Mar Mari Emmanuel – No Matter How Big Your Problem Is, Know This One Thing

0:01 Christ never ever goes outside of His church. Christ operates within authority. Because if Christ breaks the rule, then who's going to save? It is impossible for the Lord to do things His way. And He said it, I came to do the will of my Father. What does that mean? In other words, the Lord is saying, I will never ever operate outside of authority. I'm under my father's authority.

0:34 And when the Lord established his church. He appointed apostles. He appointed bishops. He appointed leaders. He ordained them. He consecrated them. He appointed them himself. And said. You have my authority now. On your own. Seeking Christ. Very dangerous thing. Very dangerous. No wonder there are so many false teachings out there. My beloveds, the Lord, don't ever lose track of the Lord Jesus. Don't ever lose track of what He has done while on earth. And After ascending to heaven till this very day. He appointed church fathers. We should not take this lightly. We should not ignore this my beloved. The church fathers during this great Lent period.

1:49 Look what part of the Holy Bible they chose for the reading of today's liturgy. Saint Matthew chapter 5 and today chapter 6. And when you look at the gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 5, 6, and 7, we see what the church fathers call the royal speech. The royal speech, which we know it also as the Mount of Beatitude. And for those who have been to Israel, to the north of Israel lies Galilee. And the Mount of Beatitude overlooks the Sea of Galilee, one of the most incredible places in the entire Israel. Amazing. Nature-wise, incredible. Beautiful.

2:40 So the Lord went up on this mountain and started teaching. And his teachings took three chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew 5, 6, and 7. I call it the school of thought of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And the school of thought are the blessings, the nine blessings which the Lord gave. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed, blessed, nine blessings. These blessings, the Lord says, this is my school. When you enter my school, I need to teach you these subjects. Nine blessings.

3:27 And when you learn them all, and when you implement them all in your life, then graduation day will come. The graduation will be, you become the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Just like when we go to school, we study, and then we go through an exam. And after the examination, when we pass, we are, we graduate, we receive our certificates. This becomes a doctor, this becomes a professor, this becomes a teacher, an engineer, a mechanic, and so on, and so on, and so on. So the Lord is teaching us. In the school of thought of the Lord Jesus, yesterday, The Lord said, you have heard that it's been said of old, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

4:19 You have heard that it's been said before of old, do not kill. You have heard and you have heard, but I say to you, I say to you, what was said of old? The Old Testament. And what is the Old Testament? The law of God. And the Lord is saying, you have heard that it's been said in the Old Testament, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not go against evil. Do not. Is the Lord saying I came to abolish? No, because in Matthew 5, 17, the Lord said, do not think I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. So the Lord came for the fulfillment of the law because the law in the Old Testament was given to people in the flesh but the law

5:16 of the New Testament is given to people in the spirit. And this is what we call the time of grace. The time of grace is when the church of Christ in the New Testament was born On Pentecost and until His second coming, this entire period is the time of grace. It is outside the time of this realm. It is outside the time of the physical tangible realm. The Lord came to bring us into the spiritual realm and make us spiritual being while still on earth. I.e. in the simplest form of English terminology, grow up. That's what the Lord is saying. You need to grow up. Stop talking like a little kid. Stop speaking foolishly. Stop speaking childishly.

6:16 Stop acting physically. Grow up. You are embedded in Christ. You are born in Christ. You are born from above, heavenly. Remember, you do not belong to the world. Therefore, stop acting like the people of the world. Stop acting. Today, again, our beloved saints, church fathers of the Church of the East, have chosen a reading from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 6, verses 1 to 18, inclusive. Matthew 6, 1 to 18. In a nutshell, three things the Lord is teaching all of us today. Number one, charity. Number two, prayer.

7:16 Number three, fasting. Three things. For everything else outside of these three things, the Lord said, do it in the open. Do not be afraid. Speak the truth boldly and openly in public. Do not fear no one, but fear the Lord thy God. But when it came to charitable deeds, to prayer and fasting, the Lord said, do it in secret.

7:53 These three things. And the Jewish Tanakh, To worship God is a triangle. Worshiping God is a triangle. There is this side, and there is this side, and there is the base of the triangle. This side, I'll call it charitable deeds, almsgiving. This other side, I'll call it fasting. But the foundation of the triangle, the base, is prayer.

8:28 Now why the prayer is the base, the foundation? Because maybe someone is extremely financially poor. They cannot do any charitable deeds. They don't have the financial capacity to help someone else. Maybe someone is sick far from all of you and may the Lord heal every sick person. Maybe someone is sick. I cannot expect a sick person to fast.

