Homily Vol. 1 On Love - Bilingüe

Homily Vol. 1
On Love
By Andrew Ferris
To the Church in America


Of faith, hope and love; the greatest of these is love – for God is love, faith is an essence of hope and confidence, hope is positivity in expectation; the greatest of those is God.  God expressed in life-action is love chiefly for Him, self, and fellow.  Only when we actively and outwardly express love to those three parties will we love continually and continually perfecting.

When we love others, we honor and love God – when we love God, we retain identity in Christ and learn better to love ourselves, from which naturally extends becoming better at loving our fellows and greater still our enemies and superior to both, God.

At some time or another, all things will pass away with the exception of love.  Paul writes to the church in Corinth that “Love never fails”.  Prophecy can be stopped or changed, spiritual gifts will one day become unnecessary, knowledge will fade away with time, reason will change with new generations – but love will outlast all and carry on forever.

To truly love another and to do it to the best of one’s abilities, one must focus their passions and efforts towards the Lord.  You will never love completely without knowing the agape of Christ; that love that has no condition – it simply is and does.  Love first Christ Jesus with all your being – then and only then make the effort to love yourself.

Once you can treat yourself well – not overindulging, but being controlled, making yourself capable of doing, becoming humbly obedient and honoring all others in perfect respect – then seek to give your perfect love to one other.  Do not expect the love of the other, for that is not love perfected; rather love conditional.  Hope for their love, however.  “Agape” means giving love without looking to get back.

Love is a choice we make – chose your love carefully and wisely.  Bathe your decision in prayer and council.  Do not be like foolish people of this world who love that which pleases them only.  Their love is temporary, fleeting, fickle and is doomed to end.  Instead, be wise like Christ has taught us to be and treat love as the great gift and responsibility that it is: look forward to it, be patient for it, revere it, treat it carefully, be gentle with it and guard it as a treasure.

Then, you will love well as you were taught and shown by our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Sobre El Amor

De fe, esperanza y amor; lo más grande de esos es el amor – porque Dios es amor.  La fe es una esencia de esperanza y confidencia, esperanza es la positividad en esperanza; lo más grande de esos es Dios.  Dios expresado en esta vida es amor primeramente para Él, después para sí y finalmente para vecino. Cuando expresamos el amor activamente y externamente esos tres recipientes, vamos a poder amar continuamente y perfeccionar nuestro amor.

Cuando amamos a otros, honramos y amamos a Dios – cuando amamos a Dios, retenemos nuestra identidad en Cristo y aprendemos cómo amarnos mejor.  De eso, naturalmente, aprendemos amar mejor a nuestros vecinos – mejor todavía nuestros enemigos y superior a ambos a Dios.

En cierto punto, todas cosas desvanecen con la excepción del amor.  Pablo escribe a la iglesia en Corinto que “el amor nunca falla”.  Se puede detener a la profecía, los dones del Espíritu un día llegará a ser no necesarios, conocimiento desvanecerá con el tiempo, razón cambia con cada generación nueva – pero el amor permanecerá por siempre.

Para verdaderamente amar a otro y más, hacerlo a la máxima cualidad de la capacidad de uno, uno tiene que enfocar su pasión y esfuerza hacía El Señor.  Nunca amarás completamente si no conoces el amor agape de Cristo; es el amor que no tiene condición – simplemente existe y hace.  Amen primeramente a Cristo Jesús con todo su ser – y entonces, hagan el esfuerzo de amar a sí mismo.

Cuando ya puede amarse bien y tratarse bien – sin excederse, pero tener auto-control, hacerse capaz de hacer el trabajo ante ti, ser obediente humildemente y honrar a todo los demás en respeto perfecto – entonces busque usted dar su amor perfecto al otro.  No esperen el amor del otro, porque es no es el amor perfecto; sino que es el amor condicional.  Tenga esperanza de su amor.  Agape quiere decir dar el amor sin expectativa de recibirlo a regreso.

