Aloha Friday Message – April 30, 2021 – Rooting for Fruit

April 30, 2021

2118AFC043021 – Rooting for Fruit 

     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.

Acts 9:31 – 31 Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

1 John 3:18, 23-24 – 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. […]23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John 15:4-9 – 4 Abide* in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

* μένω (meno) {men’-o} – abide, remain, dwell, continue, tarry, endure; to remain, abide in reference to place, to sojourn, to tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept continually; to continue to be, not to perish, to last, to endure; of persons: to survive, live, to remain as one, not to become another or different, to wait for someone In the Old Testament it is יָשַׁב (yashab) {yaw-shab’} – to sit, remain, dwell; abide, live, stay tarry, connect

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! That’s a lot of stuff up there, so I should just get on with it. I’m hoping my Spell-Check will catch the typos I make. My right hand is numbing up (or numbing down?) and thus my typing is weirder than usual. Nonetheless for the topic at hand, we begin with a riddle: Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back? (Come on, you know this one) A STICK! Now, what do you call a branch cut off from the tree? You want to say “a stick,” but that’s not correct. A branch cut off of the tree is kindling. Matthew 7:19 – 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In either case, whatever is cut away ends up getting burned. I see you’ve figured out where we’re going with this, so “Per aspera ad astra!” Or perhaps Per ardua ad astra.

When I looked ahead at the readings for this Sunday my heart and mind did a little jumpity-jump. I remembered this passage from 1817AFC042718 – Heard It IN the Grapevine Suppose I know that you really love grapes. I decide I want to give you a memorable present, so I go to a vineyard being pruned and gather up a few of the pruned branches, and wrap them in a pretty velvet bow as a friendship present to you. “Not much of a present,” you say. “What am I supposed to do with these? They’re already wilting.” You get the idea. You do not define your life, or anyone else’s, by the fruit that can’t be grown on pruned branches. Like the artist who throws away everything he does not need in a chunk of marble so that only the figure remains, the branches that are pruned are discarded because they allow the true purpose of the vine to become manifest. The vine bears more fruit after it is pruned.

No fruit will come from a vine or a tree or grass or wheat or any green growing thing unless it has its roots in a nourishing environment. Belovéd, where are your roots? I hope by now you know where mine are – they are in the Word, not the World. I make it a point throughout every day that I must be in the Vine. Those who know me best know that in addition to being in the vine daily, I also need (and often receive) a severe and well-deserved pruning as well. Let’s grab another branch from these roots. Here we go with another flashback:

1518AFC050115 – Fruit to Root 

You can make a climbing rose look like a grape vine by tying clusters of grapes to it. You can make a cactus look like it is bearing figs by sticking them to the thorns. Would that really fool anyone? Yet sometimes we try to do that with our lives; we try to make them appear as though we are yielding those spiritual fruits by showing the outward signs of them. Do those signs last? If they don’t start at the root, then of course they don’t last! The same is true of false prophets. They drape themselves with the supposed fruits of their prophecy, but everything they produce smells of decay and ruin. They reek of the fruits of the flesh as found in Galatians 5:19-23 – fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. In this time of upheaval we could also add terror, murder, blasphemy, deceit, persecutions, violence, evil appetites, and many things like these. When people produce this kind of fruit, it is because of where the root is growing. It grows from a bad tree and produces only bad fruit. When that fruit is fed to others, it takes root in them as well – we are what we eat. If, then, Christ is in us, then the fruit we bear will be good fruit if we remain in HIM. Will parts of our lives be like a slightly-fruitful vine that is pruned away to make better growth? Will we remain true to our roots? Will we produce the fruits to feed others? “Dear God, I hope so” is the prayer that helps us defeat the famine that is crushing the world. The prophet Amos described that famine:

Amos 8:11 – 11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.

Do you watch the news? Have you seen what’s on TV? Are you connected through “social media?” If and of these are part of your environment, then you know the audacity and intensity of all those things the Apostle Paul mentioned; they are constantly around us. What has happened? How did we get this far into a broken World of ubiquitous evil? I am reminded of the Curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal. You can find that fascinating story in Judges 9. It is the story of the rise and fall of an evil man named Abimelech. He conspired with the rulers of Shechem to depose the rightful king and his family. They killed all 70 of Abimelech’s brothers! Only one escaped – Jotham, the youngest. Jotham prophesied against his brother saying that if God wanted such a king – whom he likened to a bramble bush, then God would support him; however, if God saw Abimelech as an evil man who seized power that was not properly his, then Abimelech and his supporters would perish as if a flame set fire to the brambles. In this story, the wrongful king is mortally injured when a woman hurls the upper part of a millstone down on him from a high tower. He fell, and ordered his armor bearer to run him through with his sword so that no one could say a woman had killed him. Judges 9:56-57 – 56 Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers; 57 and God also made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem fall back on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal. The biblical principle in that account is that we must not follow an unsuitable leader, particularly one associated with evil. Those who depend on and support reprehensible leaders will ultimately be destroyed by those same leaders. Whoever has eyes to see, let them see! (↔ Click Link)

We are given gifts from God that are assigned to us for the purpose of being fruitful. When we live fruitless lives, we are failing to make us of those Gifts. “Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift.” If we’re gonna make fruits, we gotta have roots. Note that the power to make fruit is not in the root, nor is it in the branch. It is in the nourishment that comes from soil, and air, and sunshine – from the Word, the Worship, and the Light of the Nations. All of that comes from the seed that is sown in suitable soil. Belovéd, we’re in pretty lousy soil right now if we do not get deep into the Word and away from the World. You might ask, “Can a tree or a vine get up and walk away to find better soil?” Well, yes, if you’re an Ent. But we can control our “diet” by getting off all the junk-food misinformation and intentional chaos. The phrase I’ve found most useful for that is, “I don’t need to do that.” Another useful “adage” is “Do what you know is right. Avoid what you know is wrong. Ask God to bless your decision.” In other words, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” since “All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.” Then we will see in the Church “had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. Remember we don’t have to be a sola scriptura Evangelical to evangelize! We root for teams, for underdogs, and – hopefully for the Gospel. Rooted in the Word, we produce good fruit.

Jesus has told us Abide in Me (↔ Music Link) because he also says I am the vine (↔ Music Link). All he asks is “Return to Me” (↔ Music Link) and when we do, we cannot help but Shout to the Earth! (↔ Music Link) because, and you know this so well Belovéd, he has Loved us with an Everlasting Love! (↔ Music Link) We can and will do as Jesus commands: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

Jesus Loves us. Let us therefore Love one another in precisely the same way he loves us. We can fill the World with Good Fruits. We just need to stick to our Roots.  That way we don’t get burned.

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 23, 2021 – What was that name again?

April 23, 2021

2117AFC042321 – What was that name again?

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.

     Acts 4:12 – 2 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.

1 John 3:1 – 1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

John 10:17-18 – 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

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.

Many of us can recall a “movement” back in the 60’s and 70’s about “Who are you?” The upshot was that we should think less in terms of what we do – I’m a banker, or I’m a teacher, or I’m a lawyer – and more in terms of who we are. Eventually our thought processes were supposed to lead us to “I am a child of God.” That would be followed by other roles such as “I am a son of loving parents,” or “I am a husband, a dad, and a Sergeant in the Army,” or “I am a Christian.” It was sort of a fad to learn those answers, and – like most fads – it eventually faded out. We haven’t stopped asking the question; we just have different answers to “Who am I?” or “What am I?” I am strong, I am invincible, I am me, I am woman, I am important, I am a winner, I am not a failure. It seems pretty much anything outside of our self-image is unimportant. I think that’s how we ended up with the so-called “PC Movement.” We have to be politically correct, everyone is a winner, everyone gets trophies and sprinkles, participation awards, no one should keep score in sports, and we can’t say anything “negative” even if it is the truth because lying is safer than hurting someone’s feelings.

B-a-a-a-a-loney!!    

There are always winners and losers, always beautiful and ugly, always rich and poor, always successes and failures. Recently I said, “Not even God can please everyone all the time,” yet we have been conditioned to believe we have to please everyone anytime and if we can’t do that we are terrible people. Folks, that’s not the way it works. We can’t just go change God’s rules because their ice cream cone fell over. Stuff happens all the time. “But what about ‘Do unto others?’ Are we supposed to forget that?” No! of course not! But neither are we supposed to be dishonest with one another. Would you tell a four-year-old boy who wants to be a Super Hero that he can really fly if he just starts high enough and then show him the ladder? When we lie to each other, we break down the trust that is the foundation, the bulwark of honesty! Should we go out of our way to remind people they are winners or losers, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor, successor or failures? No! of course not! Well, then what do we do?

We tell the truth, and make honest efforts to help where help is needed. Sometimes that means giving uplifting support, and sometimes that means smacking someone about their shortcomings so they can see the way to improvement. If I’m making a fool of myself, is it better for everyone to tell me, “Chick, that’s awesome!” or is it better for me to hear, “Dude, you better think about what you’re doing.”? What am I driving at here? Simple: LABELS ARE NOT NAMES. We label people all the time – he’s a crook, she’s a liberal, they’re all crazy people, that’s a junkie for you, what a loser, rich guys make me sick, _____ lives matter, never trust a ______, shameless hussy, just another religious nut. These are labels not names. Let me ask you, then, “What is your name?” Even more important than what your name is might be what your name means. I am not referring here to the popular websites that tell you what a baby’s name means. I’m talking about what happens when your name comes up in conversation, or when someone needs help, or what people hope for when your name is mentioned.