9:04 I cannot expect a sick person to fast because they need to eat in order to take their medication according to the doctor's prescription. But whether you are financially broke, cannot do any charity, whether you are sick and cannot fast, but prayer applies to all. When you're sick, you can still pray and When you are broken, you can still pray and ask the Lord to help those who are in need. Prayer is for every time, all the time, for every situation. It is the uniform that fits all sizes, all colors, all races, all mankind. And this is why the prayer is the foundation to these three sides of this triangle. But the Lord said, when you come to do a charitable deed, do it in secret. When you come to fast, do it in secret. When you come

10:05 to pray, do it in secret. Because if you are going to do it in front of others, in public, where others see you, where others know that you are fasting, where others know that you have helped somebody in Africa, somewhere in the Middle East, somewhere in whichever country it is. When people know that you are doing these things and when people know that you are praying and they come and say, well done for whatever you've done. You're a saint.

10:37 Look the way you pray. You are so kind. Look how much you're helping people. You are so faithful. Look how much you're fasting. You've been paid by people. God cannot pay you anymore. So all the hard work, in other words, has been washed away. You've worked hard, and when the time came to be rewarded, the Lord said, you've revealed it before mankind. What reward are you expecting of me anymore? My beloveds, these three things, charitable deeds, fasting and prayer, is to do with the human being.

11:27 1 Thessalonians 5.23, St. Paul says, we're made out of body, soul, and spirit. Fasting is for the body. Almsgiving or charity is for the soul. Prayer is for the spirit. When it came to fasting, the Lord said, wash your face. And put some nice gel in your hair. And if you don't have one, go to Istanbul and plant some hair for yourself. And then come back and put gel on.

12:07 Just kidding. Don't go to Istanbul for that. When you're fasting, wash your face. And put a big smile on your face. Why? Because you don't want to alert or alarm anyone around you that you are fasting. Some people, they will show it on their facial expression, on the countenance. Like they may look kind of aching, breaking, grumpy, you know, because they want the attention of the surroundings. They are awaiting for someone to say what's wrong, because they're dying to tell them I'm fasting. They're dying, they can't wait to tell them. Why? Because they want to hear a nice word.

12:54 I want to be credited for this hard work. I didn't eat, neither drank anything from morning till 6 p.m. I am aching all over. I want someone to recognize me and give me a medal for it. That's why I'm going to do all these kind of expressions just to get attention. And they'll ask you, what's wrong my dear? Oh, nothing.

13:18 Please tell me. Nothing. Nothing. As if. And as if is a Persian surname. And please tell me. And finally, they are good people. They say, oh, well, look, you know what? I'm fasting. Really? How long you've been fasting? Oh, I lost count. It's been too long. Amazing. You are so holy. You are a saint. You're a faithful. I wish I was a little fingernail of you in faith.

13:51 And the other person, after getting a massive balloon head, they'll come back with their modesty and humility. Oh no, please don't say this to me. I'm nothing. You're nothing? What kind of show have you put on? The Lord is saying, the people of the world act on one another. That's their job. You know why they act? Because whoever teaches you, that's what you're going to learn. Isn't it?

14:32 A child looks at mom and dad and tries to copy them. You speak nicely to the child, they'll speak nicely. You speak in a very rough language, they will use that rough language. Whatever you teach a person, that's what they will get to know and later implement in their life. Who is the teacher of the world? Satan. And what did the Lord Jesus say about Satan? He said he is the father of all lies. And what is a lie?

15:10 Faking it. Faking the truth. That's what it is. In other words... What is acting? Putting on a mask. Putting on a mask. You need to be genuine. Because I came to save you. It's not about a show. It's not about a festival season. I came to save you. It's about your destiny. It's about your eternity. We cannot act with our life. We cannot act with this precious pearl.

16:28 We cannot play with it. We cannot fake it. We need to come as we are to the Lord Jesus. Some people when they pray, they pray in public arenas. They want to be seen by the entire world. That is against the Lord Jesus. What are you trying to prove? That your faith is right. And mine is wrong. What are you trying to prove? That you have faith and I don't. What are you trying to prove? It's not about showing off. It's not. Because my beloved. I can fake it before you. But I cannot before God. For he sees. The heart. Of every man. He sees the heart of every man, my beloved. We cannot fake it.

17:33 I can lie to people. I cannot lie to God. I can act before people. I cannot act before God. The Lord says, you need to come to me the way you are. Don't act. Don't put a mask on. Don't pretend to be someone I did not create you to be. I want it to be you. So I've asked you, when you come to fasting, don't tell anyone.

