Author: Daniel20Zopoula_Lethbridge23 (Page 3 of 4)

Introduction

Prayer is a fundamental practice in many religious traditions, and in Christianity, it holds a special place as a means of connecting with God. Beyond the recitation of words, prayer is a profound form of communication with the divine that can strengthen your faith, provide solace in times of trouble, and deepen your relationship with God. In this article, we will explore the transformative power of prayer in the Christian faith and how it can enhance your spiritual journey.

A Gateway to God’s Presence

Prayer serves as a direct line of communication with God, allowing you to draw near to the divine. It’s a way to express your thoughts, feelings, and desires in the presence of the Creator. Through prayer, you acknowledge God’s sovereignty and invite His presence into your life.

Deepening Your Relationship with God

Just as conversation strengthens human relationships, prayer deepens your relationship with God. It’s an opportunity to share your joys, sorrows, and concerns with Him. By consistently engaging in prayer, you open yourself to experiencing God’s love, guidance, and grace in profound ways.

Building Faith and Trust

Prayer is an act of faith. When you bring your requests and concerns before God in prayer, you demonstrate your trust in His wisdom and providence. As you witness answered prayers and experience God’s faithfulness, your own faith is strengthened, and you become more confident in God’s plan for your life.

Finding Solace and Peace

Life is filled with challenges and uncertainties, and prayer offers a source of solace and peace amidst the storms. When you pour out your heart to God in times of trouble, you can experience a sense of calm and assurance that transcends understanding.

Guidance and Discernment

Prayer is a powerful tool for seeking guidance and discernment. Whether you’re facing a major life decision or seeking clarity in daily matters, turning to God in prayer can provide insight and direction. The still, small voice of God often becomes clearer as you engage in a prayerful conversation.

Transforming Your Heart

Prayer is not just about asking for things; it’s also about transformation. As you pray for wisdom, patience, love, and forgiveness, you invite God to mold your heart and character. Prayer can help you become more aligned with God’s will and values.

Intercession and Compassion

Beyond personal prayers, intercession for others is a powerful expression of love and compassion. Through prayer, you can lift up the needs of friends, family, and even those you may never meet, offering them a lifeline of hope and support.

A Lifelong Journey

The power of prayer is not limited to any particular stage of life or level of faith. It’s a lifelong journey of growing closer to God and becoming more attuned to His presence. As you mature in your faith, your prayer life can become increasingly rich and transformative.

Conclusion

In the Christian faith, prayer is more than a ritual; it is a deeply spiritual and transformative practice that connects you with the Almighty. It strengthens your faith, deepens your relationship with God, and offers guidance and solace in the complexities of life. Through prayer, you have the privilege of communing with the Creator, sharing your heart’s desires, and growing in faith and trust. As you continue to explore the power of prayer, may you find comfort, wisdom, and a profound sense of God’s love that strengthens you on your spiritual journey.

Introduction

Raising children in today’s rapidly changing world is a challenging endeavor, but for Christian parents, it also presents an opportunity to instill values, beliefs, and a strong moral compass rooted in their faith. Guiding children along the path of Christianity involves fostering spiritual growth, character development, and a deep understanding of the teachings of Jesus Christ. In this article, we will explore essential principles and practical strategies for raising children as Christians.

Lay a Solid Foundation of Faith

Raising children as Christians begins with establishing a strong foundation of faith within the family. This involves parents modeling a genuine and active relationship with God through prayer, scripture reading, attending church services, and participating in spiritual activities. Children often emulate their parents’ behaviors, so consistently demonstrating a sincere commitment to your faith can significantly impact your children’s spiritual growth.

Teach Biblical Values

The Bible serves as the ultimate guide for Christian living. Incorporate its teachings into daily life by discussing stories, lessons, and parables with your children. Focus on values such as love, compassion, forgiveness, humility, and generosity. As you discuss these values, emphasize how they can be applied to real-world situations, helping your children understand the practical implications of their faith.

Create a Loving and Supportive Environment

Christianity is fundamentally rooted in love. Create a nurturing and supportive environment within your family where love, respect, and empathy are central. Encourage open communication and active listening, fostering a safe space for children to share their thoughts, concerns, and questions about their faith.

Engage in Regular Family Devotions

Family devotions are a wonderful way to gather together and strengthen your family’s spiritual bond. Set aside time each day for prayer, scripture reading, and discussion. Tailor your devotions to be age-appropriate, using relatable examples and stories that resonate with your children’s experiences.

Encourage Critical Thinking and Questions

Encourage your children to ask questions about their faith. This process helps them develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of their beliefs. When your children have questions, address them with patience and honesty. If you don’t have all the answers, use the opportunity to learn together and seek guidance from trusted sources such as pastors, teachers, or Christian literature.

Serve and Give Back

Teaching children the importance of service and giving back to the community is a central tenet of Christianity. Engage in volunteer activities as a family, whether it’s participating in charitable events, visiting the elderly, or assisting those in need. These experiences can help children understand the significance of living out their faith through actions.

Lead by Example

Children learn by observing, so it’s crucial for parents to lead by example. Model virtues such as kindness, patience, self-discipline, and humility. Demonstrating a Christ-like attitude in your interactions with others and in challenging situations can leave a lasting impact on your children’s understanding of Christian values.

Embrace Questions About Other Beliefs

In a diverse world, your children may encounter different religious beliefs and perspectives. Use these encounters as opportunities to teach respect, tolerance, and the importance of understanding various worldviews. Guide your children to approach these conversations with an open heart and a willingness to learn from others while remaining rooted in their own faith.

Conclusion

Raising children as Christians is a rewarding and transformative journey that requires dedication, patience, and a deep commitment to spiritual growth. By fostering a solid foundation of faith, teaching biblical values, and creating a loving and supportive environment, you can guide your children toward a meaningful and fulfilling relationship with God. Through family devotions, critical thinking, service, and leading by example, you can instill a lasting faith that will equip them to navigate life’s challenges with grace, compassion, and unwavering conviction.