We used to think it was good, useful, important, even desirable to say, “I’m a Christian,” or “I’m an American,” or “I’m a child of God.” These days, none of those get us any points for social status. In fact, most stuff like that has been degraded to the level of insult, and that is a great example of how the Devil bends and twists the truth to make what is evil good and what is good evil. As my dear friend, John Kretser, recently said, “Of course, given the character and attitude of the average American, today, the expected response to such a message will be somewhere between dismissiveness and mockery with, perhaps, a stripe of unbelief.” Let’s take a look then at what is in the POWER of a name, and let’s start with a name like Jesus.

Most of you know that his name was Yeshua – Hebrew for Joshua which means Yahweh Delivers or Yahweh is Salvation from the roots יְהוֹ referring to the Hebrew God JAH and יָשַׁע SHUA meaning “to save”. And what did The Apostle Peter say about Jesus’ name? “Acts 4:12 – 2 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” In this case, Savior is not a label; it is a name! For the most part, Biblical names are names not labels. Petra and Cephas (that is KAYphas not SEEphas) are names, however Thomas is a name, and Didymus (Twin) is a label, but Thomas means “A twin” so in John 11:16, it reads “So Thomas (the twin) who was called “The Twin …”

So, what happened to Thomas’ other sibling, the other twin? Maybe there wasn’t one. Thomas is from an Aramaic meaning “twin”. Thomas is the Greek variation of the Aramaic name Ta’oma’. There were too many apostles named Judas (Jude), so Jesus renamed one Thomas – “the twin” – to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and the Judas also known as Thaddeus whom we now call St. Jude Thaddeus. How about that? Names can have meanings, but labels can harm feelings. Everyone wants to be called by their name not their label. Names are important because they mysteriously affect our inclinations. In societies that have strong familial bonds like clans and tribes, names are connected to life in the group. Here in Hawaiʻi for example, infants are given long, descriptive Hawaiʻian names, and as they grow, they are taught the meaning of the name and the reasons for choosing it. In biblical times, the giving of names was also important, and that is why I often give the translation – the meaning of the name – when I write for you. Let me give you a few examples:

  • Isaiah – Jesaiah or Jeshaiah = “Jehovah has saved.”
  • Samson (note there is no ‘p’ – it’s not Sampson) Shimshown {shim-shone’} Samson = “like the sun.”
  • Miriam or Miryam = “rebellion” The first occurrence of this name is in Exodus 15:20, and there she is described as a prophetess, the sister of Moses. The English name Mary is from a letter-for-letter transcription of the Latin and Greek name Μαρία (Maria), which in turn is an adaptation of the Hebrew name Miriam. This is why I have said in the past, “When ‘Rebellion’ – Mary or Miryam – submitted to God – The Holy Spirit – the Christ who could and would conquer the Rebellion of Lucifer would be conceived in her womb to be consubstantial with God his Father and thus be the Messiah.”
  • Hannah = “grace” She was the mother of Samuel, a wife of Elkanah. Elkanah = “God has possessed” or “God has created”
  • And of course we are thinking about Jesus Ἰησοῦς, (Iésous) {ee-ay-sooce’} Jesus, the transliteration of the Hebrew term, “Yehoshua” or Jehoshua, contracted to “Joshua” which means “Yahweh saves” or “Yahweh is salvation” In Hebrew it is Yeshua (Yeh-SHOO-ah) a contraction of Yehoshua, and therefore Yeshua also means “the Lord (Yahweh) is salvation.” He is the anointed Christ of God.

Now, all of those are names of important people in the Bible and all of the names are … important names because they tell us something about the person called by that name. But have we ever thought about the labels that were applied to Jesus? One of the first and most important is Immanuel, and we also see it spelled Emmanuel. Take a look at how this appears in the Bible only three times:

Isaiah 7:14 – 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

Isaiah 8:8 – 8 it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. (See Isaiah 8:5-10 for context, especially verse 10)

Matthew 1:23 – 23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” (See Matthew 1:20-23 for context.) And we also have this famous list from Isaiah 9:6 – 6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He is also called משיח (mashiach/mah-shee-ahch) Messiah, Christos – Christ, Theos – God, Adonai – Lord, Kyrios – Lord, Logos – Word, Only-Begotten and First-Begotten, Elohim – God, the Good Shepherd; Lamb of God, Savior, Mediator between God and Man, our Intercessor, our Advocate; Son of Adam, of Abraham, of David, of God, of Man, of Mary, of Joseph; Anointed (See 2012AFC032020 – Anointed for Good for more information), the Christ of God, Brother, King, Friend; he has many labels, titles if you will, but HIS NAME IS Jesus. Acts 4:12 – 2 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. God had given his chosen and anointed ruler, Cyrus, a promise that every part of Creation would bow before God, and thus we have this amazing testimony in Philippians 2:10 – 10 so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth (See Philippians 2:5-11 to review in context) American Standard Version (ASV) Public Domain See Also Isaiah 45:23 which is quoted in Romans 14:10-11. Belovéd, I urge you to follow those links because if you do, you will have complete clarity about why the name of Jesus is THE Holy Name.

Now, I want to share with you something that I overheard the other day. It’s a music link to a very popular song from the 60s by the Australian group, The Seekers. As I listened to this song, I realized it was one of those folk-pop tunes that lends itself well to a Gospel message. We’ve done that before with “I will follow him,” for example. Here’s a link to the nifty little tune called Another You. The first verse kind of sets the mind toward today’s topic. Listen along to this recording of Another You (↔ Music Link). The first verse goes like this:

There’s a new world somewhere
They call the promised land,
And I’ll be there someday
If you will hold my hand
I’ll still need you there beside me
No matter what I do
For I know I’ll never find another you  © 1964 Springfield-Music, Ltd Copyright Renewed

Jesus’ name is the only name through which we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. He, Jesus, is indeed the only Savior we have or need because, as he himself said, 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father. And that is why we follow him – where he leads (↔ Music Link) us we will follow because, as we read in John 10:11 – 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Blesséd be God forever in his Angels, his Saints, and his Children!

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 16 – His name alone

April 16, 2021

2116AFC041621 – His name alone

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.

     Acts 3:16 – 16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

Luke 24:45-49 – 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed* with power from on high.”

* enduo – to endue, to endow, to invest as meaning to provide with clothing such as a uniform, to be clothed in transformative change.

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. It is based on the salutations the Apostle Paul uses in nearly a dozen of his epistles – for example 1 Timothy 1:2b – Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. A similar format can be seen in 2 Peter 1:2-4 – 2 May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. In the name of Jesus we find Faith, Grace, Peace, and Mercy. Truthfully the Psalmist’s words which brought delight to Israel will also ring true for us today: Psalm 148:13 – 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.

We know that hearing and honoring the name of Jesus is an essential component of Christian worship. In Philippians 2:9-11 we read – 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Very few Christians, Catholic or non-Catholic – know that we can and should make a slight bow of our head when Jesus’ name is spoken. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal §275). It is a superb way to “keep one’s head in attendance” during worship whether public or private. In our opening Key Verse for today, we see that it is by faith in his name, his name itself that a man was healed. I chose this particular verse because for some reason it was omitted from the Sunday reading for the Third Sunday of Easter. Peter tells the astonished crowd around him Jesus’ name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Everybody new this guy! This event is recounted in Acts 3 and the passage says that everyone recognized him as the man who was carried daily to the Beautiful Gate at the Temple where he could beg for alms. The city of Jerusalem was already “all shook up” because of what had happened, the rumors that were flying around, and the extraordinary visit to the Apostles by the Holy Spirit. When this well-known beggar was seen leaping and dancing and rejoicing in the Spirit inside the Temple, the news spread quickly. One thing that is not mentioned, but is very important, is that this man could not enter the Temple because he was lame – he was unclean, un-whole. Now, because he is whole, he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All of that by faith in his name. His name alone is exquisitely elegant, the Only Name worthy of Highest Praise.

Woe to those who dishonor that Holy Name! Woe to those who sin against others in that name! Woe to those who speak that name in a curse!! Woe to those who know that Name and are faithless, betrayers, or usurpers!

