Theres Only One Purpose For A Cross Faith Encouraged TV 2023-03-21 | The fact that humans are so very aware of our own mortality means that the fear of death drives much of our intoxication with our passions. But at the center of Great Lent, the Church gives us the image of the Cross to drive us to embrace another way of living that is prepared for death. If you are going to follow Christ in any serious way, you must be willing to allow that which is unlike God in your life to die, in fact, to actively seek to "kill" that which will truly kill me if you don't overcome it!
The Eye Is the Lamp of the Body Faith Encouraged TV 2023-06-27 | Our diaconal candidate, Sy Nease, offers us a powerful guide to having a "singular eye, a singular master, and a singular Kingdom." Take a few moments and get reoriented toward the Light!
Why Did They Do It? Faith Encouraged TV 2023-06-24 | On this Father’s Day, what motivates us as we strive to be good fathers? Why did the disciples called by Christ immediately leave their livelihoods and even their earthly father to follow Jesus? What was it about the Lord that inspired such trust and obedience? The answer will teach us how to be good fathers.
What You Love Shapes Who You Are Faith Encouraged TV 2023-06-16 | On All Saints Sunday, we find ourselves in an increasingly "enchanted" world. If we are ever going recover the centrality of Christ in our lives, we are going to have to avoid the temptations to idolatry in worshiping false gods, it is going to be by loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. Learning to love God more than anything else is the most important purpose of your life.
Choose Fire! Faith Encouraged TV 2023-06-08 | On this Sunday of Pentecost, we hear the tale of two men, and the difference between these two men illustrates the desperate need for the "fire" of the Holy Spirit to vivify us to become the persons Christ meant us to be. What do you believe about your future? What do you think is coming in the future for you?
Its a Marathon! Faith Encouraged TV 2023-05-30 | The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. That means endurance is key. But how do we build endurance in the spiritual life? How do we stick with it to the end? This is such an important aspect to embrace so that we aren't crushed when living the Faith gets hard or exhausting. Looking at our Gospel lesson we see Jesus praying the High Priestly Prayer of John 17 and in this prayer, we discover the key to running the marathon and not giving up! The three keys to endurance will make you able to finish the race well.
I See You! Faith Encouraged TV 2023-05-17 | On this Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, we are confronted with the message that we must never neglect the marginalized in society AND the confrontation that all of us must be changed. Both parts of the Message of the Gospel MUST be our work and our calling. The purpose of the Faith is to CHANGE YOU!
Take Up Your Mat And Walk! Faith Encouraged TV 2023-05-09 | On the Sunday of the Paralytic, we are confronted with the invitation of Christ to hear His invitation to be healed and then act on His healing. Why is this society suffering from this mad chaos? What's wrong? We seemed to be paralyzed by chaos! What is the sickness? What's wrong with this culture? It has every bit to do with the broken will of humans gripped by sin.
The Enemy is Fear - The Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers Faith Encouraged TV 2023-05-02 | Fear makes us do foolish things and it causes us to miss out on what God has for us. Fear makes us less than who we really are. But when we face fear and confront fear and not allow fear to stop us, we are given the amazing revelation of the Victory of Jesus over that which makes us most afraid - death. The Myrrhbearers and Joseph and Nicodemos all confront the decision of fear and they go beyond their fear to reach the Risen Christ.
St. Thomas Sunday - Everybodys Seen Jesus But Thomas Faith Encouraged TV 2023-04-25 | On this Sunday of St. Thomas, we confront the power of disbelief. But it really is OK to be a bit skeptical of what others tell us. Discernment is actually a good thing. But when does that get in the way of our Faith? Fr. Ken fills in for Fr. Barnabas and helps us understand the power of coming face to face with the Risen Christ!
Hell Is Embittered! He Is Risen Faith Encouraged TV 2023-04-17 | If everything matters, nothing matters. After all, if you are just headed for the grave why not indulge all my desires? The loss of the joy of the Resurrection has unleashed hell on our world. But the Resurrection turns hell into an empty place! Hell is truly embittered by the Faith exposing just how impotent hell and immature passions really are in the Face of Him Who lives forever.
The Peace of Palm Sunday Faith Encouraged TV 2023-04-12 | On this Palm Sunday as we prepare to walk with Christ during His final days before His voluntary passion on the cross, the Normal Orthodox life is one of peace that passes understanding. It is this heavenly peace that Christ gives us that keeps all the external chaos and troubles of life away from our hearts as we rest in God’s love for us.
True Repentance A Way of Life Faith Encouraged TV 2023-04-04 | On this Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, we are invited to confront the way of life in Normal Orthodox living, which is the lifestyle of repentance. In fact, learning how to truly repent. Learning this wisdom is the Why behind all the disciplines of the Faith. Repent!
