Aloha Friday Message – June 10, 2022 – Wholly Holy, LORD!

June 10, 2022

2223AFC061022 – Wholly Holy, Lord!

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

    Proverbs 8:22, 30-31 – 22 “Adonai made me [Wisdom] as the beginning of his way,
the first of his ancient works. [ … ]
30 I was with him as someone he could trust.
For me, every day was pure delight,
as I played in his presence all the time,.
31 playing everywhere on his earth,
and delighting to be with humankind.
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Psalm 8:4-5 – 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God*,
and crowned them with glory and honor
*Some authorities translate the Hebrew word elohim as “angels”; Elohim is one of the Torah names of God (↔ Click Link, please) for example in Genesis 1:26.

Romans 5:1-2 – 1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

John 16:12-15 – 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you, ʻŌmea! This coming Sunday is called Trinity Sunday. Can you guess what we will cover in this post? Well, let’s get going and see if your guess was right.

Looking at all these verses gives me great Joy and Hope. God created the Earth with Wisdom – Wisdom was the first Quality of God he called forth. Everything he made, he made for Loving. He made the Universe because he Loved it, and he made us – his earthlings – so he could Love us and we could Love him, too. Then his new earthlings messed up and fell into sin and death – that was NOT what he had planned; BUT he already had an Absolutely Perfect Plan to deal with it – Redemption and Salvation through Christ Jesus. Jesus told his Apostles – and they tell us – that God would send the Holy Spirit to help them (and us!) to remember everything he taught and that the Holy Spirit would also defend us against the Devil. Thinking about that is so reassuring; in fact it gives all of us Blessed Assurance (↔ Music Link). Sometimes it’s hard for us to wrap our head around that Love and Forgiveness. But then we think about what the Psalmist said, and it’s even more amazing.

When one looks at the totality of Creation and realizes how Magnificent it is, it is astounding that so Great a God could make all of that, put us in it, and still care about us when we turned our back on him! Who are we that so Great a God could care about us after that? He created his earthlings to be a tad-bit lower than the Angels but still crowned them with glory and honor. He can do that because his Glory and Honor is above All Things, Times, and Places. He is Great and Wonderful in every way, and when we look toward him we cannot help but think, “My God, How great though art! (↔ Music Link)

Yet, even though he is betrayed by us day-by-day, one-by-one, we still can find Peace and safety in his Glorious Grace through faith in Christ Jesus through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. For someone created “just a tad-bit lower than the angels,” that is a BIG step up! It would be impossible without Grace because we do not have the power to procure our own Salvation. “Being true to oneself” isn’t a ticket to Heaven by any means. It is a fruitless exercise to work out DIY exercises to save any soul.

In fact the best advice is DDIY – DON’T Do It Yourself! (↔ Click Link) We need to remember that that’s how Lucifer was tossed out of Heaven. We earthlings, on the other hand, need to rely on God’s Amazing Grace (↔ Music Link) because only through the willing sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son is there redemption. What a tremendous blessing there is in that admission of loss and conversion. It is through conversion, remember, that we come to know God: “Repent and believe the Gospel.” When we do that we are able to share in the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. Do you remember those?

“Open your Bibles to Galatians 5:22-23 and read,” 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.” Against what things is the Apostle Paul making contrast? If you’ll click on that link for Galatians you’ll see this Scripture passage in context. There’s some pretty nasty stuff in that part – the kind of stuff we see on the evening news all the time. We would rather have a blessing of benediction (↔ Music Link) from God than an accusation of our sin from the World. (That benediction can be found in Numbers 6:24-26. Follow this link to see it presented in phonetic Hebrew.) That kind of Peaceful rest in God’s Mercy is wonderful, but – if we think further on it – it makes us want to jump up and Praise the Lord. Here’s what the Psalmist had to say about it:

Psalm 148:1-2 –. 1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!

We all know a tune usually referred to as “The Doxology.” (↔ Music Link) It is a brief hymn of praise and is often regularly included in worship services. We praise “God in three persons,” the Holy Trinity, in those words just as we praise the Trinity when we sing “Glory to God (↔ Music Link) in the highest. I hope you are not tired of seeing this because I feel I must insert it again.

(Music Link ↔) LIGHT ≡ GOD ≡ TRUTH ≡ WAY ≡ LIFE ≡ ETERNAL ≡ LOVE

We are blessed to have the Holy Spirit in our hearts making our bodies a Temple unto the Lord. “With the Father and the Son he is adored and glorified.” (↔ Click Link) when we surrender our lives, our hearts, our wills to Christ, he will make us wholly Holy so that we will be able to be reunited with God – his Father and our Father – for ever-and-ever. And that is because –

We have Christ! Christ is ours! Christ is our Light, so we let our light shine! I just want to encourage you to Take Time To Be Holy (↔ Music Link) and to remember You Can’t Be A Beacon if your light don’t shine (↔ Music Link) so that God may be all in all. It’s just like Jesus said in one of our Key Verses – He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. And ʻŌmea, if your light is shining, then someone else might be able – in God’s Good Grace – to say I Saw The Light (↔ Music Link), and wouldn’t that be a terrific Gift to our Heavenly Father? We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who Love and cherish us – one-by-one – since the dawn of Creation which wasbrought about with Wisdom! That makes me want to sing Bless the Lord O my Soul (↔ Music Link). Now, please, everyone fold your hands, bow your heads, and let’s lift our hearts, and minds, and voices together to sing and to pray –

AMEN!

ʻŌmea, the Key Verse icon for today should be a GIF file. If the copy you received does not move, you can see what it was supposed to do HERE. (↔ Click Link) Have a wonderful Glorious, Joyful, and Edifying Trinity Sunday! Make it wholly Holy!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – June 3, 2022 – Who ya gonna call?

June 3, 2022

2222AFC060322 – Who ya gonna call?

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

    Psalm 104:29-30 – 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – 14 Those who are unspiritual[1] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Our title has a familiar ring to it. We’ve had that question from “Ghost Busters” several times (↔ Click Link) before, but never answered the question. Today, that is what we will focus on – Who ya gonna call? There’s a bunch of Scripture here, so here we go!

I am led to begin with a personal story. On Labor Day, 1999, I became very ill. I was on call for drug testing at the hospital where I was the laboratory manager. We had a contract with the local casinos just outside of Phoenix for testing their employees. I was called out to collect the specimens used for testing. I did not realize it, but I had a very high fever. Perspiration from my head and chest actually soaked the forms I was filling out. The next day I went to see my doctor. He thought I had Valley Fever and gave me medicines for that. I got worse. I went back to the doctor and X-rays were taken. There were signs of a serious pneumonia which might have been Valley Fever but did not act like that. I felt some better when prescribed antibiotics, well enough, in fact, to take a trip to Kauaʻi for Christmas week. When I got back I was getting even more congested, weak, and feverish. They sent me to see a pulmonologist. He accurately diagnosed me with a very serious and advanced infection that was destroying the middle section of my right lung. He put me on some powerful medications and sent me to bed-rest. Over the next several weeks I lay in bed, feverish, sweating, and coughing. We had to put a liner under the bottom-sheet to keep the mattress from getting wet. I lost 25% of my body mass. Finally I recovered enough to go back to work – light duty, half days only. I had a great many hours to think and to pray. During that time my heart and soul prompted me thus: “Get to know the Holy Spirit. You have time, now, so make Him your Friend.” Surprisingly, this illness was not one of my three round-trip excursions down that long tunnel with the bright light at the end.

