1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,120 In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,840 Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:10,720 mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light of the world 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:14,480 and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and 5 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,480 enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge. 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,560 Sanctify our souls by Your truth and grant that we may be 7 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,040 obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at 8 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,320 every hour. O You who enlightens the 9 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,480 rational with the knowledge of Your greatness, do enlight, O my 10 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,320 Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate upon Your holy and 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,680 divine Scriptures at all times. O Lord of all, Father and Son 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,400 and Holy Spirit, forever. Amen. 13 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,480 I recall a joke that used to be said during my school days, oh, 14 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,920 my school days back in the 80s, St. 15 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:17,840 John's Park High School, Peter Ponzo, Algo fab and Robert 16 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,040 Barco. Nostalgia. 17 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:22,640 I remember the joke and it went something like this. 18 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,480 A man attempted to swim the English Channel. 19 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,560 He swam halfway, he got tired and he swam back again. 20 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:36,080 And the reason why I said that is that on Wednesday we are 21 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:40,200 reaching our halfway point with our fast. 22 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,760 And as we've been during these weeks of the great fast, we've 23 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,720 been discussing a few topics and, you know, topics that 24 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:53,720 pertain to fasting. Last week's episode was not only 25 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:55,840 during fast. And then we talked about 26 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,760 temptation. So Wednesday's mid Lent is 27 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:01,960 halfway. We're halfway there. 28 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,680 And the church in its ecclesiastical calendar has set 29 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,440 a service for this Wednesday, for Wednesday in all the 30 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,000 churches, I believe at 6:00 PM, they will be the Eucharistic 31 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,480 service, the celebration of the divine literature of Holy 32 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,880 Qurbana. And that is a, a, an 33 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,600 encouragement. It's, it's the church cheering 34 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,280 its children on and saying keep going. 35 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,520 Yes, you're there, you made it. Keep going halfway. 36 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,160 Not long to go. Don't, don't walk back. 37 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:37,480 Don't swing back, just keep going, you know, regardless of 38 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,160 where you are or how you've been doing it. 39 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,960 And we're going to talk about that, but keep going. 40 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,080 So it's an it's an encouragement service for the children of the 41 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:53,280 church. So we've come halfway 25 days. 42 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:59,400 We have another 25 days to go until we first of all approach 43 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,560 the the passion of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, which 44 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:12,280 commences on Sunday of the hosannas, added Oshana. 25 days 45 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:18,640 by now, if we have done it correctly, that is fasted, if we 46 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:24,640 have committed wholeheartedly and concentrated attentively on 47 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:31,240 the theme, the reason, the purpose of our fasting, we will 48 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:39,200 have felt experienced, comfort, courage, change and a desire to 49 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:45,760 continue for not only another 25 days, but continue period. 50 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,760 That is, if we have done it correctly. 51 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,840 Keep these words in mind, these actions, if we have done it 52 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,360 correctly, committed wholeheartedly, and concentrated 53 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,880 attentively on the theme or the reason for fasting. 54 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,440 We would have identified our weaknesses by now, our 55 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:11,480 wickedness, our wrongs, along with our strengths and 56 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,960 righteousness and the right things that we do. 57 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:19,720 If we have fasted and offered this fast correctly, we would 58 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,680 have found the path and solutions to give up, to correct 59 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:29,960 and repent from our weakness, wickedness and wrongs. 60 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:35,680 Not only identify them, but also giving them up, correcting them, 61 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:41,400 and most importantly, repenting from our weaknesses and from our 62 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,240 wickedness and our wrongs. Now you did notice that I 63 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:50,320 continue to say if we have done it correctly, committed 64 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:55,840 wholeheartedly and concentrated attentively on the theme, the 65 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:58,800 reason, the purpose of our fasting. 66 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:04,320 Excuse me, how, how do we do this? 67 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:09,240 What, what is the correct way? What have we taken our focus 68 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,680 off? And I want to be concentrated on 69 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:16,400 more, but maybe somehow derailed from the real theme, the real 70 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,840 purpose. Well, by depriving our mouth 71 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:26,800 from various foods, which is great, not the most important 72 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:33,240 aspect of fasting, you can deprive yourself from dairy 73 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,480 products, from poultry and from the meats and what have you. 74 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:42,240 But if you haven't deprived yourself from what is evil, what 75 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:48,480 this pleases God, you are that Son who said to his Father when 76 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,760 asked to work in the field in Matthew that yes, I will go 77 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:58,040 Father, but he didn't go. And then Jesus says this is not 78 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,040 the Son that has done the will of the Father. 