Climb The Ladder Faith Encouraged TV 2023-03-28 | Our diaconal candidate, Sy Nease, offers us a homily that challenges us to actually exercise our will to engage the wisdom of the Faith to form us into persons who reach the top of the Ladder!
Bring Every Thought Captive to Christ Faith Encouraged TV 2023-03-15 | On this Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, we are confronted with the mystery of God being BOTH Unknowable AND Knowable, and this mystery invites us to the awesome reality that we can be in true communion with the God Who loves us and comes among us. This spiritual discipline of taming our thoughts allows us to avoid the terrible tragedy of neglecting our Great Salvation.
You Shall See Greater Things Faith Encouraged TV 2023-03-08 | On this Sunday of Orthodoxy where we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the restoration of the Holy Icons, we are invited by Christ to see greater things because God becomes visible for our salvation. Our great Faith is meant to enchant the world with greater things, and we are meant to make the invisible visible through the great Normal Orthodoxy of the Incarnate God Who comes to recreate the world and fill this world and us with wonder!
Forgive and Be Forgiven Faith Encouraged TV 2023-03-01 | On the Sunday of Forgiveness, we are confronted with the reality that if we don't forgive we won't be forgiven. That's because a heart gripped by grudges, bitterness, and unforgiveness cannot receive forgiveness no matter how much it is offered by our Loving Lord. A clean heart is able to let go of past wrongs and is also able to receive forgiveness and be healed of the spiritual illness of untamed passions. Please forgive me, a sinner. God forgives and I forgive!
The Trembling Fearful Day of Judgement Faith Encouraged TV 2023-02-23 | The purpose of the Sunday of the Last Judgement is to arrest you in your rhythm of life to remind you that there is going to be an ultimate Judgement of your life, and it will be a judgment of how your life was shaped by eternal values and how you put those values to use in treating others. But make no mistake, bad theology produces an enslaved person gripped by the undisciplined desires of selfish living!
Transform Your Desires! The Sunday of the Prodigal Faith Encouraged TV 2023-02-14 | The Orthodox Faith is not merely a behavioral modification philosophy but a Way of Life that transforms. The Faith teaches us that it is our desires that will determine our healing. If you allow the Faith to heal and mature your desires, you'll finally be who you are created to be. And you'll finally understand WHY the Church calls us to the Arena of the Virtues called Great Lent.
The Wisdom of Humility, The Foolishness of Pride Faith Encouraged TV 2023-02-07 | On this Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, we are once again invited to prepare our lives for the Arena of the Virtues called Great Lent. The whole point of this spiritual spring cleaning season is the tried and true wisdom of learning the power of humility to create virtues and the damnable disease of pride that always destroys. Even a sinner who embraces honesty is justified just as apparent pious people who stumble in their self-goodness go home condemned. Great Lent is coming.
This Is A Test Faith Encouraged TV 2023-02-01 | The spiritual disciplines of the Faith many times lead us to moments in our lives where we are really tested so that we will know reality both internally and externally. These tests in our lives are "good" but rarely pleasant. As we approach Great Lent, let's do what we need to do to pass the Test! This Sunday our diaconate student Sy Nease gives us a great homily.
Why Ask Why - Zacchaeus Sunday Faith Encouraged TV 2023-01-27 | Because when you forget your "why" you lose your way! When you lose the central truth of anything, the chances of that truth staying with you in a meaningful way reduce to zero! The Orthodox Faith touches every aspect of our everyday lives and attacks the basic weakness and spiritual sickness of self-centeredness. As we approach Great Lent and confront dear Zacchaeus, we are confronted with the consequences of desiring Jesus above everything else in life.
From Chaos to Order Faith Encouraged TV 2023-01-15 | On the Sunday after the Feast of Theophany, the Apostle Paul tells us of the 5 fold Ministry of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers to mature us in our lives so that we will be mature. If I’m every going to escape the hellish life of chaos I’m going to have to become like Christ.
Dont Become Prey - Happy New Year Faith Encouraged TV 2023-01-03 | The answer to the Choas of life, personally and societally, is an Incarnate Christ rather than an opposing philosophy and theology. Centering my thinking, my choices, and my mindset on the Mystery of Jesus Christ. The Enfleshing of God heals the divide between the physical and the spiritual. And in so doing, Jesus offers us the medicine that truly heals our broken lives.
Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Faith Encouraged TV 2022-12-30 | The difference between the gods of human invention and the God revealed by the Mystery of the Incarnate Christ is humility. The immense exercise of the omnipotent God in making Himself weak for our salvation is the never-ending challenge to the false pride of fallen humanity and the unbelievable joy of the love God shows His humanity is the perpetual energy driving the celebration of Christmas.
Youre Invited to Commune Faith Encouraged TV 2022-12-12 | Where does our desire, across all cultures, to prepare food and celebrate with family and friends? Why does every culture have focused etiquette about formal dinners and responding to invitations? We are hard-wired to be in community. And this flows from the fact that God created us and now invites us to return to serious and joyful communion with God. What will your answer be?