18:00 And when you come to praying, don't tell anyone. And when you come to doing charitable deeds and helping people who are in need, don't tell anyone. because I want to give you the reward. I, the Lord Jesus. Do you know why we struggle with fasting, with prayer and charitable deeds? The human nature, and I should add, the human fallen corrupt nature, the human fallen corrupt nature cannot stand the fact that when it does something, does not receive recognition immediately. It cannot stand it. It goes haywire.

19:05 When I do something, I want to be applauded for it. When I build something, I want to be rewarded for it. And sometimes we fall into this trap, even in the church. When we come to do something, we give recognition for those who have donated for the building of a church or whatever project the church is doing. So we say, if you donate, we will engrave your name on the chandeliers of the church. We will engrave your name on the brick of the church. We will put this pew in your name. You have made this person do it for the world, not for God. we start reading names so and so donated this much and so and so donated this much and everybody up they've been rewarded by people not by God you've just destroyed them poor thing

19:55 and you with them church leader Remember, when you do something in the name of the Lord, come and say this to yourself, my beloved son and daughter, I beg you. When you go and help someone in need, say, Lord, I thank you for choosing a piece of wreck like me, the worst of the worst, the sinner of all sinners.

20:23 I thank you, Lord Jesus, for your mercy, for your grace, for your love, for your compassion, to choose me to go and help this person who is hungry, starving. Thank you, Lord. But I'm saying it out of your hand, I have taken it and back to your hand, I've given it. nothing of mine, everything is yours. Everything. Who am I to do something for God? To be boastful of? If it wasn't for the Lord's love and mercy that chose a piece of wreck like me and allowed me to work for him, I need to be honored, privileged, and indebted to the Lord Jesus for eternities for allowing me to be standing on this pulpit here On this holy land here. I'm indebted to him. I'm not worthy to be standing here. I'm preaching. I'm not. If anything. I'm

21:23 not worthy even to be in his church. Maybe out of mercy. I should be in the street. But it is the Lord. It is the Lord. It is the Lord. You see. When you do a charitable deed, the Lord allowed you. He chose you and He gave you the will, the courage, the grace, the gift to give. All I can say, I'm indebted to you, Lord. Thank you so much.

22:00 I don't know what to say, but thank you. So when you donate, when you donate to the church, when you donate to whatever cause of good origin, for good intention, for the glory of the Lord, say, Lord, thank you so much for allowing me to do this. When you come to fast, why do you want to receive recognition? See, this is the human problem. Why we don't do charities in hiding, why we don't fast in hiding, Why we don't pray in hiding? Because there is no pay for it.

22:46 You know, if I say to anyone of us, go and work 16 hour shift for one week, but I'm paying you nothing. Will you go and work? You'll never. But you do 16, sometimes 18 hours, you can't wait for the day to be paid. Because you're going to work to be paid. If it wasn't for the pay, you wouldn't have worked. So the first thing you look at is the dollar sign. That's why you work. Otherwise, you wouldn't work. Like when it comes to the Lord Jesus, you come and pray. And you ask him to fix this problem. You pray and the problem gets worse. You say, Lord, please, I want to be healed. You pray and the illness gets worse. You say, Lord, I want you to fix this person for me. I pray and the person gets more vicious toward me. I've prayed and I received nothing.

23:40 In fact, I've received a slap across the face after praying. Now that is extremely difficult for the human fallen nature to accept it and continue praying. If you don't reward me, why should I pray? If you don't reward me, why should I fast? If you don't reward me, why should I help? Why should I? But the Lord is saying, When you enter my school of thought, you're no longer living for yourself, you're living for me. When are you going to be different to the world? If you are still, as a Christian, imitating the world, then what different are you to them? As a Christian, you need to be standing so differently, uniquely to the rest of the world. Otherwise, how will they know you are my disciples if they

24:34 don't see Christ in you? And let me ask you, has Christ imitated the world ever? No. Has Christ imitated any other human being? No. Christ is always unique, alone, by himself, totally separate, utterly separate to every human being no matter who they are and what they are. And I've always said this and I'll say it again. When people come to compare the Lord to other religious figures with love and respect, I say this. When people come and compare the Lord Jesus to other religious figures, well, let's see the comparison, my beloveds. You bring all the religious figures of the entire world. The ultimate, the ultimate they could have achieved by bringing some morals, principles, values, the ultimate they could have achieved in the human race

25:26 is to change a bad person to a good person. This is the ultimate they could have achieved the entire religious figures, whoever they are. But the Lord Jesus did not come to change a bad person into a good person. The Lord Jesus came to change a dead person into a living one. Now in this, there is no comparison.