Amar es una elección que hacemos – escoja tu amor cuidadosamente y con sabiduría.  Bautice su decisión en oración y concilio.  No sea necio como la gente de este mundo que ama a lo que le de gusto solamente.  Su amor es temporáneo, pasajero, inconstante y tiene fines de perdición.  En vez de ser así – sea sabios como Cristo nos enseñó y trate al amor como el regalo y responsabilidad grande que es: tenga esperanza de ello, sea paciente para ello, tenga reverencia de ello, trátelo cuidadosamente, sea gentil con ello y vigílelo como un tesoro.

Entonces, amará bien como nos enseñó y demostró nuestro Señor Jesucristo.

Husbands / Esposos

Based on 1 Samuel 1:7-9, 11

Here we see a great piece of marital counseling; and no, I am not refering to the multiple wives. Rather, that in verse 9, we see that Elkanah gives comfort and reassurance to Hannah in her time of self-doubt and anguish...and lo and behold...it worked!

In verse 7, we see that Hannah would not eat because of her anguish; but in 9, we see that after the careful care and attention Elkanah gives, Hannah begins to eat again.

Husbands, often times we look at our wives during her moments of stress like she has gone off the deep end. Sometimes she has, but most the time we need to keep in mind that woman in different from man and that we love this woman.

Since we love her, we seek to build her up and not tear her down. Therefore, when we see our sweet little lamb in distress (we are her pastor as leader of the home), we can offer our support and care and attention; and ususally attention, an open ear and a closed mouth with a few caresses will do the trick.

Love your wife!

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Basado en 1 Samuel 1:7-9,11

Aquí vemos a un pedazo sabio de consejos martrimoniales; y no, no me refiero a las multiples esposas.  Pero, que allá en versícul 9, vemos que  Elcana da consuelo y seguridades a Hannah en su tiempo de auto-dudar y angustia...y fíjese que...servieron los consejos!

En versículo 7, vemos que Hannah no comía por causa de su angustia; pero en 9, vemos que después de la atención cariñosa, Hannah vuelve a comer otra vez.

Esposos, muchas veces vemos a nuestras esposas mientras está en un momento de estrés como que ella había salido del órbito de la planeta.  A veces sí!  Pero la mayoría del tiempo, tenemos que quedarnos en mente que la mujer es bien diferente que el hombre y también que amamos a esta loca.

Porque sí la amamos, queremos edificarla y no destruirla.  Entonces, cuando vemos a nuestra ovejita en angustia (nosotros somos los pastores de la casa), podemos ofrecer nuestro soporte, cariño y atención; y con atención, un oído abierto y una boca cerrada tranquila, unas caricias puede hacer el trabajo.

Ame a su esposa!

Trading the Extraordinary for the Ordinary

Based on 1 Samuel 8

It is really sad to see in this passage of Samuel a desire that is so rampant and destructive even today. Israel had such a unique relationship with the Divine Creator God. There was/is no other nation like it - yet, like so many people I know and even myself in part and at times have done and do, we trade the divine for terrestrial.

We have the potential to commit ourselves and become great for the cause of Christ. Many of us even begin on that path, but are soon met with frustration. In turn, it is that frustration that makes us think back on our Egypt (old way of life). And sadder still, many of us will make the effort to go back to that old way of life - normal, ordinary and comfortable; when in fact we are called children of the Most High King (aka princes and princesses), friends of God (He'll let you borrow that cup of sugar), world changers (don't like what you see? You can fix it!) and miracle workers (she's not dead, she's asleep!).

We could bring so much fame to His name if we stuck with it and chose the divine over the normal - chose to stick it out instead of give it up - think outside of ourselves to bless the rest of the world!

Israel gave up their Divine Ruler for a man.

What have you given up on lately?

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Basado en 1 Samuel 8

Me es triste leer este pasaje en Samuel y ver un deseo que está tan vivo y destructativo en nuestra cultura de hoy también.  Israel tuvo una relación única con el Dios Divino Creador.  No había/hay otra nación como ella - pero, como muchas personas que conozco y a veces yo mismo en parte hemos hecho y hacemos, intercambiamos el divino por el terrestre.