Many hours during the day and night I asked the Holy Spirit to come to sit with me on the edge of the bed and to hold my hand. I held out my hand to accept his touch. Even to this day, I am surprised to be able to say, “It worked.” In fact, the Holy Spirit became my greatest friend, and I talk with him, work with him, pray with him, listen to him as much as I can. Sometimes I do not listen as well as he wants, and I get a not-so-subtle reminder to wake up and pay attention. Every time I sit down to write one of these posts, I start by using this prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, instructed the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

I cannot claim to have any extraordinary piety because of this relationship because there is, in fact, nothing extraordinary about it. Everyone who has been properly baptized and confirmed has the Holy Spirit dwelling within and around them. In baptism – as instructed by Jesus himself – a person is baptized “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” and the Holy Spirit is conferred upon the new member of the Church through the laying on of hands after anointing with chrism (a sacred oil), the bestowing of a white garment, and the Ephphatha – the opening of the ears to receive the Gospel and the mouth to proclaim the Gospel. Baptism produces an indelible mark on the soul of the baptized. It is permanent and cannot be eradicated. Not only does this mark make your heart and soul a place of sanctity, but also it serves as a warning sign to the Devil that we have been claimed for God in Christ Jesus. Here’s an example of that.

We are further gifted with the presence of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation. Ideally baptism and confirmation should be chronologically close. There was a period in the Church when confirmation was deferred until high school age, but many dioceses have returned to the “normal order” of baptism followed by confirmation when the Bishop or presiding Priest says “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” In the epistles of the Apostle Paul and other letter-writers, that is how it happens – baptism and then confirmation in the Holy Spirit. Now, why go into all this detail about something that most of us generally overlook? I want us to refocus on the F.A.C.T. that we are all Following All Christ Taught, and one of the most important things he taught was that His Father would send to them “Power from on High,” the Holy Spirit who would teach them all things and remind them of everything he had told them. See Luke 24:49 and John 14:26 (← Check it out!), I’ll wait. What are we supposed to do with that information? It’s simple – PRAY.

Who among us prays to the Holy Spirit? Do we know that we can? Do we know how? Do we know why? Let’s start with that, the “why.” In the opening prayer, have you ever heard something that sounds like this: “O God, creator and redeemer of mankind, who have given us the pathway to your heavenly Kingdom …”? Our ears momentarily want to hear “who has given us.” But God is community, Trinity – plural. We pray to God the Father, we pray to God the Son, so why not pray to God the Holy Spirit? When I first considered that question during my recovery period back in 2000, my response was, “What do I say?” Guess what happened next?! The Holy Spirit answered and said, “Anything you would say to the Father or the Son.” At that point it all fell into place. I had asked – prayed – for the Holy Spirit to sit by me, to hold my hand, to comfort me. I also prayed to Jesus and the Father, mostly for healing or at least relief and release, but I invited the Holy Spirit to be with me. It was then that I first learned the prayer “Come Holy Spirit,” and I know it is a True and Effective prayer, because he does come and he does speak. I again urge you to visit “Hearing the Voice of God” which is a one-month course of daily teachings and meditations that will help you understand and recognize that God have always been speaking to us. We’re just not listening! In fact, many of us have chosen to be deaf and blind when it comes to speaking to and hearing from God. When we cannot see or hear him we are dismayed. When we cannot access the Spirit of God, we are dead and return to the dust. When we at last do respond to his sending forth his Spirit, we are renewed in New Life. (See our quote from Psalm 104 above). As the Apostle Paul tells us, we cannot discern the Holy Spirit because his presence and Gifts are spiritually discerned, not empiracally deduced. Here are a few other clues about hearing the Holy Spirit:

Romans 8:12-13 – 12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:14-17 – 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[2] of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children (↔ Click Link for an image) of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

John 20:22 – 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This is the Ruach (↔ Click Link) of God who moved across the face of the waters in Genesis.

I also invite your careful attention to §2670-2672 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There you will find this excellent prayer: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Heavenly King, Consoler Spirit, Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, treasure of all good and source of all life, come dwell in us, cleanse and save us, you who are All Good.” Our every breath is confirmation of our Creation. The Blessed Trinity are our Creators and we are their creation. All creation rightly gives them joyful thanks and praise – ALL of them. Here is another prayer that helps us hear him and willingly cooperate with his promptings:

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit by St. Augustine of Hippo
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen. And there are a couple of music links you might wish to try:

Veni Sancte Spiritus by Mozart (↔ Music Link)
Come Holy Ghost which dates back to the eighth century (↔ Music Link)

ʻŌmea, I need all the help I can get in this messy life of mine, and since the Holy Spirit is always here, and since we’ve become friends, I enjoy all the time I can spend with him – because he’s right here ALL THE TIME. With the Psalmist, then, we commend our souls, our hearts, and our love to God the Father:
Psalm 51:11 – 11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Now, after all this, “ Who ya gonna call?” Call in the Holy Spirit! “Come Holy Spirit” is all it takes to get started on a friendship so vast and beautiful that we’d be foolish to ignore it. Do you see yourself in this image? Don’t call “Ghosts Busters!” Call the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus the Christ who lives and reigns with God the Father Almighty, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the Giver of Life.”COME HOLY SPIRIT!” (↔ Music Link) Be quietly confirmed and conformed in his presence. He wants you to welcome him because he’s already here.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Come, I AM is here.

Repent and believe the Gospel.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] “Natural” (psuchikos) i.e., given to carnality, of or like bestial – brutish as an animal; earthlings’ “lower nature” and given over to sensuous concupiscence as in powerful sensations of physical desire. Sharply contrasted with pneumatikós (“spiritual”) – the higher, clearly spiritual aspect of humanity that develops through faith in God and acknowledgment of the invisible realm of the Holy Spirit in, through, and by which humanity encounters the Trinity.

[2]  Through Baptism and Confirmation (in which we are strengthened and established in Faith and in the FACTs and conformed to the Will of God in the Holy Spirit)

Aloha Friday Message – May 27, 2022 – Make me an offer(ing)!

May 27, 2022

2221AFC052722 – Make me an offer(ing)!

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

John 17:24-26 [1]  – 24 Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. 26 I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.” New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE) [

1]

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Last week we looked at the idea “Offer It UP.” We saw – Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory! Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Normally this weekend I would be writing to you about the biggest event in my Christian life – the Ascension. Why do I say “in my Christian life?” I say that because of all the events in Jesus’ life, that moment gives me the greatest hope; it confirms everything else that Jesus said. Today I am going to just ask you to look at this essay posted in 2017 called Look Him Up. It contains my thoughts about what the angels said to the Disciples as Jesus ascended into heaven. Now on we go to today’s topic.

Belovéd, what is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? “Make sure the coffee is ready.” “Let the cat [or dog] out.” “Get ready for a run. (Ugh!)” “Thank God for waking me up.” I don’t do any of those things, at least not first-thing. Nearly 60 – sixty! – years ago I wrote a short little Gospel chorus called “I Greet the Lord.” (↔ Click Link) the lyrics say

“I greet the Lord when I get up each morning and I thank him for the day. Then we go out to help the World together. He’s beside me all the way. Thank you Lord, Almighty God, for saving me each day. I only hope that someday soon I can help someone else to say, ‘I greet the Lord when I get up each morning and I thank him for the day. Then we go out to help the World together. He’s beside me all the way.'”

And it is true. Every day starts like that. “Good morning Lord! Thank you for this day. Show me what you have for me today so we can help the World together. Teach me and help me to be just and merciful, to live righteously, and to walk humbly before you wherever your Spirit guides me. Let the constant Hope I have in you be the light that drives away the darkness and draws me and everyone I meet to your Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord. Amen.” When we were living in Chinle, AZ my Spiritual Director was Fr. Blane Grein. Even after all of these years, I still think of him in that role. One of the things we talked about was the Apostle Paul’s admonition to “Pray without ceasing” as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 – 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. That’s a tall order indeed! How does one do that? I think I sort of blundered into the answer when I realized I could make my entire day a prayer by starting it with a prayer for all my thoughts, words, and actions. Then I came across this prayer in something sent to me by the Priests of the Sacred Heart (↔ Click Link) in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. Here is a copy from the USCCB site (↔ Click Link):

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day
for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,
for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians,
and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month.
Amen. (Written in 1844 by Fr. François-Xavier Gautrelet; found in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers, pg. 48)
That became, over the years,

“O my Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary our Mother, I offer you this day,
All of my thoughts, words, and deeds,
My works, my prayers, my joys, my sorrows, my victories and my defeats,
My fears and anxieties, my heart’s desires, everything I do and everything I fail to do,
All than I am (↔ Music Link), all that I have, everything that I can become,
My body, mind, Spirit, and pain – all of it is yours.
Even my temptations and my sins I lay at your feet so that you might possess all of me.”

