How to Save Your Spirit from the Fire (Luke 17 Explained) - Jamaican Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel

0:00 So today's gospel, our church fathers have chosen from the gospel according to St. Luke and chapter 17, verses 14 to 27, which is the end of the chapter. So it is Luke chapter 17 and verses 14 to 27, which is the end of chapter 17. The Lord Jesus is talking about two things to us which are absolutely profound for our spiritual nourishment, for our Christian faith, and how we should follow Christ while living on earth. The first thing, when he saw the multitude, the Lord Jesus came, and then a man came running to the Lord Jesus and kneels before him and he says, Lord, have mercy on my son for he is epileptic. He has epilepsy and he suffers severely. Quite often he falls into the fire and other times he falls into the water. And

1:12 please have mercy on my son. Heal him. The Lord Jesus replies and says, O faithless and perverse generation, until when Am I going to be with you and bear with you? Where is your faith? He said, bring your son here. The Lord rebukes that demon that was in that young man. The demon flees immediately and the son is giving back to his dad wholesome. Then the disciples afterwards on one side, they questioned the Lord Jesus and say to him, Lord, Why weren't we able to heal this man? He said, because of your faithless approach. Where is your faith? He said, if you had a faith the size of a mustard seed, you would have set to this mountain, move from here and go over there and would have been done unto you. And then the

2:21 Lord continues and says, This kind of a foul spirit cannot be cast out unless through prayers and fasting. The other one was, they were staying in Galilee, north of Israel. And then the Lord said, the Son of Man will be handed over to authorities. He will be crucified. He will die. But he will be raised from the dead on the third day. And then as they were coming into Capernaum. Capernaum is a city the Lord Jesus used a lot of his time preaching to the people of Capernaum, but they were extremely hard-headed. The tax collectors of the temple approached St. Peter, and they said to him, isn't your master paying the temple tax? He said, yes, he pays.

3:19 Then Peter comes and enters the house where the Lord was, Before Peter saying anything, the Lord Jesus knew exactly what took place. So the Lord said to him, Simon, I ask you one thing. The kings of the earth, who do they take tax from? Their own sons or from strangers? Saint Peter says, Lord, I believe from strangers. He said, okay, well then the sons are not obligated to pay tax.

3:53 He said, but nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the Sea of Galilee where I caught you, where I called you unto me. You used to fish in that Sea of Galilee. Now that I've caught you, go back to that sea where I chose you from and cast your hook. And the first fish that comes up, open its mouth, And you'll find a piece of money in the mouth of that fish. Give one on my behalf and one on your behalf to the tax collectors, lest we offend them. Now, this man comes to the Lord, says, my son is being tormented. Often he falls into fire and often into water. Please have mercy on my son.

4:56 My beloveds, what is fire and what is water? Quite often he falls into fire and quite often he falls into water. When we look at the two, they contradict each other. Fire is against water and water is against fire. And this is the way the enemy operates. He comes in ways where He makes people go haywire. He brings contradictive things in order to make you lose your sense of direction, to make you lose your perception, to make you lose track of Christ. He brings contradictive things into your life so that everything becomes chaotic. Now, water. Well, with water you get drowned. And with fire you get burned. Now, what drowns? God created the human being out of two main components. Out of two main components. One called the

6:18 body and the other one called the spirit. But the body... The spirit is light. The body is dead. The spirit is alive. The body is from earth, the spirit is from heaven. Spirit light, body darkness. They can never live together, mix together because it is either the light day or darkness night. When the sun rises, darkness cannot remain. And when the sun goes down, the light cannot remain. It is either light or darkness, but the two together at the same time, it is impossible. However, God operates in the impossible. That's why He created the human being out of the two worlds, heaven, spirit, and earth, the body.

