November 30, 2021

UPSIDE DOWN GOD

1 Corinthians 1:25-29

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Encouraging Words

Throughout the scriptures, both the old and the new testaments, we see God doing and saying things that are upside down from our earthly perspective. He chose David, the smallest and meekest of all his brothers to be the King. He used Moses who had difficulty speaking to be His spokesman to Pharaoh, He chose a young girl to be the mother of His Son. And, the list goes on. By doing this, God elevated those who were humble and submissive. He showed us all that it is not by our power and capability that we accomplish His work but that it is Him, and only Him, that accomplishes His work through those who are willing to submit to Him. It is up to us to be willing to submit to Him and those that He has chosen to use in order to be used by Him ourselves. We do this out of our love for Him and our desire to glorify and magnify Him and not us. Glory be to God!

November 28, 2021

FOOLISHNESS

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Encouraging Words

God's ways are so much different than the ways of men. He used the cross, the most abased image in the history of mankind, to lift up His Son as the salvation of mankind. In our human mind, we believe that glory and honor is what is needed to be leaders of others. For God, humility is the key to this, not glory and honor. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 27, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. John of the Cross

November 23, 2021

NO DIVISIONS

1 Corinthians 1:10

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Personal Challenge

We live in a very contentious age where the concept of us versus them has become prevalent and the norm. This has even worked its way into the church. Mob rule is not an acceptable way for a follower of Christ. Coercion and undermining others are not acceptable Christian practices. We have been given a model of leadership to follow and ways to have civil discourse amongst our fellow brothers and sisters in order to maintain unity in the body of Christ. When we choose to abandon this we end up with divisions and anarchy, which are antithetical to our God's way. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 22, 2021

DECEPTION IN THE CHURCH

Romans 16:17-18

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

Personal Challenge

In the early church, Paul and the other church fathers had to deal with those who were bent on causing divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrines of the church. We still have this problem today in our churches. For many years it was the pew hoppers that would go from congregation to congregation in their denominational preference always trying to either find that one thing that tickled their ears or trying to make their new church conform to how they wanted the church to be. When that did not work, they would jump again. Today we are seeing people jump from one faith practice to another with the intent to make the new one that they end up in like the one they have just left. This is not how it is supposed to be and Paul is telling us to avoid these people. There are times when we should turn away those who are not willing to accept aid embrace the teachings and ways of the church. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 21, 2021

ABOUND IN HOPE

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Encouraging Words

Who do we put our hope in? God, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Where does this hope come from? God, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. These are encouraging words. God fills us with hope in Him. He fills us with joy and peace as we act upon that gift of hope by trusting in Him. This is why Jesus promised us the filling of the Holy Spirit when He ascended into heaven. Glory be to God!

November 20, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. Ignatius

November 19, 2021

HOPE

Romans 15:4

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Personal Challenge

Hope can be a fleeting thing, especially if we put our hope into the wrong thing. As Christians, our hope is in Jesus Christ, not the things of this world, such as, wealth, health, fame, politicians, or celebrities. Jesus is our only hope. He is the only one that is not changing and is eternal. One area that we can stay in so that we can build up our hope is the Scriptures that have been given to us. These Scriptures are not our God, but they point us to Him. Glory be to God!

November 18, 2021

PLEASING OTHERS

Romans 15:1-3

We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

Personal Challenge

Living in a community can be difficult. We believe in Orthodoxy that our salvation is worked out, or exercised in community, in our church family. Part of this entails observing and understanding the weaknesses of our brothers and sisters and then giving up some of what we want or desire in order to meet their needs. This is clearly loving our neighbor and putting their needs above ours. Where the difficulty comes in this is when those who are weak have needs and desires that are leading to error or heresy. At this point there is no room for allowing those errors or heresies to take root. In love we must confront those going down the wrong path. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 17, 2021