Anyone who knows me knows that on many days my ways are not all sparkling shine-a-gemic perfect. I can be a real loud-mouth grump, come back with a cutting quip, or storm around like a three-year-old in a tantrum. I can walk right by a panhandler, take a verbal punch at a politician or late-night “comic” (not the usual word I use), and overdo it at the table. None of those are things I am proud of, and all of them are things I wish would not and could not be part of my day. BUT THEY ARE. They are part of me, a part of me I’d like to leave stranded in the desert. All of these defects are part of my daily offering. After all, isn’t everything I think, say, and do part of all of me? One of the phrases in the Act of Contrition is “I detest all my sins.” That is also true, and as much as I detest them, repent of them, and try to be wary of them, I am still a sinner, and I own those thoughts words and deeds. They start in my heart – especially when I don’t want them to – and tarnish my Daily Offering. (See Mark 7:18-23)

My El Shaddai-Olam hasn’t sent me to jail, zapped me with lightning, or parted the heavens to proclaim my doom. I envision him watching me and sadly shaking his head. Then he speaks: “Come here, son, try to keep up. Pay attention. You nearly stepped right off that precipice.” That’s embarrassing, but also essential because I asked for it when saying “teach me and help me to be just and merciful, to live righteously, and to walk humbly before you.” He is, was, and will be SO-O-O-O-O good to me!! I belong to him, (↔ Music Link) and every day I acknowledge and renew that relationship. Everything I have and am comes from him. I am part of Creation even in my chaotic disobedience. I am part of the Gift God the Father gave to God the Son in

god the Holy Spirit. At this very moment, as I look at those words on my screen, I am unable to understand how, or why, I can be part of that Gift. But I am, and so are we all, Belovéd. When Satan tries to accuse me of being disloyal, sinful, a reprobate, Jesus says, “All true, but he’s still mine. I paid for him, and I’m keeping him.” Knowing he says that  doesn’t make me any less Loved. I can always repent and believe the Gospel. Whenever I do, Satan’s accusations fall flat – like I said last week – “Dismissed for lack of evidence.” Jesus included us – the Believers – in his offering to his Father. Jesus offered his prayers, his forgiveness, his Love, his Peace to God on our behalf. He even offers up me, and if he’s willing to do that, then I want to follow Jesus and do what he does; I want to offer up me. I want him to have ALL of me – no secrets, nothing hidden in the recesses of my heart, nothing to be left without being offered. Right or wrong, it’s all his. He gave his all for us because he Loves us. We can give our all, too, because we love him. I know because he said so: “… that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. We are sanctified in him when we offer him all of each of us as a gift that is wrapped up in our Love. And here’s how that works.

We read it in Hebrews 2:10-18. Please read that. It will help you understand this: God the Father has given us as a gift to his Only Begotten Son because he loves him. We, too, give gifts to those whom we love. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We don’t love him because we have to prove our love by being obedient. When we Love God as he loves us (“This is my command that you love one another even as I have loved you” See John 13:34-35 and Romans 13:10) that is how we keep the Commandments “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and all you mind, and all you strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Can you think of any Gift God greatly desires? We are that Gift when we completely offer our entire life to the One who loved us first, last, and always. Performing the works of the Law of God cannot save you; they never could. Obey because you love the Creator, letting your love prove whom you serve. After all, that is what God longs for – Love; for God is Love, so make him an offering – the gift that Lives forever – Us

Our offering becomes his offering if we give it in and through him: A Morning Offering (↔ Click Link): “Bless and approve this offering, sanctify it and make it Holy, so that it becomes for you a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable to You, O LORD, my Strength and my Redeemer – an offering made in Spirit and in Truth.” I believe in God’s Infinite Mercy and that he will always remember me as part of his Creation. The parts of us that are not connected to his memory are to him irrelevant once we have repented, believed the Gospel, and done our best to make use of all the Good Gifts he gives us every day. In our hearts we want and need to do that every day. How wonderful it is that God looks upon the hearts and not the appearances! “Lord, I offer me as an offering to you. Thank you for offering Jesus as an offering for me. With all my Love – Amen.” All you need is Love, and God offers that in abundance! Remember this?

GOD ≡ LOVE ≡ TRUTH ≡ WAY ≡ LIFE ≡ ETERNAL ≡ MERCY ≡ LIGHT ≡ LIFE

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] Some of the scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition© 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Aloha Friday Message – May 20, 2022 – I got Subpoenaed

May 20, 2022

2220AFC052022 – I got Subpoenaed

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

John 14:27 – 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. I’ve hinted recently that the last few posts have been “part of an unnamed series.” I still don’t know the name, but I now see the parts:

1:  Follow the leader
2:  Read the instructions
3:  Do the right thing
4:  Give God the Glory

I suppose we could call that Series “Living The Christian Life.” Whatever we call it, one thing is sure: We can find all the guidance we need in the B.I.B.L.E. Living as a Christian means letting go of a lot of false assumptions. Jesus himself told us it wouldn’t be easy, there would be persecutions, friends and family would turn against us, and we might be called on to suffer martyrdom in some form. In fact, that’s how today’s title came up. Each of us who claims to be Christian has been subpoenaed to witness for the Defense. The Prosecutor is that Old Rascal Satan. Before we get much farther in this, let’s look at the meaning of that word, “subpoena.”

Quoting from the website: “A subpoena (↔ Click Link) is a legal document that commands a person or entity to testify as a witness at a specified time and place (at a deposition, trial, or other hearing), and/or to produce documents or other tangible objects in a legal proceeding. Subpoenas are time-sensitive with court-imposed deadlines.” Well, that nails it down well enough. A legal document could be a set of rules or laws that prescribe certain actions, attitudes, and/or appeals by a higher authority. A legal document like that could be used to demand that we testify as a witness. You’ll remember, I hope, that testify and witness are associated with the Greek word marturion. Marturion is the root of our word martyr. We discussed that at length in 1646AFC111116 – Can I get a Witness? I encourage you to look into that if you feel inclined to branch out a bit. Today, though, I want to look into the role of that Prosecuting Attorney. I have no reluctance to say I don’t like him one little bit, and he sure doesn’t like me, either! Boy howdy, he sure has gotten me in a lot of trouble. And that statement right there is a sample of the trouble that comes from witnessing. Satan doesn’t get me in trouble – I do! Flip Wilson’s character “Geraldine” always claimed, “The Devil made me do it.” Nope. That’s not how it works. Here’s a longish passage from the Letter of James: James 4:1-7 – 1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?  6 But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

If we resist the Devil, we will be speaking the Truth. If we are speaking the Truth, we will be witnessing. If we are a Witness for Christ, we will face persecutions, trials, and tribulations during multiple full-orbit circles around the sun – BUT the retirement plan is literally out of this world! Our days will be filled with sunshine sometimes, but every moment of every day (↔ Music Link), we will experience Son Shine. OR, we can just stay in the dark, and suffer needlessly without God’s Mercy. It is up to us to choose. God gives us that right, the privilege to choose the Light or The Dark. It’s not “THE FORCE” we choose. It is our Creator, our God, our Friend, our Companion, our BROTHER we choose. As I often say, “Why would we want anything less?!?!?” All we need to do is witness to Christ, stand up to the Accuser, and give it our all – and Peace will arise in our hearts and minds.