79 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:06,160 So if we have deprived our mouth from various food, but we 80 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:12,240 haven't privileged it with prayer, praise, then we haven't 81 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:16,680 pleased our heavenly Father. Who are you fasting for, who 82 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,160 you're offering your fast to? The Father, praises, praise and 83 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,080 glory be to his holy name, the Father and the Son and the Holy 84 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,400 Spirit, the Holy Trinity. So by depriving our mouth from 85 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:32,160 various foods, but at the same time privileging our mouth with 86 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:38,480 prayers and praise, with attending the church services, 87 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:46,920 the Vespers, the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, by praising 88 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:52,000 God through many means and ways. Beloved, you have deprived your 89 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,520 mouth from words which are hateful, derogative, rude, 90 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:03,000 inappropriate, lies, gossip, etcetera. 91 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:09,240 Great, excellent, excellent, but privileged with others as well. 92 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:15,880 In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29, we read Saint Paul instructing 93 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,720 Let no evil word proceed from your mouth, but words that are 94 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,760 good and useful for edification, that they will impart blessing 95 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,440 to those who hear them. If you have deprived your mouth 96 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,840 from those words that are not blessings and have no use to 97 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,720 someone else, according to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29, 98 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,480 privilege your mouth with whatever is good and useful for 99 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:44,800 improvement that you may give grace to those who are here. 100 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:50,480 You have been slow to speak. Great James chapter one, verse 101 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:57,280 19, slow to speak, but privilege your mouth with praises, singing 102 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:04,280 songs of spirit, singing songs of joy and praise to the Lord. 103 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:12,600 Holy God, holy, mighty, holy, immortal, have mercy. 104 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,560 What a beautiful song. What a you know, it's so short, 105 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,640 but what there's so much depth in that, so much theology in 106 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,000 that you're confessing God is 1/3 and one Amen, a triune 107 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,400 godfather and Son, Holy Spirit, one God. 108 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:32,799 You're confessing that God is God, is immortal, God does not 109 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:34,960 die. The Trinity, the Father, the Son 110 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,679 and the Holy Spirit are alive eternally. 111 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:43,120 You're confessing the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are 112 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:50,240 mighty, can do anything omnipotent, and then you're 113 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,920 pleading with the Holy Trinity to have mercy on you. 114 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:06,280 La kumara tullah mauden and unto you, Lord of all we confess 115 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,760 beautiful words, and you, Jesus Christ, we glorify, for you are 116 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,600 the quickener of our bodies, and you are the Savior of our souls. 117 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,880 What a what a confession. By the way, there is a tradition 118 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,360 in the church and there is a teaching that Adam, when Jesus 119 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:26,640 was crucified, his cross was near Adam's grave and as his 120 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:31,160 blood ran down the cross and, and was and hit the ground where 121 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:35,680 Adam was buried, Adam was resurrected and he confessed, He 122 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:39,560 confessed you, Lord of all we confess you Jesus Christ we 123 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:42,000 glorify. And that's biblical because we 124 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,320 know the tombs of many Saints were open and they went into the 125 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:46,560 Jerusalem. People saw them. 126 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:48,240 One of them could have been Adam. 127 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,120 There is a, there is a teaching, there is a, a tradition within 128 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,040 the church which the Church of the East upholds. 129 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,400 So not only are we praising God and, and, and and we are 130 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,720 confessing you, Lord Jesus Christ. 131 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:07,320 We confess you, No one else, just you, no one. 132 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,320 I don't care what the world says, I don't care what anyone 133 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:15,240 says. It doesn't matter, it is, it is 134 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:21,400 not worthy for me to listen to anyone who will claim that we 135 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,800 must confess others except the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord 136 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,400 and our Saviour and our King and our life giver and the forgiver 137 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,920 of our sins. You, Lord of all we confess, and 138 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,920 you, Jesus Christ, we glorify, We give you glory, for you are 139 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,040 the quickener of our bodies. You will resurrect our body just 140 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:43,000 as you resurrected your own body in your divinity and you are the 141 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,040 savior of my soul. See privilege your mouth with 142 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:50,560 these words. Any other Christian songs, any 143 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:56,880 other spiritual songs you've deprived your ears from hearing 144 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:02,720 falsehood, self-centered opinions and voices that lead 145 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,120 away, lead astray from God's truth. 