Religion & Community

Religion has been a central force in shaping societies and communities throughout human history. Beyond its spiritual and philosophical aspects, religion plays a pivotal role in bringing people together, fostering a sense of belonging, and strengthening the fabric of communities. In this article, we will explore how religion contributes to the creation and sustenance of vibrant and supportive communities, while also addressing the challenges and opportunities it presents in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world.

Shared Values and Beliefs

Religion often serves as a unifying force, binding individuals with shared values, beliefs, and principles. Within religious communities, members find common ground in their faith, which provides a moral compass and guidelines for ethical behavior. This shared moral framework enables communities to come together around a collective purpose, promoting empathy, compassion, and mutual respect among members.

Rituals and Traditions

Rituals and traditions are essential elements of religious practices that foster a sense of identity and belonging within a community. From weekly prayers to annual festivals and ceremonies, these shared experiences create lasting bonds among believers. Such rituals not only strengthen the community’s cohesiveness but also provide opportunities for members to support and uplift one another during moments of joy and sorrow.

Social Support and Care Networks

Religious communities often serve as valuable support systems, especially during challenging times. In times of illness, bereavement, or financial hardship, members of the community come together to provide emotional, spiritual, and sometimes material support. This social network can offer a safety net and a sense of security, promoting a culture of caring and compassion within the community.

Fostering Social Engagement and Service

Religious institutions and communities often engage in charitable activities and social service projects. This sense of social responsibility encourages individuals to actively participate in making a positive impact on society. By working together to address societal issues, religious communities play an essential role in building bridges between diverse groups and promoting greater understanding and empathy.

Bridging Divides and Promoting Inclusivity

While religion has the potential to bring people together, it is essential to acknowledge that it can also be a source of division and conflict. In a world marked by cultural and religious diversity, religious communities face the challenge of balancing their distinct beliefs while embracing inclusivity and respect for others. The ability to engage in interfaith dialogues and collaborative initiatives is crucial in building bridges and promoting peaceful coexistence.

Embracing Diversity and Interfaith Collaboration

In recent years, many religious communities have recognized the importance of embracing diversity and promoting interfaith collaboration. By engaging in dialogue with individuals from different faiths, religious communities can cultivate a spirit of mutual understanding and respect, transcending religious boundaries to find common ground on shared human values.

Conclusion

Religion has long been a significant force in shaping communities around the world. By providing a framework of shared values, rituals, and traditions, religious communities foster a sense of belonging and support for their members. Moreover, through acts of social service and inclusivity, they reach beyond their own boundaries to contribute positively to society as a whole. In a world marked by diversity and interconnectedness, religious communities have the opportunity to play a transformative role in building bridges, fostering understanding, and promoting peace. By embracing the essence of their teachings—love, compassion, and empathy—religious communities can continue to be beacons of hope and unity, nurturing a global sense of community grounded in shared humanity.

Living as a Christian encompasses more than religious beliefs or attending church services. It is a way of life rooted in faith, guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ, and embraced by millions around the world. While the journey of faith is deeply personal, there are numerous benefits that extend beyond the spiritual realm. In this article, we will delve into the transformative power of living as a Christian and explore the tangible benefits it brings to individuals and communities.

Living in the Christian Faith

1. A Source of Hope and Comfort:

One of the central pillars of Christianity is the message of hope. Believers find solace in knowing that they are loved unconditionally by a higher power, who offers comfort and guidance in times of difficulty and uncertainty. This unwavering hope becomes an anchor in the storms of life, providing strength and resilience to face challenges with courage and determination.

2. Moral and Ethical Framework:

Christianity provides a moral and ethical framework that guides believers in their daily lives. The teachings of Christ emphasize virtues such as love, compassion, forgiveness, and honesty. These principles serve as a compass, helping individuals make decisions that align with their faith and contribute to the betterment of society. Living according to these values fosters integrity, strengthens relationships, and promotes a more harmonious and just world.

3. Community & Support:

Being part of a Christian community offers a sense of belonging and support. Churches and fellow believers provide a network of individuals who share common values and beliefs. This community becomes a source of encouragement, friendship, and emotional support during both joyful and challenging times. Christians often find solace in the knowledge that they are not alone, but rather surrounded by a supportive group of like-minded individuals.

4. Inner Peace and Contentment:

Living as a Christian brings a profound sense of inner peace and contentment. Through prayer, worship, and cultivating a personal relationship with God, believers experience a deep spiritual connection. This connection fosters a sense of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in life. It allows individuals to transcend worldly concerns and find lasting joy and satisfaction that comes from a profound spiritual connection.

5. Personal Transformation:

Christianity encourages personal growth and transformation. Through the teachings of Christ, believers are called to continually strive for self-improvement, humility, and a servant’s heart. Embracing these principles fosters personal growth, empowers individuals to overcome personal challenges, and equips them to positively impact the lives of others. Living as a Christian cultivates qualities such as empathy, kindness, and generosity, leading to a more fulfilling and purpose-driven life.

6. Guidance for Decision-Making:

Christianity provides a guiding light when making important life decisions. Believers seek divine wisdom through prayer and scriptural teachings to navigate choices that align with their faith. This guidance offers clarity and discernment, allowing individuals to make decisions that bring them closer to their God-given purpose and align with their values.

7. Eternal Perspective:

Living as a Christian offers believers an eternal perspective on life. Beyond the earthly realm, Christians believe in the promise of eternal life with God. This belief brings comfort, hope, and a sense of purpose that extends beyond the limitations of this world. It instills a focus on the greater purpose of life, encouraging individuals to prioritize values and actions that have eternal significance.

Conclusion:

Living as a Christian offers numerous benefits that extend beyond the spiritual realm. It provides hope, a moral framework, community support, inner peace, personal transformation, guidance, and an eternal perspective. These benefits enhance the quality of life and empower individuals to make a positive impact on the world around them. Ultimately, living as a Christian is a transformative journey that offers fulfillment, purpose, and an enduring connection with God.