In this Key Verse passage, Jesus is saying goodbye. It is goodbye to the constraints of his human body, goodbye to his followers, shalom and welcome to his perfect obedience to his Father. He knows and sees what lies just a few hours ahead, and still he ministers and shares fellowship with those sitting at table with him. The Peace that he gives is the Peace in which he rests, and that Peace is the equilibrium of all of terror and rescue, sin and mercy, and obedience unto death. Jesus’ own True Peace he freely gives to us, “not as the world gives,” but with “no strings attached.” It is the Peace of innocence, the Peace of Understanding – it is the Peace of God restored to us through Jesus’ willing sacrifice of himself for us. It is the Peace that is possible only in Love, and Jesus empties his human life as a renewal of his Divine Life in the presence of the Trinity. That same Peace is with and in all who accept it. Once we accept it, we too are transformed so that we are able to pour out our own human life in anticipation or our own Resurrected Life as our eternal reward.

We “own” that Peace that surpasses all understanding. The Apostle Paul tells us about the effect of that assurance we find in conquering our fear in Philippians 4:6-7 – 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The Apostle is telling us exactly what Jesus told us: Don’t be afraid. Trust in his Love. Be thankful for God’s Gifts. He will always be with us. When we know that, truly and deeply know, that Jesus’ words are completely True and his promises belong to us, we begin to live a life of testimony. We are witnesses. We are witnesses who are subpoenaed to answer for and defend our Faith in Christ Jesus. The Accuser can rant about our sinfulness or cunningly try to smooth-talk his accusations against us, but we have an Advocate who defends our testimony and defeats Satan’s most diabolical maneuvers to try to make us selfishly disobey.

Disobedience and selfishness can never gain victory over obedience and charity. Humility always defeats pride. Kindness always defeats envy. Diligence always defeats apathy. Jesus defends us, the Spirit counsels and protects us. Recall what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:33-35, 37b – 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? It is God who acquits them. 34 Who is going to convict them? It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us.
35 Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible) It is Christ Jesus who willingly and completely satisfied the wages of sin once for all. We testify to that Truth when we willingly and completely live in his Love which commands that we Love (agapate) God and neighbor as he – Jesus – Loves God and neighbor. We can, and will, testify to “the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.”

Now this next point seems almost ironic to me, but when I reflect on this subpoena to give testimony we have been given, it is the Bible that calls us to testify and – much to the annoyance of the Prosecutor – it is that same Bible wherein we find the means of our defense. Every Truth that Satan tries to disparage and ridicule is contained in and supported by Scripture. His attempts to charm and disarm us always backfire if we stay True to the Word. Our testimony is sure, our defense in impeccable, and his defeat is certain. The problem is, he just doesn’t know when to quit. I suspect that’s because he knows he can never stay ahead even if he “gets the upper hand” sometimes. God’s total and Everlasting Love is always victorious. As The Apostle Peter put it in 1 Peter 4:8 – 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. When our daily lives show, moment to moment, the scope and power and effect of the Love of God in Christ Jesus, our testimony will lead to all charges against us being dismissed for lack of evidence. Our sins, as they are forgiven, are remembered no more. That is the Truth, and the Truth will set us free.

Here is Jesus’ own TRUE promise of that Truth: John 8:31b-32 – 31  … “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Here’s how Jesus followed up on that: John 12:48-49 – 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And – as Disciples – we are commanded to say and speak whatever The Word says. What will be the affect of our testifying and prophesying (speaking on God’s behalf) to those who have not believed? There’s a good example in 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 – 24 But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25 After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, “God is really among you.” (↔ Music Link) The Lord is asking us “Can I get a Witness?” (↔ Click Link) Our subpoenas have been served. Will we comply? Whenever we do, we assist the Holy Spirit in applying the Law of Love. Christ willingly entered into his sacrifice. If we follow him, we have to go where he goes. Who will be next to willingly sacrifice her/his own will to the Will of the Father? I got subpoenaed. Did you? If so, we may have some tough choices to make about our testimony. Through those choices we will Give God The Glory. Alleluia! Amen! There is Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart! (↔ Music Link)

“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – May 13, 2022 – To Do What Is Right

May 13, 2022

2219AFC051322 – To Do What Is Right

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

      John 13:34 – 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love* one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
Isaiah 56:7c – … for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

*Aloha pumehana, a me ke akua ho’omaika‘i ‘oe, ʻŌmea! Warmest Aloha, and may God bless you, Belovéd! You know how I love to go find our “What Does The Word REALLY SAY?” and so I pour over you the biblical language for that Scripture. That is the case today, and I’m going to pour it on thick because this is such an important word – and concept – to understand. What, then, as the Word used for Love in the Gospel of John (and throughout the New Testament)? Jesus commands – not suggests, not hopes, not hints at – that we Love one another. Here is the Greek insight into that. Please, instead of just glossing over it, actually read it so that you see how clear and concise this command truly is. I’ll have more to say about it at the end of this loaded paragraph:

“Love” in this verse is *agapate from agapaó love (primarily of Christian love); to show or to prove one’s love; to long for, to desire; to place first preferentially in one’s affections; referring to a preferred companion – see agapé 26 agápē – properly, love which centers in moral preference. So too in secular ancient Greek, 26 (agápē) focuses on preference; likewise the verb form (25 /agapáō) in antiquity meant “to prefer” by choice. In the NT, 26 (agápē) typically refers to divine love (therefore it refers to what God prefers). Consider the verb agapáō – properly, to prefer, to love; for the believer, preferring to “live through Christ” (See 1 John 4:9-10), in other words embracing God’s will (choosing HIS choices) and obeying them through HIS power. 25 (agapáō) preeminently refers to what God prefers because “HE IS LOVE” (See 1 John 4:8-16). This passage ends with this edifying statement: “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (Read full chapter)

The word “as,” or “even as,” or “just as” does not refer to the extent of His love, but to the ubiquity of it – the way it is conferred on others. We could paraphrase it by changing “love one another” to “Prefer above all others” like this: 34 I give you a new commandment, that you prefer one another above all others. Just as I have preferred you above all others, you also should prefer one another above all others. Fulfilling this command would be to fulfill the Divine Command in Deuteronomy 6:5 – 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, it is shown this way: καὶ ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν translates as “and you shall love the Lord your God.” The verb form is indicative future tense (agapēseis).

I show this to you to make the point that NOTHING HAS CHANGED since Moses’ days on the mountain top! God is Love. He created us with, in, and for Love. That is why we read in 1 John 4:9-10 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Who is God’s Son? Jesus, namely God The Son. Who are Jesus’ adopted siblings? We are HIS brothers and sisters so God is our Father, and we are to Love our Father the way HE Loves us, and He loves us the way WE must love one another – it’s a TWICE-ORDERED COMMANDMENT! Now comes that irritating question: ” Waddaya gonna do about that?

For more than 40 years I have been asking a similar question, “What do you want to do?” We taught our children to answer, “The right thing.” I’ve asked adults the same question in management training courses and RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). How can we learn to Love as Jesus loved? The best answer I have is “We can’t … without Grace we would fail, but by his Grace we can Love in and through his Love.” The best part of this conundrum is that Grace is free – all we have to do is take it and use it. All of us know that. All of us also know that – at times, not always – a we forget that Grace is a two-part process: Receive it and use it. When we accept Grace, we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When we use Grace, we confess that God is Love.

Grace has an amazing effect when we can do some very simple things such as these:

James 4:17 – 17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

Hosea 10:12 – 12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

      There it is. “Do the right thing.” We “hunger and thirst for righteousness”  if we are doing the right thing – rather than oppress others – violently or passively, personally or institutionally, willingly or ignorantly – we are to uplift and care for others; ALL others, not just the ones who share our personal proclivities for evil, or personal preferences for Love. How does one find a list, or an instruction, or some guidelines or boundaries to at least get started on such a mission of mercy and peace with our fellow earthlings? Virtually the whole Bible gives us that instruction, but there are a few passages like those here in this post that help clarify our To-Do list.