7:13 The two are contradictive to each other. That's why God, out of His infinite wisdom, created the third component, called the soul, S-O-U-L, and gave ability to the soul to be able to deal with the body and the spirit at the same time. But the two main components are the body and the spirit. Who drowns? The body. And who burns? The spirit. My son is tormented by Satan Quite often he falls into fire and gets burned. And quite often he falls into the water and gets drowned.

8:03 What drowns in you is the body. And what burns in you is the spirit. Now let's come and see what drowns the body. What kills the body? The Lord Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights. You find it in Matthew chapter 4 and also Luke chapter 4. The Lord Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights. After that, the devil came tempting the Lord. He said, if you are the son of God, say to these stones to be bread. The Lord Jesus replied and said, it is not by bread alone a man shall live, but by every word that is uttered from the mouth of God. Now, what is the enemy attacking the Lord Jesus and attacking every single one of us, every single human? The enemy here, when he said to the Lord, say to the stones to be bred, he was attacking your intellect. Because the

9:12 enemy was trying to put a thought in your head. That's how it all starts. Starts with a thought. So the enemy put, tried to put a thought in the Lord's intellect. If you are the son of God, he is by the way. And he is God at the same time. But say to these stones to be bread. As a human being, the first thing will kick in is the intellect. I'll start thinking. I'm hungry. I'm starving.

9:47 I'm starving. I need food. I need to eat. I haven't eaten for 40 days and 40 nights. I am running on empty stomach. Therefore, the thought sounds good. I am able to change the stone into bread, by the way, because I have that authority. I'm God revealed in the flesh. I can do anything and everything. But the enemy was trying to get to the human intellect to make you think on what? Materialistic things. It is not bread, the bread you eat. No, bread here represents the materialistic realm.

10:29 This world is all represented in the bread. So the bread here can be money. The bread here can be cars, can be properties, can be wealth, can be fame. The bread represents everything that is to do with this world, with this tangible materialistic realm. Now why? Because my beloved, the enemy tries to make people use their heads and their heads only totally and utterly outside of God. That's what the enemy is trying to do. That's why he's doing it very well in the world. You see, the world says, look at us, what we have achieved. Look at the technology. Look at the advancement in the medical field.

11:22 Look at the advancement in the scientific field. Look at us, AI. Look. at the technological advancement. Look at the weaponry powers. We can wipe the world a hundred times more over with a couple of rockets with a nuclear warhead in it. Amazing. Using their heads. You know why the enemy tries frantically for humans to use their heads outside of God? You know why. Because when anyone of us uses our head, meaning when we rely on our own intelligence, where will that lead us? It will lead us to the ultimate materialistic realm. Because your intellect and my intellect was created not to surpass this tangible realm. It cannot surpass it.

12:25 So what will you end up being? A materialistic earthly human being. Your focus will be always on material things. You will start chasing materialistic things. You will start fighting over materialistic things. And you will try to possess all materialistic things. But one thing we need to all realize is chasing the materialistic realm, it will end you up in one place and one place only called the grave.

13:04 The grave. And when we go down to that pit, what do we take with us from this materialistic realm? Absolutely nothing. Nothing. But in the meanwhile... What made the body drown? Materialism. We started fighting over a land. You see, two brothers, biological brothers from one mother's womb. They came to the Lord Jesus and they were fighting with one another.

13:46 And one of them said to the Lord, please judge between me and my brother. He does not want to give this piece of land to me. The Lord said, who made me a judge over you? Don't be an ignorant soul, my child. You're fighting over a piece of land and you're saying, to each other, this is my land. The other says, no, it is my land. And I will take you to court so that I can take my land from my own biological brother. The Lord is saying to those two brothers and all of us, you chase the land, the land, my sons, it is neither yours nor your brothers because the land will ultimately be the grave for both of you. The land will swallow you.