25:52 There is no prophet, there is no religious figure that ever was able to say, if you believe in me, even if you die, you will live. And if you eat my body and drink my blood, you will live in me forever. The only one who said it and did it was Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus came to change dead people into living ones. Because unless you are alive, how can you be good? Without life, there is no point talking about being bad or good. You're dead. You know when the prodigal son left his father's house, and went to a far off country. When he came back, what did his dad say? The first thing, what did he say about his son coming back? My son was dead, not lost. Have you noticed the order? Read it. Luke 15.

26:46 My son was dead. And the son was thinking to say to his dad, please forgive me for I've done. Dad was saying, you're dead. What are you talking about? They understand you're dead. A dead person is good for nothing. It's good for nothing. Without your dad, you're dead. So who brought you back from the dead? God, your dad, your heavenly father. You can't raise yourself. So when God brings you to him, there is no place for you to say anything. I'm sorry or I want to work for you. No, no, you're dead. Do you understand? You're dead.

27:44 I just raised you. So who's going to work in you? God, not you. Who raised you? The one who raised you is the one who's going to work through you. If you were able to raise yourself, we would have said, okay, you don't need God. Can you stop death? No. Can you not die? No. They can try for as long as they want. They will never stop death. They might think they prolong it, but they will die. No one has surpassed 969 years of Methuselah, of Old Testament. He lived 969 years. He died. So if people of the 21st century think they're smart, you want to prolong life for how long? 100, 200, 300? You'll die, my dear friend.

28:38 You'll die. Because it's an order from God. And whatever God orders, nobody can change. See? This is one proof that God is the sovereign authority. You can't overcome God. No matter how hard you try. My beloveds, when you fast, Put a smile. Your tummy is empty. Your fuel tank is on zero. The light is flashing. And the engine is about to stall on you. And you're on the freeway.

29:16 But you're going uptown, not downtown, okay? You're on the freeway. And the light is flashing. And they stop you. They say, are you okay? You say, yeah. Hallelujah. Couldn't be better. Couldn't ask for a better day. You had the most miserable day. You're hungry. You're this. You're that. The car breaks down. Your wife doesn't like you anymore. And everything is going wrong. But they ask you. You say, yes, I'm doing great. thank God. Do you need food? Food, the last thing, it's not even on my checklist. And you're dying for a piece of bread. You're dying. What food?

29:55 I am filled. Not food, I am filled by the love of my Lord. I am filled. But you see, when you're hungry, when you are starving, the Lord is trying to awaken something in us called mercy. Remember the people who are starving. Do you know how hard it is for a human being to wake up hungry, sleep hungry, Wake up hungry, sleep hungry. Wake up hungry and sleep hungry.

30:35 No food, no money, no shelter, no nothing. Remember the ones who are starving because when you remember them in their difficult times, the Lord will remember you in your difficult times. So you need to be, see when you starve the body, what do you do? Charity. Charity. Because you'll understand what it means to be starving. You'll understand what it means to be in pain, to be in sorrow, to be afflicted, to be rejected, to be forgotten. You'll understand the pain of being alone. You'll understand it. And this is why the Lord says, keep it in secret because I want you to feel the pain alone by yourself.

31:21 Don't share it to get the credit to be uplifted. No, I want you to go and live it for yourself. Live it. To understand the pain and the pain and the sorrow of others. But ultimately I want you to understand what I went through for you. What I went through for you. Do you understand? Bishop Marie, you're holding my cross in your hand. So easily done. But so impossibly lived. unless it's my grace. You're carrying my cross in your hand and you're waving it at people? Easy, isn't it? But come and lift the cross and let me see if you're a man. When you give and put a smile on someone's face, wow, A little child for the first time had some food on the table for a long time. And the child is innocent like

32:36 an angel. They eat and they are rejoicing. They are leaping in joy and happiness. Jumping. Shouting. Mom. Wow, amazing. As if you've given him the whole world. That smile the Lord never forgets. He'll make sure When you need that smile the most, he will put it on your face. The way you put it on that child's face. Be a giver more than a taker. Cheerful is the hand that gives. And when you pray, you need to pray to your heavenly father who sees in secret and rewards in the open. Prayer here, the Lord is talking about worshiping God. In this particular passage, it means worshiping God.

33:40 Prayer can have different meanings elsewhere in the Holy Bible. And when you pray, you say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, as it is in heaven, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgave our debtors.