Immediately after healing this well-known man, Peter goes to Solomon’s Portico in the Temple and unleashes an amazing sermon. Solomon’s Portico was a double-colonnaded porch along the east side of the Temple near the Court of the Gentiles at Solomon’s Portico. Jesus taught there (See John 10:23), and it was a common gathering place for people to come and discuss the Scriptures. The Apostles continued that Tradition. They got in trouble for that, too, and were called in by the Jewish authorities and ordered never to speak or teach in the name of Jesus (See Acts 4:18). So, guess what the Apostles did. They kept right on preaching and teaching in His Name alone. It was a powerful fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to them in Acts 1:8 – 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Later on we read in Acts 5:12 – 12 Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

In Acts 5:12-16, we are told that the actions of the Apostles were so marvelous that people from all around Jerusalem and the surrounding villages brought people into the city and laid them on cots so that if only just Peter’s shadow fell over them, they might be healed in the name of Jesus. The Apostles were persecuted, beaten, thrown in jail and escaped miraculously with the assistance of an angel. The High Priest and other elevated officials wanted to kill them, but instead found them teaching outside the Temple again! Preaching and teaching in His Name Alone! When the High Council had them brought in for questioning, Peter and the other Apostles answered “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (See Acts 5:29-32)

In those weeks after the Resurrection and Pentecost, and in that very moment and place in Jerusalem, the promise in Acts 1:8 was made manifest. In His Name Alone, the Church stood and faced the future in the city of Jerusalem – just as Jesus had prophesied: 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Beginning with Abraham and Melchizedek and up to this very day, Jerusalem has been the center of God’s plans, revelations, and actions. It was the destination of Christ resolutely walking to Calvary. It was the center of the Early Church, the point of origin for the Church’s Mission to preach the Gospel to all nations, and for these earliest believers “to the ends of the earth” meant the Roman Empire. It was their mission to tell the World, “We know him, and we know he lives. We’ve heard his voice, we’ve seen his scars, we have been witnesses to all this.” You will remember this: We have been told (↔ Music Link). We have been told! We know! We believe in His Name Alone! Now, because we believe, we also know him – but there are those who know but do not believe. You might remember this passage seen in these pages several times: 1 John 2:5-6 – 4 Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5 but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

Belovéd, In His Name Alone we have the joyous privilege of knowing and living in the Wonderful Grace of Jesus. (↔ Music Link) We have heard. We have been told. How shall we walk? How must we be accountable? Matthew 11:15 – 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear! English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001. Used with permission) All that we have comes to us All Done In His Name. (↔ Music Link) Do you ever make a Daily Offering? What would you give Jesus if you could give it to him in His Name Alone? Would you say to him, “Good morning Lord, and thank you for this day. Let’s go out and help the World together side-by-side all the way. Jesus, All That I Am (↔ Music Link) I offer now to you.”? Peter told the man he healed, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” (See Acts 3:6) What could I, what could you, what could we do in His Name Alone if only we believed, and acted on that faith? In His Name Alone, we can be made clean, made whole, and rejoice in the courts of the Lord.

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.

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

 

Aloha Friday Message – April 9, 2021 – Enduring Mercy

April 9, 2021

2115AFC040921 – Enduring Mercy

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.

     Psalm 118:4 – 4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love [Mercy]  endures forever.” 

     Hebrews 4:16 – 16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

     John 20:26-28 – 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

1 Peter 1:3-7 – 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith — being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. We begin today with a familiar story, one that circulates on the Internet every so often:

The Auction

The upstate New York man was rich in almost every way. His estate was worth millions. He owned houses, land, fabulous art, and cattle. But though on the outside he had it all, he was very unhappy on the inside. His wife was growing old, and the couple was childless. He had always wanted a little boy to carry on the family legacy.

Miraculously, his wife became pregnant, and gave birth to a little boy. The boy was severely handicapped, but the man loved him with his whole heart.

When the boy was 5, his mom died. The dad grew closer to his special son and even commissioned a portrait of him to be painted by a well-known artist when the boy was 12 years old. He had it hung on the wall opposite is bed so that it was the first thing he saw in the morning and the last thing he saw at night.

At the age of 13, the boy’s birth defects cost him his life, and the father died of a broken heart soon after. He had arranged with his favorite lawyer to hold a special auction after his death so that his estate would be put to good use.

The estate was to be auctioned before hundreds of bidders. The first item offered was the painting of the boy. No one bid. They waited like vultures for the riches. The auctioneer called out, “The son, the son; who will take the son?”

     Finally, the poor housemaid, who had helped raise the boy, bid $5 for the picture and easily took the bid. The auctioneer shouted, “The auction now concluded.” The room filled with loud chatter and confusion, wondering at the early close of the auction. The auctioneer went on to explain. “In the will of the father, the instructions specifically said to offer for sale the painting of the son first, and that whoever gets the painting of his son gets the whole estate.” To everyone’s shock, the auctioneer pulled out a handwritten will from an envelope glued to the back of the picture. This is what it said. “To the person who thinks enough of my son to buy this painting, to this person I give my entire estate.” The auction was over. The greedy crowd walked away in shock and dismay.

How many of us have sought after what we thought were true riches only to find out later that the Father was preparing to give us His entire estate if we only chose to accept His Only Begotten Son?

Whoever receives the Son receives all from the Father. In the light of eternity, God says to all of us, “This is my Son, Jesus; who will receive my Son? Whoever receives the Son gets everything” – and that includes the message of the stories Jesus told. (From that world-famous writer, Anonymous Author)

Well, perhaps you have seen that story before, but I want to ask you about your experience with choosing the Son. First, why was that choice available? Second, how did you learn about it? Third, what influenced your decisions about that choice? And finally, how has that choice affected you?

Why was that choice available? For many of us, the answer is too simple for our complex minds. Here’s a little hint: Genesis 3:15. That is the promise of Salvation first given to Eve after she and Adam came to know the difference between Good and Evil. Recall also that God moved them out of his Paradise – the Garden of Eden – so that they would not eat of the Tree of Life and thereby live forever as fallen and condemned beings – like Satan. God did not take vengeance on Adam and Eve; God took compassion on them and granted them Mercy. Everything that God gives is Good (See James 1:17), and Mercy is an extraordinarily good Gift. Without God’s Mercy, we would have no Hope of any kind – and especially no Hope for Eternal Life in his presence. Our Key Verse from Psalm 118 mentions his “steadfast love.” Steadfast a word we do not use often, so here are some synonyms to help you remember it: Unwavering, resolute, persistent, dedicated, everlasting, loyal, trustworthy, dependable, reliable, constant, faithful, devoted, steady, untiring, unfailing, lasting, persevering. I am firmly convinced that only God could fully implement every description I’ve listed. Another synonym used very frequently in the Bible is lovingkindness (ḥă-sā-ḏe-ḵā in Hebrew) which especially points to the Abrahamic Covenant. God’s relationship with his Creation of earthlings began with Love and – because it became necessary – continued with Mercy. That is why choosing the Son is an available choice. If we fail to make that choice we will indeed lose everything.

How has that choice affected you? What do we gain by accepting the Son? As in the story of the rich man and his progeny, we gain everything God intended for us from the moment he made Adam and from Adam brought forth Eve. Again, the answers are so obvious that we might overlook them. I guess the first thing we might point to is the fact that we are alive. We have a life, a consciousness, a mind, and a spirit. We have senses that help us appreciate God’s creation. We have feelings – some wonderful, some difficult – but our feelings help us understand each other and also help us to know God. If we think about it, one of the biggest factors in choosing the Son is the way we feel when we realize how much he Loves us – enough to die for us as the fulfillment of that Promise in Genesis 3:15. When we become aware of the choice and then make the choice, we are changed. We are affected in ways that bring us great joy. But, how do we make that choice known? Ah, Belovéd, why make it complicated? We make that choice known by asking for it! “Jesus, come into my heart.” The Apostle Paul put it quite nicely in Hebrews 4:16 – 16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. If we want the Mercy of God that ensures our Salvation, all we have to do is ask, search, or knock (See Matthew 7:7). That is why God’s Mercy is called steadfast. It is always there, it is always free for those who ask, and it comes with the graces necessary to make good use of the Gift.

What influenced your decisions about that choice? Most of us know someone who “grew up Christian.” God provided for them an environment characterized by Christian teaching and helped them make good use of that opportunity. Probably that includes you; if you’re reading this, it’s because you chose to open it and to read at least this far. I’d venture to say that we who create and follow these posts are influenced by our own “faith-forming experience.” (“What does that mean,” you ask?) Not everyone who chooses the Son “grew up Christian,” so how do they recognize the choice? If we think back to Jesus’ Disciples, they certainly didn’t grow up in a Christian environment, so they chose the Son based on the things Jesus said and did. Remember the axiom WHAT WE DO SAYS WHO WE ARE. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. One disciple who had to do something in order to believe was the Apostle Thomas. Let’s take another look at the well-known faith-forming experience of the Apostle Thomas.

Over the years in these pages, I’ve given Thomas kind of a bad rap by making him out to be the pessimist in the circle of Disciples. When Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was near death, it was Thomas who said (paraphrasing now), “Well, if Jesus going to Bethany, we might as well go along and die with him there.” Later, of course, Thomas opines (paraphrasing again), “It’s too good to be true that Jesus is alive. I’d have to see it to believe it.” Belovéd, what did we see that made us believe it? What did we hear that convinced us to choose the Son? Whatever it was, it was certainly a gift from God! It was a gift of Mercy and it came to us “with the graces necessary to make good use of the Gift.” So where is this Gift and how do we get it? It’s everywhere! It is even already in you! God is omnipresent and that means his Mercy is omnipresent. He does amazing things for us because he wants us to remember that the Lord is kind and merciful. (↔ Click Link!)