Here’s one I find particularly clear; read the underlined part carefully: Isaiah 58:6-11 – 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. If I use that as my checklist, I still have a lot of work to do! I choose, therefore, to begin with blessings rather than curses, with understanding rather than resentment, and with the resolve to work even harder to do the right thing. I thank the Lord for his blessings on me (↔ Music Link) and counting them (↔ Music Link) is far better than worrying about what life would be like without them. There is something in the Book of Numbers that often comes to my mind. I have adapted it for use as my own personal blessing on some occasions. You’ll find it in Numbers 6:24-26, and it goes like this: 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. To that I add, “May Almighty God bless you, and I bless you, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” as I trace a cross on a person’s forehead. It’s a small thing, but it also is a right thing. Let’s take a moment to look at the full text of our second Key Verse for additional guidance:

Isaiah 56:6-7 – The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants — all who keep the Sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, (for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.) In my heart and mind, I find I must confess that it is difficult for me to accept that “all peoples” belong in the house – the family – of God. What I have often failed to realize is that it is not I who gets to make that decision; I am not the one to discern between us and them, this and that, you and me. God’s Word alone is our judge, and he always judges with fairness and rules with equity. If I truly want to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with … God, then I have to do the right thing. It’s what I want; it’s not always what I get; it is always what I need.

To Do What Is Right is sometimes difficult because we are sinners. Let us resolve then to live in his Grace by loving as he has loved. These words from the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews are always a great comfort even in these difficult times: Ephesians 2:4-10 – 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

That’s just how simple it is. It’s enough to keep us singing. (↔ Music Link [loads slowly]) We sometimes slip and fall, but God’s arms are for reaching out to us, to give us someone to lean on (↔ Music Link) when things are tough. It is then and there that we learn “To Do What Is Right.” We need only to recall what the Apostle Paul told us in 1 Thessalonians 5:15 – 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. So many people these days – all around the world – go out of their way to curse, to violate, to denigrate, and to discriminate against everyone who doesn’t think like them. We ignore instructions such as those in 1 Peter 3:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:10 to have (as The Apostle Peter puts it) unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. “Ah!” you say, “you forget, not everyone is Christian. Non-Christians will never accept that.” Actually, only the most evil persons cannot accept that. ALL major religions at their core preach and teach respect for each other and encourage peace as the preferred way of life. Even people who have nothing to do with any religion can be good and kind and generous. Hate is definitely a perversion of God’s intent for human nature. God wishes to bless everyone, even the unjust, and he does so in many ways (← Check it out!). That is because God is Infinitely Just which allows him to be Infinitely Merciful because he has Perfect Integrity. His Mercy endures forever – for those who who trust in his ways (↔ Music Link). For those who do not trust in his ways, his justice falls heavily on those who will not accept the Power of his Grace. Therein shall they learn with us To Do What Is Right.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – May 6, 2022 – Read the instructions

May 6, 2022

2218AFC050622 – Read the instructions

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

     Psalm 100:3 – 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

John 10:11 – 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep

John 10:27 – 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Isaiah 60:3 – 3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Luke 2:32 – [Simeon said] 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. This coming Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide. It is commonly referred to as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the readings – regardless of the Gospel cycles – focus on Jesus proclaiming that he is the Good Shepherd. You can find details about that idea here (↔ Click Link) and here (↔ Click Link for other names referring to Jesus). We’ve looked into Jesus’ words about being a good shepherd, and that claim is sharply contrasted with the Prophets’ warnings to the Priests of Israel telling them that they are unfaithful, and even brutishly stupid (See Jeremiah 10:21). Jesus called the Pharisees “blind guides” and characterized them as pompous hypocrites. We recall that the word “hypocrite” comes from a Greek word hupokrités – literally under or behind a mask – a pretender, an actor, a two-faced performer whose words are contradicted by their actions. There is a disconnect between what they profess and how they progress. God had definitive instructions on the behavior he expected and time after time after time those instructions were ignored. Let’s go back to the beginning of Israel – to the Promise made to Abraham about the land his seed would inherit.

We can start with Genesis 15:16-21 where God describes an immense area extending from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, from Dan to Beersheba. You can get a sense of that here (↔ Click Link). As you can see from the list in verses 19-21, God instructed Israel to take away the areas of 10 nations. He instructed them to utterly destroy all of those people because they had become so evil. In the promise to Abraham, God said Abraham’s descendants would possess all of that in the fourth generation – roughly 400 years later! They did not follow his instructions. We have the story of Achan who did not follow the “rules of the ban,” and he took some of the treasure of the spoils and hid it in his tent. He didn’t think God would see. When Israel went to battle with Ai, they lost because they were overly confident in themselves rather that trusting in God and what he had instructed them to do. How often do we transgress because we think we know better than God what we should do? The honest answer is “Most of the times that I’m wrong.” We end up in a dark place, scared, uncertain, hoping that somehow God will understand, reach into the mess we’ve made, and save us  –  AGAIN. Why oh why do we jump into those dark places? What is so attractive about sin that we just can’t seem to avoid it? Why is it so discouraging? (↔ Music Link) Scroll back up and look at the first Key Verse from Psalm 100. Psalm 100:3 – 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture

We know God made us and we are his … until we forget and pretend (actors are we) that we are ours. Like a four-year-old we insist, “I do it myself! No, Belovéd, we needn’t even try to do that; we will fail because we did not follow instructions. Let me share with you an example.

When I was doing Management Training work, I sometimes used “A Test for Following Directions.” You can view the test (and download it) by using this link. The directions say to “read all of the directions before beginning this test.” That instruction is also read orally at the beginning of the exercise. Then there follows a ridiculous series of tasks until you get to the last instruction which says to ignore all the previous instructions and that’s the end of it. The point of the exercise is that many (sometimes “most”) of us will plow right in and start doing these ridiculous things because we are conditioned to start promptly and work hard. When I was a kid, all the “standardized test” instructions included something like “Work quickly and well.” We have to read the instructions. So now it’s time to spring my little surprise!

This is the follow-up message in a so-far-unnamed series. Last week we learned Jesus’ simple but powerful instruction to the Apostles: “Follow me.” (↔ Music Link) That is how sheep work with the shepherd. He leads, they follow; they know his voice. God has established that sort of relationship with his chosen people – he leads, they follow – except they forgot; or more properly stated they chose not to follow. HE is God. WE are not (sounds familiar, yes?), and it is his loving care that guides us. Jesus takes on the role of shepherd because the shepherds God had appointed and anointed failed to lead as God decreed. They didn’t follow his instructions. Oh they read them, memorized them even, but when it came to the nitty-gritty of following them, they failed the test. The Chosen People chose poorly. They chose not to put every structure and living creature under The Ban “The Ban” is God’s order to utterly destroy each nation in Canaan – men, women, children, infants, cattle, buildings, homes – everything absolutely, completely, unreservedly, fully demolished. The people in the Ten Nations under The Ban were too evil to be allowed to exist – much in the same way God looked at the world in Noah’s time and decided to save only 8 of them. In Canaan God decided to save the obedient people in Israel (the disobedient were also to be eliminated), but to wipe out everyone else. They didn’t do that, and we’re still seeing the results of that failure today.