 Tenemos la potencial para comprometernos y ser grande por la causa de Cristo.  Muchos de nosotros aún empiezan este camino, pero pronto nos llega frustración.  En cambio, esta frustración nos hace pensar en nuestro Egipto (estilo de vida de antes).  Más triste todavía, muchos de nosotros hacemos el esfuerzo para regresar a nuestra vida antigua - normal, ordianria, cómoda; cuando en hecho somos llamados hijo del Rey Altísimo (quiere decir principes y princesas), amigos de Dios (te prestará otra tortilla), cambiadores del mundo (no te gusta lo que vees?  Lo puedes cambiar!) y hacedores de milagros (no está muerta, está durmida!).

Tenemos la potencial de traer tantísmia fama a Su Nombre si aguantamos y luchamos y escogemos el divino sobre el normal - si escogemos no darnos por vencido - si pensamos afuera de sí para bendecir al mundo!

Israel rindió su Rey Divino por un hombre.

Qué has dado por vencido hoy?

Lectio Divina on Matthew 6:25-34

Matt 6:25-34

²⁵“So I tell you to stop worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?

 ²⁶“Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

 ²⁷“Can any of you add a single hour to your life by worrying?

 ²⁸“And why worry about clothes? Notice how the flowers grow in the field. They never work or spin yarn for clothes. ²⁹But I say that not even Solomon in all his majesty was dressed like one of these flowers. ³⁰That’s the way God clothes the grass in the field. Today it’s alive, and tomorrow it’s thrown into an incinerator. So how much more will he clothe you people who have so little faith?

 ³¹“Don’t ever worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ ³²Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them. ³³But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you.

 ³⁴“So don’t ever worry about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I’ve read many times Matthew 6:25-34.  For some reason, I am used to separating the verse into two distinct parts and taking them as such.  I usually break them down into verses 25-32 and verses 33-34.  So, I’d say that what is most striking to me today is the connection between the two.  I think this distinction comes because these are two verses independently and frequently quoted of each other.  The overall idea hear becomes clear when read together – place your trust and worries in the Lord’s hands and it will go well with you.

Here the speaker, Jesus, gives us an illustration of the actual affect that worrying has on a circumstance – nothing!  Basic human needs become objects of concern for us many times (for some of us, most of the time).  Now what immediately pops into my mind is starvation.  I think about third world countries and families who die because of lack of food and water.  For them it seems (from my point of view), that life is food and drink.  And also, does this mean that they lack the faith or direction to survive?  Implicitly, does it require faith and direction to survive?

Even birds with tiny brains can find food to eat. Even plants without a brain have food to eat.  What about inner-city poverty?  Do they lack brains, means or will?  These are questions on which I am not an expert.  I have never lived that life, nor do I know anyone who really has.  I’ve heard that in the case of the inner-city destitute, they dumpster dive – or search for food in the trash.  They do this because no shop owners or restaurants owners will give them any food.

Distrust and uncaring have become integral parts of American society.  A store owner won’t give out the day old bread or meat; rather, he’ll throw it away.  Why?  Liability (distrust).  If the unfortunate person gets sick off of the food given to him out of charity, that person can sue the owner who was only trying to help; and when his act of charity clashes with the destitute’s  desire for self-betterment (through the means of money), the result is a sown seed of distrust.   Then, as the news spreads around and we learn that we can sue people for spilling hot coffee on ourselves – we learn that we can take advantage of nearly anyone and those liable are taught that everyone is potentially the end of their livelihood.

What’s at play here is more than just faith + direction.  It now has become evident that it has to do with other factors.  So what can one do?  I posit the simple question: Isn’t God bigger than any situation?  It’s easier said than seen many times.  This indeed is where faith comes into play.  But I think I hear someone say in disgust: “So you’re blaming the starving children in Africa for their situation because they don’t have enough faith?”  Of course not!  That is ludicrous and foolish on my part to think that way. A part from that, who am I to judge what they do or do not correctly?

So, what then is the outcome?  There is not any one specific, over-arching answer to this question.  Each case is different.  I am of the opinion and belief that Jesus is the answer to all situations.  But then again, I understand Jesus seemingly very differently than people around me.  This does not put me in some higher rank or class, rather I see life and death in a different light than most – I trust in the old saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” and I have faith in Jesus Christ to get me out of any situation - and that faith is constantly tested – as well as it should be.  For who would I be to be sitting in my comfy chair, under my roofed home, with heat having the luxury of coffee in my belly and a computer with internet in front of me and writing about the redeeming works of Jesus Christ without fear of death and cast judgment and speak ignorantly about a third world living condition that I have never even seen apart from a few documentaries on NatGeo?