How has that choice affected you? This is one of those essay questions (↔ Click Link) God gives us every once in awhile. I cannot answer it for you. I can’t really even suggest an answer. If you’ve chosen the Son, you already know what you know, and what you know is “a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” If you possess that living Hope it is because you possess the Son for the reason that you freely chose him. What did it cost you? Well, probably not $5 like the poor housemaid paid for the portrait, but we who chose the Son accept that our inheritance includes responsibilities. We are responsible for sharing the Gospel, for sustaining his Church, and for helping others to choose to share the knowledge that his steadfast love [Mercy]  endures forever. After all, he is Loving and Forgiving (↔ Music Link). Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift – the Gift of his Enduring Mercy. Because of that Mercy, we will see Jesus in the Eucharist and say, “My Lord and my God!”

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

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

April 11, 2021 is the Second Sunday of Easter and also Divine Mercy Sunday. I invite you to use this link for The Divine Mercy Chaplet with Meditations by Greg Keuter. This is no longer available on the Internet, so hopefully you will be able to download this and use it often. It is a beautiful way to pray the Chaplet because it unites reflections of the sufferings of Christ with the comforting prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

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 2, 2021 – While it was still dark

April 2, 2021

2114AFC040221 – While it was still dark

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.

    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.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Today is “Good Friday.” Last week we mentioned Good Friday as we considered the Repentant Thief crucified to the right of Jesus’ cross, and said, “The Precious Blood of Jesus “is poured out for many” (See Mark 14:24) on Good Friday, but we also know that such grief is “Good Grief” because it is a Holy Grief in the same way that Good Friday is a Holy Day of Remembrance – “Do this in memory of Me.” Our Good Grief contributes to our sincere contrition and effective repentance so that one day we, too, will be with Jesus in Paradise after witnessing That Old Rugged Cross with him.”

This weekend we will experience again the beauty and the sadness of the Triduum which consists of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These are all celebrated in anticipation of the Great Feast of Resurrection Day which most people call Easter Sunday. Thursday night we remember The Last Supper, the Washing of Feet, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, and Jesus’ arrest and “trial.” It was during that trial that Peter thrice denied ever knowing Jesus. Then Friday comes after a sleepless night filled with abuse and pain, Jesus is brought before Pilate. Pilate sees no point in stirring up trouble by crucifying The King of the Jews, so he tries to get out of it by having Jesus scourged – nearly to the point of death. The Jewish religious and civil officials insist on condemning Jesus, Pilate finally relents, and turns him over to the Romans for crucifixion at 9 in the morning. Jesus endures hours of agony – the whole point of crucifixion was to cause as much pain as possible – and at 3 in the afternoon he dies.

As evening approaches, a secret Disciple name Joseph of Arimathea asks Pilate for the body so it will not be exposed during the Day of Preparation for the Passover. Jesus is placed in a borrowed tomb. During that day, the Sabbath, he is dead and buried, but he is also alive in Spirit; we know this because he goes to encourage the Souls in Sheol who are waiting for his Resurrection. No one knows that the spectacular event of The Resurrection is only hours away! It would come on the first day of the week, echad which literally means “one” or “first” because the six “workdays” of the week are named 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The Seventh Day is called Shabbat the Sabbath, the day God rested from all his work of Creation and sanctified as Holy. That is why we say to those who celebrate the Sabbath, “Shabbat shalom,” which means Sabbath of Peace. For Jesus’ Disciples, that Shabbat was nowhere near peaceful – it was absolutely horrible. It was so horrible that all of them were justifiably in fear for their lives. Their Lord, the Messiah, had been killed! Who would be next?

And then something extraordinary happens. A truly remarkable woman dis an exceptionally courageous thing. She went to the tomb where the dead body of Jesus had been placed so she could anoint the body with spices in accordance with Jewish burial customs. We have two accounts of this event – one in the Gospel of Mark and one in the Gospel of John. In Mark 16:1-12, we read that “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.” Mary Magdalene was completely dedicated to Jesus because he had cast out seven demons (See Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2). In the Gospel of John – our Key Verse for today – Mary is alone, and acting “while it was still dark.” In John’s Gospel, this is an important statement rooted in his theme throughout his account: The Light of the World and the rejection of that Light by the Darkness of Sin and Death.

John sets the scene “while it was still dark,” that is, while the world was still in the grip of sin and death. The World – including Mary Magdalene – does not know that the Light has risen and Darkness flees from that Light – Jesus. John tells us right up front in his Gospel (John 1:1-14 which is often quoted in these pages), and at least 16 times he refers to Jesus and his Mission as Light. After the Resurrection, the Gospel of John continues with important accounts of Jesus interacting with Mary Magdalene, the message Jesus gave her to take to the other Disciples – his Apostles – and the description of Thomas’ reaction to their assertion that they had seen the Risen Lord. Then we have the beautiful recounting of Jesus meeting with seven of the Apostles at Galilee. This narrative includes what I call the Penance of Peter; three times Jesus asks, “Peter, do you love me?” Three times Peter answers, “Yes, Lord, you know I do.” Jesus tells him to feed the lambs, to tend the sheep, and to feed the sheep. Peter is to be the Shepherd for the Holy and Apostolic Church Jesus will establish through Peter’s leadership. We know now what none of the Apostles or Disciples knew in those days after the Resurrection: There would be much for them to endure. One of the greatest examples of that kind of endurance is Mary of Magdala.

     This Mary, the Magdalene, knew the torment of great sin, having given herself over to demonic possession for many years. There are many fascinating “accounts” of her life – even a noncanonical “Gospel” – but what we know of her from Scripture is really all we need to know. She was courageous, outspoken, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and possessing great faith in her Teacher. She would go with him all the way from Capernaum to Calvary and beyond. Several years ago I read an excellent “docunovel” (↔ Click Link) titled Mary, called Magdalene by Margaret George. You might want to try it sometime. It is a fascinating look into the era when Jesus the Christ of God walked on this Earth. One very strong impression I gained from that book was the amazing magnitude of The Magdalene’s endurance. On that topic, I want to share with you another boatload of Scripture on endurance. The purpose will become clear when we come to the concluding remarks in this post. Please read (don’t just skim through) the following:

James 5:11 – 11 Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

1 Corinthians 4:12 – 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

2 Corinthians 1:6 – 6 if we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.

Matthew 24:9-13 – 9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Mark 13:13 – 13 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Hebrews 12:7 – 7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?

1 Peter 2:19 – 19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.

In a recent post – 2106AFC020521 – Searching in the Dark – we “anticipated” this telling of the story of Mary of Magdala. Mary went to minister to Jesus even though everything she knew in this World told her he was gone. She endured the fear, traveled in the darkness and cold, and carried with her the resolution to do the right thing. Recall that Passover was during the Hebrew month of Abib which is now the month Nisan in the current Jewish calendar; this is the March-April part of the calendar we use. Temperatures in Jerusalem would have been in the mid-50s to the upper-60s. Despite the danger, the cold, the immense sorrow she endured, she got up and went to Jesus while it was still dark. Belovéd, this is a dark, dark time, and a time for serious prayer for, with, and about each other; for our Nation, for our civic and religious leaders; for our families, for our neighbors; in thanksgiving, adoration, and praise for our Heavenly Father and his only-begotten Son; for our own souls; for our enemies and oppressors; and for the innocent at all stages of life from conception to natural death. We can learn a lot from Jesus’ prayer life, and it is especially important to learn and know that an early prayer in the dark is a great prayer to make when searching for Peace and Hope. Like Mary of Magdala, we can summon the faith, the discernment, the patience and perseverance, and the humility to exercise THE POWER OF PRAYER. I have come to believe that God only gives four answers to prayer:
1. “Yes!”
2. “Not yet.”
3. “I have something better in mind.”
4. “You’ve got to be kidding!

Jesus leads the way, and the Way goes to Calvary. Mary followed Jesus on the Way, and endured witnessing the horrific death of her Rabbouni. Her love and faith is an example for our struggles in this dark hour. Think about her story, the crushing grief, the paralyzing fear, the indomitable courage, and the inexpressible JOY she knew when Jesus spoke her name.

Listen carefully, Belovéd. He is speaking your name, too. Do you, do I, do we have the faith and love that Mary Magdalene had? Can we not only endure these dark days, but truly prevail over all the World casts onto us? Will we rise early in the morning to minster to Jesus, to feed his lambs, to tend his sheep? Will we walk this Lonesome Valley  (↔ Music Link) with Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome?

As we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord this weekend, let us also anticipate our resurrection with him when he returns in Glory as he promised. It’s not dark when we have The Light of the World (↔ Music Link). HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

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 – March 26, 2021 – Good Grief!

March 26, 2021

2013AFC032621 – Good Grief! (See also Aloha Friday Message Mercy Series)

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.

     Mark 15:32-34 – 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Luke 23:39-43 – 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

1 John 1:9 – 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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. It’s almost here. Sunday, March 28th is Palm Sunday and Easter a week later! Today I want to talk about some Extra-Ordinary Mercy, so let’s get right into it.

