Author: Daniel20Zopoula_Lethbridge23 (Page 4 of 4)

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.”

Joining a religious commuity has many benefits, many of which were discussed. Many people continue in the religion in which they were born and raised. Many people who were not born into a religion but wish to join a religious community, may have trouble deciding which religion to join and how to apprach that community. If you fit into this category, I hope this article will guide you into making the right choice for you.

Match Your Expectations

If you are considering joining a religion, you most likely have some expectation of beliefs that a religion has. If so, the first step is to match your expectations with the beliefs of the religion. In order to do so, take some time to note the key factors in what you believe or want the religion to believe. You can also identify factors you do not believe and wish to exclude from your search. The more specific your needs, the less religions that may be available to you.

Do a Literature Research

Begin your research by sourcing books on general religions. This could help you focus on a smaller group of religions. A suitable book will describe the origins and evolution of a religion through history.

If possible, you could expand your literature research to include the main text for the religion such as the Bible, Torah, Vedas etc. As the basis for the religious practice is based on the information held within the text, it is important to understand the reasons for each aspect of the religion. However, something to remember is that without guidance, these may be confusing and they don’t usually read like books so reading one may be more appropriate with someone who is educated in the religion.

Speak with Religious Leaders

Make an appointment to talk with a senior member of the religion, preferably someone who is highly experienced and/or educated in the details of the religion. Examples include bishops, priests, preachers, elders, rabbis etc. In some cases, a religion will have someone specific that is responsible for facilitating new people into the religion.

When talking with this person, ask them to explain anything you do not yet understand about the religion.

Ask them the process for joining the religion. This can vary dramatically among religions from simply attending service to multiple years of study.

Ask about the religious community’s expectations of you as a member. How much active participation can you have or will you be required to have. This can vary a great deal but as with many religions, much of the responsibilities may be optional/voluntary.

You may be interested to know the role of the religion in the local community. As many religions are involved in charities and community groups, it may be important to you that your religion takes part in local groups.

As religious communities are typically a source of friendships for many members of religious groups, you may want to know how social the community is and what events facilitate socialising.

Most religions rely on monetary donations or contributions. As you will likely be a contributor, you may want to know how that money is distributed/used to see if you agree with its use.

Sample the Religious Celebration

In many cases, you will be welcome to attend a ceremony such as a sunday service or other celebration of the religion. How a religion is celebrated is important and may be a primary factor in your decision.

Making a Decision

Before making your decision, consider all the information you have found out about each of the religions you were considering. Write down the pros and cons for each and consider how these factors fit into your life and correlate with your beliefs.

Another important thing to consider is the impact of joining a religion on your life, and anyone close to you, in particular, family members. If you are joining a religion, your new belief system may or may not be like those of your family members and friends. Consider if this will have an impact on your life, either positive or negative.

Devote Yourself

Once you have chosen your preferred religion, you should begin the process of joining. When you do this, do it wholeheartedly. Religion is something you must devote yourself to in order to get the most out of it.