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Christ is born! Let's glorify Him!
Christ is born! Let's glorify Him!
Christ is born! Let's glorify Him!
Today we have heard the Gospel of Matthew. It is the continuation of the story about the birth of Jesus Christ (Matthew II:13-23). As you have heard from the Gospel of Matthew, the second chapter, Jesus was born but He immediately had to run away to another country with His family to be saved for His great serving. As I told you last time, the Angel appeared to Magi and to Joseph, he helped Joseph showing him the way. And Joseph with his family went to the Egypt lands, where Jesus grew up, till the time when king Herod died. Then Angel appeared to Joseph once again and told him to return home.
And Joseph on his returning home saw that the son of Herod now was the king (apparently son was like his father) and he became afraid to go to Jerusalem. And he was corrected through the prayer by God. It is written in the Gospel that he had a revelation to go to Nazareth. And from that time they settled in Nazareth, so later Jesus was called a Nazarene.
The truth comes on this land and it is immediately becomes persecuted. Why it is so? It is very simple. The Earth is surrounded by the darkness. The fallen angel Satan rules here. Long time ago he was the most beautiful angel - Satanael, but he lost his serving to God and became Satan (Revelation XII:7-11).
We can compare it easily with political parties. Some parties have leaders who are big provokers. And people, who believe them, fall away from the saving of Ukraine. And the same as the third part of angels fell down with Satan from the heavens and became overboard from the salvation, the Ukrainian politicians will be overboard of Ukraine. It will give us a lot of knowledge, if we look on them, we compare and we see their behavior, their impudence and its results. So, they fall down from the salvation of Ukraine, from the future of Ukraine, which will be amazing. And they maybe will swear and say: "We too?" No, they will feel ashamed, run, hide, because everybody will spit upon them and say: "Go away, you have annoyed us, we don't want to see or to know you." Their money will not help them, because that love, love to God can't be bought. You can get it only through the real understanding, confession. If they could face Ukraine, face God?
And our land is surrounded by the energy of fallen angels, by the third part of angels and their leader - Satan. It means that it is in darkness. As the Apostle Paul said: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Eph 6:12). If we do not pray God, these spirits will have an influence on us. It is the world of darkness. And if people do not understand it, they live in this darkness, they suffer from it.
What does this world filled with? Hatred, irritation. Are these feelings pleasant? No, because it is the influence of hell energies. God says: "If you suffer here so much, to what extend it is much worse in the hell? It is so terrible there, where it is absolute murk. It is not the darkness, as it is on the Earth. It is the murk, there is gnashing of teeth. It is because of hatred, pain, fear. When you hate, how do you feel? Badly? And your physical health ruins because of that hatred, as you are God's souls. Demonic souls can hate, it is allowed them, it is their nature. God's souls are not allowed to do it, so you should pray: "Oh Lord, give me love and forgiveness, love and forgiveness". That we, people of good will, unite, understand these important words and become strong, supporting each other with prayer. And the Holy Spirit, Angels and God's Powers will be with us; they spread and reach that people, who are near us, because we pray for them. And they stop to be angry and hate, they grow calm a little bit, but later their evil spirit returns to them.
And don't be surprised that the God's Son is bearing; the angels on the heavens tell about it very secretly, they do not make the big show, do not call kings from all over the world. These kings came by themselves; they brought gifts to Him, to Newborn Savior. (Mt 2: 1-12)They were called by God earlier, they also came from the heavens, they were waiting for Him, they prepared everything for Him. The Lord was born and everything had been ready for Him, because dark power pursued Him and wanted to kill Him. King Herod was obsessed by evil spirit and he had only one thought: the other king would come, I should kill Him.
It is clear that Herod was the top, the government of the state, the government of Israel. Yes? He ruled this state and he did not want to see some other king, who would take his place. This king was only born and he would need thirty years before he could become the king, but Herod still wanted to kill him. He had such thoughts as if he would live 100 years and more. He had made the hunting for Our Lord Jesus Christ and died very soon (Mt 2: 19-20). He died in 3,4,5 years. Yes? It is not mentioned there, but Jesus was still a little boy. And Archelaus, the son of dead king, took his place.
