St Peters Orthodox Church

Just as Christ's prescription of fasting and increased prayer grows the fruit of the Holy Spirit, self-control, in our lives; prayer and fasting does even more by His grace. When we fast and pray the very virtues of Christ and His nature blossom in our lives. Today we look at the greatest of all virtues, love. As the love of God grows in our lives, our vices diminish and fade away. Today is an exploration of how God grants liberty to the soul of His people as His love grows within us.

When we engage in the Lenten Fast, we fast in body as we deny our cravings for food bringing those cravings into submission to Christ our God and His directions for us. But we must also fast in spirit. When Satan brings temptations our way, in the same way as we do with food, we subject those temptations and our cravings to the will of God. We are called to stand firm and, as St. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4, "possess our vessel in sanctification and honor." Today we look at what it means for the Christian to stand firm in times of temptation that we might experience Christ and His victory over Satan in our own lives.

Everything Jesus did through the Incarnation, He did to clear a path for us to return to Him and to Paradise. Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness, then being tempted by Satan, and His overcoming of his adversary is no exception. In doing so, He gave us the grace-filled path that leads us to overcome the deceiver in our lives and be finally freed from our besetting sins. Today we look at what Christ is doing in us if we will follow Him in the fast of Great Lent.

The last thing Satan wants is for the people of God to experience the fullness of heaven and earth joining together with Christ in our midst. And this is precisely what happens every time we gather to offer ourselves to God and for God to offer Himself to us. Today we examine the ways our enemy sneaks in to keep us from this experience. And we look at the wonder of what the Lord our God is doing for us as He is present with us and we present ourselves to Him.

In the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 18, we hear the testimony of the healing of the blind man named Bartimaeus. As our Lord approached Jericho with the multitude, the blind man cried out, "Son of David, have mercy on me." Some tried to quiet him, but he dismissed them and cried out all the more for mercy. Bartimaeus would not stop calling out to Jesus for mercy until Jesus acted on his behalf. Our Lord calls this great faith. Today we examine the faith of this blind man; a faith that Jesus wants to grow within us as He continues His healing work in our lives.

These last four weeks we have taken a close look at the strategies Satan and the demonic use to distract and separate us from the Lord our God. In Peter Kreeft's book, The Snakebite Letters, he points out that Satan fights fiercely to keep us from experiencing Christ in two Sacraments: Eucharist & Confession. Today we look at Satan's strategies to keep us from Christ in the Sacrament of Confession. We also examine why he does not want us to experience our Savior in that blessed Sacrament. And, it has everything to do with Christ's profound ministry for our deliverance, healing, and salvation.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 8, tell the Parable of the Sower; also known as the Parable of the Soils. Any farmer or gardener will tell you that the fullness of the growth of that which is planted is infinitely dependent on the health of the soil in which the seed has been sown. In this parable, Jesus is both the sower and the seed. Today, as we hear our Lord describe to His disciples the various conditions of soil that have a direct impact on the seed that has been planted, our role is to hear Him and let Him discern the condition of the soil of our soul. The cultivation of the soil of our soul with the help of our Lord is essential to the fullness of His life and His Kingdom blossoming forth in and from our lives.

Today is an examination of many false teachings that Satan has managed to get into the fabric of American Christianity. These lies that have crept into our culture of spirituality makes us so very easily exploited by our enemy. Today we examine these so that we see clearly what could be weak links in our spiritual armor.

As an introduction to this series, today we face the reality of spiritual warfare. This is no mere ideology or intellectualized thinking. The demonic, the principalities, the powers, the rulers of this dark age, and hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (as St. Paul says in Ephesians 6); they are all real and they all war against the Christian soul. St. Peter tells us that we must live sober and vigilant lives in our war that overcomes them all. Today the purpose of this series and our approach to learning the strategies of our enemy are revealed so that we may all the more recognize them; so that we may live in Christ's victory over them.

Up to this point in the series, we have been looking at the strategies our enemy commonly uses all too successfully against us all. Today, we turn the tide to focus on truths that will help us join ourselves to Christ and His victory over the enemy who constantly tempts us.