14:45 So you're chasing material things. You'll end up with nothing. You know when King Solomon in his book of Ecclesiastes which is the book of repentance. Book of Ecclesiastes teaches us on how to be a repentant soul throughout our life on earth. Not in a moment. No. You need to be a repentant soul Every single moment of your life on earth. You know what he says? The beginning of the book of repentance, Ecclesiastes. He says, everything under the sun is vanity. It is vanity and vanity of all vanity. What is vanity? The body. If you chase the body, the body is material. The body is from this material realm. You chase the body, the body is vanity.

15:49 Where will this body lead you? To the grave. Then what will you become when you end up into the grave? The vanity of all vanities. You chase the vanity, you'll end up being vanity of all vanities. And nothing of all nothings. What drowns the body dies. It's material matters. I beg you, don't ever fight over no material things.

16:25 And especially to my beloved son and daughter when you about, when you come and about to get married. Don't ever fight over material things. My friend Her wedding cost 100 grand. You better make it 150. For me and you. My neighbor drives an 80,000 car. You better get me 100,000. Darling, I'm on Centrelink. I can't afford a 100 grand car.

17:00 I have a wedding coming up. I will not wear the same dress twice. What will people say? My darling, you're not the bride. What? Doesn't matter. No one is focusing on you. The wedding is for the bride and the groom. You are an invitee to that wedding. Please wear it a million zillion times. Stop putting financial pressures on you. You look beautiful and you better look beautiful to God, not to people. Don't let the dress make you beautiful. Let the heart that is cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, make you beautiful.

17:43 Stop chasing materialism. Stop fighting over This is my territory. That is your territory. I mean, look at the world. What are they fighting about? Material things. Because that's all this world is going to give them. But the problem, no superpower will ever, will ever control. Because this world is for nobody. Where is Pharaoh? Where are all the emperors?

18:16 Where is the Assyrian, Babylonian, Macedonian, Roman empires? Where are they? Gone. Where is the Persian and the Medites? Gone. When they were conquering the world, they thought, hey, we're here forever. Gone with the wind. We don't even know where the graves are. Wiped. And With love and respect, we don't even care where the graves are. Yet there were emperors. I, Augustus Caesar. Get alive, brother. Where are you? Where is Augustus Caesar? Wake up. Wake up. What drowns the body, material matters. The Lord says so. Don't let Satan drown you with worldly matters. Leave it alone. It was never yours, never will be. Don't let what you possess, possess you one day. Be rich, that's fine. But don't ever be

19:36 a slave to that wealth. Don't ever be a slave to money. Don't ever be a slave to fame. Don't ever be a slave to material things, to wealth. Don't ever be a slave. God gave it all to you. you. He made you that king over this all creation. The king rules. The king controls. The king possesses everything. Don't be possessed by no materialistic things. In Jesus mighty name, I step on it. And my darling George, I don't care if you bring me a hundred thousand diamond ring.

20:17 For me, you are my diamond ring. Aloha. Love can never be measured by materialistic things. The moment we base our love for one another on materialism, we've lost touch of the divine God. We've lost touch. We've lost touch. My son is burns. He falls quite often into the fire and the fire burns. What burns? The spirit gets burned.

20:58 The body gets drowned, but the spirit gets burned. What burns the spirit? Pride. False glory. Sometimes I look at myself and I think I'm someone very special. Relax, bro. You ain't special, brother. In fact, everyone is better than me. I'm no special. They may come and say nice things to you. Oh, you're wonderful. Oh, you're so faithful. Oh, you're so beautiful. Thanks. Through this ear out the other.

21:34 Don't let it sink in. Because if you let it sink in, you'll get a big head. And the moment we get a big head, the spirit is in deep trouble. It is pride that burns the spirit. Remember, that angel that was from the highest angelic orders called the cherubims, which were full of knowledge, now is called Satan. What made this spirit fall? Self-pride. What burns the spirit is self-pride.

22:06 Don't ever have a big head when people think of you someone special. Don't let what people think of you change you. But what God thinks of you, that is better to change you. If the whole world say to me, you're a saint and the Lord says you're a sinner, I'm in deep trouble. But if the whole world say to me, you're a sinner and you are this and you are that, you're ugly, you're bad. But Jesus says, you're my son. Who cares? Who cares about the world? So, don't let pride engulf the spirit because it will burn it.

