September 27, 2021

FAITH PRECEDES WORKS

Romans 4:5-8

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

Encouraging Words

It is not the things that we do to attempt to earn God's favor that produce  righteousness in our lives. We have become a people that are focused so much on outward appearances, the ways that we worship, the rigor in following rubrics and traditions that are extreme and even radical, etc. Abraham was accounted as righteous before God because of his faith in God and his trust that God would fulfill 
His covenant. David later learned that it was not his zealousness for God that earned the grace of God, but his faith in the living God that brought God's grace into his life. God's mercy comes to us through repentance, faith, and humility so that the  works of Jesus Christ can cover us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

September 26, 2021

GOD'S GLORY

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Personal Challenge

God created mankind in His image. He created us to walk with Him in the garden of Eden and to commune with Him on a regular basis. We sinned and broke that relationship with God and have been expelled from that garden. We live in a broken and fallen world and continue to sin. Yet God still loves us and desires to be in fellowship with us again, which is why Jesus became incarnate and died for us. Through Him we can once again be in God's presence and some day see His glory once again. Glory be to God!

September 25, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. Theodore the Studite

September 24, 2021

WE ALL NEED GOD

Romans 3:10-12

As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Personal Challenge

None of us can be saved from death without Jesus Christ. None of us can live a good and godly life without Him. We cannot be righteous without Him. And 
none of us will desire to seek after God or stop turning away from Him without 
Jesus Christ calling out to us. We need Jesus to be our Lord so that He can be our Savior and bring us into His Kingdom. And then we do not do this alone. He gives us our community in our church to work out our salvation on our path to theosis. Glory be to God!

September 23, 2021

OUTWARD VERSUS INWARD

Romans 2:28-29

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Personal Challenge

Our Lord Jesus Christ had to confront the zealots of His day. These were not people outside of the Jewish nation telling them what to do, but within the body pushing for their perception of the perfect Jew. Many practiced this zealous beliefs as Pharisees and Sadducees. He called them whitewashed tombs because their practices on the outside looked all pristine and perfect, but their hearts were empty and dark. Paul picked this up in this letter to the Romans challenging the Judaizers for loving their faith with outward appearances and traditions but not being followers of God in their hearts. We are seeing similar zealots in the church today. People who believe and purport that we must return to some form of ritual practices and traditions that they call the true, historical church. Defined by whom? Practiced by whom? It is a zealous belief that has no problem trampling on the others around them who disagree. Where is the love of Christ? Where is the love for our neighbor? This love does not come in forcing others into doing what we want to do. It is not in the rhetoric of anger and arrogance that defends your perspective, our personal interpretations. It must be in our hearts and lovingly driving us to come alongside those who are different than us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

September 22, 2021

NO PARTIALITY

Romans 2:11

For there is no partiality with God.

Personal Challenge

We live in a day of extremes. Our world has become divided by the great purveyor of division and we have bought in to this lie, hook, line, and sinker. It is not only in the world, but is deeply enmeshed is our churches as well because we who profess to be Christians have brought it there. Democrat versus Republican. Mask verse no mask. Vaccinated verses anti-vaccinated. Pews versus no pews. What have we done. We rally our forces and often use the same scriptures to justify our positions. We make terse statements to justify our stand, hurting those on the other side, all the while proclaiming that it was not our intention to hurt anyone. God does not show partiality. He loves us all equally. The Church throughout history has suffered many divisions and yet still stands. Both Jesus and Paul knew this would happen because they prayed for unity. We cannot be unified if we continue to choose to be aligned with a side and jeer at the person on the other side. If we are truly followers of Christ, then we will love each other as He loved us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on us sinners! Lord, have mercy on your broken church! Lord, have mercy!

September 21, 2021

JUDGING

Romans 2:1

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Personal Challenge

I have heard it proclaimed by some well-meaning Christians that Christians have been given the authority to judge others for their non-Christian behaviors. This belief can not be found in the Scriptures. Jesus taught us to judge not that we be not judged. Here, Paul challenges us that if we judge others that we are condemning ourselves by that judgment. Christ left us with two basic commandments to live our lives by. We are to love our God and to love our neighbor. If we go through our life living by these two premises, we will not find room to be judgmental. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

September 20, 2021

WITHOUT EXCUSE

Romans 1:20-21

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Encouraging Words

God is everywhere. He always has been and He always will be. He made everything that exists through His Son and in that process of creation He embedded Himself. We cannot help but see God in everything great and small, if we will just open our eyes. Because of this truth, we have no excuse to deny God. He did this because He loves us and does not want any of us to be separated from Him. Glory be to God!