We say we want to repent, to do the right things, to be all we can be in the Grace of God. Then we come across this little snag in Jeremiah 13:23 – 23 But there is little hope for you ever doing good, you who are so accustomed to doing evil. Can an Ethiopian [Cushite] change the color of his skin? Can a leopard remove its spots? [1] Let’s face it ʻŌmea, we are accustomed to doing evil. Some of us expect to have that pardoned on or before the day of reward. Others we know may be hanging on to the past possible moment to get in a “miraculous conversion” like the guy who ended up going to Paradise with Jesus when they both died from the agonizing pain, blood loss, and suffocation in the crucifixion they endured. That man – often referred to in apocryphal (“unofficial”) pious literature as St. Dismas or Dysmas – is also called the Penitent Thief. His name means “sunset” or “death.” The other guy’s name – according to the same unconfirmed sources – was Gestas. The derivation is from Greek “Gesta” meaning complaining or moaning. Dismas received Mercy as he was dying because he told Gestas to stop insulting and mocking Jesus, then – according to the Gospel of Luke – he turned to Jesus and asked to be remembered when Jesus “came into” his Kingdom. Jesus assures him he will be in Paradise with Jesus that very day.

What and where is Paradise? The New Testament occurrences of the word are written in the spirit of Jewish apocalyptic literature – a genre of literature in the Bible that focuses on the end time. In our Key Verse from Luke, Paradise is the place where Jesus and the Dismas are going. Again, looking at the Greek for the last phrase in this verse (today you will be with me in Paradise) – the word semeron {say’-mer-on} means this very day. Another word of interest here is esē comes from the Greek word eimi {i-mee’} for to be or to exist. All of the words in the phrase are crystal clear about what they denote so that we could read it as “this very day exactly you will actually be with exactly me in exactly Paradise.” Pretty clear what he meant, yes? Considering the pain he and his two fellow victims were in, it was not a time for dithering about word choices. Yet, it is so very much “in character” for Jesus to make a direct confirmation of salvation despite the agony and distress he was feeling at that very moment.

Jesus’ word to this repentant thief was a word of forgiveness, as was Jesus First Word [2] from the Cross, “Father forgive them …” He first forgave his executioners. Next he forgave one who acknowledged the justice of his own punishment, repented of his sins, and asked to be remembered in Jesus’ Kingdom. Today we still read about this man who, at Death’s door, appealed to the Creator of Heaven and Earth for Mercy. Shall we not do likewise and ask for forgiveness in our appeal to The One who overcame Sin and Death? “Forgiveness” is something which is sometimes hard to understand. We might liken it to what people say about art: I don’t know much about art, but I know it when I see it. We have some misguided ideas about forgiveness, though, even if we “know it when we see it.”

Forgiveness is not what we see in today’s “cancel culture” – sanitizing the past. That helps no one because it destroys the good with the bad. Forgiveness destroys only the bad and leaves wholly Holy the good because forgiveness is an act of Grace brought forth by Love. That is the effect of Mercy. If we try to “decontaminate the past,” we end up with vengeance. That is not correction, and certainly not Mercy. Justice can be retroactive, even restorative, but if that kind of action is taken, then Justice must be administered with Mercy; otherwise Justice cannot be rehabilitative, and that is what Grace and Forgiveness accomplish when used together. We are restored to fellowship – communion – with God. (Remember that the Greek word koinonia {koy-nohn-ee’-ah} means fellowship, communion, mutual participation together as community – see CCC §948) By now, we all know that Forgiveness begins with repentance (Greek: metanoia change of mind, repentance, a change of mind, change in the inner man, “doing a 180º back to God”). That’s something we need to get done before Easter arrives.

In a post (↔ Click Link) a few years back, we had a short checklist of seven things to do to do in preparation for Easter: Repent, be baptized, believe, confess, come to Jesus, carry your cross, and follow Jesus. It’s quite a list, especially considering the first step in light of today’s Key Verse from Jeremiah.  If you want to repent and to do good instead of evil, it seems Jeremiah is saying, “Give it up. You’re never going to make it.” Even so, love compels us to try to repent, to reform, to apologize. When we hurt someone we love, they feel terrible, and – if we’re honest about it – we feel terrible, too, because of what we did. I can repent, say I’m very sorry, that I’ll never do that again; but, I am not always able to keep that promise. How about you? Do you find it’s hard to bring your heart and mind to sincere contrition and effective repentance? How does repentance work anyway? A better question might be “How is repentance supposed to work?”

I have trouble with “sincere contrition and effective repentance” *all* *the* *time!* Don’t you? As I meditated on this problem all week I felt stronger and stronger about the idea that my attitude of gratitude needs a better ALtitude. LQQK at all the amazing gifts God has given me! Am I grateful? Sure! Am I grateful for all of it? Sure! Do I know how much “all of it” is? Hmmm …. no. I don’t know that, just like I don’t know how much I sin because I let habits do my thinking and praying for me rather than going one-on-one with God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (a.k.a. Confession). I can see that in some ways humility is directly attached to gratitude as well. If we turn away from sin we end up turning toward God. That is something for which we can be truly and deeply thankful. When we acknowledge everything that we have and realize it all comes from God, we are grateful and humbled: That gives us the aphorism “The bigger the gratitude, the deeper the humility.” Humility is what makes contrition and repentance sincere and effective. As we have seen, St. Dismas’ appeal to Jesus was way better than Gestas taunting. I sometimes wonder if Gestas took some bitter pleasure when he heard Jesus call out to God with the opening words of Psalm 22 – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” If you’ll take a moment to peek at 1511AFC031315 – Recitation, you’ll see an analysis of that quote in our Key Verse from Mark’s account of the Crucifixion. Compare this with Matthew 27:46 – 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The meanings are the same. The one in Mark 15:34 is in Aramaic and the one in Matthew 27 is of Hebrew origin. I’m going to transplant a section from that 2015 message:

Why did Jesus say that? This is a simple and important question to answer because we now know so much about the Jews of that time and place. Jesus fully understood what was needed; he informed his disciples several times that he was going to be turned over to his enemies, suffer greatly, die, and be raised again. They simply could not understand what all that meant. He also had supreme confidence in God’s purpose, power, and providence – his divine intervention in the fate of all earthlings. Consider that Jews in Jesus’ time were, for the most part, well-trained in the Law and the Prophets. The Psalms were something like the Hymnal of the Hebrews. People, especially men, were expected to know them and to be able to recite them “on demand.” Thus, a teacher of Hebrew Scripture would expect his students to be able to take a cue from the beginning of a Psalm and then recite the entire thing, all the while rehearsing in their mind what they had been taught about its meaning. For example, today if someone were to say or sing “Oh say can you see …” most of us would be able to go on with that famous lyric. If someone said “In the land where I was born / Lived a man who sailed the sea …” we might not be able to recall the entire text, but we would at least know what it was about and generally what happened. If I were to say, “For God so loved the world that …” probably most of the world could finish that sentence. In Jerusalem at that time if someone spoke the words “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” the Jewish listeners would know the next 29 verses. They would know the various parts of that Psalm, and that it contained confident praise of God and an assurance of victory by God’s strong hand. Jesus knew this also, and from the cross led many minds to that Psalm which had been memorized by pious students of the Scriptures and was always readily available for recitation. It was often used by Jews to remind them that, even in the face of death, God was with them and would provide the victory for them. Even at the point of unimaginable agony and imminent death, Jesus was moved to PRAISE God!

Belovéd, if we believe that we want to be like Jesus, then we must take up our cross and follow him to Calvary and beyond! Then we will have direct experience with the Joy St. Dismas found that day because, as our final Key Verse says, 1 John 1:9 – 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is koinonia to the MAX! We cannot “change” the spots and stains of sin on our hearts, but Jesus can wipe them clean. We indeed grieve for the immense suffering Jesus endured. The Precious Blood of Jesus “is poured out for many” (See Mark 14:24) on Good Friday, but we also know that such grief is “Good Grief” because it a Holy Grief in the same way that Good Friday is a Holy Day of Remembrance – “Do this in memory of Me.” Our Good Grief contributes to our sincere contrition and effective repentance so that one day we, too, will be with Jesus in Paradise after witnessing  That Old Rugged Cross with him. (↔ Music Link) That is extra-ordinary Mercy! AMEN.

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] (New English Translation [NET] NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.)

[2] See “Seven Last Words of Christ by Chick Todd” at https://www.catholic365.com/Search/

 

 

 

 

Aloha Friday Message – March 19, 2021 – The Road Ahead

March 19, 2021

2112AFC031921 – The Road Ahead

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.

     John 12:26 – 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Jeremiah 31:33 – 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Hebrews 5:7 – 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are nearing the end of the Lenten Season; this Sunday is the Fifth Sunday in Lent. Next Sunday is the beginning of Passion week which opens with Palm Sunday. Toward the end of that week we experience the Holy Triduum – the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus culminating in our Easter Sunday celebration. In the past several weeks, we have been following Jesus as he resolutely set his eyes, heart, mind, and spirit toward Jerusalem. He has told his Disciples three times that he must suffer greatly, die, and be raised up on the third day. They nod outwardly, but inwardly they have no idea whatsoever what he is talking about nor do they understand how much they themselves will be changed by what they will experience in the next few days. The Road to Jerusalem was – for them – just another journey with the Master. For Jesus, it was the most important yet most dreadful road he ever traveled. Let us ask each other, then, what does the road ahead look like for us?

