just settle down there? Just make tents the rest of your life. Satans not asking him to go against the Gospel, to attack the church, or to tear down what hes built. No, no, no, no. But, you know, youve done your share. Youve gone through more than anybodys gone through emotionally, physically. It has been taxing on you. Live the good life. Just retire. Retire from the Gospel, and go make some tents for a while. Is it an evil thing to retire? Do pastors retire? Sure, pastors retire. And Im sure Paul has thought about that. He was thinking, Yeah, thats probably not a bad idea, but it wasnt the will of God. The will of God was that Paul was going to eventually give his life for the cause of Christ. Im telling you any pastor who is honest with you will tell you if theyve been in the ministry long enough, there are days when they say, Hey, I dont need this. Im going to go do something… Not me. No, Ive never had those days, but there are other pastors that I know of whove said that this is a lot of work. This is trouble. Ill just do this over here, a 9-5 kind of a job. Its hard. Some of you are engaged in ministry. You know what Im talking about. If youre engaged in ministry, especially if youre on the front lines, it gets hard. You might just want to say, Oh, you know. Let somebody else fight this battle. Im going to go do something else. So Paul dealt with those temptations. He kept performing the same techniques. He used the same tactics because doubt, deceit, and desires still work-twisting the Truth, getting us to question the Truth, and magnifying a lie still are believed and acted upon. We can get to the point where we know those attacks are coming and we recognize those attacks. When the Holy Spirit sounds His siren within our heart, and we know that a wave is eminent and a tsunami-a spiritual tsunami-is coming, And I need to prepare myself. I need to put on the armor of God that I can stand against this attack. Thats what were going to do. Next week, were going to actually get into the pieces of armor, and were going to see how each piece of armor has to do with holding on to the Truth. Because we have the Truth in Christ, we have the shield of faith. We have the sword of the Spirit. Its the sword of the Spirit thats powerful and active because it is true. So Satan is going to attack the truth; we are called to defend the Truth and stand for the Truth. To do that we place on the armor, so thats going to be our subject matter next week. Before we move on in the service, lets just spend some time in prayer and lifting up these concerns to the Lord because I know some of you are going through these struggles right now. Father, right now I want to lift up Your people, Your children. Lord, there are some people here who are struggling with doubts this week. Theyre questioning what they know to be true. Maybe theyre questioning that You love them or theyre questioning that Youve saved them. Theyre questioning a promise in Your Word. Theyre questioning Your presence in their lives. Theyre questioning something in the midst of a storm, in the midst of doubt. Father, I pray this morning that Your perfect love would drive out that doubt, remove that fear. Help them to know that Your promises are the same yesterday, today, and forever. They can trust in You. They can trust in Your Word. I pray for those this morning who are [involved in] various levels of deceit. Maybe its in its beginning stages, or maybe its advanced. I pray this morning that Your Truth would remove that darkness, that lies would be exposed, repented of and forsaken. Lord, if theyve engaged themselves in a destructive pattern of behavior or if they are beginning to go down a path which can bring destruction and harm to them or their family, [I pray] this morning is a wake-up call; that they heed the siren; that, Lord, they would no longer be the victim of that deceit; that they would be a follower of Truth. Father, for those of us who believed that temptation of desire, whatever that desire might be, the Word talks about the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the elements in which Satan uses desire-that we follow that carrot, that promise that says if we just have this, well be happy. Well have power; well have contentment. Father, I pray that we would see right now that what we must desire more than any thing or any one is You. Its only in You, Father, that we find the rest for our souls that we seek. Its only in You that we find the fulfillment that we hope for and long for. So I pray that Truth will be magnified and not a lie. Father, I pray too that we as the church of the living God can come alongside those who have succumb to this trickery; those who have magnified the lie; those who have engaged in deceit; and those who have entertained doubt. Right now they are struggling. Theyre wrestling and theyre losing. We will come alongside and help them, stand with them, pray with them, and encourage them in their faith. Help us to be the church today to one another. Grant us wisdom through Your Spirit; [teach us] how to apply this message to our hearts and lives. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Introduction: Encouragement for the Race Well, it's delightful to be back with you. It's been a couple of weeks since I've had the privilege of preaching here and absence truly makes the heart grow fonder. It's a joy to be with brothers and sisters in Christ in other places, and to see the unity that we have in the spirit. Isn't it? But it's sure good to come home. So I praise God for that. When I was a child and through my growing up years, one of the big events in my home town of Framingham, Massachusetts, was in April we would go down and watch the Boston Marathon. It would come right through our town a world-class event coming right to us and very quickly through us. Alright, right by they went. And some of the world's best runners and some who were not the world's best runners would come right on through our town six miles from the start. So they all looked pretty fresh. They're feeling good about themselves. But anybody who's run long distance races or read about it, there's something that hits a long distance runner called the "Wall." And generally in a marathon it's somewhere around 20 miles and they say that physically and psychologically, the marathon, 26 miles, the marathon is half over at the 20 mile mark and it just so happens in the Boston Marathon that there's a series of steep hills right at that point. Three hills one after the other, right at the 20 mile mark. And they're dropping like flies, it's called Heartbreak Hill and it's tough and there are people, some of the best running fans in the world and some of the most sadistic and masochistic people in the world, just line the streets right up Heartbreak Hill and just enjoy encouraging these folks on or just watching them not make it, one or the other, I'm not sure. Not everyone there has the same motive, but there are some that are there who's express purpose is to give those runners everything they need to get to the top of the hill and to urge them that it really is downhill from the crest. That hill right up there, from then on it's downhill and you'll make it. Is there a brother or sister in Christ here today that doesn't need that in the Christian life? Do you not need the encouragement of the Holy Spirit today? Did you not come in here needing to be cheered on, in your Christian faith? And I don't care if things have gone well for you this week or not. You need the encouragement that Scripture gives. That's what today is all about. That's why I love Sunday, that's why I love to be here because I get weak in my faith, I need to be encouraged, I need the ministry of the Body of Christ, I need the ministry of the Word of God, don't you? And in the spiritual realm, Satan and his demons are lining the road and discouraging us. You'll never make it. Why don't you give up. Sin owns you, you'll never change. Constantly discouraging and so is vital for us that we receive today the ministry of encouragement through the word of God and that is the topic of Romans 15 4-6, it is the power of the Scripture to give to us everything we need to finish the race, that's what it's about. Fully Equipped and Supplied for the Christian Race The Lord wants us fully and amply supplied right to the end of our Christian race. He doesn't want us just to start or to proceed for a while, he wants every one of his chosen children to finish the race. Of all that the Father has given me I will lose none but raise them up at the last day. We have to finish this race and He is going to give to us everything we need to finish, and He does it through scripture. And from scripture comes instruction and from instruction comes endurance and encouragement, and from all of these come hope. And all of this produces a unity in the body of Christ, that is essential to the completion of God's work in the world, and without these regenerating supplies, I tell you, the church will not be able to finish its infinite journey, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. And without these regenerating supplies you will not be able to finish your personal race either, for you are commanded to be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. To be just like Christ. And that's a long journey. And so for both the internal journey of Christ-like maturity, the external journey of worldwide evangelization, we need the regenerating supply of encouragement that the scripture is here to give us. Now, last time, a number of weeks ago, we looked at Romans 15 1-3, and you can look there now, we saw the obligation that strong Christians have to bear the failings of the weak. Verse 1 says We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves, each of us should please his neighbor for his good to