34:04 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. This version of the prayer is translated from the Aramaic text. That's why it's different to some of us maybe. It's the literal transliteration of the Aramaic text. One of the oldest manuscripts ever to exist. The language of the Lord.

34:36 The Lord's Prayer in a nutshell. Seven requests. The first three directed to God. The other four to humanity. One on one. The first three directed to God. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. One. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Three. The first thing, I'm asking my heavenly Father for his name to be holy in me as it is in the angels. God's name is always holy. But the Lord is saying, ask your heavenly father to allow you by his grace, which is his beloved son, Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit to allow you to uphold that holy name, lest you stain it and defame it, my beloved. Keep that name holy in your life as it is held holy in my angelic orders. Your kingdom come. And wherever

35:29 there is a kingdom, there is the king. And the king rules, reigns and owns everything. Let God's kingdom come into your heart for God to be the king over your heart, ruling over you. No more Satan, no more you, no more people but God. And let your will be done on earth, the human being, as it is done in heaven, the angelic orders. Give us today our daily bread.

35:58 And who is the daily bread? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is the bread here. Heavenly Father has given us the bread. He has given us his beloved son. And the Lord came in John chapter 6 and said, I am the living bread that descended from heaven. He who eats me shall live in me forever. And this bread is truly the body of Christ. And this blood is truly his blood, my beloved. The wine is truly his blood.

36:25 Don't fall down. For nonsense of the 21st century. When they say it's only bread and wine. That is a lie. That is a foolish statement to state. And if you don't understand the Bible. Then don't claim to be one that knows it. If you don't come. We will teach you what it means. Stop being children. You need to grow up. And you need to adhere to the church father's teachings. The Lord appointed them. Who are we to deny them? Who are we? The Lord himself appointed them.

37:02 Give us today our daily bread. It is a daily bread because your life on earth is a day. The time that is gone by is not yours. The one is about to come is not yours. What is yours today? So how old are you? 24 hours only. This is your life. When somebody asks you, how old are you? You say 50, 70, 80, 90. That's not true. Because all those years that have gone by, they are no longer yours. And what is about to come is not yours.

37:29 What is yours is today. Today is your entire life, the 24 hours. Can you change one thing today to change your life? I'm sure you can. By the grace of the Lord, you can change one little thing. In the 24 hours. You can't forgive? You can't forgive today somebody that hurt you? The Lord will not forgive you.

37:56 This is a given. And the Lord does not negotiate on this. Be careful, my child. Does not negotiate. If you don't forgive, the Lord will not forgive you. This alone can send you to hell. This alone. We can't take this life as a joke. We can't take the word of the Lord lightly. Please. Please. You want God to forgive you? You must forgive. This is in the Lord's prayer. But you see, we're saying give us the daily bread. Why? Give me your son, heavenly father. He is my daily bread. Because it is through the son.

38:39 When I receive the son in the body and the blood. When I receive him. When I believe in him. When I take him. When I am bounded to him. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgave our debtors. Without receiving the Son of God, I cannot forgive those who have forgiven me. Neither my sins will be forgiven. When I receive the bread, forgive my debts and those who have done wrong against me as well. It is the Son who forgives my sins and allows me to forgive those who have hurt me.

39:19 Without the daily bread, Jesus Christ, there is no forgiveness of one's sins, neither other people's offenses against me. It is the Son that forgives. my sins and gives me the grace to forgive those who have gone against me. And it is the son that I receive, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Without the son, the evil will overcome me. I will fall into temptation and Satan will devour me. But when I have the Son, Jesus Christ, I will crush the head of the serpent in Jesus' mighty name as well. But deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Wow.

40:09 It started with three, it ended with three. And the Lord's Prayer is a full circle. begins and goes back to where it began again. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. For yours is the kingdom. Thy kingdom come. For yours is the power. Thy will be done. For yours is the glory. When you fast, when you pray, when you do a charitable deed, do it in secret.

40:53 And let the Lord Jesus reward you. This is one of the reasons why we don't take around this little plate asking for your money. I don't know if you've noticed this. It's been years. I've abolished it. I don't want it. This is in this church. Don't get me wrong. Yes, I'm not talking about any. I'm talking about this church.

41:17 There is a box outside. You want to give? Don't let your right hand know. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. You want to give? You give in secret. I'm not going to take that little thing around and collect money. No. If you want to give to the house of the Lord, you do it in secret. I don't need to know. You need to know and God who sees in secret will reward you accordingly. Amen? Love one another. Love one another. I pray from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my heart.