Today’s reading is from the first is from the first chapter of Samuel sorry verses 6 through 18. Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband elkana would say to her; “Hannah why are you weeping? why don’t you eat? why are you

down-hearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons? Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up.

Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s House. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the

Lord weeping bitterly and she made a vow saying “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me and not forget your servant but give her a son then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head”. As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her “how long are you going to stay drunk? put away your wine” not so my Lord Hannah replied “I am a woman who is deeply troubled I have not been drinking wine or beer I was pouring out my soul to the Lord”. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief. Eli answered “go in peace and may the god of Israel Grant you what you have asked of him” she said “may your servant find favor in your eyes”. Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer

Downcast.

This is the word of the Lord

May the Lord be with you this morning. We are going to actually

talk a little bit more about Hannah’s grief or eight Divine instructions that

I could put together for the year 2023. But before I do so, let me take a moment

to acknowledge that so many of you have come to this new year.

Maybe in grief and everybody comes for so many of you maybe you just lost somebody that you love, if you lost husband, a wife, brother, sister, somebody who was very meaningful to you. I want to honor you as we speak today, as you know that you have come to Jesus who know how to console the broken hearted.

If you have been going through battles to know the God in Christ is with you and I would like to pray with you at the end of this service, Muhammad Ali says this; it isn’t the mountain ahead, it isn’t a mountain ahead to climb that wear you out, it’s a pebble in your shoe.

It isn’t the mountain that you are facing in your life, it’s not the big thing that is actually what you are facing, is not the Shadow or the umbrage of a big mountain and difficulty that is ahead of you. In this year and in the year to come, it’s not the big challenge

of that you need to worry about, it is not the big mountain that will wear you out. It’s the pebble in your shoe. I wonder if you’ve had that moment of pebbling your shoes when you walk, suddenly somehow through the events of life a little Pebble, a little Stone will get in your shoe and suddenly it creates a different kind of angst. Suddenly your walk is not steady anymore. Suddenly you’re not happy, there’s something bothering your walk. You try to walk on the side of your foot and you don’t feel good, you try to get it to go in front. It doesn’t work, you say, oh a pebble on my shoot for crying out loud.

I was just going to see my grandma, but there is a pebble I’m wrestling with. I’m

struggling to get rid of this little piece of rock, piece of dirt that is in my shoes and I don’t know how to get rid of that. How to free myself and how to shake it off.

David in the book of Psalm 57 verse 46 he declares us, he says this. He speaks about different Pebbles on people’s shoes, on his shoes. He says this my soul among lions. I lie among the sons of man who are set on fire. Whose teeth are Spears and arrows and

their tongue a sharp sword. That’s not nice. These are people who are out to get him he says. Among lions he describes the people. His critics as lions a month from the longest sons of man. He didn’t say this is just an animal. Say my people, some of the people from his own country, from his own Entourage, are against him. See they are set on fire because they are motivated. The teeth being the Spears and arrow, means the growling on him. The tongue is a sharp sword. They can speak nasty, wood have you met somebody who can just speak nasty words and it discourages you so fast.

Someone just look at you in a different way and you say, oh my Lord and you hate yourself already. They’ll make you hate yourself. Those are the kind of people he’s talking about. He says they have prepared a net for my step, it’s not a good thing a nurse that they are trying to trap him by the mannerism and he said my soul is bowed down.

Have you been there, where your soul is just crushed. He says this; they have dug a pit before me they want him to stumble, it really isn’t the mountain ahead to climb that where you are. It’s a pebble in your shoe, the daily Pebbles we carry of stress,

Anxiety, disappointments. Soul frustration that can overwhelm and cause much harm.

Maybe for you the people you are struggling with and maybe it’s grief, maybe it’s rejection, maybe your boyfriend just say let’s just be friends. Maybe the girl just told you hey I love you but why don’t we just be friends and you have come home and you look into a mirror and you hated yourself. So, you go to the mirror and you are there, you bow down, your soul is a cave inside those daily people of disappointment. Maybe you’ve been disappointed so much, promise that are not fulfilled. You know those pebbles, they can alter your walk, your attitude, your mood, the rhythm of your life and your shalom.

A little pebble, a little injury, maybe somebody made a comment about your size,

somebody made a comment about your way, somebody made a comment about the way your face looked. Like for me, I don’t care because I have a face only a mother will love. But for you, somebody made a comment on you.

So we find in the story today, we find this Hannah, struggling with her adversity and her adversity is described. In many ways, it’s like it’s a pebble. So the Bible says her arrival provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord has closed her womb. What was the purpose of her arrival? What does that say, what was the purpose? Well, I wonder what is it that her rivalry wouldn’t want to do to her to do what to be careful. Happy no, what did she want to make her to feel that misery. Have you been there when somebody want to make you feel miserable, to make you miserable, they are so overbearing. Their purpose is declared, they tell you it’s one thing when somebody wishes for you to be miserable, it’s another when the person say my job right now in your life is to make you be the most miserable person in the face of the Earth. This woman her rival which is her core spouse, she’s not happy with her and she’s mocking Hannah. She’s saying you don’t have a child so you’re really illegitimate. God has cursed you because you don’t have a child.

So you have somebody in your life who is just after you to destroy you, to cause misery to change the quality of your life. The Bible talk about our adversity, our adversary the devil is out. What he did to destroy, to seek, to kill, to destroy you and to

erode the quality of your life you experience of your life will be codified by their criticism,  by their rejection, by their word on you. But, notice this who made her, who closed her womb. Why did the Lord closed her womb, sometime the Lord does something to you and some are precisely a certain time. He tested you, he puts you to the test. That was a test, there is a test of your calling, God called you and there’s a test of character because Charisma is one thing. Some people are very charismatic but Charisma without character cannot take you to your destiny through a place that God calling.