build him up, for even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. So that's what we looked at last time. Now, remember the context, maybe some of you haven't been here with us, through Chapter 14 and 15, but the context is the church at Rome, Rome is the capital of the Roman empire, the most important city in the Gentile world. And that church that Roman Church was a mixed church of Jew and Gentile, and they struggled with debatable issues, they struggled with, with what kinds of foods they could eat and what the role of the law of Moses would play in the church life, and it's amazing how the apostle Paul gives a chapter and a half, about, to the issue of the church getting along through these debatable issues. And the reason for this incredible focus verse after verse after verse as the Apostle Paul tries to keep the Roman Church united, the reason is that a united spirit-filled, gospel believing gospel preaching church, is the chosen instrument of Almighty God for the destruction of Satan's empire and for the advancement of His name and His glory in the world. That's what he's chosen. And so therefore, the church must be united, the church must understand the gospel of liberty, the church must be pure from sin. We have to help one another because this is the way that God has chosen to destroy the devil and his empire. So Paul desires for the strong Christians, the mature ones to help the weak, he desires them to stay together to not fracture and fragment into a bunch of groups that fall apart and drop down into the dust. There they are in Rome surrounded by Imperial pomp and paganism, and worldly success and temptations of plenty, and it would have been so easy for that fragile coalition of Jew and Gentile believers in Christ, to fragment and for pieces to be lost. And Paul did not want that to happen, and so he wanted to minister here, encouragement, he wanted to minister the body of Christ, to hold it together by the power of the Spirit. I. Ancient Scripture’s Immediate Purpose And so he's zeroing in on those supplies that will keep the Church united. And he begins in verse four by talking about the role and the purpose of scripture. "For everything that was written in the past, was written to teach us…" So he's talking about the ancient writings, the scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. Now, we have to ask in context, why this parentheses, why does Paul stop and talk about scripture at this point, what's his purpose? Well, the immediate purpose, verse three had just gotten done quoting scripture, as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me at Psalm 69, he's quoting the Old Testament. And frankly it's a bit obscure the quotation, it's a little hard to follow, how it fits in if you read Psalm 69, you might have a hard time seeing the point that Paul was making, but he makes his point. But then he wants to stop and say I want you to know something about Scripture. I want you to understand the ongoing role of the Old Testament. Now, this is by my count, the 65th time that the Apostle Paul has quoted the Old Testament in the book of Romans. 65 times up to this point and he'll quote it six more times in this chapter And so he wants to stop and just talk about the ancient writings, the ancient scriptures. He wants to commend the purpose of scripture. Now, I believe that the devil's ancient work may be one of the oldest works of the Devil on Earth is to get human beings to doubt the Scripture, to doubt the Word of God specifically. You look at Genesis 3, and what does the devil say to Eve "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?" Injecting the seed of doubt. Oh how much trouble has come from that seed of doubt over the Word of God. But injecting that seed of doubt. Now how does it fit into the context of the church at Rome? Well it's a mixed church, you've got Jews who are well-acquainted with the Old Testament, and Gentiles who probably weren't as well-acquainted with the law of Moses and with all of these regulations and all that. They haven't been living them, they maybe were familiar with them. They're coming together now in a whole new era of redemptive history. It's the New Covenant now, it's a different time. And so I think the Gentiles in particular are going to be tempted to want to just jettison the Old Testament or least sections of it, to say we don't need this anymore, it's obsolete. Why do we even have to read the law of Moses? We don't have to circumcise our sons anymore, we can eat any kind of meat we want. Why do we even need it? And so Paul wants to stop and to espouse, to establish the ongoing role of the ancient scriptures for both Jew and Gentile believer. So that they don't throw out the Bible. Furthermore, you know it was those Old Testament regulations that excluded the Gentiles anyway, that was that wall of separation that kept them on the outside. So if you're a Gentile believer, you might be tempted to just want to throw it out and get rid of it. He says No. "Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us." He says. He's talking about the Old Testament. Now, what's amazing for me as a church historian somebody interested in church history is that within one century there was a heretic in Rome named Marcian who did the very thing that Paul's protecting against. Marcian in 144 AD started his own church, in Rome. I guess that would be second Baptist in Rome, something like that. But it was the second, it was a schismatic group, and at the root of Marcian's heretical church was that the Old Testament was written by an evil God, what he called a demiurge. A wicked and evil God and therefore its teachings are wrong. We just need the letters of Paul, we need some or parts of the Gospel etcetera. He considered himself to be the successor to the Apostle Paul in his battle against Jewish legalism, he really wanted to strip the church of all of its Jewish roots that was a heresy that he started in Rome. Now, there are modern attacks on the old Testament. Ever hear it? There's the God of the Old Testament and then there's the of God of the New Testament, the God of the Old Testament is the God of wrath, and arbitrary rules that we don't need to follow anymore. The God of the New Testament is the God of love and mercy and grace, we see it in Jesus, in His inclusivity, and in his love for people. But then the Old Testament, this God reigns down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah and so there's a split there. So you see people like Thomas Jefferson or Mahatma Gandhi or Albert Einstein making disparaging comments about the Old Testament, and even somewhat attracted to Jesus even Einstein as a Jewish man. Many modern people attack the concept of the Old Testament and any thought of reconciling the message of the Old Testament and the New. All Scripture Given for a Purpose But Paul here, I believe, is defending all of scripture, and saying, all of scripture is helpful and beneficial to Christians in an ongoing way. The scripture was given for a purpose. Look at verse 4, it says, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope." That is a purpose statement. It's why the Bible was given to us, God had a reason for writing it down. So many attackers of The Bible, critics of the Bible make it a human book. The Bible is ultimately God's book and God had a reason for giving it to us, he had a purpose in writing it down. Look at the purpose statements, everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. That's an infinitive of purpose. So that that's a purpose statement. That we might have hope, that is the purpose that he's giving us. This is a very purposeful statement here, and he's saying that all of scripture is a gift, it's all that way. "Everything that was written in the past," he says, reminds me of 2nd Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." And that means everything, that means the history books, all the Old Testament history, that means the genealogies are there for a reason. That means the Law of Moses still has something to say to us even though it's been fulfilled in the new covenant. That means that the prophecies are there for us to read. Everything that was written in the past, etcetera. And what is God's intended audience? Well, it's us, His people, His chosen people, through every generation century after century. God was thinking about you when he spoke to Abraham and he said, "So shall your offspring be." And Abraham heard that promise concerning the stars, he heard that promise, and he believed God, and the scripture says, "Abraham believed God and it was credited him as righteousness," Romans chapter 4. The Apostle Paul says this, "The words, 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." Those words were written down for us so that we could read them. All of those prophecies. You look at what David wrote, "They have pierced my hands and my feet," Psalm 22. Did David know what He was writing? He didn't understand it was written for us. First Peter 1, said they didn't understand they searched trying to understand it, but "it was revealed to them, that they were not serving themselves," but us. Jesus himself in the debates with the Sadducees, he talked about the account of the burning bush and he said, "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't tou read what God said to you. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." God is speaking to you through Scripture. When you take up the Bible in the morning for your quiet time, you should say, God speak to me, say something to me, this is a biblical concept. So everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that we might have certain things happening in our soul. Some time ago. I read a book by Graeme Goldsworthy called "Gospel and Kingdom" and he's troubled by some of those glib applications, you know David and Goliath. There was a chapter somewhat humorously, entitled "Killed any good giants lately?" And basically the problem he has with the application of scripture is that it goes too quickly from the text right over to immediate modern day application. So what are the giants in your life? Boy it'd be easy for me as a preacher to just do that. Alright? What are the giants in your life? And whatever problems financial. I could even do a three-point sermon. You probably might like it occasionally. Alright, giant number one, giant number two, giant number three. I looked at that and I said that isn't right, but you know something, I must tell you, I've kind of come, not full circle, but come to a different place. You still need to read the story of David and Goliath, saying what are you saying to me, Lord? What are you trying to teach me here? Yes, David is more like Jesus, than he is like us, We are not called to be heroic and go save the people of God, by facing such a ferocious giant. We're more like the Israelites cowering in the holes wanting someone else to save us. That is all true but you still need to learn something, you need to be fed by the scripture, you must be. That's why it was given. And so I've kind of come full circle. My yearning today is that you who are sitting and listening to me today will get what you need for this week to be holy and fruitful for Christ. That's my yearning, apart from that I've wasted my time and yours. Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. Now, there's a lot of immediate purposes, here. Look at it, you see, everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. So, that's instruction so that through endurance and encouragement, we might have hope. Those are immediate goals of the scripture. There are others that come in, not right here, but they're there. As you read the Bible, warnings against sin, and their enticements, through promises. Joy and celebration, wonder and awe, insight and understanding. All kinds of good things come to us when we read the Scripture. But let me tell you something, the ultimate purpose of scripture, the ultimate purpose of scripture is that God may be glorified by your salvation. That's the purpose. Because it says in Second Timothy 3-15. Paul speaking to Timothy, how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. That is why the scripture was given and you know that salvation is a lifetime work, and so through faith in Christ Jesus, that you would be given the wisdom you need to believe. And the ultimate goal of Verse 6, "So that with one heart and mouth, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." That's why the Bible was given, so that we wretched sinners would be cleansed of our wretched sin. And that we would be brought into the very presence of God and that we would be eternally glorifying God for His mercy in Christ. That's the purpose of scripture. II. Scripture’s Glorious Chain Reaction Now, look at the glorious chain reaction we have here. Look again at verse 4, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope." First, Paul starts with instruction. The Bible Was Given For Instruction The Bible was given to teach us. Have you ever heard people speak about head knowledge? They almost always say, it negatively. Well, I'm not sure what part of my body I'm supposed to use to have knowledge. Okay, is it okay for us to have head knowledge? What do you think? I don't think it's just Okay, I think it's absolutely essential to the Christian life. The problem is if it just stays in your head and it's not transforming your heart, that's what they say, and we agree about that. But my goodness, there can be no heart knowledge without first there being some head knowledge. Would you all agree? Just nod at me, I know it's hot in here friends. I know I'm hot too, but yes, we must have the head knowledge before we can have the heart knowledge. And so the scripture was given to teach us, to teach us things that we would not know any other way. Facts about God, His attributes, what he's like, his decrees in eternity, his actions in history, facts about God, facts also about Christ, His person, His miracles, His teachings, His death on the cross, His resurrection, His ascension, His future reign. His coming in glory, judgment He will sit and all the nations, gather before him. I need to know these facts and I can't know them any other way, except from the Bible. Facts also about the people of God, about the Jews in the Old Testament, about the church in the New Testament trying to understand what happened to people when they obeyed, what happened to people when they disobeyed. I need to know these things. And scripture was given to teach me. And frankly, without this knowledge we cannot have faith and without faith our character cannot be transformed and without our character being transformed we cannot act differently. And so knowledge that the Scripture gives primes the pump for the entire Christian journey. We must have this knowledge, we must know what the Bible teaches. I think this is the essence of Romans 12:2 were it says, "Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. And so the scripture was given to teach us. Don't despise a teaching ministry. Thank God for it. I'm not here just to move your emotions. I think there are other speakers that can do that better than I can. But I want you to know what Romans 15, 4 through 6 teachers. That's my goal today because I trust that this scripture will help you in your Christian life. And I have a sense I may never preach on it again. And so my desire is that you would understand as fully as possible within the hour and a half that we have together that you would understand. See, some of you are laughing, others are visitors and you're worried now. Okay? We are not going to be here an hour and a half, but in the brief time we have I want you to understand this text. That's my goal, every week. So teaching. The Bible Was Given for Endurance Secondly, endurance. Notice that Paul gives two character traits that are closely related, endurance and encouragement. Endurance is the ability to persevere through trials and temptations without giving up. Endurance means you don't give up, you keep going, you're in a 26 mile race and at the 20 mile mark when you are exhausted and you think there is no way you can make it through those last six miles that now are feeling like 60 and your legs are heavy and you burned all of the resources you have and you just don't have any idea how you'll make it another step, you must have endurance. That's what endurance is. Endurance is essential to your salvation. Think about Luke 8:15, The Parable of the Seed and the Soils. The seed on good soils stands for those with a noble and good heart who hear the word, retain it and by endurance produce a crop. You gotta stick with it in the Christian life. You can't give up. Again, in Romans 2:7, it says, "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality He will give to them eternal life." That is not salvation by works, friends. He's just describing the life that ends up in heaven. Persistence in doing good, seeking glory, honor and immortality. That's the Christian life. Romans 8:25, it says, "But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it with endurance, we wait for it patiently." And again in Hebrews 10:36, you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. Perseverance, endurance is essential to the Christian life. Now, the Christian life can become easily very discouraging, isn't that true? Are you ever tempted to be discouraged in your Christian life? Look inward, you say you know you need to be like Christ, but you keep seeing the sin crop up. You thought you were done with it. Irritability, lust, pride, selfishness, materialism, idolatry. And you thought you were done and you're not. And it's so discouraging as you fight sin, so discouraging. You yearn to see more godliness in your family life, in your marriage, in your parenting, in your relationship, in your family. And their sin is active as well. You want to see yourself lead more people to Christ, but nobody ever seems to come to Christ or the ones that show some indications they end up being the other seeds in the soil. The sun comes up or whatever and then a year later they're not around. And that's so discouraging. You want to see your church be a glorifying spirit filled fruitful Church and it's less than you think it should be. And all of us see it. And it's discouraging, it can be very discouraging. Let me tell you something. I said recently, we're meeting with a group of men and I said, "Satan is eager to sell you discouragement at every corner of the road." I remember I was on a mission trip to Haiti. I'll never forget this. And we were going through the streets of Port-au-Prince and we were in the poorest area of the city, Cite Soleil. And we saw kids coming with containers and getting muddy ditch water out of the ditch and then going into the tent city there. And I thought, "What in the world are they going to use that water for?" Well, about a mile of the road there were these cute little Haitian kids coming right up to our bus, we weren't moving very fast, we were going... We were just stop and go. And they're coming right to the windows and they're trying to sell us refreshing looking drinks of blue and red and orange color. They didn't look new. The bottles looked mostly clean. And I looked at that and I said, "No way am I buying that and drinking it, even though I'm very thirsty." And it did have condensation on the outside, it looked refreshing. But I said, there's poison in that bottle. There's no way my system can handle it. But they were persistent in selling it, they really wanted to sell it to us. And I think that's a picture of what the devil tries to do with