So, the government does not want to accept that people, who are spiritually stronger, who come to save this world, to lead the country to the light. And that government, which ruled in darkness, chaos, fear and injustice, will never accept spiritual leaders from God. King Herod was even ready to make the situation worse, he gave an order to kill all the male children who were two years old or under in Bethlehem and in that entire region (Mt 2:16-18), because it was the age of Jesus. And they started to kill, took the babies from their mothers, they cut babies' heads or killed them with swords. It is clear that it was horror for that city Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. He was born and immediately an awful tragedy came, especially for those mothers, who lost their children. "Rachel is weeping for her children; because they are no more", so it is writthen in Jeremiah XXXI:15, as those prophecies were given much earlier. She refuses to be comforted, because her children are dead. All mothers cried, who lost their children because of the Herod's anger, envy, hatred to that One, who wanted to make the world better. Herod made the world worse only to sit on his royal throne.
We will see the same in Ukraine. We will see how people fight for this throne and they will not make our life better, but worse. It is not necessary in Ukraine; it could be in Russia or other countries. The life of people becomes better only temporary during the elections. Make the choice and wait. I am making the parallel between the events of Jesus time and modern life that you could understand those events, which are being repeated today.
When Jesus was born, He was born in the darkness and this darkness saw the light.
But the darkness moved too slowly. God moves quickly and gives the orders to Angels: where to go, how to act, how to be saved. And in such way our Lord saves from the darkness.
God makes everything wisely. So, now you are not surprised why Jesus was born and the darkness started to pursue Him.
We are His followers. Don't be surprised that neighbors are against us, that there are people, who do not want us to build the church. No registration, no financial help - we were given nothing from the government. We got only damage, damage, damage. Do you understand? But it is naturally. They live in the darkness; they sometimes do not know what they do. Sometimes their hearts are kind and when they think: "Why we are doing it? Maybe we shouldn?t do it?" And they are ashamed of their actions. And God ties their hands, that they could not do it. But demon's people do not stop, it is their mission to do harm the followers of Jesus Christ.
And we continue to serve God, to make the prayer of love and forgiveness. We are not afraid of them. So, we try to control our feelings, we try not to fill our souls with anger, because then the world becomes more cruel and difficult. We want that Jesus bear in our hearts. Because when He was bearing the great grace came with Him, the great calmness surrounded the Earth and paralyzed the darkness during some time. And every year, when Jesus is bearing He brings this grace. And every time we see that the grace fills us not depending how much the darkness stormed before.
Let's try to be with God, and may Lord bear in our hearts with His calmness, His happiness, His mission. To serve the others, to serve this land, to serve each other - it is our mission. If we leave this world, we will have a lot of wealth on the heavens near God. And if we think only about ourselves, we will ruin your souls and bodies very quickly. If we feel sorry only for ourselves, think only for ourselves, worry for ourselves, we ruin ourselves. The Devil enters us, nothing is left from us and we are not able to serve anybody. Let's serve people, then God will be with us, when all His angels will be with us. And the birth of Jesus is not useless then. All people of good will should unite in the serving to build His Holy Church. It is the mission of Jesus' Christ followers, as I said you before.
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
We thank God for everything: His love, good. We thank that He was born once again on this land for the sake of our salvation and was persecuted again, as it happened all the time.
Christ is born! Let's glorify Him!
Christ is born! Let's glorify Him!
Christ is born! Let's glorify Him!
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Apostle (Galatians, 1:11-19):
1
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that
was preached by me is not man's gospel.
12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught
it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I
persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age
among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my
fathers.
15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and
who called me by his grace,
16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles
before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit
Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the
Lord's brother.
Gospel (Matthew, 2:13-23):
2
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his
mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is
about to search for the child, to destroy him."
14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and
departed to Egypt
15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to
fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my
son."
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the
wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in
Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according
to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet
Jeremiah:
18 "A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more."
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared
in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the
land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."
21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to
the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea
in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned
in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.
23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that
what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called
a Nazarene.
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