As we begin our three-week preparation for Lent, we are given the Gospel reading from St. Matthew chapter 20 about the laborers in the vineyard. The laborers hired later in the day are paid the same wage as those who had worked all day. They complain to the lord of the vineyard that this seems unjust and are envious of what the later laborers earned in light of their lack of time working. When we look at the extent of envy, we are usually surprised at the various ways it manifests itself in our lives.

How does Satan bait that which is within us? What are his strategies to take the common weaknesses in all of our humanity, and use those weaknesses to separate us from God and from one another? Today we explore the most typical ways our enemy seeks to separate us from the saving experience of God in our lives.

In Colossians 3, St. Paul urges his spiritual children to set their affections only on things eternal. How often our affections are directed to things that are fallen and non-eternal. And when we set our affections on the things of this world, we are so easily ushered into a life of unsettledness, disquietude, angst, and anxieties. Where we choose to direct the eyes of our soul is critical. St. Paul is teaching us that if we will cast our eyes upon Christ and the wonder of His Kingdom, the peace of Christ will reign in our lives.

Today, from the Gospel of St. Matthew 8, we receive the testimony of Christ our God healing the leper. The leper comes to Jesus with incredible faith and the appropriate disposition. He says to our Lord, "If you will, you can make me clean." His faith was that Jesus had both the authority and the ability to cleanse him and free him from both his great suffering and shame. But, like us, there was certainly room for his faith to continue to grow to know more about Him. When we see the healing of the leper, we see the work of salvation daily in the lives of every soul in Christ. Today we ask our Lord to grant us the same disposition of the leper, the faith as well as the acknowledgment our need for Christ's merciful healing of our soul. May we come to Christ saying, "If you will, you can make me whole." To which He will answer, "Of course, I will. Be healed."

Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. By the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the nature of the water was entirely transformed into a completely different nature when it became wine. That which was colorless, fairly odorless, and fairly tasteless became a beautiful color, sweet aroma, and gained a pleasant taste. It was now useful to be a blessing that, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 104, would gladden the heart of men. When we look at our Lord's first miracle, we see the very reason Christ came to us in the first place. He came to transform our fallen nature into His Divine nature. By the Word of God, we become the aroma of Christ to be the blessing of His salvation to this world.

As the wise men came from the East and beheld God in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, a response was provoked. At the experience of the presence of God in their midst they fell down, worshipped Him, and offered them the most precious of gifts. They were invited to come and behold Him, and we see their response. We, just like them, have been invited to come and behold Jesus Christ our Savior. But what is the most precious gift we can offer Him as we behold Him? We offer Him ourselves which is our reasonable act of worship.

There is wonder to be embraced in the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. His Baptism was certainly not for Him. His Baptism was entirely for us. Today we look at the early Church Fathers to see what Christ accomplished for us in His Baptism. And everything we see God accomplish as Christ enters those waters, He accomplishes for everyone of us who have entered therein.

At Christmas, the shepherds were invited and led to come and behold God in the body of the infant; our Lord Jesus Christ. At Epiphany, the wise men were given the same invitation; to come and experience the Word made flesh. When both the shepherds and wise men encountered our Lord Jesus Christ, they would leave forever changed and proclaiming with joy what they had experienced. We are no different that the shepherds and wise men. We are invited and led to come and behold Christ every time we worship Him and receive from Him in the liturgy. Tonight we celebrate the Light Who came into our darkness to reveal Himself to us and place His light within us. The shepherds and wise men came to behold Christ with great anticipation and longing. They were granted what their hearts had grown to desire. Will we come to Him with the same anticipation and longing? If we do, our lives will become a daily Epiphany as we receive light and become it.

The title of this sermon is the summary of the Incarnation and of our salvation. In this revelation, we see the relationship between God and the crown of His creation, mankind. God's movement toward man, literally becoming One of us and dwelling with us to save us. And, man being given the opportunity by grace to ascend to our most true identity of being; that is, like our Creator. This is the true celebration and meaning of Christmas.

At the birth of Christ our God, the angels came and stood before the shepherds proclaiming God's peace and His goodwill toward men. In that instance, the veil opened up and revealed how close the Kingdom of God is to mankind. How? Unto us a child was born. Today we remember the wonder of God's Kingdom brought near to us through the Word of God made flesh.