So, if God has called you to something, to a purpose, he will test you. Me being charismatic, is not all that there is to me, it’s a character that carries me because if you are called by God, you will be tested so you need to be patient. It is important for you to know that if God is testing you, if God bring you to a testing ground, it is not to harm you,

is not to destroy you, it is not to delete you, it is not to counsel you. If God brought you to the testing ground, my brother, my sister, the whole world can stand against you but I’ll tell you the purposes of God, and yes and amen, and they shall be fulfilled.

I’m telling you the faninas of your life will stand against you, they will mock you, they will

yell at you, they will trivialize your situation, but I want you to know this, I want you to understand, he is still working on you and on me. When people find you, you are just like Hannah, your womb is closed, I mean you’re not productive. You’re not bearing fruit. Have you been there, maybe your business is not fruitful, maybe your family things are just not going well. Maybe it seems like if you are, listen to me. Nobody’s coming to church, nobody’s showing up, you put the party and nobody shall show up, this is the Lord tested and God tests his people. God never uses someone. Sometime let me repeat it at time. The Lord never used you unless he tests you and grieve you deeply. Sometimes God never uses you greatly until he tests you. For many of us we are giving up because of the test, the moment of test, that God has put before you and the scripture says this:

Penina, she was a source of Relentless provocation. Do you have any penina in your life? She is actually here, the villain of a story. She’s out to get Hannah, she’s mocking her. Not one week, the Bible says year after. Year after year, arrival to keep provoking her relentlessly because the enemy wanted her to give up. Penina wanted her to give up,  to give up trying. But what Penina didn’t know is that Hannah’s problem was a setup for God’s greatness and glory to manifest. Sometimes you don’t know that what you are struggling with. It’s a setup, God is working everything to his good according to his glory. If you are being tested, if your health is being tested, do not give up. The views struggling mental health problems do not give up. Don’t give up hope, the enemy wants you to give up hope because you are feeling like giving up hope. Everyday, you have the same problem and everybody wants to avoid you. I want you to know the Penina of the world sometimes, they will manifest unannounced. Very easy to be discouraged and to give up because that’s what the enemy want to do. The paninas of your life, they will discourage you. The word Hannah, it mean it actually means favor. What is her name favor, I want you to notice that now Hannah’s grief is that I can never measure up. I can never live up to my name. Her name is favor and guess what she misses, the most favor. It’s like you remember the Prayer of Jabez. His name is Jabez meaning he shall

cause pain.

So Jabez goes and prays to the Lord. He said Lord change my name. He said Lord help me. So, that I may not cause pain, Hannah her name means favor. But she’s struggling to live up to her name within the scripture. There is something. Sometimes your name the name of somebody is equal to their nature. They didn’t just name people like that by chance. Like this, they study this. So, her name is favor, but what she is experiencing in life is everything but favor. She is experiencing provocation, rejection, disfavor and her prayer is this. In first Samuel 1 18 she said Lord let your maid servant find a favor in your sight. She said all I want is favor, all I want is the mercies of God. The favor is the touch of God, is a relief from Heaven, it’s a hope from on high. Favor, when will I be visited by favor because I’m going through emotional bankruptcy. I have no child I have no descendant. There’s no generation, there’s nobody, no inheritance, what am I going to do.

Here’s the question for you what are the Pebbles in your shoes? This year, what are the pebbles in your shoes? It’s a bumpy road to better. It’s a bumpy yard distraction, silent frustrations, they can take you. Of course they keep you from seeing the bigger picture of your life. I want you to know no matter what happened, he’s got the whole world. Whatever happens, whatever frustration, whatever distraction, that you are having right now, I want you to know, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he left my fears are gone. Whatever you do in life, I want you to know it’s going to be a struggle. Whatever you do, it’s going to be a struggle. You call to be a pastor, it’s going to be a struggle. You’re called to be a nurse, it’s gonna be a struggle. You call to be a teacher, it’s going to be a struggle. So, you need to find the struggle that’s right for you. That one I didn’t make it up, I wrote it, I read in the book. I always say it, I like it. whatever you do in life will be a struggle so you need to find the struggle that is right for you. What’s your struggle?

Judges 6:1-18

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

I want to speak to you about a continuation of this passage, about finding remote places in the desert, dark places in your life where you feel isolated and you wonder where god is. Today, I want to talk about these three words “I Have Heard”. Like any piece of scripture, it describes a very sad situation. You have the people of Israel seated there and they have an enemy. Whenever they go see the enemy and watch for them, they come and destroy it all. So it seems like its someone committed to destroying them. The reason why the children of Israel find themselves there, is because of incessant sin, they have been living in rebellion to god and in opposition to themselves for years and years. As a result, God decided to rectify the situation, he sends pain to their brain in order to wake them up and this has always been his way of dealing with people. C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

When we have become deaf to what God is saying in this world, Deaf to what God is doing in our midst, we have decided to close our ears to what he is doing in our life. God will sometimes you a different megaphone to talk to us such as pain, prosecution, exile, personal health. God will use ways to speak to us. When you are in that moment of pain, it is God’s way of saying, I have heard the cry of my people.

In order for God to hear the cry of his people, somebody has got to call upon the name of the Lord. That’s what the bible says. There is something about the prayer of the faithful. The people of God have called. You must call in order to be heard. We hear about how God’s people were in exile for 400 years. The people of Israel were just living their own ways and God said I want to do something in their midst. When he wants to do something, he makes us uncomfortable. Just like the mother eagle, when its time for the baby eagle to fly, mother eagle stirs the nest. She takes down everything that makes the next comfortable. The mother eagle knows if you leave the baby in the nest for too long, the baby will not be able to fly. Every eagle is meant to fly like people are supposed to grow. If we are not, God will find a way to stir the next and make it uncomfortable for you.

People don’t like pain, we like our comfort. We have a culture of pleasure. The baby eagle flies when the nest is uncomfortable. This is how God dealt with Israel. The people are paralyzed, the enemy will come and paralyze you.