EDIFYING ANOTHER

Romans 14:19

Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Personal Challenge

Why should we be doing the things that God calls us to do in our lives? Initially it is because we love our God and desire to please Him and in our own way give back to Him some of the gift He has given us. It is never possible to repay Him for His great mercy and love that He has poured out on us. As we continue to live this way, we begin to understand that part of this way of living also ends up edifying those around us because our love for God overflows for love for those whom we come into contact. This whole section in the book of Romans talks about food and how eating certain foods at certain times can be a stumbling block to others. This was so important in the time when much of the food available was leftover from sacrifices to pagan gods. We do not have that situation today, but for those of us who practice fasting in our church life, there are similar issues, for both those who fast according to very strict rules and those who fast according to more flexible rules. Both parties can have a tendency to look down on the other if they take their eyes off of God and set them on their brothers and sisters. This is why Paul teaches us to pursue the things which make for peace and which edify one another. It is the things of God that are important and not the things of man. This applies to so many other things in our church life other than food. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 16, 2021

NO STUMBLING BLOCKS

Romans 14:12-13

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.

Personal Challenge

In our desire to follow Christ we strive to love our neighbor for by doing this we glorify God and bring His light into the world. This is the reason that we are not to judge others but to be prepared to give an account of ourselves to God. Not only are we not to judge our fellow human, but we should strive to live our lives in such a way so as to not be a stumbling block to another causing them to fall. Glory be to God!

November 15, 2021

WHO IS THE JUDGE?

Romans 14:7-10

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Personal Challenge

We are not alone in this life that we live. We are synergistically connected to everyone else on this earth. Our actions, and inactions, behave as a pebble dropped in a lake that sends out a ripple to the extremities of the lake, touching every inch of the shoreline. In all of this, we are also not our own, we are the Lords, which is why Christ died for us. If we are all His, both the living and the dead, then it makes sense that only He has the right to be the judge over our actions and inactions. Again, it is not our responsibility, or right, to be judge jury, and executioner. Glory be to God alone!

November 14, 2021

DO NOT JUDGE

Romans 14:3-4

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Personal Challenge

Every single person that I know, especially me, has enough "bad" stuff that we are mixed up in with our lives that we have no room to be judging another. As my former priest would often say, "Look at your own plate." We have many disciplines in the Orthodox church that we practice to try to teach ourselves to submit fully to our God. One of these is fasting. We do not fast to check off a box in the godliness checklist. We do it to discipline our bodies and our minds to hunger after our Lord. It is easy to look at those around us during our fasting times and accuse them of breaking the fast. By doing this, we have just broken our own discipline by judging our brother. We are not to judge one another. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 13, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. John of the Cross

November 12, 2021

DUTY TO THE GOVERNMENT

Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Personal Challenge

Here is one area that I personally believe that the modern Christian is failing to follow the teachings of our faith. It has become acceptable to deride our government, even to the point of participating in an insurrection, in the name of God. God has commanded us, both here by Paul and earlier in the scriptures by Jesus, himself, to submit to the authority of the government. God expects this because He is the one who has put that government in place. If the government is not moving in the direction that glorifies God then we have the right to exercise the tools of our citizenship here on earth, such as voting, to change it. We do not have the right to be subversive and destructive. By doing this with the earthly governments, we eventually digress to the state where we also believe we can behave this way with the leadership of the Church, God forbid! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on those who profess you as Lord and yet live with allegiance to the ways of this world!

November 11, 2021

LIVE PEACEABLY WITH OTHERS

Romans 12:14-18

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Personal Challenge

Paul continues to challenge us on how to live righteous Christian lives. He sums it up at the end with the admonition to live peaceably with all men. How do we do this? We do this by blessing those who persecute us and not cursing them; rejoicing with those who rejoice; weeping with. those who weep; being of the same mind toward each other, associating with the humble, and not getting hung up on ourselves. We do not repay evil with evil and should always be focused on the good things of God. We must live our lives aggressively for God. Glory be to God!

November 10, 2021

HOW DO WE DO IT?

