The Real Reason Your Willpower is Failing You (Luke 13) - Bishop Mari

0:00 When the soul marries the spirit, the person becomes spiritual, heavenly. You are walking on earth, but you are living in heaven. We thank the Lord for his infinite mercy, for his infinite grace, for his infinite love and compassion, for still allowing us to be in his holy presence, yet I, the unworthy, It is an absolute priceless gift to be able to still come to church. It is absolutely a priceless gift to be able to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. This, no money come by, nothing can make it possible except the blood of the Lamb of God. So we thank the Lord always. Amen. My beloved, our church fathers chose a... A passage from the gospel according to Saint Luke for today's liturgical service. And it

1:06 is from Luke chapter 13 verses 22 to 35, which is the end of chapter 13. Chapter 13 of Luke verses 22 to 35. There are three things the Lord Jesus mentions in these golden words that were uttered from his holy and divine mouth. One, the Lord Jesus says, strive to walk through the narrow door. Strive to walk through the narrow door. The other one, some Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and they said, go out from here because King Herod wants to kill you. And the Lord Jesus replies and says, go and tell that fox.

1:57 I am... casting out demons and performing cures and miracles today, tomorrow, and on the third day I shall be perfected or I shall complete everything. So go and tell that fox to King Herod. And the third one, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How many times I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing. I was willing, Jerusalem, to save you, but you were not willing. Therefore, I truly say to you, your house will be left to you desolate. Desolate. Well, that did take place in 70 AD. Jerusalem was white.

3:05 Strive to walk through the narrow door. What decides for any one of us whether to be with the Lord or with the world is the will. What decides whether any one of us to be with the Lord or with the world is the will. Jerusalem, I wanted, meaning I was willing to save you and your children. But you were not willing. The will. See, the world decides or determines whether you walk through the Noradol or whether you end up being a fox like Herod the king.

3:51 The will determines that. It is up to us to choose which path we walk in. See my beloved, the fox, one thing about the fox, the fox works at night, sleeps during the day. The fox works at night and sleeps during the day. The narrow door is the cross. The narrow door is the cross and the cross is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So he is the narrow door.

4:25 And since Jesus The fox works at night and sleeps at day. Then whoever walks through the narrow door, whoever follows Jesus Christ will work all day long. The narrow door is day and the fox way is night. And the fox way, since it's night, then it is the way of Satan. Let me remind ourselves, all of us, so you don't be deceived by what certain aspects of the world that gives you absolute poisonous ideas. If anyone, and I mean anyone, comes to you and says you are free, You can live the way you choose to live.

5:17 You can do whatever you want. They are lying through their teeth. They are lying like their father Satan. Because my beloved. Please listen to this. God created us. To live under his control. God the almighty created. created us to live under his control. There are only two ways in this life on earth. There are only two, one of two ways. It is either the narrow door, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, or it is the fox, the nighttime Satan, which is the world ruler of the world. If we Choose through our will. If we decide willingly not to walk with Christ, rest assured, Satan will rule over you.

6:19 There is no other third way to say, I can live my way. This is non-existent. God put two ways. Read in Isaiah. He says, I have put before you two ways. One is life and one is death. Choose life in order to live. There is no other way. It is either life or death. Life is the narrow door, Christ the King. Death is the fox way, darkness night, Satan's way. So if you are not ruled by the Lord Jesus, rest assured Satan is ruling over you. No one is free, either under Christ or under Satan. There is no way for you to live your way. This is never existent, never will. So if anyone says you're free, they're lying to you. They're deceiving you. Satan is the deceiver of all. Except Jesus. The Lord Jesus crushed his

7:25 head on the cross on Calvary. So the Lord says, strive. Now the word strive, make an effort. To walk through the narrow door is not easy. You can't relax. You can't lean back and say, it's going to be okay, no problems. I'll take it easy with the Lord Jesus. No, you need to strive. You need to be responsible. We need to be mature enough for you to follow the Lord and walk through His narrow door. It is so easy to be deceived, but it is so hard to remain preserved and protected. It took Christ's life to deliver you and save you. So your salvation and my salvation, And all of our salvation did not come cheap. It came with a very expensive price. The blood of the Lamb of God shed on Calvary on the cross. It

8:31 took the Lord Jesus' life in order to save our life. We can't take this for granted. We can't take this easy. We cannot afford to gamble with it. We cannot. So you need to strive. You need to make an effort to walk through the narrow door. But it is so easy to walk through the wider gate. The wider gate is the fox's way. Fox works at night. Night here means in darkness, in lies, in deceptions, falsifying the truth, twisting it, you name it. The world, it's very easy to stay in a club for 10 hours. But it's so hard to remain focused in the church for one hour.

9:29 And especially when the bishop is preaching, you say, may the Lord have mercy on me. I won't hear the end of it. Because every time he says, I'll leave you with this, it never ends. Love you more. St. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5.23, he says we are made of body, soul, and spirit. This is the human being. And out of three components. And that's why we are made out of three.