It may seem impertinent, but who are “us?” I am reminded of Walt Kelley’s famous Pogo comic-strip quote, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This is a twist on Oliver Hazard Perry’s words after a naval battle: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” In the context of this message – as in nearly all of the messages in this blog – the “us,” and the “we” are Christians – believers in the Christ of God. We are not addressing the Christian mission of evangelism outside the Church; we are focusing on evangelization and edification inside the Church. Now, why the quote from Pogo? As we look at the Church today, there seems to be a good deal of confusing rhetoric from more than a few directions. With over 4,000 non-Catholic denominations, more than a score of Liturgical Rites aligned with Rome, and only God knows how many invented religions, it is increasingly clear that all that divisiveness mirrors the multidimensional “polarization” seen in The World. “We” are not all that different, it seems, from “them” except that we cite doctrine and theology as the basis for our separations (or unifications). What if I told you none of that is important? Well, that would certainly tighten a few jaws, but let me show you what I mean.

Just where do you think we’re going, and how are we supposed to get there? We know we are supposed to answer “We’re going to Heaven and we get there by believing in and serving Jesus.” That is a good answer, but a bit shallow. We have a couple of other stops along the way. Please reflect on this: Jesus has been telling his Disciples that he must suffer greatly at the hands of the Jews, that he will die, and then he will rise again. His Road to Jerusalem was the only Road to Calvary. Now consider our Gospel Key Verse: Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Do we have Calvary on our own little roadmap? Jesus knew what awaited him at the end of that trip, and the man called Jesus dreaded it because he know it would be terrible. Nonetheless he says, “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” (See John 12:27-28) This occurs six days (↔ Click Link) before the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ Passion. He had just been to a lovely dinner hosted by his friends in Bethany – Lazarus, Martha, and Mary – and he was anointed by Mary with “a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard.” Does our journey make room for such an anointing? What would we do if someone even started to do that to us? Would we react like Judas Iscariot who became indignant and said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (Remember a denarius was a day’s wage.) Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Are we still on that road with Jesus or do we need to get on the road again? (↔ NOT a Music Link!) What is the purpose of being on the road? In Willie’s song, the purpose is to get together with friends and make music, and to see the World like a band of gypsies. Now, that’s not to say that Ol’ Willie hasn’t got a few Christian thoughts in his rucksack, but if we think about it, he’s talking about a community, relationships, friendships; the purpose of those connections is creativity – not procreation, but art and invention that contribute to the World Order of Good. We know, though, that The World is evil and will die, but the Word will always be Goodness and Light so it will live and grow. Is our road the road that ends in the Presence of God? Is our purpose on this Road the Glory of God? For the worldly, the secular-humanist earthlings who express contempt for us “religious nuts,” the end of every road is the happiness of comfort among other earthlings. What is our purpose for coming to this hour, this wide-spot in the road? Is it, or is it not, the purpose for which Jesus is here at this hour, in this place, ready to be with us as we share with him our Love, our Service, and our Obedience? As we travel with each other in Jesus’ company, do we have “God’s law within us, written on our hearts” according to his covenant?

His covenant-share is that he will redeem us as he says “… for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” What is our covenant-share in this prophecy? We are to follow, to trust, to obey, to love God and neighbor. (God leads. God’s People follow.) WE must remember that Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Follow, trust, obey, love – this is what we call “followership,” and followership ≡ submission to God’s will to the exclusion of our own will. That is easy to say and tougher than nailing Jell-O to a flag pole.

Maybe you remember seeing this back in November 2020

Stairways to Heaven & Hell

The late Rev. Adrian Rogers stated in one of his messages that God uses Scripture to show us what we can become if we focus on the Word. He said that the deeper you are in the Word “you become like what you look at.” The entire Word of God is in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is in the entire word of God. If you are in the Word, where are you? In Christ Jesus! If the Word of God is in you, then inside you is Christ Jesus, “changed into the same image from glory to glory!” We will see him as he is for we shall be like him.  (See 1334AFC082313 – Mirror, Mirror on the Shelf – reposted to Facebook Wednesday 3/17) All of this is part of Jesus’ servants being where he is – including on the road to Calvary.

Do you remember what Jesus said about that, about being lifted up? It’s in the third chapter of John: John 3:14-15 – 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (Please use the Scripture link to see this passage in context. It is important to understand how this fits into the Gospel lesson for this Sunday.) To what is Jesus referring? Here are a couple of illustrations to help us refresh those aging memories. Numbers 21:8-9 – 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

God had given Israel his Law – the Ten Commandments (See Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21),  – they were given before the fiery serpents and the bronze serpent on a pole). How is it, then, that Moses made a metallic image of a poisonous snake and told the People of Israel to look at it to save their lives? Isn’t that an idol, a “graven image?” The difference here is that God ORDERED Moses TO MAKE THE DEVICE. It is a prefiguring, a “type,” which God used to show us how we must always rely on him for our salvation. That is why Jesus referred to it when he was talking to Nicodemus. I believe he told Nicodemus that because Nicodemus would remember “the rest of the Story.” In the days of King Hezekiah, the People were burning incense and praying to that device Moses had made! 2 Kings 18:4 – 4 He [Hezekiah] removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole. He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan. {nekh-oosh-tawn’} “The serpent-thing of brass/bronze/copper” (↔ Click Link for more information)

Belovéd, our days are often filled with deep, frightful prayers and supplications for our Nation, for our Church, for our intercessory Prayer List, and for all of us who call upon the Name of The Lord. These are nowhere near as intense as the prayers Jesus made. The evil that has washed over us like a horrific tsunami is indeed terrifying because it has nearly washed out the Road we must travel, the stairway we must seek. Now that we’ve considered where that Road begins and ends, we have what we need to give deeper consideration of Jesus’ purpose for glorifying his Father by going to his death on the Cross: “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

That is the road we are on – or should be on. If not, we need to get back on the Road again but this time make absolutely certain we are the servants who are accompanying their Master to the Place he has prepared for us. It is not an easy road. There are high peaks, deep valleys, raging rivers, stormy seas, dragons, demons, and edges of huge cliffs. Jesus can handle all of that because he has given us something to bridge the gaps along our difficult road.  As we travel that Road with Jesus, we recall Jesus’ words, “Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” We choose to follow him because we hear him calling, (↔ Music Link) and so we have Decided to Follow Jesus. (↔ Music Link)

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

 St. Joseph

PRAY FOR US

Aloha Friday Message – March 12, 2021 – Wrath and Grace

March 12, 2021

2111AFC031221 – Wrath and Grace

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.

      2 Chronicles 36:15-16 – 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; 16 but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy.

Ephesians 2:8-10 – 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.

John 3:17-19 – 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.

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. Today I want to address one of the Seven Deadly Sins and, as we do so, to consider one way to defeat that sin in our lives. The sin I wish to address is a sin by which we seem to be surrounded – and it is taking over much of our lives. We’ll begin with an excerpt from the First Weekend in Lent in 2016:

This chart is based on many analyses of Christian scholars who looked for a way to present information on their understanding of the nature and severity of these sins. One common way to present them is by using the mnemonic “PEGSLAW.” That is the basis for this table:

The 7 Deadly Sins and Their Corresponding Virtues
P Pride Humility
E Envy Kindness
G Gluttony Temperance
S Sloth1 Diligence
L Lust2 Chastity
A Avarice3 Charity
W Wrath Patience
1Acedia, Apathy
2Covetousness, Concupiscence
3Greed, Cupidity

The one we will look at today is Wrath. When we speak of “the wrath of God,” we are citing the divine judgment upon sin and sinners which will be meted out on the Day of Reward against unrepentant sinners, but it is important to know that it is being felt today by the ungodly as the hardening of their hearts through the creation of their “Cancel Culture.” As you can see, the corresponding Virtue is Patience. Patience is a Virtue that starts with God. God is patient with us – for example we have Numbers 14:18a – 18 The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression and Exodus 20:6 – 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. “Steadfast love” is Mercy, and thank God that God is merciful! Nonetheless, what is so alarming is the pointless, violent, corrosive, angry Wrath that sweeps through mobs of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people all around the World. Is God patient with them? Does he expect us to be patient with them? The answer to both questions is yes – up to a point. When we are Patient with each other as believers, there is great peace in that because that sort of Patience is integrated into The Fruit of the Spirit. It is the ability to endure whatever comes. “Endure” in this context is to persist, to carry on; it is not the kind of endurance that is characterized as passive toleration. This is a kind of Patience that is to be as God’s Patience is – “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression [and aggression?] and showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love him. In my own sinful and often prideful little mind, that is a great way to approach Patience – after all, it’s what God does! – so, because we know that, we also have good reason to rejoice in the Gift of Salvation.

Rejoicing just happens to be the theme of Laetare Sunday – the Fourth Sunday of Lent and that happens this weekend. Back in 2020 during Advent we celebrated Gaudete Sunday. Both of those Sundays are celebrations of rejoicing. The vestments are Rose-colored. During the austerity of Lent we pause to reflect on how loving and patient God is to have provided us with so great a Savior, so let’s think on that topic for a bit.

In our first Key Verse from the Sunday readings we see that God did everything he could to wake us up (not to be confused with this most recent nonsense movement “woke”). He sent Judges, and Prophets, and Messengers, and his earthlings rejected them because they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy. He had already destroyed every living thing except the inhabitants of the Ark, so instead, he sent us his Son, our Savior, for this reason: 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. Those who embrace Wrath do so in their own darkness and – having rejected the Light – they are condemned already unless they repent and believe the Gospel. And woe to those who claim to be believers but lure others into sin and darkness by claiming to be pure, wise, and “woke.”