Yes, my faith is tested; yes I am persecuted as a Christian.  No, I don’t for an instant pretend to face the same level of testing as my Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, nor do I pretend to face death for my beliefs.  So, I have become quite aware that it is easy for me to say “look for God first in everything that you do and all the rest will follow”; but my ease of saying this scripture has nothing to do with the actual Truth of the scripture.  Whether it is easy for me to say or I am like Job and have literally lost everything – I know it is pure truth, tested truth, that when we seek God above all else, the details and the needs are provided to us.

Now, I would pray that I could put this into action through living out my trust - even taking it so far as to become unlike that store owner who has bread, and who will not throw it away, but rather bless those who need it - even if it means losing everything - that I would be able to say that I did my part.

Lectio Divina Notes on 2 Corinthians 10:5

2 Corinthians 10:5

⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

1.       Part that sticks out: “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God”

a.       What is the knowledge of God?

                                                              i.      Gnosis

1.       Thayer Definition:

1) knowledge signifies in general intelligence, understanding

1a) the general knowledge of Christian religion

1b) the deeper more perfect and enlarged knowledge of this religion, such as belongs to the more advanced

1c) especially of things lawful and unlawful for Christians

1d) moral wisdom, such as is seen in right living

                                                            ii.      The phrase - the wisdom of God is foolishness to the non-people of God, however this word in Greek denotes a “common knowledge”

b.      The KJV says “every imagination” – something certainly false

2.       Thought on application with experience

a.       In the spiritual warfare that we find ourselves in, we find ourselves under a barrage of attack – one tactic, the “doctrine of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1), seeks to dissuade us from the knowledge of God and to knock us off course. 

                                                              i.      In effect, these doctrines set themselves up against the knowledge of God – what is understood, or let’s even go as far as to say, what should be understood about God.

1.       It is interesting to note here that common knowledge gets lost through time.  Once, I stumbled upon a passage in a book that said “it is common knowledge that vegetarians are more susceptible to spirits” (Larkin).  This caught me very off guard.  How was this common knowledge?  I had certainly never heard of this.

a.       1 Timothy 4:1-5 and Acts 10:9-16 assert (in some eyes) that vegetarians (I think they mean more specifically, those of the vegetarians that call meat evil or the consumption there of evil) are wrong because they call bad what God has called good.  I asked my dad about this and he seems to know exactly what was meant there – it was common knowledge to him. (I don’t quite agree or understand this point of view and logic)

b.      What else then has been lost?

c.       I must put in opposition what I think vs. what the knowledge of God is; therefore I am to also have the knowledge of God so that I can accurately place the two in comparative opposition.

b.      I will then take captive those thoughts and make them submit to Christ

                                                              i.      This goes for both acceptable and unacceptable thoughts

1.       For the acceptable ones, they are already in submission to Christ by being aligned with the Way

2.       For the unacceptable ones, I personally perform a mental exercise.

a.       I take the thought and put it into image form in my imagination and place it in a jail or some sort of container.  Then, I take the container or jail and imagine it being burned up.

b.      This is because I understand that imagination can be prayer.

                                                                                                                                      i.      Just as humans and animals communicate non-verbally, we also communicate with our Creator non-verbally.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      He speaks to us through nature, feeling, other people and more.

                                                                                                                                  iii.      We speak to him through our conduct, feelings and thoughts

1.       Through non-verbal communicative prayer, I can imagine and picture what I could put into words (if I chose to do so) and simply enact them in my thought life as a prayer before God

a.       Many call this meditation

2.       So, my imagining these unacceptable thoughts before God’s knowledge and putting them in a holding place and destroying them is in essence and active way of expressing wordlessly: “Lord, help me rid myself of these thoughts and have a clean thought life.”

3.       Conclusion

a.       Obtain knowledge of God and put is against your own precepts

b.      Make all of your thought life submissive to the Will of God

                                                              i.      90’s Question of Reflection: Would Jesus think that?

c.       Be mindful, conscious of your thoughts at all times (“every thought”)