146 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,400 Great, that's good. That is the that is the fast 147 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:13,480 that we are to offer to God. But at the same time, at the 148 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:18,000 same time, while you are depriving your ears from hearing 149 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:23,040 or listening to Satan and Satanic voices music talk. 150 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,120 How can you be fasting and offering to God a fast of 151 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:33,880 penitence when you're listening to evil, when you're listening 152 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:39,880 to to songs of cussing, when you're listening to songs where 153 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,080 the the artist, the so-called self-proclaimed artist, they 154 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,800 don't know what art is. He's describing how he wants to 155 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,760 have a far be it from these holy scriptures, a sexual 156 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,960 relationship with a girl and what he's going to do to her and 157 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,920 and and and and your and your yeah, yeah, yeah. 158 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,160 Or have you heard and you're fasting? 159 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,720 Don't, don't fast. God is not pleased with that. 160 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,480 That's God is not pleased with that, but if you've deprived 161 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,320 your ears from all of this, great God bless you. 162 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,080 You have it. You're on the point. 163 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,800 You're on the road to success with the Lord Jesus Christ. 164 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:22,920 Continue, but at the same time privilege your ears to listen to 165 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,560 the truth of God. The voice of Jesus and the sound 166 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:30,760 of the Holy Spirit substituted the sound of Holy Spirit through 167 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,360 the Holy Scriptures and their interpretations according to the 168 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,200 sound doctrines of the church and her holy fathers. 169 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,320 Not any Joe Blow, any schmo who wants to give, give his own 170 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,880 understanding and their own interpretation of the 171 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,360 Scriptures. The Scriptures don't need to be 172 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,560 interpreted, beloved. We don't need new 173 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:53,400 interpretations of the Scriptures. 174 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,840 They were interpreted by the church fathers went, you know, 175 00:12:57,880 --> 00:12:59,960 closer to the time of Jesus Christ. 176 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,320 They were interpreted. They knew, they saw, they heard. 177 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,800 We don't need to reinterpret, we don't need to reinvent the rule. 178 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,520 We just preach. Just preach the interpretation 179 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,520 of the Church, not just being hearers, but doers within the 180 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,880 framework and life of the one holy and Apstolic and Catholic 181 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,120 universal Church. Privilege your ears to hear 182 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,680 these scriptures, to hear the interpretation of the 183 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:28,000 Scriptures. If you want to know of some good 184 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:34,560 books of the Church Fathers expositions on the Holy 185 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:39,040 Scriptures, the Blessed Theophilac, Theophilac, 186 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:50,040 THEOPHYLACT, there are four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and 187 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,880 John and the Blessed Theophilac is all is is constantly also 188 00:13:54,880 --> 00:14:00,520 referring to John Chrysostom. You have from the Assyrian you 189 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:02,920 have all these all these interpretations, all these 190 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:07,120 books, all these resources, resources go and find them and 191 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,520 read the scriptures. Let your ear hear the voice of 192 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,120 Jesus Christ through the Holy Scriptures and through the 193 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,200 interpretation, the correct interpretation of the Holy 194 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,640 Scriptures. Let your ears privilege them to 195 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,960 hear what is pleasing, what is projected, what is presented, 196 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:32,520 what is viewed pleasing to God, the Holy Liturgy, the Divine 197 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:34,440 Liturgy. When you come to church, you 198 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:39,360 hear the Holy Liturgy. Unto you, O Lord of God, we 199 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,680 confess our sins and transgressions. 200 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:46,560 You, O Lord of God, are are truly in true. 201 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,520 I'm sorry. In truth, O my Lord and our God, 202 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,120 we are indebted. Give to give you thanks. 203 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,160 In truth, O Lord, we are not worthy. 204 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,920 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for we are not worthy. 205 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,720 You know these are beautiful words your ears to hear, and 206 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:06,240 when your ear hears them, your mind starts pondering on them 207 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:11,800 and your heart begins to melt because they are what the soul 208 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,440 wants to hear. Listening to the histories of 209 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:18,080 the life of the Holy Saints. Read the lives of the Holy 210 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:22,320 Saints, Pick up a book and read the The Life of the Holy Virgin 211 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,720 Mary, St. George the Illustrious Mart. 212 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,920 These were these are not Humpty Dumpty centre on the wall. 213 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,040 These are not fiction. These are real people that walk 214 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,160 the earth. These were some pagans, some 215 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,760 some very, very unfaithful people beloved that walked the 216 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,560 earth and when they had an encounter with Jesus Christ, 217 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,880 their life changed, their life changed and lived a life of 218 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:49,760 solitude for the Lord Jesus Christ. 