I urge you to look into these passages: Isaiah 9:16, Matthew 18:6, 2 Peter 2:1, Romans 1:18–32, and especially 2 Timothy 3:1-5 – You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. AVOID THEM! (my emphasis added). In these passages you will see what happens when sinful leaders and sinful followers disdain the Mercy of God and give the pretense of being godly in their thoughts, words, and deeds while they are actually children of Wrath and Pride, the siblings of Ignorance and Want.

Belovéd, we need not – must not – be misled by these demonic manifestations of Satan’s power. Indeed, we know Truth and Truth has freed us “from all sin and unrighteousness” because as we read in 1 John 5:16-19 – 16 If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one – to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal. // 18 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19 We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. It is exactly that kind of information that makes the Gospel “The Good News!” and we could sure use a load of that these days!! Therefore, Belovéd, in keeping with the spirit of Laetare Sunday, let us REJOICE! In Scripture we have plenty of examples of ways to rejoice. Here’s a quick reminder:

Rejoice with one another, Beloved. Pray for, with, and about one another. Be kind to one another, and be especially kind to strangers. Remember what He said: “Whatever you do to the least of these…” and “I AM coming tomorrow.” Isn’t that a good enough reason to rejoice? There’s a post for that right here, and in that post you will find these biblical terms for REJOICE:

Samah – שָׂמַ֖ח – Jubilant, spontaneous dancing, signing (simhach) – 1 Chronicles 29:9
Alaz – עָלַז – Exult – Burst into leaping with joy – Habakkuk 3:17-18
Nagilah – נָגִ֖ילָה – Let us rejoice – Psalm 118:4
Euphraino – εὐφραίνω – To gladden the mind – Revelation 12:12
Kauchaomai – καυχάομαι – Glory in success and boast against – 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
Sunchairo – a συγχαίρω – Rejoicing together, with others – Luke 15:6
Agalliao – ἀγαλλιάω – Rejoice Greatly, to exult; jump for joy – Revelation 19:6-8
Chairo – χαίρω – Rejoicing over experiencing God’s Grace; be glad in the Lord – Luke 15:32

That is such a great word – REJOICE. When I hear it, I hear it as re-joys as in joys again, and again, and again. One of the best JOY words around is Halleluiah and its alternative Alleluia. We are to be an Alleluia People! What does that word mean? It means GOD BE PRAISED. We used to sing a song about that. (↔ Music Link) We’d be divided into two groups – boys and girls, left-side and right-side, children and adults – and on the Halleluiah phrases one group would stand. When Praise ye the Lord came up the Halleluiah group sat down and the second group stood up. There was a lot of “jumping up and down.” Rejoicing is like that. It’s just being so happy that we simply can’t sit still. (↔ Music Link) That’s one of the effects of being baptized with FIRE and the Holy Spirit!

Pope Francis I on his election chose that name because St. Francis is a Saint who typifies joyful commitment to the hard work of evangelization. He is “Everybody’s Saint.” When I was a kid, I learned a song attributed to him that sings in my soul to this day. It is an Alleluia song, a song of Praise, and when we praise God, we are caught up in rejoicing with him for his Saving Grace as we rejoice because of his “steadfast love and lovingkindness” in our daily lives For by grace you have been saved through faith. Perhaps you will also remember this beautiful hymn. It remains a favorite here! It is All Creatures of Our God and King (↔ Music Link). You can find the full lyrics here (↔ Click Link). It is reminiscent of Isaiah 12:6 – 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The Wrath of God is real. We see it affecting those around us every day. We will not be subject to it if we remember to Rejoice in the Lord who is our Life and our Salvation since Those who believe in him are not condemned; 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 is the Gift and the effect of Grace, the unmerited favor of God. It beats Wrath hands down every time. REJOICE!

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 – March 5, 2021 – You Shall Not

March 5, 2021

2110AFC030521 – You Shall Not

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.

     Exodus 20:2-3 – 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods besides me.

Leviticus 18:3 – 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.

Joshua 24:15 – 15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you

There was a plaque very similar to this one in the house where my family lived after I moved out of the house in which I grew up . As I recall, it was on the main floor of their multilevel house at the bottom of the stairs going up to the second floor. Our dad was, in his own quiet way, proud of that declaration. It stated his faith simply but eloquently. His attitude was pretty much centered on “you shall.” There were rules in our house about what you could not do, that’s for sure, but there were more rules about what you should do. Later on in my own life I worked it out to “Do what you know is right. Avoid what you know is wrong. Ask God to bless the choice.” That pretty much works out every time I remember it. God has some simple rules, too.

In Jehovah’s dealing with Israel, he started them off with a list of actionable rules that began with “thou shalt not.” There’s a really good reason for that, and we’ll begin by discussing that reason.

We know that God is always Loving and Forgiving (↔ Music Link). How do we know? He told us so, over and over. In these writings I have often mentioned God’s Perfect Integrity. God is ONE. He first conveyed this through Moses. The first and most obvious place to see God’s oneness is in Deuteronomy 6:4. I’m going to put it here  with some “added emphasis” so you can see how it is recorded in Scripture.

 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.

שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה ׀ אֶחָֽד ׃

Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu Adonai Echad.

Now, this Perfect Integrity is the authority on which God’s Perfect Justice is based. Justice applies to everything we do and can be understood as the natural consequences of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Justice always gives us what we deserve and those consequences can be pleasant or not. Another core aspect of the effect of Perfect Integrity is God’s Perfect Love. REAL love must be based in Integrity, otherwise it is fickle and unpredictable. God’s Love is REAL Love because it is unchanging and constantly unending. Because his Justice is Perfect and his Love is Everlasting, he offers us Love that reinforces Justice by making it a Gift to us – a Gift called Grace. Through this Gift of Grace, God is also able to bestow on us the Gift of Mercy – and make no mistake about it – Mercy is a remarkable Gift! In the same way that Justice applies natural consequences, Mercy applies Supernatural Consequences, and those are always GOOD consequences. As we said, justice gives us what we deserve. Mercy gives us what we do not deserve – consistently-good consequences. These consistently-good consequences are known to us as Blessings, and if you’ve made time recently to count how many of those you have already, you’ll know that Blessings abound when we are open to the Grace available to us through REAL Love. This Mercy from God is another core aspect of his Perfect Integrity. Like him, it is unique, eternal, integral to him and all he does (therefore integral to all Creation). This Endless Mercy is the enabling factor that brings us Endless Salvation through Christ our Lord. That Endless Salvation has a distinctly Divine Purpose in God’s dealings with his earthlings.

That Divine Purpose is Restoration. “In the beginning” our First Parents were created in the image and likeness of God, and shared his Integrity – they were without sin. Then, we broke that integrity through duplicity – compromise, which is the antithesis of integrity – and lost our original relationship with him through Original Sin. This was caused by a failure to be humble – we stretched out our hand to claim that which we already had – Unity with God – and traded it for separation, humiliation, and death. Humiliation is an affront to pride and a product of shame; shame comes because we know the difference between Good and Evil and chose (and choose) that which is not good. Humility is the only antidote for shame because being humble is an act of worship and a product of Love which leads us to unification God and with each other thus completing the restoration of our original relationship with our Creator. God does this because his Perfect Integrity is expressed for us in his unfailing Kindness – his care for his Creations. Kindness is an attribute of God that he expects us to have and to use. As sinful souls, how are we to know how to be kind and merciful as he requires? Well, Good God that he is, he has given us detailed instructions called the B.I.B.L.E. and in that Operator’s Manual he included an extensive set of Rules. Those Rules are summarized in a tidy little package we call The Ten Commandments. For most of the people who have a least a little familiarity with that package, what is most memorable is “thou shalt not.”

This would be a good spot to pause for a moment and review the Ten Commandments. There are several ways of listing them. There are differences in the order and wording for Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, and those differ from the Jewish listing. We’ll look at just the Christian comparison here.

 

10 Commandments ~ Catholic Christian Version 10 Commandments ~ Non-Catholic Christian Version
1.     You shall not have other gods before Me.

2.     You shall not take the Name of the Lord in vain.

3.     Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.

4.     Honor your father and your mother.

5.     You shall not kill.

6.     You shall not commit adultery.

7.     You shall not steal.

8.     You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9.     You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

 1.     You shall have no other gods but me.

2.     You shall not make unto you any graven images

3.     You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

4.     You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy

5.     Honor your mother and father

6.     You shall not murder

7.     You shall not commit adultery

8.     You shall not steal

9.     You shall not bear false witness

10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor

(For the Jewish summary, please follow this link.)

We have been told repeatedly here and elsewhere that the way to keep these commandments (they are the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Recommendations) is to Love God and neighbor as we love ourselves. That sounds simple, but we all know that its simplicity is what trips us up. Why is it so difficult to Love God and our neighbors? It is difficult because we forget. Being reminded we’ve forgotten is truly humbling, sometimes even humiliating; we resolve to do better, but sooner than we wish – we forget again. Fortunately God is patient. When we ask Him “What more do you want?” He says, “I don’t want more. I want it all.” Yikes! Talk about Amazing Grace!! He wants all our imaginations about what we are, have, and can be, and He will replace that with all we are created to be. That’s a pretty good deal! So why don’t we always accept the terms of that deal? We forget to remember what He put there and displace it with what we put there. We choose to disremember because we decide not “to walk humbly with our God.” (Once again, Micah 6:8 comes to mind). We have an abundance of ways to be reminded, to remember that Love is the Way of God. Here are a few of those reminders.