September 19, 2021

NOT ASHAMED

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Encouraging Words

It is clear from the teachings throughout the scriptures and throughout the history of the church that the gospel of Christ is for everyone. There are no exclusions, no reasons for segregation, no opportunity to keep it for a select few. It is in this that we find our encouragement. We find our salvation from death in the gospel of Christ and power of God. This is why we are not ashamed to proclaim this gospel and this truth to everyone, all the time. Glory be to God!

September 18, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. Maximos the Confessor

September 17, 2021

PREACHING AND TEACHING

Acts 28:30

Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

Personal Challenge

Sometimes our journey through life as a Christian hits a bumpy road. Actually, most of the Christian journey is a bumpy road because if we are truly following in the footsteps of Christ, we are walking counter to the things of the world, and the world hates us for it. But by the grace of our Lord, he continues to give us what we need to continually be preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. Will we be tired? Yes? Will it be difficult? Yes! Will it be worth it? Absolutely! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

September 16, 2021

WHOSE VOICE

Acts 21:13

Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Personal Challenge

Sometimes we are fortunate enough to hear the voice of God leading us in the direction that He wants us to go. It is usually a very calm, faint whisper and will often point us to areas that we would have never thought about going to. As we begin to listen to that voice and follow its leading, we will begin to hear the louder voices of our friends and families telling us to stop and stay where we are. The question for each of us is, "Which voice will I listen to?". This is an important part of our journey through life. God will never make us do anything. He has purposed to give us the free will to make and follow our own choices. The key is that we will also reap the consequences of those choices. The consequences will always be more heavenly if we choose to listen to His still, small voice. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and help me to hear your voice!

September 15, 2021

BE ON THE GUARD

Acts 20:29

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Personal Challenge

From the very beginning of the church, we have been warned of those who will try to turn the people to their way of thinking. In the first 700-800 years of the church we had many battles with heretical teachings that attempted to turn the people away from the truth. It was met head on by the early church fathers and councils to fight the onslaught. It is no different today. We are still fighting those heresies of the early days as well as new permutations. The difficulty that we face today is that there are so many groups, or faith practices, that proclaim Jesus as their Lord and yet also hold on to and teach heresies. We have become so divided and so independent that is hard to have a unified confrontation with these lies This is why we must be diligent to watch for the savage wolves amongst us and be willing to stand up to them. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

September 14, 2021

HIS OFFSPRING

Acts 17:28

for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

Encouraging Words

Throughout the scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New, the followers of God are labelled, "His children." In this passage, Paul is debating with the Athenians about their idol to the unknown God. They had a god for everything. Paul presents to them that there is only one God and that it is because of Him that we live and move and have our being. He also proclaims that because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are now adopted into the family of God and are His offspring. We are indeed, His children. Glory be to God!

September 13, 2021

TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

Acts 17:6

But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

Personal Challenge

So, why were Jason and other brethren dragged before the rulers of the city? This happened in the city of Thessalonica. Paul and Silas had come here to stay with Jason and these other brethren in order to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to this part of the world. The gospel was changing lives. The gospel was changing the world. Is that gospel any different than the gospel that we have to share today? No! We have the same gospel to share that Paul, Silas, and Jason had to share. So, what has changed? The messengers. If we desire to see our world turned upside down for Jesus then we need to embrace it and share it as the early church fathers did. We need to throw off the garments of this temporal world and put on the garments of Christ in order to be on fire for Him and change our world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

September 12, 2021

PRAYING AND SINGING HYMNS

Acts 16:25

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Personal Challenge

What do we typically do when life presses in on us and things are not going well? Do we get angry and push back? Do we get rude and obstinate and start attacking those around os? Do we get depressed and crawl into a dark place to hide from the world? Paul and Silas were having a pretty bad day. They had been thrown into jail for preaching the gospel of Jesus and bound in chains. The prospects did not look good. What did they do? They started praying and singing hymns. They were joyful for they were serving the risen Lord. What a vivid lesson for us to follow. Glory be to God!

September 11, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. Amphilochios Makris

September 10, 2021

AVAILABILITY

Acts 8:30-31

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

Personal Challenge

In this passage of Acts, we are told that Philip was approached by an angel and told to go to a certain place along the road out of Jerusalem. Philip immediately did what he was told without questioning it. He didn't even question the fact that it was an angel the told him to do this. When he got there, the spirit within Philip spoke to him and told him to go up to a chariot that had a eunuch from Ethiopia in it. This man was a powerful man in the courts of the Ethiopian queen and a devout Jew who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover. This is where these two verses pick up the story. What we see here is that Philip was willing to listen to an angel of the Lord and do what he was told, He was in such a close relationship with his resurrected Lord that he could hear the Spirit speaking to him. And, he was willing and available to do what he was told to do. In the rest of the passage, Philip leads the eunuch to Jesus and baptizes him on the spot. Both Philip and the eunuch were available to be used by God. This very well could have been the man that took the Christian faith back to Ethiopia, which still has a strong Orthodox presence. Glory be to God. May we all learn to be available as Philip was. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