God chose Israel to be “a light to the nations.” By their obedience and Love they would shine like the sun before other nations so that nations not chosen would look at Israel and say, “What other nation has a God so powerful, and laws so fair, or wisdom so fine as the nation of Israel?” (See Deuteronomy 4:31-40 for Moses’ instructions to Israel on this. It’s a great read!) Isaiah said it well in one of our Key Verses – Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. In their humanness, they could not complete that instruction. It would take a human from God to be that light, that Salvation, that fulfillment of God’s intent for Adam and Eve. He not only told us he is the Good Shepherd but also that he is the Light of the World. I’m going to place John 12:46-50 here so you can see how important it is to know and understand what Jesus means (my emphasis added):

46 “I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

Jesus can, will, and does follow God’s instructions. If we are in him and he is in us, then we are in the Light and the Light is in us; we no longer belong to darkness. In this quote from Camus, where it says “within me,” substitute “in Jesus.” (You Biblicists out there will doubtless want to look at the First Letter of John especially 1 John 2:1 – 3:6. It is a most consoling passage full of good instructions.) I’m going to give you 1 John 3:6 for the edification of those who did not go and read the longer passage: 1 John 3:6 – 6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. OUCH!

I do not know any living person in the World who does not sin, but I know of billions who abide in him, whose sins are forgotten, disremembered, g-o-n-e GONE! “How does that happen?” you might ask. They are the ones who follow instructions. “Where do they get these instructions?” you say. In the B.I.B.L.E., a beneficial feature of the APP which is activated each time we repent and believe the Gospel. But, like Israel, sometimes we forget. No worries! God has posted sentinels to watch for the enemies of God. They are our Prophets, and this is how they are instructed and respond:

Isaiah 21:6-9 – 6 For this is what Adonai said to me: “Go, post a watchman to report what he sees! 7 If he sees the cavalry, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be on alert, on full alert!” 8 He calls out like a lion: “My lord, I stand on the watchtower all day long, I stay at my post all night.” 9 Then, as they appeared — the cavalry, horsemen in pairs — he spoke these words: “She has fallen! She has fallen — Bavel*! All the carved images of her gods lie shattered on the ground.” *Babylon Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You see, Truth will prevail, Love will endure, Virtue will remain unblemished for all who read – AND OBEY – the instructions from the one who is a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to [God’s] people Israel. Little children of the Belovéd, come to the light! It’s shining for us. (↔ Music Link) Come! Let us follow him who made us wholly Holy! He is calling. (↔ Music Link) What will we do? (↔ Music Link) Read the instructions, then trust and obey!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – April 29, 2022 – Follow the Leader

April 29, 2022

2217AFC042922 – Follow the Leader

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

     Revelation 5:13 – 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might
forever and ever!”

Acts 5:41 – 41 As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.

John 21:18-19 – 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

John 13:13 – 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am.

John 13:20 – 20 Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Here we are, already at the Third Sunday of the Octave of Easter. There are two types of octaves in the Catholic Church. The most common form we think of is an eight-day period the beginning day inclusive. Here’s an illustration to show that:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(See Divine Mercy Sunday and Robert Allard for more information)

Note the tie-in (↔ Click Link) with the 6th Feast in Leviticus 23 – Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement. It is also like Succoth, the “Feast of Weeks,” a seven-week period of powerful significance. This is the second form of Octave (↔ Click Link) we think of in the Church. It is a “Privileged Octave” during which no other feasts can be celebrated. In the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost, we celebrate this “long octave” which leads up to the birthday of the Church in the Cenacle at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. “Pentecost” is the fiftieth day. Pentecost (Shavu’ot) The Feast of Weeks or Festival of Harvest is at the very center of the Jewish ordained feasts – the fourth of seven. It’s good for us to know and understand how deep and long this tradition is, and to consider it on this 3rd Sunday of Easter.

The coming Sunday is also May first and the beginning of a month-long celebration of the role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She really is the first Disciple, the first Apostle, and the first Theotokos – the God-Bearer. I often muse about how this good Jewish mother might have pondered her son’s mission and ministry. As he drew closer to Jerusalem, he told his Disciples – which likely included his Mother, several other women, and the 12 Apostles – the nature of his impending abuse, torture, death, burial, and resurrection. And then …

He told them this: John 13:13 – 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. John 13:20 – 20 Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. He had already called them by name and sent them out to preach and minister to the People – the meaning of Apostle → Gr. apostolos (ap-os’-tol-os). An Apostle carries with her/his faith the authority of the One who commissions the sending forth. He is indeed the Teacher – Διδάσκαλος (Didaskalos) – an expert in Scripture and theology. They – and we – have his teaching authority if we accept his sending forth. Are we baptized? Are we anointed? Are we commissioned? Do we serve the One True God? Then whoever receives us receives the One who sent us. He is our Teacher and Lord if indeed his Holy Spirit is within us. (See Romans 8:9) We love our Lord because he first loved us (See 1 John 4:19); we follow him because he chose us (See John 15:16). He chose us to redeem us; he has called us by name, and we are his. (See Isaiah 43:1c) As we are his, we are blessed in Christ and we bless God for our Redeemer: Ephesians 1:3-4 – 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. Now, why is that important?

It is important because the only things in Heaven made by humans are the scars in the hands of Jesus. (↔ Music Link) If we want to join in that heavenly chorus singing “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” – then we must be holy and blameless before him in love. We get that status in and through Jesus. Without that blessing from God, we most certainly will miss out on being there to praise, bless, and minister to God. I’m going to steal a little something from 2140AFC100121 – Bless God for Consecration. We see these words “bless the Lord” in scripture so many times, especially in the Psalms (see Psalms 16, 68, 104, and 134 for samples). When I say, “Bless the Lord,” I am acknowledging he is God and I am not. I am extolling, praising, exalting, applauding, revering, lauding, and glorifying God. And there’s another one of those words! Glorify God. God is the penultimate Glory. So that makes me wonder …

Q: What can my puny existence add to his Glory?
A:  Nothing.
Q: What does God need from me?
A:  Nothing.
Q: Then what can I give to God?
A:  Everything.

Huh?

 Q: If he’s got everything and he created everything and he is everything and he’s in everything, and everything I have comes from him … how can I give him everything?!?  
A:  By extolling, praising, exalting, applauding, revering, lauding, glorifying, and thanking God. That is how we bless God. But to do that, we first have to be perfected in Christ Jesus, and Jesus has already taken care of that. In our baptism (the remittance of original sin), confirmation (the Gift of the Holy Spirit), and Eucharist (the fellowship of Grace by which we share in his Divinity by surrendering our humanity to his Will) we are prepared to bless God – first in our lives here on Earth, and later for eternity in Heaven. TAKE CAREFUL NOTE of the beginning of that passage from Revelation: “13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing …” We participate in that choir through Grace. (See Ephesians 2:8-9) (↔ SERIOUSLY Click that Link) Now, let’s finish up with the last two Key Verses:

Acts 5:41 – 41 As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.

John 21:18-19 – 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

The Apostles REJOICED when they suffered dishonor for the sake of the Name of Jesus. Every Apostle suffered martyrdom … GLADLY. For all of them, Easter was the beginning of their ending. A couple of weeks ago I asked, “Are we ready for that Easter which includes Calvary and the Tomb?” We, too, will find in our lives some form of dishonor, mortification, and for some even martyrdom if we are worthy to extol that Name which is above every name. (See Philippians 2:9-11) Please notice that the last words in this passage are “to the glory of God the Father.” You see, Heaven isn’t just about walking around in your shimmering robe and golden slippers on streets of gold and gems whilst visiting with family, friends, and people you’ve always longed to meet. Heaven is about Praising and Blessing God. Always. Over and over. We picture standing at the Threshold of the Pearly Gates, craning our necks to see who else made it, and waiting for The Apostle Peter to issue our harp and halo. Jesus gave his Rock the clearest command in the APP. It’s the same command he gives to us. It’s not a suggestion, not a wish, not an easy task, but it is an Absolutely Perfect Mandate:

“FOLLOW ME.” I, you, we – together – must go where HE goes because he’s The Leader. WE REPENT, BELIEVE THE GOSPEL, AND FOLLOW HIM. 1, 2, 3 – EASY AS CAN BE.

