November 18, 2023

Good and Faithful Servants are Light in the Darkness (Proper A33)

     Jesus is continuing His teachings on who is included in the Kingdom on the Day of the Lord or the End Time Judgement. Many people have noticed a frightening new darkness:

·      Gog and Magog -- Russia and Iran (Hamas) were prophesied to attack Israel and are now both in shooting wars

·      China is on the march against Taiwan and killing 70,000 people a year in the U.S. with fentanyl from Mexico

1. Many in our time are like lazy and worthless servant

He hid his bag of gold because he was lazy, fearful and lacking in love, faith and hope. This is where many if not most people in our Western culture are now. We are losing the Judeo-Christian foundation of motivating spiritual beliefs Western freedom and democracy was built on:

·      Self-sacrificial love of God and neighbour

·      Faith is Jesus as divine Saviour for forgiveness

·      Hope of eternal spiritual life and fear of divine judgement

·      This is what my manuscriptRecovering Truth, Freedom and Democracy: Cancelling Woke Chaos is about

·      Bad news is Nietzsche predicted the loss of respect for the divine would lead to social chaos, mass violence and the rise of totalitarian leaders – i.e. WW l and Hitler

·      The Good News is many people are seeking orthodox and relevant spiritual teaching and community

 

2. Jesus warns us to be good and faithful servants

The good and faithful servants put their money / gifts to work. They doubled the value of their money / gifts. They did this because they:

·      Had love for their master and wanted to please Him

·      Had faith in their Master 

·     Had hope the Master would protect and reward them.

 

3.    We are to be awake spiritually

John and Paula Sandford use the term “slumbering spirit” to define a condition where a personal spirit has not been called to life and is slumbering. Normally our personal spirit is called to life as it senses the warm love and affection of parents. The love of our parents enables us to develop an emotional life, love God and love others. 

·     Our personal spirit is the emotional / intuitive part of us that connects us to God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and others

·     The intuition of our personal spirit enables us to move from knowing about the Holy Spirit intellectually; to the knowledge of personal experiences of the Holy Spirit

·       Experiences of the divine in our lives are the building blocks of faith, trust, hope and love. 

3. We are to pray on the breastplate of Faith and Love

The “breastplate” is to remind us that our hearts are vulnerable to attack. Satan and temptation are a real and spiritually fatal danger (especially for Christians who don't believe this).  

·      Lucille and I pray this armour on daily.

4. We are to pray on the hope of salvation as a helmet 

Our minds are often deceived and ruled by our fear. We are afraid of sickness and death as the end of our life. Non-believers are subconsciously (in their personal spirit) afraid of death as a time of judgement and punishment.

·      As we develop our spiritual life, Jesus becomes a real person for us and we develop hope of salvation and eternal spiritual life. We pray this on daily.

4. We are to “encourage” each other to be lights in the darkness

In this dark time Christians are called to proclaim the Good News of forgiveness, healing and hope in Jesus and eternal spiritual life with urgency!

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