I want to share several sentences with you. Here is the first from the story of Gideon: “God does not see you as you are, he sees what you will become.” Gideon met God doing the ordinary thing, not the extraordinary. When it seems like there is nothing but defeat and fear has paralyzed us all, Gideon found courage to do one ordinary thing. He is not just sitting there. He snacked some grain and prepared it to eat. He saw the Lord and he greeted the Lord. The Lord referred to him as the mighty man of valour. Gideon asked if God is so mighty, why are we under occupation, why are we being persecuted. He began telling the human experience. Gideon is a model of a church. A church that is saying to itself, I can do nothing anymore, the enemy is too powerful for me. We have no people, no money, no way to survive. His story speaks to our story as a family. We don’t know what to do, we have no solution. The vast majority of us go to our grave without knowing who we are. We live someone else’s expectation of ourselves. God doesn’t see you as you are, he sees you as what you shall become.

You define yourself as your appearance. God doesn’t see you as that.

Second. “Private victory is a prerequisite to public trust”. This is the story of how Gideon took over. He had doubts. One day, God told him to go to the enemy camp and spy on them. When he goes, he overhears two people talking. One man says he had a dream that a man named Gideon would come and crush our tent and destroy us all. Gideon knew the Lord was working so he went back home with courage. Your private victory in prayer is a pre-requisite to public victory. Whatever you are facing, it is imperative that you personally take your matter to the lord and meet God. I cannot be the change the world wants unless I transform myself in God.

Three. “Start with what you got and you go nuclear”. We meet Gideon, he asks the lord “what am I going to do?” and the lord says, “start with what you got“. Always start with what you got. When God called Moses, Moses said “no, not me”. Moses’ staff became a snake when he dropped it. You can do the extraordinary with what you got. Samson defeated thousands. You have a nose, ears and eyes, these are all weapons. You have a voice and you can make a difference.

Four. “He dealt with the curse of his bloodline”. Worshipping foreign Gods and God said I cannot save you until you destroy it referring to monuments to adultery. In order to go ahead, you need to deal with what has been in your past. You must repents and demolish those curses. Gideon demolished his old history. Otherwise, you will not find your destiny. Do not make idols out of your pleasure.

Five. In Gods plan, destiny is closely linked to gift offering. The first thin Gideon did was make a sacrifice. Whatever he had, he sacrificed the animal and gave an offering. He said the food of yesterday will not sustain me for what you have for me tomorrow. I have no safety, no inheritance. He surrendered everything. He said he will survive on the Lord. If you start a business, you have to give everything to it. The journey of God is a journey of surrender. We give it all up.

Six. We must learn to obey, even if the result doesn’t make sense to us. It might not make sense, but it will awaken the enemy as the enemy expects you to fight another way. Jesus is our strength to fight with the word of God. God can guide in ways that make no sense.

Seven. We must learn to confront and defeat fear. Three key emotions that dominate us, fear, shame and anger. Gideon needed to learn to defeat his fear. We must learn how also. God said if you want to fight my battle, you can’t use human materials. God told Gideon to recruit for his team. Gideon grew the congregation to 300 men of valour. The Lord said, the power is not in numbers. If you make a mistake of making a friend a comrade, you will be demolished. You need a confident, they will fight for you, they will be there for you. If you can find three confident in your life, you will prevail. The church and congregation is run by 20% of people. They are the people who commit to it, they devote their resources to it. A confident will make you look good despite what the whole world may think. They have our best interests. Even Jesus operated like that. Don’t be enamoured by a crowd. When the presence of the lord is with us, there is only confusion in the enemy. He who is with us, is greater than he who is against us. “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect through weakness, I will boast all the more about my weakness so that christ’s power will rest on me. That is why, for christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties”. Corinthians 12:9,10

Like most of us, I’ve read Christmas stories thousands of times. I have studied and translated his first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. I supplemented these readings by trying to understand how Israel’s understanding of the prophets’ description of the Messiah affected their reception of Jesus. Each time we read these verses we discover new insights and wonders about the glory of God’s great risk to our salvation in sending His Son into our world.

As you can imagine, I have some theories. For example, Luke tells us that when he was born, Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes and put him in a manger.
actually? He is debating whether to buy this or not.

Have you ever seen a nativity scene? For those of us who grew up on a farm, the manger is just a poetic representation of the feeder. Have you ever seen a bait box? Do you know what’s in your feeder? The first is hay or animal feed, mainly grains such as corn and oats. So what does that mean if the outer container contains grain? Wrong. As you move the food inside the feeder, you can see all sorts of small creatures at the bottom of the feeder eating grains and trying to hide under the food.

If there are bugs, then there are rats. I’ve never been to a barn without rats. The dining options are too tempting.

stick to that thought The second part of my theory is this. In the ministry of the Church, the most demanding, critical, and imposing person we come across is the primiparous woman. A mother who takes her first child to kindergarten is one of the wildest creatures you’ll ever meet. She wants to know when the room was last cleaned. When was the last time the toy was sanitized? Is wall paint safe for babies? When was the last time you washed your baby sheets? When was the last time you wiped the crib?

(The same mother drops her child off at the nearest curb when the second or her third child arrives, but the first child is a whole new experience.)
Now let’s go back to Maria. she is a new mom She just gave birth to her first son, and besides, he is the Son of God. She doesn’t let baby Jesus anywhere, especially in the feeder.

Here’s what I think happened. Mary was tired after giving birth. she wanted to rest So she would have given the baby to Joseph. Joseph, being a new dad, would have held the baby for a while, but the baby would be heavy. Eventually Joseph got tired too, and when he looked around he would have seen the manger.

Joseph would have thought:
The hay is soft, the manger is the perfect size for baby Jesus, and he puts Jesus in the manger for a short time. He picks him up again before Mary wakes up.
what can I say? Joseph is a man. He would have seen the manger and then Jesus. He would have noticed that the manger and the baby were about the same size, making it the perfect place for Jesus in the manger to rest. Baby could rest. Mary could rest and so could he. What is the problem?