I can stand in agreement with Bob Dylan and say, “I was born very far from where I’m supposed to be, and so I’m on my way home.” ― Bob Dylan, (No Direction Home: Bob Dylan). I’m excited about getting there, and I’m excited about being on The Road Home with all of you! I think one of the first things I’ll do is listen for the band and the choir and then look for “SomeOne’s beat up, fuzziless Teddy Bear. Standing. Grinning. DANCING“(↔ Click Link)

When I cross that threshold I am hoping I will hear,

SomeOne calling out, “Come near!
I AM Lord of All That Dance,
The Was, The Is, The Evermore.
The Maker of The Band.”

I’m learning to dance, praise God, as planned! I’m following the Leader!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

 

The Path Leading Home – Scriptures for Witnessing

April 22, 2022

The Path Leading Home
TABLE:

Romans 3:23 – 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God[1]; John 3:36 – 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath. Acts 4:12 – 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.  

Mark 8:36 – 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
Romans 6:23 – 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hebrews 10:31 – 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 2:3 – 3 how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, 2 Corinthians 6:2 – 2 For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
Matthew 11:28 – 28 Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. John 14:6 – 6 Jesus said to him, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 5:24 – 24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 3:16-19 – 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
John 11:25 – 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[a] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 1:12 – 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God Ephesians 2:8-9 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Romans 10:9 – 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
John 1:1-5 – 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Isaiah 43:1b-2 – Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. John 15:16 – 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. John 16:23-24 – 23 On that day you will ask nothing of me.[a] Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.[b] 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
Matthew 28:18-20 – 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[

“If today you hear is voice…” Jesus is inviting you to share his Joy. If you have not accepted Christ as your personal savior, pray this short prayer from your heart and Jesus will answer it. If you already know the Lord and have found peace and joy in his presence, pray this prayer to recommit and reconsecrate your life to him.

Jesus, I realize now that you are God’s Only Begotten Son. I know you chose to die in my place for the forgiveness of my sins. Thank you for loving me so much. I want to love you that much, too, and I claim you as my personal Savior. I give you my heart, my life, my soul, my all. I ask you to be in my life forever. Bless me with your Presence, and send your Holy Spirit to pray with and for me so my faith in you becomes permanent and real. I accept your love, your forgiveness, and your Salvation. AMEN

Remember, saying this prayer or any other prayer will not save you. Only believing in Jesus Christ, His finished work on the cross for you, and his resurrection into Glory can save you from sin.

[1] The glory of the Divine righteousness which man, through sin, falls short of.

Aloha Friday Message – April 22, 2022 – The End of the Beginning of the End

April 22, 2022

2216AFC042222 – The End of the Beginning of the End

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.  Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.  

      Revelation 1:17b-19 – … “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19 Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.”

Revelation 1:8 – 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Gr. Παντοκράτωρ – pantokratór Hb. שַׁדַּי Shaddai)

John 1:1-5 – 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. This is a pretty strange title, que non? What is “The end of the beginning of the end?” Let’s start at the right side and work to the left: THE END: It is hard to quantify that because the End of ALL has been imminent for over 2,000 years (since Christ) and a similar idea was found on an Assyrian tablet dating from about 2800 BC!! That covers about 6,000 years of waiting for the Big One that brings this whole folderol to an end. But is it really silly nonsense? “All good things come to an end.” That’s reasonable; we can see that happening all the time. But isn’t it also true that “All bad things some to an end,” too? Granted, many bad things do end badly, but not all. Some good things can end badly, too – political maneuvering comes to mind. Based on what I see in religion, history, civics, politics, and Scripture I’d say that just about everyone believes the planet and everything in and on it will be destroyed – take your choice: Global warming, nuclear war, alien invasions (the extraterrestrial kind, not the political kind), loss of mantel integrity with volcanoes and earthquakes, and even massive asteroids smashing us to smithereens. But that’s not really the issue.

The issue is, “OK but what happens after that?” Isn’t that the point? By faith we either believe there is something that comes after The End, or we believe the end is The End. Pascal’s wager not discounted, we hope there would be some sort of reward for all the personal and communal suffering we’ve had to endure. Is The End really just The End?. In my own Hope and Faith I say, “Certainly not!” I just can’t prove “certainly” empirically, and that is why is it called “faith and hope.” I firmly believe this world will end, and that The End will likely be a messy affair. (↔ Click Link)  Turning again to Hope and Faith, I am banking on not being around when that Big Messy End comes about. Still, there is going to be an end. That gives rise to another issue: When?

“Any time now,” is the best I can do because “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (See Mark 13:32 or Matthew 24:36) Here is a list of predictions: [1] Now. [2] Later. [3] Some other time. [4] God knows but He’s not tellin’. I pick #4 because it’s Scriptural. In summary, there is most likely an end and it will occur most likely at a non-specified time with or without contributions from earthlings and/or other creatures, or perhaps from some outside contributions. What goes up must come down – what begins must end. If the universe is expanding, will entropy ultimately be The End? The best available advice is “Wait and see, but don’t get hung up on it.” Now let’s look into the meaning of “The Beginning of The End.”

That’s actually a bit easier to understand. There’s always some “tipping point” we must not go beyond. I heard recently that “If we don’t change our ways by the end of the next three years, we will reach a point of no return, and Earth’s ecologies and structures will collapse.” That would be “The Beginning of the End.” We could go to our calendars and write something like, “August 23, 2026, The Tipping Point was Exceeded and Earth’s ecologies and structures collapsed.” Oh, it probably won’t be instant annihilation – Earth’s ecologies and structures have been in constant collapse for millions of years (or 6,000 years if you buy into that view). What we find in Scripture (and not just Judeo-Christian Scripture) is that it’s likely to be sudden. Here we find it useful to STOP (please) and read Matthew 24:3-31 which we have cited previously. (↔ Click Search Link) See especially Matthew 24:8 in that passage. As I see it, we’ve been at The Beginning of The End for millennia. Recently, though, I’ve been thinking-feeling-seeing what looks like The End of that Beginning of The End.

We certainly have plagues upon plagues, famines, wars and rumors of wars, atrocities ranging from human trafficking to genocide, persecutions of Christians and of other religious entities around the world, ecological and structural changes in the earth and sky (“signs and wonders”), and in all of that one has to wonder, “Am I living in The Last of Days?” Well, for me, I certainly am I suppose. I’ve unpacked my life and laid it aside just waiting for that Long Slow Train Comin’. (↔ Music Link) Here’s the deal, and I hope you’re not going to get a burr in your saddle about this, but I all comes down to the APP. I want you to hark back to 1845AFC110918 – Once is Enough. There we find this Key Verse: Hebrews 9:26b – But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. IMPORTANT: USE THIS LINK ì TO SEE THE PASSAGE IN CONTEXT. You see, The End is already done. Sin is death and death has died. We still sin, we still have our personal, mortal death to get through, but the APP says it’s all over but the Resurrection – and that’s where that Train is going. That post (try reading it, there’s plenty of good stuff there) ends like this: There is a long train coming. God may not throw us off the train, but that doesn’t stop us from deciding to jump off before we get to the depot. I live by this motto: Put your faith where your future is. It’s all going to catch up with us some day. Thank God we have his Divine Mercy (↔ Click Media Link) so we can deal with all of it.

This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday (↔ Click Link). On the Second Sunday of Easter of the Jubilee Year 2000, at the Mass for the Canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, Pope John Paul II declared the Sunday after Easter be called “Divine Mercy Sunday.” (↔ Click Link) I remember that! (These days it’s remarkable that I can remember breakfast, much less something that happened 22 years ago!) This image is the display on my home-screen on my phone. The lock-screen is one of my favorite renditions of The Sacred Heart of Jesus (↔ Click Link). Now, someone will doubtless ask if I worship those images or pray to them. The answer is “NOPE.” They do remind me about my commitment to “Full-Time Christian Service,” (↔ Click Link) Later, in 1977, I made another special full-time commitment to remember and honor Jesus’ Sacred Heart in our home in Los Alamos, NM. In 1978, Crucita and I decided we would “spend all our money (both of our dollars), and get Christmas presents for everybody – including us. My Christmas present was a copper bas relief image of The Sacred Heart. (↔ Click Link) We bought it around December 19, 1978. On December 21, 1978 we got a call from the adoption agency we’d been working with: “We have a baby boy for you to take home. Can you come pick him up tomorrow?” At that time we had no money (plenty Christmas presents though), no crib, no diapers or bottles, no baby food, nothing a baby needs. We really went shopping! We loaded up our little blue Matador Coupe with all of that (even an ironing board!) and set up a baby room. For us, in those circumstances it was The Beginning of The Beginning.