September 9, 2021

FULL OF FAITH

Acts 6:8

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Personal Challenge

What sets the apostles and deacons of the early church apart from us? We read about the accounts of their great wonders and signs. Were they created different than us or given greater powers than us? No. They were full of faith in Christ, the resurrected Son of God. We too can have this level of faith in our lives if we choose to off load the distractions of this world and set our hearts and minds on Jesus. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

September 8, 2021

THEY DID NOT CEASE

Acts 5:40-42

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Personal Challenge

This passage is a great example of the apostles defying the order that was given to them by the religious leaders of the day. They had been brought before the Sadducees for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. After telling the Sadducees that they would continue to obey God rather than them, the Sadducees were furious and ready to kill the apostles. However, Gamaliel, one of the Sadducees, convinced the others to let them live proclaiming that if these uneducated apostles were actually doing Gods' work, then killing them would not stop God from spreading His message. Even after being beaten and commanded to not preach any more, the apostles left rejoicing and continued to do God's work. Their defiance of the order of the Sadducees was not to exercise their personal rights and freedoms. It was not because they personally disagreed with the mandates of the land. They were not defying the order to pay taxes or anything else like that. When the order was to stop doing what God had called them to do, then they defied that order. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

September 7, 2021

OBEDIENCE

Acts 5:29

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.

Personal Challenge

If we are followers of Christ then our hierarchy of obedience is different than that of the world. As we grow in our image of Christ we begin to understand that God's authority far exceeds that of the world and choose to submit to His authority, especially if it conflicts with the expectations that the world puts on us. We still abide by the laws of the land where God has put us because that glorifies our God. But when the laws and expectations of the world begin to contradict the laws and expectations of God, then we choose God's ways and accept the consequences. We also need to understand that God will often use the laws and governance of this world to accomplish His objectives. We must always align our preferences with His expectations. God's ways always transcend above the ways of the world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

September 5, 2021

SPEAKING THE TRUTH

Acts 4:19-20

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

Personal Challenge

It is important that we believe in the truth of our God so much that we cannot do anything else but speak of Him and His truths. The lives of the martyrs have shown us that the truth of God was so important in their lives that they were willing to die, often very painful deaths, in order to never give up or taint that truth. God's truth is life. God's truth is eternal. God's truth is Jesus Christ. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

September 4, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. Maria of Paris

September 3, 2021

AND THEY REALIZED

Acts 4:13

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Personal Challenge

What a wonderful compliment this is to Peter and John. By living their lives in boldness and letting Jesus and the Holy Spirit be manifested in their lives, it was obvious that Peter and John had been with Jesus. Is that something that can be said about our lives...my life? Is it evident by what we say and do, and often times not say or not do, that we are followers of Jesus Christ? If we want people to marvel at who we are and what we do, then this can only be from living lives that magnify Jesus and not us. Glory be to God!

September 2, 2021

REFRESHED

Acts 3:19

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Command with a Promise

Have you ever wanted to be refreshed and then stay in a state of constant refreshment? It is possible. True refreshment, eternal refreshment, is found in our Lord. We get to that place in our relationship with Him through repentance and conversion away from being committed to this world. When we repent, which is an ongoing process, and turn to Him, He will blot out our sins and bring us into times of refreshing in His presence This is a promise that we can depend on. Glory be to God!

September 1, 2021

WHOSE FAITH

Acts 3:16

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Personal Challenge

Peter had just healed a lame man and the crowd was going crazy with excitement. In essence, this was the same crowd who several weeks before had yelled, "crucify Him!" about Jesus. Peter preaches to these people that the healing was not done by them, but by Jesus and the faith that was put in Him. It is Jesus who is our healer. It is Jesus who is our savior. We become whole again through our faith in Jesus and that faith itself comes from Him. This is a mystery that we can all participate in. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 31, 2021

WHAT MUST WE DO?

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Personal Challenge

This passage comes at the end of Peter's great witness delivered to the throngs in Jerusalem. People were so moved by his discourse about who Jesus was and what He had done that they were begging to be His followers. Peter made it very simple. Repent! Turn away from our sinful lives asking for God's forgiveness and pursue a life that is in alignment with the life of Jesus. Be baptized! Participate in the sacrament of baptism where we are put to death to the world in Christ, buried in His waters of purification, and raised into His service with our sins forgiven. Receive the Holy Spirit! Be anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit so that our lives can be directed by Him into holiness and righteousness. This is the beginning of a journey that will take us through eternity transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!