219 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,480 Let your ears hear these histories to give you 220 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,720 encouragement and the list goes on and on. 221 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,520 Beloved, remember Saint John the Cross, St. 222 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,040 John Chrysostom, the Blessed Father. 223 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,440 I think it was last episode or was it the first one we spoke 224 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:11,280 about fasting, what he said fasting should be by the entire 225 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:18,320 parts of the body. If by now you realize that you 226 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,560 haven't fasted correctly, committed wholeheartedly, and 227 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:27,320 concentrated attentively on the theme or the reason, the purpose 228 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:31,520 of that fasting, you have another 25 days to go. 229 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,920 Don't swing back. For God's sake, don't swing. 230 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,520 Don't go back and say, well, 25 days, Robbie, I haven't done 231 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:42,360 this. Well, what happens? 232 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,200 Do I give up? No, no, no, continue, continue, 233 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,280 remember. And not only for 25 days. 234 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:52,440 Just continue, continue, period. Remember the parable of the 235 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,320 workers in the field, Matthew 20. 236 00:16:55,360 --> 00:17:00,800 When the Lord, the master, the boss, came to reward and pay 237 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,720 everyone, what did he do? He said to his servants, Start 238 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,680 from those who came last, meaning start from those who 239 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,240 have worked one hour and give them their pay and they gave 240 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,240 them one Dinari. And the one who worked 11 or 12 241 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,359 hours was already calculating the overtime and the bonuses and 242 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:21,800 the, and the time and a half and what have you. 243 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,599 No, no, they, they started calculating down, you know, it's 244 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,640 going to work probably about 1010 Dinari's for, for us. 245 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,040 Hey, 11 hours. They worked one hour, 1 Dinari. 246 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:32,880 We've worked 12 hours away, 12 dinari. 247 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,760 They got one Dinari. They still got one Dinari. 248 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,360 They started grumbling and the Lord says listen, what's wrong 249 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:40,600 with you? What's your problem? 250 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:47,240 Did I not agree with you that I will give you 1 Denari, You know 251 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,480 the Lord has promised to give us eternal life. 252 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,280 He didn't promise it specifically to you or to me. 253 00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:00,760 No, the promise is for everyone and at the end of the day the 254 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:04,120 Lord will grant that eternal life to anyone He pleases 255 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,720 because it is his eternal life, it is His Kingdom. 256 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,280 I love his reply. Or are you evil that I am good? 257 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,640 Or can I not do what I please with what is mine? 258 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:21,040 So don't think, oh, I have to go for 2050 days and those for 50 259 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:22,440 days are going to be rewarded differently. 260 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,960 No, no, no, 25 days, you have another 25 to go, even if you 261 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,760 still struggle, and you come back on the law and the 5th last 262 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:33,160 five days of the Lent and you do it properly, correctly, 263 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,240 attentively. The Lord will be appeased. 264 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:42,360 He will be appeased. Attend to your parish vespers, 265 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,880 liturgy, Bible studies, various ministries. 266 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:53,640 Go to go to the Bible studies, beloved, you know, online and 267 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:55,840 and live streaming. There's so many Bibles that is 268 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,560 going on at the same time. My dear brother Rabi Rasha 269 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:04,920 Andrew Aziz and and my brother Shamasha Allen on Zoom for the 270 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,920 youth. And we have we have other other 271 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,280 various means of Bible studies and preaching. 272 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,520 You know the podcast, you have the live streamings of the Raza 273 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:16,560 of the services. Listen to that. 274 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,920 Let your ear hear that and attend church, attend Vespers. 275 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,360 Don't worry about you don't understand. 276 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:24,560 Don't worry about that. There are a lot of things we 277 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,720 don't understand in life. We still do it, don't we? 278 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,280 When you go to the doctor. When you go to the doctor. 279 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,920 Let's go back, you know, back in the, the, you know, the 80s when 280 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,800 you received your prescription, could you read what the doctor 281 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:38,680 had given you? It was in shorthand, right? 282 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,480 Yeah, I think it was in shorthand. 283 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:43,760 You can read that. But you believe that the 284 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:45,600 doctor's not going to give you something to kill you. 285 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,440 And yeah, sometimes doctors, physicians have made a grave 286 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:51,160 mistake. Right. 287 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,080 But you believe you didn't understand. 288 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,480 Well, let me tell you, when you come to Vespers, when the 289 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,160 liturgies have been said, there's nothing derogative 290 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,840 there. The priest is not asking that. 291 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:02,880 You're stricken down. No. 292 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,680 The priest and the and those who are participating in the in the 293 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,160 prayers that the deacons and and the faithful are asking the Lord 294 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,320 to have mercy. Lord, have mercy. 