discouragement. So, "Here, have this, drink this." All of the time, "Be discouraged, feel down." And we've got to say, "No sale." I can't be discouraged just because my story has a happy ending, has a glorious ending. How can I be discouraged? And the whole Church's story is a glorious story with a happy ending. Discouragement is unfit for the Christian life. We have to fight it at every turn. So how does scripture resupply our endurance? Well, it gives us examples of endurance in the Bible. Look at Abraham waiting 25 years to get Isaac. Look at Joseph who unjustly is sold into slavery by his brothers, unjustly imprisoned by Potiphar, unjustly left there when some others of servants of Pharaoh said they would get him out, but they didn't. But through all of that he maintains, Jacob said, "Limber arms in the service of God." He's ready to go and when his time came he wasn't bitter, he wasn't angry, he just stepped forward. Endurance. Or you've heard of the patience or endurance of Job, how he went through all of these trials and never cursed God or sinned. So examples. Hannah, who prayed for a child and God granted her prayer. Or the Apostle Paul as he city after city is persecuted. Endurance. Scripture also re-supplies our endurance by giving us promises connected to our endurance. How about this one, in Matthew 10:22, "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Well, that's an encouragement. Isn't it? To endurance. Or by dire warnings of what happens to people who don't persevere. Look at Samson. Samson made it through three tests with Delilah, right? "Tell me the secret of your great strength." I just want to know. He was not a discerning guy. Why do you want to know the secret of my strength? This is making me suspicious. Alright? And then even worse to test whether he told the truth, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you." This is not a good relationship. And he should've known, but he didn't. And finally through the nagging on and on, he gave up, he just gave up. It's a picture of us and temptation, isn't it? We just get tired and we give in. It's an example. Look what happened to him, his eyes were put out and he lost his strength. Or by stimulations to prayer through to strengthen perseverance. Jesus said in Luke 18:1, He "told His disciples a parable to show them they should always pray and never give up." So He gets you praying, Jesus tells you this parable about the persistent widow and all that. And that you should never give up, keep praying. Or just commands in Hebrews 10:36. "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will see what He has promised. You must persevere. These five different ways, He strengthens your endurance. The Bible Was Given for Encouragement The next word that Paul talks about here is encouragement. We've been talking about it the whole time. This is a weighty word, it's related to the word "paraclete" which is the Holy Spirit, the counselor, it is that encouragement that the Holy Spirit gives, the scripture was given for that purpose. You read of the sweetness of heaven and you're encouraged. You read of the power of God, the immutable, the unshakable power of God to finish your salvation and you are encouraged. You read of the mighty power of Christ resurrection from the dead and he is a pattern of what you will do someday. And you're encouraged. You read of the ultimate defeat of Satan, we'll get to it in Romans 16, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. And you're encouraged. You read of the promises of God to help you day after day and you are encouraged. Strengthen yourself by the Word of God, don't yield to that weakness that discouragement brings. The scripture was meant to give you encouragement. The Bible Was Given for Hope And the ultimate result of this glorious chain is hope. Hope is a certainty of delightful future things based on the promise of God. Absolutely delightful and absolutely certain. That's what hope's all about. And you know something, without hope you will not fight the good fight of faith. You just won't. You'll give in to temptation. You'll stop doing your ministry, you'll give up, you'll give up on this church, you'll give up in your family, you'll give up in your marriage, you'll give up in your fight against sin, you just will give up. You must have hope because if you don't have hope you will not fight. And if you don't fight you will not make any progress. You've got to have hope. So you see the glorious chain. Scripture instructs us, through the instruction we get endurance and encouragement. The result of that is hope and we keep moving in the Christian life. III. God’s Wonderful Gifts: Endurance, Encouragement, Unity And praise God for it. That's what he's giving us. Now, all of these wonderful things are from God. Isn't that wonderful? Look at verse five and six, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the benediction. It's not a prayer. Because you're not talking to God, but he's talking almost like a prayer. It's like a benediction. May the Lord be gracious to you and bless you, may He make his face shine upon you and give you rest. That kind of benediction. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement. But the point of the benediction is that all of the good things you need to see the race through to the end, they come from God. Now, many of you saw a number of years ago that film about Eric Little, Chariots of Fire. And I don't know if you remember, but there's this very dramatic point earlier in the movie in which he, who's usually just a sprinter, 100 meter runner, runs the 400 meters. And he gets knocked down to the ground. And in a race that short it's still longer, it's longer than 100 meters. But race that short, that's a kiss of death. There's no way you're going to be able to get up off the ground and win a 400 meter race. Except that Eric Little just wouldn't give up. So he gets up and he digs deep and he fights as hard as he can. And at the tape, he wins the race. After that he gives somewhat of a gospel presentation. And he's talking about the Christian race, he likens the Christian faith to the running of a race. And he says, "Where then does the strength come from to see the race through to the end?" And what does he say? "It comes from within." No it doesn't. I'm sorry, I know it's a good Christian movie and all that kind of thing, but that's just wrong. Let me ask you a question, how long would you have lasted in your Christian life if all of your resources had to come from yourself? Would you not have given up a long, long time ago. Let me ask the question again because it is a good question. We just need the right answer. Where then does the strength come from to see the race through to the end? He actually corrects it later in the movie by quoting Isaiah 40. You remember? He's in Paris he's at the Church of Scotland and it's so powerful, this montage of success and failure, athletic, whatever. And you're listening to Isaiah 40 and this is what it says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the Earth, He will not grow tired or weary. His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary, he increases the power of the faint. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." So where then does the strength come from to see the race through the end? It comes from God. How do you keep getting up in the morning and having your quiet time, how is it after a day in which you have yielded to temptation and you feel disgusting and you feel totally unfit to be a Christian, the next day there's an internal strength to get up, repent, confess and try it again. Where does that strength come from? It comes from God who will not let you go. And praise God for it. He's got hold of you and He will never let you go until you are finished being saved. Where then does the strength come from to see the race through to the end? It comes from the one who began the race in you and that is God. And God wants to give us, this church and all Christian churches around the world, one final gift. He wants to give us a spirit of unity among ourselves. He wants us to love each other and care about how the race is going for each other and to notice when somebody is stumbling and falling and to help them to be a minister of encouragement to them strengthening them by means of the scripture, that's what he wants, he wants to give us a spirit of unity among ourselves so that we don't give up. None of us give up. Brother and sister, does it matter to you if your brothers and sisters finish this race? Did you care? Does it matter to you? You should. We will watch over one another in brotherly love. That's what we say we're going to do for each other. And what is God's ultimate purpose in all of this? Well, may the God who gives endurance and encouragement, give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ, literally, according to Christ Jesus so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. IV. God’s Ultimate Purpose: Perfect Unity in Glorifying Him Friends, the purpose of everything is right there, the Glory of God. He does it all for His own Glory, he's saving you so that you can with one heart and mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where are we heading? Where are we going? Well, in Christ, we're going to heaven and what are we going to see when we get there? Well, we're going to see a throne and someone sitting on it? And if we look around, we're going to see people from every tribe and language and people and nation. And they will be with one heart and mouth focused on one thing, the throne and the One sitting on it. And they will be honoring and glorifying the Lamb of God. Who shed his blood that they could be there. Who paid the price so that we could be there. And there will be no divisions by race. There will be no