Axe man movie! By the Waters of Babylon ; Dashing our sins against the rock.
If we don’t live violently, we don’t live. Discussion of a critical kind of “violence” in Scriptures, especially in the verse from Psalm “By the Waters of Babylon”, “Blessed shall he be who shall seize and dash thine infants against the rock”.
On the 28th Sunday after Pentecost, and during the Nativity Fast, it is appropriate that we encounter a wonderful spiritual explanation of the incarnation, from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Perhaps “exegesis” does not sound exciting to you – but it should! This passage wonderfully describes the Incarnation, and we can learn perhaps the most important practical lesson from it – to be amazed, full of thanks, and *energized* by the beautiful, dogmatic and intimate truths of the incarnation resonating in our souls.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/i2OfbwS009g
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2OfbwS009g
AUDIO: http://www.orthodox.net/catechesis/catechism_2023-10-01+ephesians-3.mp3
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/8u5XMSAktaY
Partial Timestamps:
0:00 – 1:24 Chuck Norris was just ordained a priest….
1:24 – 2:44 Letter from Abbas Arsenia
2:44 – 5:18 Letter from Abbess Arsenia – Is anything by God’s allowance, or is everything by His will?
5:18 Discussion about God’s allowance vs God’s will
6:22 - 8:00 God is never passive, and you should never be passive about ANYTHING!
10:24 – 11:12 If you have any addictions, never be passive about any of them! Fight actively!
11:12 The difference between the two kinds of men – the one who saves his life, and loses it, and the one who loses his life, and is saved.
14:57 The story about 1:00:06 GREAT advice for those who are distracted with their small children, and cannot pray with attention in church!
26:23 Beginning of Exegesis of Ephesians 3
1:02 The best Baptist Joke!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u5XMSAktaY
An Orthodox Christian, or anyone who wants to pray, should say the Prayer of St Ephrem twice every weekday during Great Lent. It is best to pray it the same way at home as we do in church, with 4 prostrations and 12 bows. We demonstrate this prayer.
The video is old and a bit grainy, but we get our point across. We make better videos now, but this video is our most popular ever with over 11,000 views on an older youtube Channel.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/yDZUq5lJOcY
Playlist with all our videos on the Prayer of St Ephrem:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEh2brXYUf7lIypRsKpaTPdplqqCjXD5I
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDZUq5lJOcY
Condolences, promises and thoughts about God’s inscrutable will regarding the repose of +Bishop Athanasios Akunda of Kisumu and All Western Kenya.
The video says his Grace fell sick, and I’ve since learned that he actually was coming to United States for treatment for a very aggressive and rare form of cancer. The child in the video is my grandson, Owen +Daniel. Since I was taking care of him, I needed to hold him during the video. Normally I make videos with him because he so cute, and if someone doesn’t want to look at the video, they might want to look at him and they might learn something, but in this case it was just because of necessity.
https://youtu.be/J5oVAmCTo0w
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5oVAmCTo0w
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/xcyu6TFsvnw
We use several hymns from the Sunday of the Prodigal son to explain the parable. This is one of the most important parables in the Scriptures. We *cannot* be saved if we do not understand it, and by “understand”, I mean live according to it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyu6TFsvnw
Cultivating a spirit of gratitude towards God and others. Recognizing themes of gratitude in the Church’s liturgy. Giving thanks to God for for three things primarily: salvation through Jesus Christ, the blessings of creation, and for the trials and struggles that come our way.
Colossians 1:12–18, Luke 17:12–19
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpgpxeU-9T0
Ephesians 5:8–19, Luke 12:16–21
We must learn to center our thoughts in Christ, and avoid thinking like the rich man in today’s parable “within ourselves.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuJAmjAOT48
“Ye have need of patience”. The reciprocal relationship between patience and faith. 2023-12-28 Hebrews 10:35-11:7 30th Thu after Pentecost
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/AM-rIGpqkNU
AUDIO: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pen-thu-30_2023+ye-have-need-of-patience_hebrews10-35-11-7.mp3
Thu, Dec 28, 2023. In our second liturgy in the mission in Quanah, TX, we talk about patience. And because patience is impossible without, and also increases faith, we talk about faith. We do this because this is how St. Paul talks about it, and we do an exegesis from the heart on his words in Hebrews 10:35-11:7. We especially pay attention to the little turns of phrase that Paul has that are simple but very profound meanings such as: “or ye have need of patience”, “for yet a little while…”, “Now the just shall live by faith.”, “By faith…”. We learn patience and faith by living as Christians, falling down and getting up going through trials and joys, and experiencing God in our hearts.
We will be serving at least monthly in Quanah, probably Friday evening and Saturday morning, with the blessings of Archbishop Peter, in the hopes that God will plant a parish there. If you are anywhere near Quanah in the beautiful Texas Panhandle, please contact me for a schedule of services.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM-rIGpqkNU