Mothers around the world are disgusted at the thought of their newborn babies sleeping in feeders. what did you do When did the exhausted Mary give you the baby? Did you draw him to your chest and hold him close to your heart? Or have you found a suitable spot to beat him?

Every decision in our life, everything we dream and hope for, depends on that decision. The Christmas scandal isn’t that Jesus was born. The scandal is that Jesus came to us. The transgression of Christmas is not that Jesus was put in a manger, but that God placed Christ in the filthy hearts of people like you and me.
God knew in His wisdom that we cannot reach Him. It’s not because you don’t try hard enough. It is beyond our capabilities. We don’t have the wisdom, the courage, or the compassion to do what we have to do. Just looking at today’s problems reminds me that most of them were solutions to yesterday’s problems. Coal burning met our energy needs yesterday. Burning coal today causes climate change. We repeat this unfortunate cycle in every aspect of our lives. When we fix one area of ​​our life, we break it in another.

By entering the history of mankind, my father broke these chains of despair. That was God’s choice. Now, at Christmas, he’s waiting for us to decide – what will you do when God gives you a baby?

So we see a man in the scripture, in Mark chapter 3, who is suffering with an affliction. The scripture said that there was a man there with a withered hand. Notice that there was a man with a withered hand and he was in the company of people but he had a disability, he had a withered hand

and that was the situation that plagued his life.

Trauma

Talking about a man with reflection, the scripture says he somehow lost

his riches. Luke talked about that to say that it was his right hand. There’s something called the gospel of hebrew that said he was a carpenter

who just got injured recently so we’re talking about somebody who has

been traumatized. We we catch him with living with the trauma.

His life was somehow colored or bent or twisted, by a traumatic encounter and in this man’s story we all find ourselves there, whatever there might be.

We are talking about in scripture is in the company of christ. It is in the congregation of the faithful. In many societies, the left hand was

considered unclean, so following his paralysis, he was down to his unclean hand. He was down to what people say will define you, he was shriveled broken and he was reduced to his dysfunction.

Reduced to his symptoms. Funny how sometimes, that’s how we define

people, we define them by their symptoms. This person is a person with a disability. They’re depressed, we define them by their problem and so this guy

makes a decision to be there, he was probably disappointed,

disappointed in the way his life had turned to be.

He is living perhaps within himself deformed, perhaps living with regret like everybody else.

We all have deformities and some are more visible than others

Life sometimes has a way of defining by that deformity. It can come from within, it can be the way we think about ourselves, or the way we think about our world, or the way we think about god.

It can impair our perception. If the word information, people think it’s about reading the article the newspapers, information if you go back to the root of that word, it meant inner-formation, the formation of the inside of the person.

This person was deformed in the sense that the order of god, the order that was within him, was out of line. You see we all have deformities in our lives. Our thinking is what you believe about yourself, that is making you see the world the way you are seeing it right now. We all have impaired vision, impaired cognition but this man chose to show up in the presence of god, that’s all he could do. What he did not know is that his disappointment would be god’s appointment with him.

Sometimes as we journey along in our disappointment, we don’t know that heaven is out to repair an injury within us. It’s so easy to judge a person by their abilities or by their disabilities, but god places him for his glory to be manifested. He did not know that it would be something about his life this man did not know that one day some bushmen would be talking about him. He was only an ordinary fellow who showed up on a sunday morning disappointed, discouraged, not knowing that god would make something for him and of his story.

You don’t know what you sound like to the devil. God is working in your story

even right now, but in showing up in church, in showing up in the presence of

jesus, this man represented the church.

How This Involves The Church

He was the story of what church looked like today. He’s a metaphor of what the church looked like today, he’s a metaphor of a church with a

withered hand problem. You see it is easier to hide it, than to show

it most people. When they have that kind of deformity, they want to hide it. He showed up anyway, and the church of today has so many of these deformities. But we are good at hiding it, we have a church that is hemorrhaging

more and more. He said that today, as many as a hundred thousand churches

in America will be dying and their time is short, perhaps less than 10 years and they did not vote to die, they simply voted not to live. They didn’t see it coming, it’s like the word of daniel, chapter five. Many, many take a look at the person you have been, the way you have been measured and you have been found. One thing we’re talking about the church and the siege, in quest for relevance and credibility.

You see we have a church that need to stop conducting services, and begin creating a movement that profoundly change the toxic environment.

The sick stories people believe about themselves because, if you can alter the story of somebody, if you can change the story somebody tells about themselves, you will capture their heart and you will change their lives in Jesus’ name. The true problem is that the stories that people tell about themselves deform them. The stories that we believe about who we are, about and who our wives are, who our children are, those stories are powerful and they are defining us.

Being Offended

We have a church that is easily offended, we have a people, a community easily offended. Don’t do that because people are going to be offended? 

But the gospel is offensive, the gospel by nature is offensive. You see the pharisees were looking for a reason to accuse him or to get offended on account of him. But, the bible said love is not easily offended, but many of us live and the symptom that we display is our offense. 

The fruit we are harvesting, is the fruit of the offense that we gathered from the people around us. In what ways is your offense dictating the quality of life you are experiencing this morning? We are offended by our spouses, offended by our husband, offended by our children, offended by the word, offended by the church, offended by everybody, offended by our government. Offense, offense, offense, it’s diabolical what is happening in our society. Our experience of life is darkened, demolished, broken, and fractured by the offensive, because of your offense you don’t want to visit a sister or a brother. Because of the offense, when you took offense and you were easily offended, you don’t want to talk to somebody who is in your life, that you haven’t talked to in the past year, because you were offended.