divisions socio-economically, no division by talent or intelligence or gender or what era of church history we lived in. We'll all be one. That's where we're heading. Now, I think it's good for us to act like it in the meantime. So that when people walk into this Church they sense and feel strongly a sense of unity among ourselves. We need to see it in our corporate worship. We're shifting out application. Every Sunday, will you please get yourself ready to worship and glorify God? Will you please do it in this way? Go to the Scriptures and say, "Lord, who am I in Christ? Please tell me how much you love me." If you have to confess sin then do it. Repent and bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. Get yourself ready to be with the brothers and sisters in Christ. Strengthen yourself in the spirit. And listen, if this upcoming week you're discouraged, don't just lay there and be discouraged. Fight it, open up the Word of God and say, "Lord encouraged me. Please feed me, sustain me and strengthen me through the word of God. Give me a message today so that I could be filled with joy." You know something? We're of no use if we don't really believe how much God has loved us. We have no use if we're not happy in Jesus. So you need to labor on yourself every day in the Scripture to be encouraged. And then finally, ultimately, you need to trust in Christ as your personal Savior. I have no idea, I look out at faces and I don't know where each of you are at. Some of me I know very well, but others I don't know well. The Scripture gives the central endurance and encouragement in this way, come to Christ, come to the cross, believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. Close with me in prayer.

I. Full Assurance, Can It Be? Would you take your Bibles and open them to Romans Chapter 8, we're going to be looking this morning at the first four verses of this magnificent chapter. We had an overview last week, but now we're going to dig in and look at a little more detail in Romans Chapter 8, verses 1-4. What happens to an individual soul when that person comes to faith in Jesus Christ? Well, a number of things happen, but I want to talk about some writing that occurs. Do you know that the moment you come to faith in Jesus Christ, your name is written in indelible ink the Lamb's Book of Life? And you will suffer no condemnation for your sins, for your name has been written there in the Lamb's Book of Life. That is one writing that occurs when you come to faith in Christ, but there's another writing that occurs as well. At the moment that you come to faith in Christ, God's law is written on your hearts with flaming letters, and the indwelling Spirit will compel you to walk in those ways the rest of your life. And that is the power of the text that we're going to look at today. God has given us a full and complete salvation from sin. When the angel appeared to Joseph, he said, "You will give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." Not merely from the penalty of sin, as we discussed last time, and we'll continue thinking about. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." But from the power and the daily practice of sin. "In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us," it says, "Who do not live according to this sinful nature, but according to the Spirit." It's a full and complete salvation that we have, and that's what we're going to contemplate today. Now, we're looking at the idea or the concept of assurance of salvation. Is it really possible that sinners can be fully assured on earth that they are going to Heaven when they die? Is that possible? I think it is, and I believe that's the whole reason that Romans 8 was given, that we might have a full assurance, all the way from no condemnation in Christ Jesus to no separation from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. A full assurance. But some people do not believe that assurance is possible, and some people do not believe that assurance is even beneficial to the Christian life. I was raised myself in the Catholic church. The Roman Catholic church denies the doctrine of assurance of salvation. In the Council of Trent, January 13, 1547, the sixth session on justification, they said this, "No one can know with a certainty of faith which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God." I grew up under that bondage, and praise God, He delivered me from it. That I might know that it is possible to know for sure and for certain that we have eternal life now. "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." Assurance of salvation, I believe, therefore, is your birth right as a Christian. You should have a full and healthy assurance. Now, when I was in seminary up in the Boston area, around Christmas time, and especially during the winter, some friends of mine and I would go into the inner city, and we would minister to street people. But the mentor who has started this ministry and taught us about it said, that you never want to give money to street people because you're not really quite sure what their situation is going to be. They may be in bondage to some kind of substance, maybe to alcohol or to drugs. And if you give them money directly, they may use it for that. It may end up being the very thing that you intended for life might bring destruction through them. Instead, what you want to do is find out what their needs are and meet the needs directly. And so if they needed work boots, because they had a job opportunity, if they just needed food, if they needed a place to stay, meet the need directly. Well, I think that the Catholic church and others believe that that's what happens with assurance. It's like giving a $20 bill to an alcoholic. If God gives us assurance, we're going to take it and squander it on sin. That is not the case at all, and I think this whole concept is going to come together in the four verses that we're looking at today. II. Basic Proposition: No Condemnation by God! (8:1) Let's look again at Verse 1. It says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." The Context: Reverting to Romans 5 Now, the context here is that Paul has been unfolding the grace of God that is given us as a free gift, salvation through faith in Christ. And so, we have this magnificent sense of the power of the grace of God. If God's grace has taken hold of you, He's going to get you to Heaven. "And where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. So that just as sin reigned in death, so also, grace might reign like a king through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." So we have this solid sense of the grace of God, which opens us up to that very question. If we have this solid sense of assurance, aren't we just going to squander it in a life of sin? Doesn't matter how we live, and he's been dealing with that. Romans 6 and 7. And then he sums the whole thing up, and says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So the context is this whole unfolding argument of the powerful grace of God, justification through faith in Christ alone. Greater Context: Judgement Day But the greater context is Judgment Day. Someday, every single one of us is going to face the Judgment Seat of God. We must face it, and we must understand that death comes without an announcement, and we must be ready. And Jesus Christ came into this world. He came from Heaven into that manger, not so that we might have kind of glowing Christmas celebrations every year, that's wonderful, but that we might have eternal life, that we might face judgment unafraid, that there might be no condemnation for those who have faith in Jesus Christ. And the greater context of Christmas and of our text here is the Judgment Day that we're going to face someday. Revelation 20, "And I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were open. Another book was open which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." What is “No Condemnation?” And so therefore, the most important thing that could be said of you this morning is that your name is written in the Book of Life, through faith in Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what He's saying; in other words here, in verse 1, "There is therefore now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." How sweet is that, that even now, not there will be no condemnation. That is true as well. But now, today, we can experience and enjoy a full assurance that there's no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus. What does this mean? It means the full record of all of your sins has been thrown into the depths of the sea. Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Micah 7:19, "You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins under foot and you will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." Have you ever imagined all of your sins, all of your transgressions bundled up in one place and hurled into the depths of the sea, to be seen no more? That's what these words mean. No condemnation, and why? Because that babe in the manger grew up to be your atoning sacrifice for sin. And also, the New Covenant promise in Jeremiah 31:34, "For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more." And so He's seeking to give us this assurance. There is no condemnation, but then it's so stupendous, it's so astounding that He's got to prove it to us. We need to be assured, don't we? We need to be told again and again. Can it really be true? It is really possible for us to have assurance? III. Proof #1: Deliverance Through Union with Christ (verses 2-4) And so He gives us one proof after another, and we're going to look at the first today in verses 2-4, deliverance through a union with Christ. The fact that there is no condemnation is true only of one category of people; those who are in Christ Jesus. Did you see that? There is therefore now, no condemnation for who? For everybody? No. For those who are in Christ Jesus. What does this mean to be in Christ Jesus? Well, it means to be spiritually one with Him; to be united with Him by faith; to have trusted in Him as your Lord and Savior; to be one with Jesus Christ. It is for those who are in Christ Jesus. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms is given to you only in one place, in Christ Jesus. I want to put an image in front of you, and it's the image of Noah's Ark. Whenever you think of that, you think of the little children's story, right? That tiny little boat with the huge giraffes sticking their heads out through. You know what I'm talking about. It wasn't tiny. It was massive, and God ordained that it be the vessel of salvation through eight souls that He had chosen. Now, let me ask you a question. How important was it to be in the Ark of Noah? Is that important? When the rain started coming down, did that matter whether you were in the Ark or not in the Ark? Did location make a difference at that point? Oh, yes, it made all the difference in the world. In the Ark, there is salvation from the wrath and the judgment of God. Outside the Ark, there is none. And so it meant everything whether you were in the Ark or not. And so also, it means spiritually for us, everything, whether we are in Christ Jesus or not. If you are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation, but if you are not in Christ Jesus, you are under the wrath and the condemnation of God. Look at the very end of Romans 8, the chapter we're looking at this morning. It says there so beautifully, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is, [where?] in Christ Jesus." Is this an accident? No. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and there's no separation for those that are in Christ Jesus. That's where the love is found, and there is no other place. Look back at Romans 6:23, back a page or two. It says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus." Do you see that? That's the only place to be. It's the only safe place. I don't care if it's Christmas time or the middle of the summer. In Christ Jesus is the place of safety, spiritually. It is the place of union. Now, this is what's being taught here, union with Jesus Christ. While you're in Romans 6, look at verses 4-5. It says, "We were therefore buried with Christ through baptism and a death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too, may walk in newness of life. If we are then united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection." So, in Christ Jesus is the same as being united with Jesus spiritually. And what it means is that when Jesus died on the cross, you were one with Him spiritually. His death was your death, spiritually. And when He rose again from the dead, through the glory of the Father, by the power of the Spirit, His new life is your new life. And you're going to walk in newness of life if you are one with Christ. That's the basic message we're trying to get through in Romans 8:1-4. "His death is your death. His life is your life." Paul put it this way, "I have been crucified with Christ," that's union, "And I no longer live but Christ lives in me." So not only am I in Christ Jesus, but Christ Jesus is what? In me. There's a complete union spiritually between me and Jesus Christ. Now, why is this important? Well, we were born originally, spiritually, in Adam. Every single person on the face of the earth born in Adam. What does that mean? It means you're under law. You're under condemnation. You're under judgment. That's where you were born, in Adam. At the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, you get transferred, you get rescued from that whole realm, that whole dominion, and brought into the new dominion of faith in Jesus Christ, of Christ, the dominion of Grace, the dominion of the law, of the spirit of life. You've been moved, you've been transferred from the law of sin and death to the law, the spirit of life. You were in Adam, and now you are in Christ. He puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "As in Adam, all die. So in Christ, all are made alive." So, there's all kinds of categorizations that people do. If you're a poll-taker, you can categorize people by race, ethnic origin, by gender, by location, by educational status, by social status. Basically, God looks at the world and sees two categories of people: Those who are in Adam, and those who are in Christ Jesus. There's no third category. You're either in Adam, therefore, under law and under condemnation, or you're in Christ Jesus, therefore, free from law, free from condemnation, and under the leadership and the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the reason that there's no condemnation is given in verse 2, we already alluded to it, but it says, "The law of the spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death." There is a realm that we have been moved into. It is called the law of the spirit of life. Basically, you are under the law of the spirit of life if you're a Christian. What does that mean? It means you're not just going to sin all you want. It means that you are living by the power of the Spirit under Jesus Christ. The law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. Look back again at Romans 6:18. It says, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." That's a deliverance, isn't it? Set free from sin. And have become slaves to righteousness, Romans 6:22, "But now that you've been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." Twice he tells us in that passage that we have been set free. We're no longer slaves to sin. We've been rescued. It says in Colossians Chapter 1, "From the dominion of darkness and brought over into the kingdom of the Son that He loves." You've been delivered. Well, how was the deliverance made? It was done by the cross of Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:13 and 14, "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature," it says, "God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross." What does that mean? The law, the law of God stood opposed to you. Every line testified to your sinfulness and your condemnation. God took that written code and nailed it to the cross through the body of Jesus Christ. And you are under it no longer. Somebody say amen. Let's celebrate this. You're not under law anymore. You're not under condemnation. You're free forever from that. You're free from the condemning power of the law through the body of Jesus Christ. Now, here, I want to make a key distinction. We are talking about justification here, not sanctification. We'll get to that in a minute. Why is that important? I will tell you why. I was raised as Roman Catholic. Justification is the declaration of God that I am not guilty for my sins. It's the admission into Heaven, the declaration from God that I'm righteous in standing before Him. Sanctification is the gradual working out of righteousness into my life so that my habit patterns and my life style become more and more conformed to Christ. Now, we understand from scripture that justification comes first, and then, sanctification follows as a result. That is exactly what Paul is teaching here. The Catholic church reverses them. The sanctification comes first, the holy life, the holy living. And then, as a result of that comes the justification on Judgment Day. Does that make a difference? A world of difference, because that is bondage. Every moment you're never sure. Am I going to go to Heaven or hell? You never know for sure. Am I holy enough? Have I prayed enough? Have I gone to church enough? Have I given enough money? Is it enough? Let me ask you a question, is it ever enough? When do you know for sure that you've ever really made it? If you reverse sanctification and justification, you're under bondage. And that's what Martin Luther found. He said that it's never enough. I'm never free. My conscience is never free. I'll never know for sure. Now, the Christian doctrine is justification comes first, apart from works of the law, simply by faith in Jesus Christ and then comes the gradual working out of that through sanctification. IV. Why Was the Deliverance Necessary? (verse 3) Now, why was the deliverance necessary? Look what is says in Verse 3, "For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so, He condemned sin in sinful man." The reason that the deliverance by Jesus Christ was necessary is that the law was weak through your flesh. The law couldn't save you, it was powerless to get you to Heaven. All the law could ever do is stand over you and tell you right from wrong, tell you what you needed to do, but it couldn't make you do it. Hebrews Chapter 7 is even stronger, it says, "The former regulation [the law] is set aside because it was [listen to this] weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect." The law can't make you perfect, and so the law is powerless to get you to Heaven, because you must be perfect to go to Heaven. I think a great illustration of this is the that the law is like a shiny steel shovel, a beautiful shovel like the kind they use for breaking the ground in a new building or something like that, a beautiful shovel with a rotten handle. See what I'm talking about? There's nothing wrong with the law, there's something wrong with the way it attaches to us, our flesh. The law is perfect but we cannot live it out, and it's only ever going to condemn us. It was weakened by the flesh, that's the whole point of Romans Chapter 7, we want to do it but we can't. And so therefore, we cannot deliver ourselves, we must be delivered. V. How Was the Deliverance Achieved? (verse 3) Well, how is the deliverance achieved? Look again at Verse 3, "What the