295 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:13,560 Lord. Lord, forgive us. 296 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,000 Lord, accept our prayers, our petitions, our fast. 297 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,560 Go take your Bible with you. Start reading your Bible or just 298 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,160 listen. And truly, if you go with a 299 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:27,760 contrite heart and a will, a desire to only be there for God. 300 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:32,480 Yeah, the gift of tongues, not babbling, not Hubble Shobble 301 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,720 bubble. No, no, that's evil. 302 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,040 That's not a spirit of truth. That's a spirit of confusion. 303 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,040 So when you see people on the ground growling and Hubble 304 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,920 Shobble bubbling, walk, run away. 305 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,640 Run away in the name of Jesus Christ. 306 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,760 No. When you're there and you hear 307 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,400 the the the language spoken by a God, the Aramaic language. 308 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:56,440 Yeah. And the Lord wants to reveal 309 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:58,840 something to you. And you have this desire and you 310 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,880 pray yet. Then the gift of tongues will 311 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:03,560 work. You will hear it in your 312 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,560 language. I will be saying, Maria, you 313 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,760 will be hearing it. Oh, Lord, I have called you. 314 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,120 Answer me. And then I'm sure you're going 315 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:14,000 to jump up and down, say, Robbie, something happened was a 316 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,840 miracle. Yeah, that's the miracle of the 317 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,120 gift of tongues. Why? 318 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:22,120 Because during these time of fasting, we want our ears to 319 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:26,240 only listen to what God is telling us. 320 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:30,560 Listen to Jesus Christ, Listen to the podcast, listen to 321 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,400 sermons to live speech streaming, read the Holy 322 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,960 Scriptures accompanied by the commentaries of the Father. 323 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,040 If you've deprived your eyes from seeing things that are 324 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:45,680 evil, that are immoral, well, privilege your eyes to see 325 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,600 something good. Come to church on a Sunday and 326 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,040 stand in that nave in the haikler, in the nave in the 327 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,840 sanctuary and witness that amazing sight which is the 328 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,520 altar, which denotes the holies, the the heavens and the the 329 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,840 priest and the altar and the deacons, which are in in place 330 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:07,120 of the of the angels and the priest who is the, the soul of 331 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,520 Jesus Christ who is standing there at that moment. 332 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,160 Let your eyes witness these beloved, your ears you've 333 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:16,960 deprived from listening to falsehood. 334 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,240 Yeah, deprive your ears from listening to everything that is 335 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,560 evil, but privilege your ears to listen to what is pleasing to 336 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:30,240 the soul and most importantly pleasing to God himself. 337 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:42,920 So, beloved, let's go back and examine our past 25 days and 338 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:47,320 examine if we have done it correctly, if we have been 339 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:54,160 fasting correctly, if we have offered this fast to the Lord 340 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,280 that is appeasing to him. If not, again, we have another 341 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:04,720 25 days to go and let's continue, continue, strive, 342 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:12,200 struggle, wait until that day, that Sunday, where we will, we 343 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:17,200 will be celebrating the greatest event of the entire history of 344 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:22,200 the world to date. The world can still not fathom. 345 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:30,920 The enemies are trying so hard to refute the resurrection, but 346 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,760 they can't. They are kicking against the 347 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,080 thistles. The enemy is trying to so hard 348 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,720 to ridicule the greatest event in the history of the world, 349 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,040 which is the resurrection of our Jesus Christ. 350 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,600 Let's continue offer this fasting, our prayers, our 351 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,480 petition, reading the scriptures. 352 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,920 If you have not deprived the members of your body from what 353 00:23:54,920 --> 00:24:00,800 was before you began deprived, start depriving them now, but at 354 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,360 the same time, privilege them, beloved. 355 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,320 Privilege Him with what is good to encourage yourself as well, 356 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,640 and wait on the gracious mercies and compassion of our Lord and 357 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,080 our Savior Jesus Christ. Praise and glory be to His holy 358 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:16,760 name now and at all times and forever. 359 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:47,040 Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's 360 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,360 message. Please don't forget to rate and 361 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:52,080 review this podcast and share with your friends and family. 362 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:55,840 For any future topic suggestions or to give us detailed feedback, 363 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:58,400 please visit our link in the show notes. 364 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:03,080 Linktr dot EE forward slash double edged sword. 365 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:05,280 Until next time, God bless you all.