Romans 12:12

rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Personal Challenge

If we are supposed to go through life loving our God and our neighbor, putting their needs and desires above ours, how do we do that? If we are to put up with the persecutions that the world will levy against us, how do we do that? Paul gives us some guidelines here. We rejoice in hope, the hope that is in our Lord Jesus Christ and the faith that we are in His hands eternally. Through that hope we can be patient in the tribulation that comes our way knowing that in the end we will be glorified in our Lord. And in the process of doing this we continue stead­fastly in prayer to our Lord and King. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 9, 2021

LOVE ABOVE ALL ELSE

Romans 12:9

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Personal Challenge

Paul makes it clear that we are to hate the evil things of this world and to cling to the things that are good. Many have gotten good at the first piece of this but also taken it to the extreme that their hatred of the evil things has carried over to the hatred of the person doing the evil things. We must remember that he starts this admonition off by telling us to love without hypocrisy. He is basing this on Jesus telling us to love God and to love our neighbor above all else, we are to hate the evil, but still love the person who has been created in the image of God that we might win them over to that which is good, the love of God. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 8, 2021

ONE BODY

Romans 12:4-5

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Personal Challenge

It is often difficult for us to remember that God's Church is comprised of many parts, many people, that make up one unified body. All these parts are needed in order to complete the work that God has called the Church to do. When we get to the place where we exclude, even denigrate, other Christian faith practices because they are different than us, then we have become enemies of the Church. We should always be on the guard for erroneous teaching and heresies, but be loving and supportive of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Glory be to God!

November 7, 2021

LIVING SACRIFICES

Romans 12:1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Personal Challenge

I have spent most of my life, living in an age where it was safe to live our Christian life without any fear or concern about persecution. Christianity has been tolerated by most. However, we are entering into a time where the concept of being a Christian has been mainstreamed in our society and bastardized to be conforming to the world rather than set apart for God. In the name of Christianity, people are storming our capital and school board meetings threatening people's lives for their definitions of godliness. We are seeing resistance in our churches for choosing to follow and be submissive to our hierarchical leaders in the cause of exercising our "rights" to do what we want. The day may be coming soon, if it is not already here, where people proclaiming to be Christians will be persecuting other Christians who are choosing to adhere to the 2,000 year old teachings of our Lord. This will be a time where we will truly be living sacrifices for our God! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 6, 2021

Saint of the Week

St. Augustine of Hippo

November 5, 2021

THE MIND OF GOD

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

“For who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Encouraging Words

It has always been encouraging to be able to submit to another who knows so much more about something than I do. Whether it be in work or in volunteering, when the leader is knowledgeable in the space that we are working in, it is easy to let them lead. This is the way it should be in our lives and our relationship with God. He has so much more knowledge and wisdom than all of creation added together let alone me, He has no need for a counselor. He knows all and is in all. No one or nothing can ever know His mind. Knowing and believing this makes it so much easier to yield to Him and let Him lead my life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

November 4, 2021

HOW?

Romans 10:14-15

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Personal Challenge

We are challenged here by Paul, to be preachers, emissaries, of the gospel of Christ. We do not get welcomed into the family of God just to go sit in the comfortable corner of the Kingdom of God and let everyone else do His work. We are called to share His life giving gospel with everyone that we meet. We share this gospel by our actions as well as our words. By doing this we are bringing glad tidings of good things to the world around us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 3, 2021

BELIEVE AND CONFESS

Romans 10:8-13

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

Personal challenge

God loves us. Jesus died for us. These are irrefutable truths. If we truly believe this, with our whole heart, soul, spirit, mind, and body, and are willing confess this belief every moment of our lives, then we are partakers in Gods' love. This profession of our faith is not a once in a lifetime event. It is a never ending, day after day, moment by moment willingness to proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and our choice to follow and obey Him. By doing this our lives are changed from a worldly focus to a heavenly focus. By living this way we will never be put to shame. Glory be to God!

November 2, 2021

MORE THAN CONQUERORS

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Encouraging Words

This passage is full of so many wonderfully encouraging words about the relationship that we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in this temporal, physical realm can separate us from the love of Christ. If I choose to continue to pursue sin in my life, if I desire to live in the ways of the world around me, even if I choose to deny Him, He still loves me and died for me. If I choose to accept this love from Him and try to walk in His footsteps then I will be a conquerer of everything that comes my way knowing that nothing can ever come between God and His love for me. This love is eternal. This love is complete. This love if from Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

November 1, 2021

WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

Romans 8:31-32

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Encouraging Words

Because of who Jesus was, fully God and fully man, and the work that He did of going to the cross as an innocent man, God is for us, His creation. God has always loved us, but when Adam and Eve sinned a chasm between us and God was established and death set in to reign over us. Jesus broke the bondage that death had on us and bridged that chasm so that we can once again be in intimate fellowship with our Father. Glory be to God!