law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering for us." That is the Christmas message. You know something, when we look at that little baby in the manger, we should worship and we should praise God as the angels did, and we should give glory to God that our salvation has come to earth and praise Him for it. But we should also be humbled by it. Why should we be humbled by the giving of God's own Son? Because there was no other way to get you to Heaven. And so that is God's testimony to the human race's ability to get itself to Heaven by works of the law. Answer: You can't do it. "I have been crucified with Christ," Paul said, "And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:21: "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could come by the law, Christ died for nothing." You understand? If righteousness could come by the law, if you could climb the ladder of law up to Heaven, why did Jesus need to come down from Heaven to earth? He didn't, but He did, because we can't climb the ladder of law to Heaven. And so this deliverance was achieved by God. God sent His Son, it says, "In the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." Now, this is interesting. It says that He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, this is very troublesome to some people. In the ancient church, a man named Marcian represented a group of people that were called the Docetics, what they believed is that Jesus was not really a human being. He only seemed to be a human being because the world, the physical world, was considered evil by this group, material stuff was evil. Furthermore, God could not suffer at all. A God that suffers is no god at all, so they believed. And so for these two reasons, Jesus could not truly have been man. And they pointed to this first, it says, "Likeness" of sinful flesh. What is Paul doing, though, by putting this word "likeness" in here? Likeness of sinful flesh, the word sinful is in there. Jesus Christ came and looked like a sinner, just like the rest of us, didn't He? But He wasn't, He was a human being, "in the likeness of sinful flesh." He came to earth. Paul's being very careful to establish the humanity of Christ, but to separate Him from what? The sin of the human race. And so God sent His Son. It says, "In the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." Jesus Christ was truly human. If you had been able to stand with Him on the hill that overlooked Jerusalem, and heard Him and seen Him cry, you could have taken your hand and wiped the tears off His cheeks and your fingers would have felt wet. If you could have walked along the roads with Him into Samaria, where He was about to have an evangelistic encounter with a Samaritan woman, you would have seen Him sit down tired by a well. He wouldn't have just appeared to be tired, He would have been tired. If you'd been in the boat with Him during the storm and seen Him asleep with His head, it says, "on a cushion." Why do you think He put His head on a cushion? Why do you put your head on a cushion? Because the bench is hard, and so you put a folded up cloak or something because the bench is hard. He was fully man. If you had been with Him out in the desert and watched Him not eat for 40 days, at the end of that time you'd have seen Him hunger. If you had stood at the foot of the cross and heard Him cry out, "I thirst," you would have seen that He needed something to drink. He was fully human, yet was without sin. That's the point. And if He had not been without sin, He could not have been our sin offering. He could not have died in your place, but He did. He took on a human body and He died in your place to be a sin offering, and in so doing He condemned sin forever. That is the sin condemnation, not on you. You're going to go free through faith in Jesus Christ. Isn't that beautiful? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, that He took on a human body and the likeness of a human being, walked along those roads for 33 years and died in your place that you might have eternal life. VI. What Does the Deliverance Accomplish in Us? (verses 3-4) Well, what does this deliverance accomplish in us? This is the point. Look again at verses 3-4. It says, "And so He condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." This is sanctification. This is sanctification. Jesus did all that for a purpose. Why? Because He wanted God's law to be met in your life. And so there are two great aspects of the new covenant that He brings. Please take a minute, put your finger in Romans 8 and go over to Hebrews 8:12. There it says, in the middle of an Old Testament quote from Jeremiah, it says, "I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." What is that? Is that not justification? God declaring that you are forgiven of all your sins. No condemnation through faith in Christ Jesus for those who are in Christ Jesus. Look back two verses to Verse 10. "This is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people." Do you know if you're a Christian God did that the moment you came to faith in Christ, He took his law, all of it, and wrote it on your heart, and in your mind. Shall we sin all the more that grace may increase? May it never be. If you're a Christian, you've got the law of God written in your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's written inside you and it changes the way you live, doesn't it? We don't walk according to the flesh. We walk according to the Spirit, along the tracks of the law. "You have set me in the path of your commands, and therefore my heart is set free. I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free." Psalm 1:19. Now, what law has He written in the heart? Well, look at it this way, when Jesus Christ, it says, came into the world, He said, "Here I am. Your law is written on my heart, I have come to do your will, O God." That's the Christ who's living inside you and He delights to obey his Heavenly Father moment by moment in the tracks of the law. And what law? Jesus summed up all the law in two great commandments. You remember what they are. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. This is what you'll be working on the rest of your life. By the power of the Spirit He's going to say, "Love me, love me all the time. Love me with all you are and all you have. Love me now. Love me in the moment of temptation. Love me in the moment of sorrow. Love me in the moment of grief. Love Me." He's going to be saying that, and by the Spirit you will love Him. When you come in here on Sunday morning to worship, you're not going to be worshipping in the flesh, not at all. You're going to be worshipping in the power of the Spirit. He's going to be saying, "Love me. Worship me. Sing these songs to me. Pray these prayers to me. Love me with all you have." The Holy Spirit has been put inside you, that you might fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in you who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And when you see your neighbor, He's going to say, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." And that goes from little things all the way to big things. Do to others what you'd have them do to you. Love them the way you'd want to be loved in that situation. That's what the Holy Spirit is going to be doing in you, if you're a child of God. And so this is genuine Christianity, no condemnation, and yet a powerful drive toward holiness in your life. I just want to conclude this morning by asking, do you have that? Do you know for sure, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that your sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ? And at the same time, do you feel a relentless drive toward holiness inside you? That's what the Holy Spirit does in you. It's not a license to sin, rather it's the testimony of the Spirit. You're a child of God, and also a pressing of the Spirit to keep running the race with endurance; a testimony that when you die, you're going to Heaven, along with a pressure, put that sin to death. And I believe that the two of them coming together are the surest testimony to us that we have come to faith in Christ; a full assurance of salvation and a constant yearning after holiness. Do you have that in your heart today?

In 431, the Council of Ephesus dismissed Nestorius' explanation of the dual nature of Christ in favor of Cyril's. But that Council was swayed more by circumstance and politics than by sound theology. While Nestorius' Christology was mis-represented by his critics to be proposing, not just two natures to Jesus, but two persons, Cyril's Christology put such heavy emphasis on Jesus' deity, his Christology leaned toward monophysitism; that is, casting Jesus as having a single nature.Now, to be clear, Cyril did not advocate monophysitism; that is, that Jesus had only one nature. He stayed orthodox, technically, by admitting Jesus was also human. But he said Jesus' deity overwhelmed His humanity so that his humanity was like a drop of ink in the ocean of His deity.The Council of Ephesus didn't really provide a solid understanding on the nature of Christ. This was something the Church had wrestled with for 400 yrs. Church historian Justo Gonzalez ways, “Both sides were agreed the divine was immutable and eternal. The question then was, how can the immutable, eternal God be joined to a mutable, historical man?”With Nestorius excommunicated & exiled, and Cyril's Christology creating confusion, the scene was ripe for the emergence of even more confusion.That came with the work of Eutyches, head of a monastery on the border of Constantinople. Though under Bishop Nestorius' oversight, Eutyches disagreed sharply with him. He developed a view of the natures of Jesus that seemed a ready explanation that would bring both sides together. Eutyches emphasize the union of the two natures of Christ; a