22:56 So what do we need to do now? What is the medication to the body not to drown? Fasting. Now, in the literal sense, what does fasting do to the body? It makes it skinny. When you don't eat, you don't drink, for a week, two, three, four, you'll start losing weight. You'll start losing weight. So when you lose weight, you become what? Lighter. The lighter you are, the less you will drown. You'll start floating. I become like a feather. Now, They throw me in the water, the feather floats, never sinks.

23:38 But if you become heavy duty, brother, the moment they throw you, not even a split second, boom, gone, finished, disappeared. So don't be heavy duty physically. Be heavy duty spiritually. Be light as the feather physically. Now, what is fasting? I abstain myself from things that this body longs for. Fasting is not just food. You know, we spend so much time when the great Lent approaches. Like we spend so much time. We got to get ready now. Because everything is going to be vegan, brother. So now... I have to be very mindful. I don't eat meat during the Great Lent. It's a big sin. Yet all the year round, I'm eating every human's meat with my gossip.

24:41 Don't eat people's meat. Eat other meat. It's okay. The true fasting, the true fasting is when you look at the world and the pleasures and the treasures of the world as if you don't see nothing. A true warrior is not the one who runs away. No, you don't run away. A true warrior who faces temptations and stands strong.

25:19 Not run away from temptations. Like I used to go to the club every day. Not me, by the way, please. Because one day I was preaching. I didn't realize. I said I was a drug addict. And somebody actually took that section of the video. And he said, look at Marmarie. He was a drug addict. And look at him now.

25:39 He's fine. No, my dear friend. I was only speaking on other people's behalf. One day, this person used to go to the club every day. Thank God. One day this person used to go to the club every day. The Lord touched their heart. Now they try to avoid going to the club. Or they try to avoid seeing a club. No, don't. Do not be afraid. God never put a spirit of fear in you. So next time when the Lord has touched your heart and changed you, you go and face that club and say, I choose not to enter you for as long as God chooses for me to live on the face of this earth.

26:27 Face your challenges and stand like a warrior in the name of Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid. So what is fasting? I have material things. I have a house. I have a car. I have money. I have wealth. But none of it controls me. I'm in control. I face them all. And I say, Lord, everything is yours. Everything. Everything.

26:56 None of it is mine. That's the truth. Because the end is the grave. It will take it all from me anyway. So you better confess the truth and live this truth. So how do I become light? Fast. What is fasting? Possess things. Don't let nothing possess you. That is fasting. My heart breaks when I hear a baby cry.

27:27 Two things break my heart big time. An elderly person crying and a baby crying. These two kinds of tears I cannot withstand. They shatter me. So please, mom, stop the baby crying. Otherwise, I'll have to come down and go... Come on, dad. You can do better. Very good. The dad's come to the rescue. He heard me. Now, what makes the body lose that drowning thing? Nothing controls me.

28:06 No material things control me. What saves the spirit from being burned? Humility. Pride burns it. Humility cools it. What gets you to humility? Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Remember what the Lord said to them? This kind of a spirit does not come out except through fasting and prayer. Fasting for the body, meaning when you are not a slave to materialistic things, you will step on Satan. And when you are humble, you will step on Satan. Now humility is wisdom.

28:58 And not wanting or not being controlled by materialistic things is love. You see, what delivers you from loving the world is the love of God. God created you based on love. If you don't love God, you'll love the world. But if your love is given back to God, then the moment you love Him, you cannot love anyone else nor anything else. Because love can only be given to one.