We were just barely into our 30’s and it took ten years of trying before our first kid came along. Then, in 1981, a daughter showed up. We started another Beginning, and – as with all persons in all places in all times – things kept changing, and we kept getting closer to The End. Nonetheless, we were not, are not, will not quail about that. Have you ever noticed this phrase in these essays: “God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy and Eternal Salvation” somewhere in a post? God’s Perfect Integrity → “The Lord, your God, is One.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) God’s Endless Mercy → “His Mercy endures forever.”(Psalm 136:1-9) “And Eternal Salvation.” → (John 3:16-19) Recently the Holy Spirit revealed something else I should add to these “core characteristics.” Can you guess what it is? Here’s a hint: 1 John 4:19 and 1 John 4:8 . Yes ʻŌmea – it is LOVE, for God IS Love. When I consider God’s Wisdom and Love, Power and Restraint, and ponder the magnitude of his creation, these four things – Integrity, Mercy, Salvation, and Love – represent, to me, the core of his Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnibenevolence. He is most certainly I AM WHO AM. He – THEY – have always been in charge in the Triune Glory of Eternity.

The End of the Beginning of the End is at the proper place in their Absolutely Perfect Plan. Since it is Absolutely Perfect, there is nothing we can say about it, do about it, or think about it that God-In-Three-Persons omitted. I am completely at Peace with that – I am held in Peace because: John 14:25-27 – 25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you.26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” HIS Peace becomes MY Peace. I do not hold my peace. I am held in Peace. I don’t have to worry, don’t have to fight, I don’t feel left alone. I have Jesus who is All I need or want because he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 – 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (↔ Music Link) I have, you have, we have that promise because Jesus took on every sin, every moment of pain, every abandonment and turned it into Glorious Praise to God Our Father.  Jesus did that …

F O R  O U R  S A K E.

There is nothing left to end or begin. It is all in God’s hands all the time. His Divine Mercy takes care of everything start to finish because it’s the Absolutely Perfect Plan – AND WE’RE PART OF IT! If you’re not 100% sure of that, please read 1 Timothy 4:7-10. (↔ Click Link) It is time to get right with God and neighbor. Please read Romans 13:10-15 then do this: Repent, therefore, and believe the Gospel.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – THURSDAY, April 15, 2022 – Good Friday

April 14, 2022

2215AFC041522 – GOOD FRIDAY (on Holy Thursday)Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

  John 20:1 – 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

Aloha nui loa. That could be translated “Much Love to you.” That would be accurate in spirit, certainly but perhaps is not adequate as a literal translation. Your Aloha Friday message comes today, Thursday, because tomorrow is Good Friday. Perhaps some of you will have the day off. Many of you will not; nonetheless, I want to send you my Easter greeting so that it will arrive before the weekend.When I was growing up in Denver, our family was active in our home church, Corona Presbyterian. It was in downtown Denver at Eighth and Downing. Our Pastor, Rev. Bob Lūtz, led a Sunrise Service every Easter at a nearby park, Cheesman Park. It covers about 81 acres and is located about a mile and half east of downtown. It started out as a HUGE area for a cemetery, and there are legends that it is haunted. For our family, though, it was a great place for church gatherings and summer-stock performances of plays and musicals.

The main feature of the park is the wide-open central lawn. It’s surrounded by a band of trees and has three structures. On the west is a small children’s playground, on the north is a rustic gazebo and on the east, the highest point in the park, is a large Neo-classical pavilion. The rest of the park is grass. In warm weather the slope down away from the pavilion, which you see pictured here, was a wonderful place to play, to picnic, to sunbathe, and to enjoy a quiet respite from the busy city. It also became a place of worship at least once a year. On the Saturday before Easter, the men of the church, particularly the deacons and elders, would go to the park and set up benches and chairs for the expected crowd which seemed to me to number in the thousands.It was a wonderful celebration and one which my dad thoroughly enjoyed. When I was invited to participate with him in getting the park ready for the service setting up sco0res of park benches; it was like a rite of passage and to this day is one of my most cherished memories. I particularly remember one Easter Sunday when we awoke to find about eight inches of snow had fallen and buried the park and all the seating we had worked so hard to set up the day before. The moment we knew, Dad and I sped off toward the park (we lived in University Hills about 20 miles away for downtown Denver), and joined a dozen or so other men who were rushing to clear the snow from the benches and chairs. I recall that this work was done cheerfully and with the expectation that the seats would be filled.

Well, as you might expect, attendance that year was pretty low. Despite the weather, the cold, and the diminished crowd, the spirit of the day was led by The Spirit. Our traditional Easter Greeting was, “The Lord is risen!” and the response was, “He is risen indeed!” That declaration and affirmation really resonated that particular Easter. For years after that, until my dad passed away on the day on his eighty-first birthday in 1997, one of us would call the other on Easter morning and say, “The Lord is risen!” And in that instant two hearts, two minds, two souls, two Servants lifted hearts, minds, hands, and voices to affirm “He is risen indeed.”

So, today, in anticipation of Easter, I say to you, “The Lord is risen!” and as you read this He will know that you are responding in your heart, in your mind, in your soul “He is risen indeed!” (↔ Music Link) Romans 8:10-11:  10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.Happy Easter, Beloved. May the God of Peace and Light bless you richly with faith, wisdom, and determination to live in, with, and for the Risen Lord. And remember these useful tips:

A.S.A.P.!
There’s work to do, deadlines to meet;
You’ve got no time to spare,
But as you hurry and scurry-
A.S.A.P. – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

In the midst of family chaos,
“Quality time” is rare.
Do your best; let God do the rest-
A.S.A.P. – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

It may seem like your worries
Are more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather-
A.S.A.P. – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

God knows how stressful life is;
He wants to ease our cares,
And He’ll respond to all our needs, so
A.S.A.P. – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER. Lisa Englehardt

P’s Power ~~ Plan Purposefully, Prepare Prayerfully, Proceed Positively, Pursue Persistently!  May “P’s” be with you!!

  • Serving Him on Earth may not always garner the best wages, but the retirement plan is out of this world!!
  • Not all thorns have roses.
  • “God helps those who help themselves.” Hezekiah 9:9*
  • “God helps those who cannot help themselves.”
  • “God helps those who help others.” Vivian Gordon
  • “God helps everybody whether they know it or not, whether they believe it or not, whether they ask for it or not. Regrettably not everyone accepts that help.” Chick Todd.
  • Remember the smile on your face was put there by you, but the ability to do that is a Gift from God, so be generous with that gift!!·
  • People often don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Beloved pray for ALL the people, especially those who ask for our prayers, and for those who do not believe anyone will pray for them. We also pray that those who fear they cannot or should not be forgiven will find that God’s mercy exceeds all their fears.With great hope in my heart, I invite you to pull up these two lessons from last year for your devotional reading this Easter Week

2106AFC020521 – Searching in the Dark and especially 2114AFC040221 – While it was still dark  *And for you Bible Students, yes, I know there is no book in the Bible called “Hezekiah.” That’s why this famously popular “verse” is not in the Bible!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

PRAY FOR UKRAINE

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License  Originally posted under Aloha Friday Messages at https://aloha-friday.org – The Moon Beam Network – 615AFC041206

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