Created To Be A Copycat! Faith Encouraged TV 2022-12-07 | The hunger hardwired into each of us for community or intimacy AND the opposite fear of intimacy are at the root of our internal and even external conflicts in our lives. Until we understand how to tame our desires and our natural tendency to mimic others is solved in our following Christ, we will continue to be in turmoil. The evil one wants to "disintegrate" our lives and our societies. The Lord calls us to mimic Him to Integrate our own lives and the culture around us.
You Fool Faith Encouraged TV 2022-11-21 | It is a foolish perspective to think material plenty means I can ignite my spiritual health. The only time God called a man a fool was when that materially wealthy man had no attentiveness to making himself spiritually rich. His soul was required of him and he had none of his wealth to strengthen his spiritual life! How foolish!
Be Humble! Pay Attention! Faith Encouraged TV 2022-11-15 | The temptation to try to weasel out of true compassion and true Christ-like living is so very common in our lives. We always run the risk of having our souls atrophy into hard-hearted souls. The only remedy for this spiritual sickness is the twin medicines of humility and attentiveness.
How Do You Make Decisions? Faith Encouraged TV 2022-11-07 | St. Paul tells the Galatians the truth about being a serious follower of Jesus Christ. In doing this, St. Paul reveals the wisdom of the Faith to form us and shape us in how we choose to live. The truth is we all make choices, both big and small. But if we never examine ourselves and how we choose to live. What is the foundational wisdom you use to make decisions? Is it Christ or is it something too small?
Its Obvious Faith Encouraged TV 2022-11-01 | On this Sunday of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Diaconal candidate Sy Nease offers us an insight into this very familiar story and how we have to embrace the obvious wisdom of the Faith to prepare us to live forever with God!
What Is The Purpose of The Faith? Faith Encouraged TV 2022-10-23 | On this Sunday we read of a man so enslaved to his passions, so gripped by his addictions, that he is inhabited by many demons. Christ heals him and he is found at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. The lifestyle of the Orthodox Faith is meant to empower you to be healed and changed and made a whole person. Are you being healed by the Faith?
Stewarding Your Life & Being Good Ground Faith Encouraged TV 2022-10-20 | The famous story of the Sower in the Bible powerfully illustrates the truth of my own attentiveness to gratitude. If I stay awake to the gifts God gives me, my life will always be open to receive His wisdom to form me into a real person.
Make Holiness Perfect in the Fear of God Faith Encouraged TV 2022-10-11 | St. Paul tells us that we are called to "make holiness perfect in the fear of God." If I am going to be a good steward of the treasure of the Faith given to me, I am going to have to develop a sense of holiness. How are we to be holy and make holiness "perfect" in the fear of God. This ability to be holy starts by knowing what holiness truly is.
Whats Your Spiritual Credit Score? Faith Encouraged TV 2022-10-03 | What "credit" is it to you to do what everybody else does? The confrontation with this head-on honest truth taught by Christ is essential if you or I will be free from having our possessions possess us. This spiritual formation of your character touches you even at that place where your possessions cross your claim to being Christian. At the heart of all our addictions and fears is this place in our character formation.
The Cross as Cure For Spiritual Illness Faith Encouraged TV 2022-09-12 | The wonderful reality is that the parallel between physical health and spiritual health is very significant. If exercise is good to make you physically healthy then spiritual exercise is absolutely necessary for your spiritual health. If what you eat affects your physical health then what you spiritually consume affects your spiritual health. It turns out the wonderful reality of spiritual health is all about being willing to hear the Good News that God grants His world He loves eternal life. And this eternal life is accomplished by Jesus using death to destroy death!
Enslaved to Perpetual Immaturity Faith Encouraged TV 2022-09-06 | Good Intentions aren't the issue. It's the unintended consequences of those good intentions that we have to honestly face and deal with the balance between safety and maturity. It is the Faith that provides the disciplined discernment that gives us the ability to both be merciful and wise. It takes courage in an age of madness to stand and stay firm in insisting we face reality and not perpetuate the fantasy of perpetual immaturity.
A Firm Foundation Faith Encouraged TV 2022-08-16 | Ideas have consequences. If the underlying philosophy of a society is flawed, the effects are real and, if the flaws are bad enough, they spell destruction for that society. When the structure is unsound, the people are unsafe. And the whole purpose of the Faith is to be the spiritual building blocks meant to "construct" the character of Christ in you and the world. The ONLY place to get the most robust spiritual "construction" materials is Jesus Christ.
The Modern False Notion of Love and Power Faith Encouraged TV 2022-08-10 | "God is love" AND "Whom God loves He chastens" These two truths insist we engage in grasping the reality that our understanding of both love and power is too small to be effective. When we make these mistakes, we end up in an unhealthy place. Time for us to deal with this so that the Cross isn't emptied of its power!