29:41 How many are going to fit in your heart, my son? Only one. That's why in Christianity there's only one. There's only one man and one woman. Not four, not ten, not twenty, not hundred. One. One. One. Because the love can only be given to one. So my son, when you stand before the holy altar on the big day called wedding, the wedding day, and you stand before the almighty God and the holy altar and the priest, when you say I do to your sweetheart, the bride, you're saying to yourself, I do not. for every other girl on the face of this planet. You're in deep trouble.

30:38 That's why you wear black. You've just attended your funeral. Yeah. You're here to die, my son. And if you don't believe me, check it out after honeymoon. You're dead meat, brother, if you don't do as she says. Yeah. We get away with our moms, but we can't get away with our wives. Somebody's laughing. There's only one love. When you love the Lord Jesus, it is impossible to love the world.

31:22 It is impossible to love materialism. When you love Christ. So what saves you from drowning is love. And what saves you from burning is wisdom. And how do you receive wisdom? When you bow before Christ. You are delivered from burning. When Christ engulfs you He will make sure you're always humble. He will make sure you are always humble.

32:03 Because He knows the moment we become boastful of ourselves, we've been burned now by the enemy. And to make sure that you don't drown, He says, let me be your treasure. Because wherever your treasure is, there your heart is also. And the hardest to do with love. If you're rich and you're listening to this good old bishop, don't hold on to that richness and be greedy. Greedy cannot make it. Be of a charitable heart. Don't be greedy.

32:59 And speaking of rich people, I need about 10 million dollars. Thank you very much. If you don't give it to me, I will take it by force. I have a special line to the Lord Jesus. When I make call to that line, you will come, my friend. You hold on to your wealth and then what? And then what? The more you give, the more you receive from the Lord.

33:33 You better trust in that. The more you give, the more you receive. You know, when Peter came, he said, my master gives tax. Poor people, you know, does your master give tax? What kind of a mentality is that? Still, still very childish mentality. still immature, still blind, still ignorant, still foolish. We need to grow in wisdom. We need to mature. We can't remain babies with the Lord Jesus.

34:06 We need to reach maturity in our spiritualities. Now the Lord Jesus said, do the kings of the earth take tax from their own sons or from strangers? Simon Peter said from strangers because the law of the Old Testament says you cannot take tax from your son nor from the firstborn. Two things. Determine if you pay tax or not to the temple. You are tax-free if you are a son or the firstborn, which the Lord Jesus and Simon Peter qualify for both. They're both sons, meaning Jewish, and also firstborn. Simon Peter was the firstborn in the family.

34:56 And so is Jesus. From humanity's side, He is the only firstborn, and there is no one else after Jesus. Be very careful. The Holy Mother is virgin before conception, during and after giving birth. She is the virgin of all virgins for eternities to come. She had only one son and one only. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

35:24 The Holy Mother is the crown of my glory. She is virgin and mother at the same time. Amazing. Because when God works in a human being, He makes and He does amazing things through them. So He is a firstborn and He is a son. Not only the son of God, but He is the son of man. And He's a Jew. But look at the Lord. Even though He was not obligated to pay tax, But he chose to pay tax to those who asked Peter, does your master pay tax or not to the temple? He chose to pay tax even though he was exempt 100% by law.

36:17 Incredible lesson the Lord is teaching us all. He says, even though you are in the right place, And even though you are right, but sometimes it requires wisdom to let the situation pass by in peace. Just because you're right does not give you the right... to state your case and prove your case, to prove your brother, your wife, your husband, your father, your mother, your son, your daughter are wrong. Because you prove them wrong, you're proving yourself wrong.

37:03 If we fight one another at home as a family to prove out of authority that I am right, you're wrong, you are wrong my son if you prove your wife wrong and even though your wife is wrong. But if you insist that I'm going to prove you're wrong and I'm right, here you are destroying your home. You are not a wise man at all. At all. Because if the house collapses, guess what? It's going to collapse on every single member of that family. So what have you gained, my son, by proving your wife wrong? You lost your family.