Your offense is governing your life, and the pharisees were there with this man, in fact, they pushed him forward because they thought jesus might heal them and they would take offense, so they set themselves up to be offended. I wonder if sometimes we set ourselves up to take offense. I wonder if sometimes we position ourselves to be offended to be easily offended so that we can stop going to church, so we can stop doing the very thing. As if going to church was a lot. As if you showing up here, is by force. Nobody forced you to come here, because god sent you. You didn’t come here because your mama told you to come, you came here because god spoke to you, so you are obeying god. Do it because god led you, don’t come to please a man. Live your life fully, and do it from who you are and be bold in that. 

It’s time for you to show up, the way God created you. You see, they are waiting for an offense, to take many at a time, not only are we struggling as a church, we’re dealing with the world, with his hand, intolerance and war. We can’t tolerate each other anymore. We’re talking about war in ukraine and war around the world because people, they want to display their power, racism, tribalism in africa and many of our countries where i’m from, people are fighting and killing each other. Exclusion, excommunication, materialism, rejection of the divine practices. Practical atheism, persecution of the other, quest for power and subjugation blame and injustice. We follow the polls, we don’t serve our people dealing with the withered hand culture. It’s not just a church with a withered hand, it’s not just a world with a withered hand, it’s a culture that is permeated. It’s loveless orthodoxy. We talk about the right doctrine, you say you’re gonna live the right way but there’s no love you cannot orthodoxy without love. There is no orthodoxy at all.

Obsession with process, with religion instead of people. We put religion ahead of people. Sermons over service, it’s all about the sermon, it’s not about serving the people, pastoral care, pastoral meditation, being there.

It’s a puppet over prayer we don’t pray anymore. It’s judgment over justice, religion over relationship, doctrine over devotion, hand out with a hand up. You see jesus did not give a hand out to this man, he gave that man a hand up and sometime as a child, we know we are good to giving hand outs.

We take your little toys and give it away, just a hand out, but we don’t give people a hand up.

Called To The Church

God called his church to be people who gave our people a hand up.

Help somebody to be and become the better version of himself. It’s hate, hate is a withered hand, bitterness withers our hand, intolerance, political interest, exclusion.

God does not bless this system. The church, we did this before and i think we can do it again. So, let me share some things that can help you change your life, and change the world. Something that can help you play your hand. I call it the play your hand manifesto:

Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from celebrating what’s undefinable.

You see this man showed up, he had a disability. He showed up, nonetheless. He did not let what was wrong with his hand, what was wrong with his right hand, decide how he was. He showed up with a disability anyways.

What is wrong with you? Whatever thing is wrong with you, must not define your life. You got to celebrate what’s right with you. You know what’s undefinable in you? Christ in you, and christ in you cannot be defined. The truth of god in you cannot define, so don’t let what’s wrong with you, stop you from reaching out. Don’t let what’s wrong with you, make you crawl in your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you, stop you from loving provocatively. Don’t let what is wrong with you, stop you from opening your hand and reaching out and embracing others, loving the unlovable. Don’t let what is wrong with you stop you. It’s time to reach out, to stretch out your hand.

It’s time for you to reach out beyond, if you stretch out your hand, you will realize you can reach further than you think. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from celebrating what’s right with you.

Don’t let those who have left you, keep you from celebrating those that are left with you. 

Embrace Your Relationships

You see, in our lives and our stories in the relationship, sometimes people come and people go. Any of this you’re going to learn to embrace those that god gives you. Embrace those that god give you. That’s it, you don’t own anybody. Don’t ever talk somebody to stay with you, if a season is gone with you, let them go. Someone asked you to go out with you. Boyfriend, girlfriend and then let’s just let them walk. Don’t talk them into staying with you, let them go. Go bless you. Release them to go their way, have your way, bless you and don’t take offense about it. Sometimes much suffering comes, when we try to hold on to people, the wrong people, not that because they are wrong, because they see much more. Pain is one thing, suffering is another. If somebody smacks you, that’s pain. But suffering is whatever you say to yourself after the pain stops. Somebody slapped you because you were smart, or scolded you or maybe insulted you, mistreated you like you felt physical pain. Now suffering is what you do after you leave them. You hang on to and you harbor much hatred. Suffering, you don’t need to hang on to suffering, you can be free from that in the name of Jesus christ. 

Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Live for the applaud, the applause of God, the hand of christ and trust the god who created and redeems by blood. 

This is land and the easter season we’re celebrating. The coming and he’s death on our behalf. Live us as today is your first day. You see just live for the approval of heaven, not the approval of man. Stretch your hand straight up and choose an unstuck and unapologetic life of significance. Know yourself like your success depends on it. Know yourself, stretch out. You know don’t apologize for being here. I’m sorry you don’t have to apologize for being here, here, I am not sorry for being me. If you like me, it’s your problem. If you don’t like me it’s your problem. What’s your problem? If you hate me, go ahead, that’s your problem. It’s at your own risk, I don’t care. Me being liked, doesn’t define how i show up. If you are living your life for being liked, before you can show up and give the world your very best, you are cursed. You are living a cursed life. Be delivered and you need prayer and you need therapy too.

You cannot live your life by permission from others. God gave you the permission, you know him. Live your life provocatively, do not wait for anybody to give you permission to be the very person that god mentioned. Stop pointing out problems, become part of the solution and stop repeating the past and start creating the future.

Internal Deformations

Sometimes when you are deformed within, when you have that deformation, it could be a cognitive deformation the way you know or maybe it’s in your belief system. 

When there is a deformation inside you, what happens is you live your life to see problems. You go from problem to problem, and problem to problem. I once bought a Rav4. Before buying the Rav4, I had never seen a rav4 in Lethbridge. Then I saw a Rav4, and another and another. Everybody has a Rav4.

Sometimes, given our own experiences we have a bias.Sometimes when you’ve been through trauma all you see is traumatized people.

Sometimes we need to train ourselves out of living in the problems, stop pointing out problems but begin thinking that you are placed there as a solution. You see when you read the text of mine, the pharisee thought Jesus will heal them. They didn’t think that god brought that man with a deformed hand for them to heal them. Maybe he belonged to the pharisees to reach out and to bless this man. You see, they didn’t think there was a solution but they were waiting to take an offense if somebody took care of the problem that they themselves are reluctant to take care of. They’re there to judge and to slap the hand. Curse the church that slap the hand of anybody who want to rise up. I don’t want to be that kind of church. If somebody has a vision we don’t want to crush them. You see, stop being the problem, you are the solution.

