New Warrior Ministries!: VIII Pentecost. 8th Sunday after Pentecost. Western Rite

VIII Pentecost!

8th Sunday after Pentecost.

Western Rite

Greetings in Christ Jesus,

VIII Sunday after Pentecost

(Second Sunday of the cycle of six Sundays)

During this week:

At the Beginning of Night read the Gospel of St. John throughout this week.

Matins: Week VIII throughout this week, (St. john 20: 19-31) for the verses before the

Second Canticle of Moses, the Song of the Three Youths, and the Matins Resurrection

Gospel.

The Divine Liturgy:

Old Testament: Jer. 16:19-21 [S] (“O Lord, my might, and my strength, and my refuge

in the day of tribulation: to You the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth, and

shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity which has not profited them.

Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore behold I will this

once cause them to know, I will show them my hand and my power: and they shall know

that my Name is the Lord.”)

Epistle: II Corinthians 12:20-13:2 (St. Paul warns that he will judge those who cause

strife in the Church.) “For I fear lest perhaps, when I come, I shall not find you such as I

would, and that I shall be found by you such as you would not. Lest perhaps

contentions, envyings, animosities, dissensions, detractions, whisperings, swellings,

seditions, be among you. Lest again, when I come, God humble me among you; and I

mourn many of them that sinned before and have not repented for the uncleanness and

fornication and lasciviousness that they have committed. Behold, this is the third time I

am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand. I

have told before, and foretell, as present and now absent, to them that sinned

before, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare.”

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 86 (Heb. 87) The foundations thereof are in the holy

mountains: The Lord loves the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. (Verses

6-7 may be used as the Alleluia.)

Gospel: Mark 4:24-34 (Measure for measure: we will get what we give. Also, the seed

in the earth, and the mustard seed. Jesus explains everything in parables.)

Friends,

In today’s prophecy we see the body of Christ. The gentiles have come to God through Christ because we have seen that the idols or gods man made are indeed false. What false gods exist today? Science and money are honored and revered and worshiped as gods. People in science, people who are rich, entertainers also are worshiped as idols. In spite of Jesus, man knd has not changed very much.

Oh friends how pitiful we are as Christians, in the second epistle to the Corinthians St. Paul was defending himself from among the accusations against him from the legalists, one of the accusations he had been accused of was skimming money from the contributions, in today’s epistle he went on from defending himself to begin pointing out the sins of the Corinthian church that he may still find there when he arrives. How easily do we fall while raising ourselves in our own mind? How easily are we blinded by our own sins and yet accuse others?

Our Lord Jesus Himself spoke out in parables so that those who thought that they could see and hear actually could not as they were blinded by their own pride, lust, envying, and arrogance as they believed that they already knew it all and yet knew little. My friends, we can never stop seeking, we must never become complacent in our intellect, this is when we begin to fool ourselves, we must prove all things, the spirit does not simply give but we must seek, do we not remember the story of the old woman before the judge when the judge granted her petition only because she appeared daily before him and would not let it rest?

Did not our Lord say that we are to be the same before the Father? (Luke 18:1-8). We must never stop seeking spiritual growth by the shedding of our own corruption and gaining the spirit of truth and love for one another. Did Jesus say; “forgive them Father for they know not what they do?” or did He say; forgive those whom you have given me because they believed me and should be saved? You know the answer. Love your enemies and pray for them, if your enemy thirsts give him water, if he is hungry give him bread.

Do you not ask a departed saint to pray for you while another Christian does? Do you accuse that one? The Christian church has done this from the beginning and nowhere was it condemned. The bones of the prophet Elisha brought a dead man back to life and yet while all call this scripture, there are those who bring accusation against those who still believe that this can happen. Why do we accuse one another? There is no law that says to believe or not to believe either of these things, so why accuse? Can either side prove either position?

Love one another, this is the command. If one says that Jesus did not come from the Father then this we know is untrue and this person is not truly Christian. If one says that Jesus did not rise from the dead then this we know is not true and this person is not a true Christian. From these things we stay away from and yet we pray for those who make these statements.

Today’s Psalm speaks of the gates of Zion and how the Lord loves them, it speaks of those who are born there and the Lord loves them. The new Zion, the New Jerusalem is being built, it is built by those who belong to the Christ Jesus, and we are all building blocks of the living Jerusalem. Do not remove yourself from the walls by hate and pride, arrogance and envy; keep yourself alive in Christ through the love of others and living the word of Christ in this world.

We must live our faith in spite of those who make the statement that they do not need God in their life to do good. We who believe still need our Savior because we sin everyday whether in thought, word or deed. There is no amount of good that we can do that will erase our sin once we have committed it. There is only our faith in Christ Jesus, our recognition of our sin, our confession, and repentance. This is our faith.

God can do all things; there is no situation that we get ourselves into that God cannot help us out of. Don’t think though that if there is some earthly penalty that we must pay that we will escape this because we suddenly come to God for help. We simply must have the faith and believe. Keep in mind however; God's plan is far above ours. We suffer and we have plenty coming based on what God Himself has in store for us whether it is for purging, for testing, or for reward or necessity for our life. God is in control.

We do not know when this will end and the new beginning will be, in spite of the many modern prophets who make a living selling Jesus and the destruction of the world; we have no clue when it will be. In the meantime, it rains on us all, haters and lovers of Jesus. The sun shines on us all, haters and lovers of Jesus. We remain together in this world until that day. So take a lesson from the readings. Continue to praise and worship Jesus the Christ and the Father through Him. Never cease to pray and live according to the gospel. Allow the Holy Ghost to guide you. Love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength; love your neighbor as yourself. You never know whose life you will change because of this love of God in you.

The light has entered the world and the times; they are a-changing.

If one does not have love for the soul of mankind and the desire that all come to the truth than one does not have Christ in them fully.

Little children, love one another; because this is our Lord’s command and if you fulfill this, nothing else is needed. Through love and because of love we will follow all of the commandments that we have been given. They are written on our hearts by the hand of Almighty God. We simply need to see them within us and follow.

Remember; if we confess our sins and repent, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus the Christ be with you throughout this day and the rest of your life. May the Holy Spirit fill us all to overflowing so that everyone in whose path we cross may receive a blessing from our Lord Jesus the Christ.

In Christ.