37:49 Be wise. The Lord is teaching us, hear wisdom. Yes, I am right. I don't need to pay tax. But you know what? Nevertheless, lest we offend them, we don't want to cause dramas. You be the wise one and just go with it for now. Get them later, not now. Because if you get them now, you'll destroy things. Wisdom discerns perfect timing. Wisdom discerns perfect timing. But look how God provides. Where it is unexpected, He gets it from there.

38:40 He said, Peter, you know what? I'm going to give you the money to give to these tax collectors. Where from Lord? From the mouth of a fish. Would you ever think you're going to get money out of a fish mouth? This is how God has authority over everything. Even from the mouth of the fish and the depth of the ocean. He will provide everything. Have trust in this God. Where it's totally unexpected. That's where he gets it from. Because to his power. To his authority. To his sovereignty. There is no limit. So he will get it from no one. intellect can ever fathom. That's why he's God. We're not. Trust in him. When you say it's too late, that's when the Lord says, now you're talking.

39:45 Because now I can see you cannot do anything anymore. And I can see that you know you cannot do anything. You know for yourself you cannot do anything. Ask me now to do something for you. Now I'm going to show you who God is. When you give up, I'll come in and change everything. Before you blink your eyes.

40:05 Look my beloveds. See the beautiful reflection of Christ's character here. Authority. Christ expressed it through humility. Not I'm the boss, through humility. Authority must be expressed through humility, otherwise the family is destroyed. If a church leader uses that authority with power, as if I am the supreme and you listen to me whether you like it or not, that leader is a failure.

40:39 That leader's authority must be used with humility. Humility. And humility is even when I'm right, I'll go along with you because you're my child. I don't want to lose you. So I'll go with your way of thinking. But to bring you back. To bring you back. So the Lord used authority expressed through humility. The Lord used his freedom expressed through love. He expressed His freedom through love. And the Lord expressed divine sovereignty through providence. Not through privileges. Providence.

41:29 The true divine God uses His sovereign authority by providing for us, not showing that He is the mighty one. May the Lord have mercy on all of us. May the Lord Jesus give us wisdom so that way we are always humble before Him and give us that love so that we love Him and make Him our treasure, not worldly treasure, but Christ being the true treasure. So when we love Him, we have no place to love the world and everything that is in it. Love Christ in order to overcome the world, lest you be drowned by materialism. And be humble, lest your spirit is burned by pride. In both, we lose Christ. But the Lord came, took us out of drowning, and put the fire off by giving us humility. Let's bow our heads. In the

42:39 name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen. Our good God and full of mercy, our good God and full of mercy, whose grace and mercy is poured upon all. Pour, my Lord, the compassion of the delightfulness of your love upon your servants and again transform them in the hope of renewal to the life of repentance. Renew in them your Holy Spirit by whom they are sealed for the day of salvation.

43:02 Purify them by your compassion from all flesh and spiritual blemishes. and assure the hope of their faith by the aid of your grace, and instill the walks of their behavior and the paths of righteousness. Please them along with the saints in your kingdom by the assurance of the hope of their faith, and the adoption as your children, and in the joy of your absolving mysteries. Empower them by the aid of your mercies to observe your commandments and fulfill your will, to confess, worship, and praise your holy name, the Lord of all, Father and Son, and Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

43:38 May the Lord make us worthy to come forth and receive Him in the true body and the true blood of Christ. I pray you're always close to the Lord Jesus. I pray you're always loving the Lord Jesus. I pray that you are always faithful, strong in your love and your faith for the Lord Jesus. He deserves every single drop of that love every single drop of that praise, honor, glory and worship. He is the worthy one and there is no one else but Him. Amen. God bless you.

44:17 I love you. I love you. I love you. I kiss your feet. Be close to the Lord. I kiss your feet. Be close to the Lord. At the end, The Lord is that gonna matter. Nothing else. No one else. I love you. Ah yeah. I missed you more. I see you. I have eyes here and at the back. God bless you. I love you very much. Thank you.