union so thorough it fused them into a new, third nature that was a hybrid of human & divine. This then is True Monophysitism, with a capital “M.” Eutyches agreed with Cyril Christ was only one person, but unlike Cyril, he said there was also only one nature.The Fourth Ecumenical Church Council at Chalcedon in 451 was called to deal with the Eutychian challenge.But before we get to that Council, we need to talk a bit about an unfortunate event that happened a couple years before in 449 back in Ephesus, scene of the last Church Council in 431.The 70-year-old Eutyches lead a monastery of some 300 monks just outside the walls of Constantinople for 30 years. When he began teaching that the two natures of Jesus as God & man were fused into a single new third nature, Constantinople's Patriarch Flavian convened a council deposing Eutyches for heresy and excommunicated both him and those monks who supported him. Joining Flavian in this censure was Domnus, patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria's age-old theological and political nemesis.You can see where this is going, can't you?Sure enough, Dioscoros, Patriarch of Alexandria cast all this as an attempt on the part of the two bishops as an attempt top restore Nestorianism. So Dioscoros threw in his enthusiastic support of Eutyches and convinced Emperor Theodosius II to call a new council at Ephesus in 449 to deal with the matter. Though Pope Leo I's predecessors had tended to side with Alexandria on previous matters, Pope Leo wrote to Flavian reinforcing the dual-nature view in a weighty theological work now known as The Tome of Leo. The pope also sent legates to the council, one of which would later become pope himself.The Emperor authorized the Council to deal with the issue of whether or not Patriarch Flavian had justly deposed & excommunicated Eutyches for heresy. But, Flavian and 6 assisting bishops were not allowed to participate at the Council in Ephesus. Further stacking the Council against Flavian was that the Emperor made Flavian's opponent Dioscorus president of the council. The papal legate was expelled from the proceedings at some point. It was clear that of the 198 bishops in attendance, most leaned toward Dioscoros.In the first session, after a message from Theodosius II was read laying down the Council's objectives, the remaining papal legates moved to read Pope Leo's letter to Flavian as part of the official proceedings. But Dioscorus refused them, stating matters of dogma were not a matter for inquiry, since they'd already been resolved at the previous Council of Ephesus in 431. The issue for them to decide was whether Flavian had acted properly in deposing and excommunicating Eutyches.Eutyches then was introduced. He declared he held to the Nicene Creed. He claimed to have been condemned by Flavian on a technicality & misunderstanding and asked the council to exonerate and reinstate him. The bishop that was supposed to present the evidence against Eutyches wasn't allowed to speak. At this point the bulk of the bishops agreed that the record of the council condemning Eutyches ought to be read so they could get a better understanding of what evidence they'd used. When the record was read, some claimed it was inaccurate. Flavian's action was cast as a personal vendetta against an innocent man. When Flavian attempted to speak, he was shouted down. But more than that. One report has Dioscoros and his supporters physically attacking him. The account is confused, so we're not sure if it was bishops who went to brawling, some of the Imperial troops standing guard over the proceedings, or both. The upshot is, blows were given Flavian's party. When the vote finally came in, he was deposed & excommunicated and died of his wounds a few days into his exile.Eutyches & his brother monks were reinstated and the Council went on to deposed several more bishops who'd opposed Dioscoros. A deacon named Anatolius who was loyal to the Alexandrian bishop was now placed in charge of the Church of Constantinople.When Pope Leo received a report of this council from his legates he condemned it, calling it the Latrocinium, a Robber Council and refused to recognize Anatolius as Bishop of Constantinople. Emperor Theodosius ignored Leo's refusal, but all that changed when not long after he was killed in an accident and his sister Pulcheria came back to the Eastern throne. She married the general Marcian & together they cleared the teachings of Dioscoros and Eutyches from the Church. Patriarch Anatolius knew who buttered his bread, so he also quickly also condemned Eutyches' monophysitism. Pulcheria & Marcian knew that the Second Council at Ephesus was a bad deal and that another, genuine ecumenical council was called for to deal with the issue of Christ's nature once & for all. It was called in the city of Chalcedon in 451, directly across from Constantinople.The council began on the 8th of Oct, with some 500 bishops, the largest council so far. Pope Leo sent a group of legates along with his Tome which had been ignored a couple years before.The Council opened by reading over the Nicaean Creed, along with the letter from Cyril to Nestorius and the Tome of Leo. The bishops agreed all this was enough to resolve the issue before them; that is, articulating an orthodox position on the dual nature of Christ in one person. Emperor Marcian, most likely at the insistence of Pulcheria, directed the Council to develop a new creed that would not only unite the Antiochenes with their emphasis on Jesus' humanity with the Alexandrians emphasizing His deity, but that would adequately express a Christology both East & West could agree on. A committee was appointed to develop a draft for discussion.The first draft pleased most of the bishops; all except for the papal representatives. They felt the language was too close to Eutychian Monophysitism. They moved to replace the draft's wording with that of Leo's Tome, “two natures are united without change, and without division, and without confusion in Christ.” This change pleased all and was recognized as a better terminology than originally proposed.The Council made clear what they'd produced wasn't really a new creed, creed but an interpretation and elaboration of the work of the previous the councils and their work in refining the Nicaean Creed. It reads . . .Therefore, following the holy Fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance [and here they use the technical Greek word homoousios] with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before all ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer [here they use the disputer phrase Theotokos]; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence [hypostasis], not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.The Council maintained a clear distinction between the concept of a person and a nature. Jesus was said to have a both divine and human nature while still being only one person; he had everything he needed to be divine and everything he needed to be human. The Second Person of the Trinity didn't just assume human person (the error of adoptionism); He  took on a human nature. The Council also made an important technical distinction. The human nature of Christ did not exist as a person without the divine person of the Logos to assume it. This is called the anhypostasia/enhypostasia distinction, and may be simplified to this. Because of the power intrinsic to Himself as God, The Son could become man. But because of the limitations to himself as a mere man, Jesus could never become God. His divinity precedes His humanity. But because of the Incarnation, He remains human now in His glorified state.We owe much in the way we speak of Jesus Christ today to The Council of Chalcedon. And as clear as its Christology is, the more you ponder the dual nature of Christ ion His one Person, the more the mystery of the Incarnation opens before you. We realize that the Chalcedonian Creed doesn't so much explain or describe the nature of Chris as it does provide a set of rules for HOW we talk about Him. It's more like the rules of grammar than literature. It sets boundaries and borders to work within, but leaves us to fill out what lies between them.As we will see, Chalcedon didn't answer all the questions that needed to be settled. A large part of the Eastern church concluded the Chalcedonian Dreed was too Nestorian and betrayed the simple idea of a single person Cyril fought for at Ephesus. Then, in Western churches, the question arose of how many wills Christ had, one or two. But all that was addressed with less drama because of the work of because of Chalcedon.In the 16th C, the Reformers accepted Chalcedon as authoritative; it's language incorporated in their own creeds and formulations. The in the 20th C,  when liberalism challenged Christ's Christ, Fundamentalists like BB Warfield appealed to Chalcedon as a faithful expression of what the Scripture says about the Son of God.While all that was the main body of work done at the Council of Chalcedon, as with the other Councils, a number of other decisions were rendered to tighten up church business. These rulings are called canons. There are 30 of them from Chalcedon. For the most part their technical, house-keeping kind of things having to do with the behavior of the clergy. But Canon 28 of Chalcedon was to have far-reaching and monumental import. It reads . . .The bishop of New Rome shall enjoy the same honor as the bishop of Old Rome, on account of the removal of the Empire. For this reason the metropolitans of Pontus, of Asia, and of Thrace, as well as the Barbarian bishops shall be ordained by the bishop of Constantinople.The papal legates weren't present when this Canon was passed and protested afterward. It was of course rejected by Pope Leo and became a major point of contention in later discussions.