Colossians 2:8 – 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.

Romans 8:6-9 – 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

John 14:15 – 15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

1 John 5:3-5 – 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

2 John 1:6 – 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 – 13 Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Peter 2:1 – 1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.

1 Pet. 3:10 – 10 For “Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit.

Deuteronomy 4:2 – 2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.

There are nearly equal numbers of Bible verses that contain “you shall” and “you shall not.” Here are a few passages where Israel was told “you shall:”

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Exodus 3:15 – God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

Exodus 28:30 – In the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD; thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the Israelites on his heart before the LORD continually.

Numbers 3:15 – Enroll the Levites by ancestral houses and by clans. You shall enroll every male from a month old and upward.

Deuteronomy 5:1 – Moses convened all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently.

Jeremiah 7:23 – 23 But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”

There we have it, Belovéd. The answer is that we must not forget to obey his voice, to know him as our God, to know ourselves as his people, and only to obey his commandments by not forgetting what he put here for us so that we do not replace them with what we put here for him. If we remember to do these things, all will be well with us.

We must not compromise on his Commandments or his Law! There is only ONE God and he has only ONE Law. When we break any part of that Law, we have broken the whole Law, but he still Loves us and redeems us because he does Love us. We must only remember how much he loves (↔ Music Link) us, even to his death.

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 – February 26, 2021 – HERE I AM.

February 26, 2021

2109AFC022621 – HERE I AM.

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.

      Genesis 22:1-2 – 1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”* 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”

Acts 9:10 – 10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”

Genesis 22:7-8 – 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Exodus 3:4 – 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Isaiah 58:9a – 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. * This declaration in Hebrew is hinneh, and it is used hundreds of times in the Bible. Usually it is translated as Behold! Or Lo and it carries a meaning of “Look here,” or “I am here” and usually occurs when a person in authority is speaking (God calling Samuel, for example, or Jeremiah surrendering to his accusers while relying on God’s Providence).

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. It is already the second weekend of Lent, and this weekend we will listen to some of the most remarkable passages in the entire Bible. First, there is the story in Genesis 22 where God “put Abraham to the test” by requiring him to sacrifice his precious son, Isaac. Abraham complies by acting in faith that God had promised him he would have heirs through Isaac more numerous than the stars and he reckoned that God could even raise Isaac from the dead. The Apostle Paul reminds the Romans that – like Abraham – God did not withhold his own Precious Son from death. God is for us so we have nothing to fear from those who would oppose us. Lastly, in the Gospel, we have the remarkable account of The Transfiguration (← Check it out!). Today I want to focus on Abraham’s absolutely resolute faith. As you can tell from the Key Verse passages up there, the response of a true Servant of God is “Here I am,” sometimes flipped to say “Here am I.” When God speaks the name of one of his servants, the ones who are committed to serving him and him only, and they reply in humble readiness, it reminds me of the response we were trained to give in the Armed Forces: Sir! Yes Sir! We enthusiastically show our readiness to serve as did the Psalmist in Psalm 40:7-8 – 7 Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” We know our duty – to Trust and Obey – and we discharge that duty without reserve.

God establishes servants wherever service is needed. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If something needs to be done, bring in those who are capable of doing it. And we can readily see that God’s servants know what he wants because they are prepared for whatever he asks (See in context Deuteronomy 30:11-14 – 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.) In Isaiah 58:9, we have a prefiguring of the promise in Genesis 2  – the presence of God in the lives of his earthlings. After all, it is his Spirit that makes us living souls. God is always here, always near, always and all ways Always, and that means he knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. (See my “2nd-most-favorite-Psalm,” Psalm 139:13-16) God chose to make his Son – his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON – manifest in flesh, flesh like ours. He is always present (Omnipresent – here I am, not “here I will be”) He calls us to be present (Here I am Lord) (↔ Music Link) and when we respond, great things happen! We find Grace, Power in the Holy Spirit, Peace surpassing all understanding, surrender to God as he lays hold of us, our willingness to serve escalates, our preparedness is sharpened, we are aglow with the Presence of God. Of course, we are not as refulgent as Christ was as he spoke with Moses and Elijah, but we do shine! Have you ever heard God’s voice? I have. I have shared this before, but I want to share it again today.

Suppose we start out with Isaiah 6:8 – 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” I always liked that. It was, in a special way, part of my decision to give my life to “Full Time Christian Service” at age 10 at Camp IdRaHaJe – which is an abbreviation for “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” (↔ Music Link) Later – in high school – I thought I had a calling to the Ministry in the Reformed Church in America. Long story short, one thing led to another, the Draft happened, and that idea faded away. The message for that calling was “Preach my Word.” Once I was in the Air Force, I was led to my conversion in the Catholic Church. Just two weeks after my first fully-Catholic day, I married the love of my life – Crucita – and not long after, the message in the call became “Teach my Word.” I’m still working on that directive. Here is one way that happens.

The Psalm I love best is Psalm 138 (← Check it out!). It is my all-time-favorite Psalm. The first two verses are filled with wonderful praise:

Psalm 138:1 – I thank you, Lord, with all my heart;
in the presence of the angels to you I sing. New American Bible (Revised Edition)(NABRE)

I like that part about singing in the presence of the Angels. It reminds me of Psalm 22:3 which says that God “inhabits the praises of his people.” The rest of the Psalm is so reassuring. God will surely hear the cry of the suffering.

There is a passage in 1 Corinthians that steadies me with grateful conviction – conviction that enables my service because it matches up with my “Sir! Yes sir!” The Apostle Paul is describing how he received the Gospel, “as to one born abnormally,” when Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. 1 Corinthians 15:10 – 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. This verse always reminds me that I have not yet worked as hard as I should, or as hard as I can, on behalf of the Gospel. I am what I am by the grace of God, though, and he constantly challenges me to be a better steward of the many, many gifts he has presented me in my life.

I often remind myself and others to “Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift.” When I look at the faith of my Old Friend Abraham, or reflect on the determination and courage of Moses, or recognize in David a heart that God called “a man after my own heart” (See Acts 13:22), I know I fall far short of the servanthood to which I aspire. One of the many reasons for that is that he gifted me with words, and sometimes (way too many times) the words I use are not the Word from God’s own heart. Then he calls, and I remember.

When he calls us, we remember that he chose us, we did not choose him. To him, we are not “hey you” because he has called each of us by name. I remember that he comforts and consoles as well as corrects and counsels because he has given us his Holy Spirit – not just me, but all the faithful in Christ Jesus. Nothing can stop, divert, sully, or prevent his Love from filling our lives. We are victors, conquerors in Christ, and we have not only the Victory, but also the spoils of the victory: The repudiation of every evil that has tried to harm us. We have an indefatigable and inexhaustible source of Love and Protection called “God’s Providence.”

“If God is for us …” Sadly, that has too often been used as justification for ungodly acts. This kind of misuse of Scripture is false prophecy – falsely claiming that “what I am doing is right because God has ordained it” when what is being done is clearly wrong. I fervently urge you to make time to read every word of 2 Peter 2! I’m just going to pull out three verses so you can get the flavor of what The Apostle Peter said there: 12 These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed,  they also will be destroyed, 13 suffering the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! If you watch or listen to a broadcast news, we see and hear of such persons multiple times daily. They not only desecrate what Good the Lord has allowed to come to all (see Matthew 5:43-45) but despoil and detest all Good that is to come: Proverbs 17:15 – 15 One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both – alike an abomination to the Lord. Belovéd, we are called by name to serve God and one another. That means we serve Truth, and in the Truth there is no darkness, no pain, no toil, no trouble, no tears; because of and within his Word, we are assured that there is only God and God is Love. I’m hoping you remember this:

GOD ≡ LIGHT ≡ LOVE ≡ TRUTH ≡ WAY ≡ LIFE ≡ ETERNAL ≡ MERCY ≡ GOD (↔ Music Link – really!)

Let those who have ears hear and those who have lips speak. God is not mocked, (← Check it out!) The warning is clear. That warning is what we started off with this year, and it is important that we do not ignore it. Do you remember that in 2101AFC010121 – Head for the Light we referred to believers who are endorsing what God has condemned? Take a look: Satan is darkness and in him is no Light at all. And yet, we have many people – thousands upon thousands – swearing that light is darkness and evil is good (See Isaiah 5:18-23, especially v. 20 which reads in part 20 Ah, you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light). There is 1 light and there is 1 darkness in the Spiritual War we act against, but that darkness is not merely the absence of Light, it is also the presence of evil and every bit as real as the Light we follow and eventually become. They are headed away from the Light. WE are headed for the Light, which is to say we are moving toward Heaven for and because of the Love of God.

We will touch on this often during this year because from the highest echelons of power to the lowest depths of perversion, we are being led away from the proclamation of and obedience to the Word. IF WE GO THAT ROUTE, we will go with those “irrational animals” to the Second Death to be destroyed with them. He chose us, he called us, he counts on us; but, more importantly, we can count on him because 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. God himself did indeed provide the Lamb! Now may God help us in this perilous time!

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

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

 

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