You Can Be The Solution

Be the help that people need, be the solution that the world needs, you are the answer.

When’s the last time someone truly showed you Grace

How many of you have heard about the story of Jimmy Baker he was a great evangelist very known all around the world, very popular he was like a big deal and then he crashed and he had someproblem and then he ended up in jail. When you’re so prominent and you end up in jail there’s a lot of shame that comes with it.

Jim baker was given the job of going and cleaning the toilet in jail. It’s like, think about a celebrity in Christendom in those days, he wrote the books and is most popular. His Crusade was attended by many people. He is the greatest man the greatest preacher shamed and nobody wanted to associate with him.

Because he sinned, he crashed, he fell deep down the mud of humanity. He entangled himself in what tempted him the most and the shadow side of his life overtook him blindsided him and he was locked up.

You see Christians are funny. When you are popular, everybody wants to be around you. When you sin, nobody wants to be around you. When you’ve fallen short of a glory of God which the Bible said, everybody all have fallen short of the glory of God, it’s no longer popular. Nobody want to be around you. It seemed like we’ve devised a Christianity of faith and a forgiveness we say, if you ask God for forgiveness he’ll forgive you but even if God forgive you we still believe, we must punish you first because we want you to suffer enough and we have decided what enough means.

I’m saying this prophetically to the church because we live in the days that many of us brothers, the Bible says the way to help people is Grace and love and we need more of a treatment of love and grace, not more hatred. You do the loving, let God do the judging.

the day you and I begin taking the Judgment seat is the day we lose our spiritual ability and strength and presence.

And so, back to Jim Baker is there cleaning a toilet, then someday he heard someone say Jim Baker, you have a visitor. He said nobody will come visit me, I’m just good for cleaning the toilet.

There’s somebody here to visit. Nobody comes, who will come can visit me?

And they say would that matter if it is somebody named Billy Graham? Baker Billy Graham is here to see you.

Billy Graham was a renowned evangelist, known for his integrity and his simplicity in his message of grace and salvation. God used him greatly and mightily. And so, timidly he walked out into this waiting room and guess who he sees, Billy Graham. If there is somebody who should have fled from Jim Baker, it is Billy Graham because he is the antithesis of Jim Baker. People see Billy Graham as a man of integrity and they saw Jim Baker as a man of disintegrity. Where Billy Graham was a man who was faithful or careful this guy was not, and yet somehow in this moment when Jim Baker was muddied over sin, that the media and everybody were just really talking about it, Billy Graham showed up.

We have been talking about the sixth passion of Jesus and one of those passion is visiting those in prison, is doing Justice to others and those who are forsaken. Jim Baker still ended up doing his time in jail. When he came out of jail, he needed to go to a church, he found himself a church to attend. He who used to have many churches he built incredible universities and he went to a church just to hide. When he went to a our church he sat in the very front in order to hide himself, only to be surprised because somebody else was waiting for there for him.

Billy Graham again. When is the last time you’ve been shown Grace, Amazing Grace. When was the last time you received that Ministry of Grace. I believe there’s something about the human heart, there is something about our world and our condition, that can only be mitigated, when the grace of God is applied to the need of what a wreck like me and you.

Amazing Grace. I don’t want you to leave this place without experiencing that Grace, that unmerited favor, that undeserved love. The grace of God is here, and the Bible said where there is sin, his grace abound even more. That’s not what I prepared to preach, but somehow it pleases the Lord for me to share this with somebody who may need to know this. The grace of God abounds.

I have been called by God to preach nothing but the grace of God, by grace I live through faith. Can I pray for you that Grace, Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound the saved a wretch like me. Fill this place with your grace and your love in Jesus name.

The Holy Catholic Church’s identity and self-understanding are anchored in the Anglican spiritual tradition of being Catholic, Evangelical, and Protestant. This communion is known as the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC). We make an effort to uphold and adhere to the religion as it was imparted to us by the Apostles through the global mother church the Church of England, a group of Anglicans.

A communion with parishes that are fully evangelical, fully charismatic, and fully liturgical and sacramental is what the CEEC wants.

As Evangelicals, we hold that the Holy Scriptures are God’s inspired Word and that they are the only source of information that can lead to salvation and a life of holiness. We are dedicated to consistently reading, researching, imparting knowledge from, and preaching the Scriptures. We consider the Holy Scriptures to be a source of spiritual development. We also accept the distinctiveness of being evangelical, which emphasizes the value of having a close relationship with Jesus Christ, leading a holy life, and being dedicated to evangelism and mission.

As Charismatics, we hold that God’s people have always been a spiritually gifted people and that we are to be receptive to the work of the Holy Spirit. Christians have been given a strength greater than themselves, a power from the Holy Spirit, from the Apostles to the current church. In other words, we urge our parishes to expect and welcome His involvement (through the spiritual gifts) in our worship, everyday deeds of service, and intimate relationship with Him.

The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church and the CEEC are in communion with one another. This indicates that we are historically liturgical and sacramental at the core of our worship.

We still practise the threefold ministry, the episcopacy, and the historical creeds. As in the Anglican spiritual tradition, we hold that worship should be liturgical, and the many Books of Common Prayer provide the best expression and guidance for us in this regard. We draw inspiration for our worship rituals and liturgy from a variety of historical periods, including the Protestant Reformation and the rich, deep, and extensive traditions of Catholicism.

The CEEC’s mission is to be a modern communion that combines ministry grounded in the ecclesiastical past and present with modern worship and spiritual renewal while looking to the present and future in ways that are appropriate.

Addressing the needs of both churchgoers and non-churchgoers. It is a media channel that accepts that both Protestants and Catholics are “one in Christ.”