Made To Be Like Christ Faith Encouraged TV 2022-08-02 | The Christian Faith is meant to transform you into a "new creature." You are made to become like Christ. In fact, the purpose of the Orthodox Faith is to have you enter a lifestyle that remakes you from the inside out. And it will be as we bend our will to the "steadfastness of the Scriptures" and the encouragement of the Faith that we will focus on that which must be transformed in our lives.
E Pluribus Unum Faith Encouraged TV 2022-07-11 | We are meant to be made so much like God, our Creator, that we are free to embrace anyone and everyone into this wonderful Church that is meant to transform each of us! The Church is meant to welcome everyone into this beautiful spiritual hospital to heal and teach us to tame our passions! Orthodoxy belongs to everyone or eventually, it will belong to no one. But the Faith is meant to CHANGE you from an individual into a real PERSON.P.S. I apologize for the length of this homily. Sorry, and thank you for sticking with it.
What Freedom Really Is Faith Encouraged TV 2022-07-06 | On this Sunday closest to the American celebration of Independence Day, we are invited by our Epistle lesson to understand that Suffering produces Endurance. And Endurance creates Character. And Character leads to Hope. And Hope does not disappoint!
Immediately Faith Encouraged TV 2022-06-26 | On this 2nd Sunday of Matthew, we see our Lord Jesus choosing His first disciples, Andrew and Peter, and James and John. Two sets of brothers that the Lord calls to follow Him. And the Gospel says they responded to the Lord “immediately.” What kind of soul formation does a person have to develop to respond so quickly to God’s invitation? We learn 4 characteristics of a soul ready to say “yes” to God!
Loving Rightly - A Cosmic Invitation Faith Encouraged TV 2022-06-20 | On this Sunday of All Saints in our Orthodox calendar, we are confronted by the stark beauty of the "friends of God" and how they loved God first in their lives. All other priorities are AFTER my love for God. Jesus, Himself, says a disturbing truth when He declares that I must love Him more than my mother, and if I don't love Him more than my mother I cannot be His disciple. How can we ever hope to actually do this? It all flows from loving properly!
A Dangerous Homily About God Faith Encouraged TV 2022-06-13 | On this Feast of Pentecost, we face a culture that has increased the power of shallowness and decreased the value of depth and maturity to the point where there is no sobriety, but only division and individual focus. This is absolutely opposed to how God created us. Because He created us in His Image and He knows Himself as Persons in Communion. And this is the only way you will know yourself. Communion with God and with each other makes me a true person, and not an individual.
Hard Times Reveal Us To Ourselves Faith Encouraged TV 2022-06-06 | On this Sunday of the Commemoration of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, we are confronted by St. Paul telling the leaders of the Ephesian Church that when he departs, "ravenous wolves" will come among them attempting to undo the spiritual work already accomplished. The Faith is meant to inform, transform, and actually form your thinking, choices, priorities, and lifestyle. There are solid reasons for the Faith to teach what She teaches. You should at least be curious as to those solid reasons. If you don't know these reasons, you are not formed well enough to criticize the Church for what She teaches. Oh yeah, and I know Arius was just a priest, not a bishop. Forgive the mistake.
The Blindness of Blame Faith Encouraged TV 2022-05-31 | On this Sunday of the Blind Man, it's time to confront our mistake in assigning blame. The tragedies of our society strike us in such a way that we are tempted to knee jerk blame this or that person, or group, or ideology. We insist we want justice or we want to make things better and yet we start that process by saying it's "their" fault. Blaming others won't solve the problems we face. We have to start with humility. We have to begin, not with blame, but with humility and repentance.
Curiosity And Then Some! Faith Encouraged TV 2022-05-24 | On this Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, we learn just what it takes to be rescued from a life stuck in the slavery of passions. And these three characteristics we learn today will not only set this woman free but a whole village. What is so amazing is the lack of curiosity that seems to exalt my own opinions above centuries of wisdom. And that is too shallow to make you a really wise person.
Moms Knew First! Faith Encouraged TV 2022-05-09 | On this Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, we confront the truth of the beauty and infinite value of women. We are confronted with the truth that it was women who first heard the news of the Resurrection. They were the ones who didn't abandon the Lord in His time of suffering. The gift of the mystery of the feminine and the health of this mystery is absolutely necessary for a healthy society.
The Resurrection Changes Everything! Faith Encouraged TV 2022-05-02 | On this St. Thomas Sunday, knowing and prioritizing being with Jesus is the key to being able to overcome the fear of death. And living above the fear of death is absolutely necessary to overcome the slavery of self-centered living! If you are ever going to live the life you were created to live, you have to overcome the fear of death!