9:55 Because the one who created us is three in one. And one in three. I don't know why people take it so hard. The soul is made out of five things. Subconscious mind, the conscious mind, the thought, the feelings and the emotions and the will. Subconscious, conscious, thought, feelings and emotions, and the will. Five. So the will lies in the soul, not in the body, not in the spirit. It lies in the soul. Like one of the church fathers said once, he said, let's just take it this way. Let's assume the soul is a beautiful girl. She happens to be Italian or Romanian. So the soul is a girl. And there are two guys that are interested in this girl.

10:54 One guy called the body and the other guy is called the spirit. She can't be for both of them. She needs to choose one of them. She can't be for both. So I either marry the body or either marry the spirit. Now the will lies in the soul. And the will is the tool that enables you to say yes. and to say no, including God. You can say no to God, or you can say yes to God.

11:27 And if you say no to God, you are stopping Him from entering your life through the door, the main door. So what He will do, He'll try every other way possible to get your attention, even if it takes breaking you, He will break you in order for you to get up and beg Him to come in through the front door.

11:47 Because God can never be seen as a thief. He'll never come through the window or the back door or from the roof. He's either coming through the front door as the rightful owner or it is a walk away. He won't bother you, but he will know, he knows how to break you later on. So you want to come the easy way? Open the door. You don't want to come the easy way? He'll make it the hard way.

12:12 He'll break you till you get up and open the door and let him in. Up to you, my child. So when the will is weak, when the will is being influenced by materialistic realm, this world, In other words, when your way of living is worldly, when your way of thinking is materialistically, all you think about is how I shall eat, how shall I drink, where shall I go, who shall I dance with, I need to go on holidays, I must buy this and I must build this. All your concern is this tangible materialistic world. The will will be so weak, the will will decide... to go with the man called the body. When the soul is connected, marries the body, the human being becomes earthly, materialistically, worldly.

13:14 I want to dance with somebody. So when that person comes to the church, when you become worldly, you want to go to the club, you want to go to Star City Casino, Las Vegas, baby. So when you come to the church, you'll be sitting there suffocated. Why? Because the body can't stand the church. The spirit wants to be with Christ. The spirit wants to work in the light, but the body wants to work in darkness like a fox.

13:56 So the body wants to drag the spirit that is in you to the streets and the stark alleys of this world. So when your friends call you and say there is a party, let's go, you'll run for it. When your friends call you and you say, and they say to you, we want to hang around Mecca's till 3 a.m., you will run for it. When your friends call you and let's go clubbing, let's put the sabufa khabibi in the backseat and go wa'a wa'a duv duv, you'll run for it. But when your friends call you and say, let's go to church, You'll be huffing and puffing and getting upset, annoyed, angry. They'll drag you with chains to the church. You're sitting there and you can't stand the bishop. Nobody there. You're sitting and you're thinking

14:47 of the club. What a waste of time sitting in the church. I would have been enjoying it with the scotch on the rock. There's more colorful things nowadays. Why you're suffocated? Because the spirit... wants to remain with Christ in the light, but the body can't breathe, wants to be in darkness with Satan. When the will is weak, we choose the fox way. Work at night, sleep during the day. Sleep during the day meaning, I am not interested in the one who says, I am the light of the world. Daytime. But I'm interested in everything that is worldly. But when the will is strong. In Christ Jesus.

15:44 The will will decide. To give this all the good. To the man called the spirit. When the soul marries the spirit. The person becomes. Spiritual. Heavenly. You are walking on earth. But you are living in heaven. You are talking on earth. But you are having a conversation with Christ in heaven. I'm sitting among friends. They're all talking.

16:15 And I'm talking. Not to them. To my sweetheart. Inside of me. And I'm saying Lord. All these people I ask you to bless. All these people I ask you to enlighten their hearts and minds and souls. The will my beloved. You know why the Lord Jesus will never take. The will away from you. And will never force you to do anything. He will still wait for you to do it willingly. Not forcefully. You know why. Because the will.

16:54 Is attached to something called love. Will you take her. In good times and in bad times. Baby. Yes, Father. Will you take him in good times and bad times, darling? Yes, Father. And then when things don't go right or when things don't go according to my way, then I say to the partner, hit the highway. The will is attached to love.

17:31 They go together always. You know why? For a simple fact. You cannot do something you do not love. You cannot do something. Let me put it this way. I'll take it back. You will not do something you don't love. But when you love something and you want to do that something, how are you able to do it when you choose that thing to do it? How were you able to choose it? Through the will, not through love.

18:12 I chose the thing through my will because I love it. So if there is no ability to choose, even if you love it, you'll never be able to do it. But if you have the will and you don't have the love, you have the will to choose, but since you don't love it, you won't do it. So when you love it, And freely, willingly choose it. You will do it and go the extra mile with it. And I've said this before and I'll say it again. You know, perfect example in marriage. This poor mother raised this son of hers. She worked so hard and sacrificed so much.

19:02 Her son is now 30 years of age. And all of a sudden her son finds a girl and falls in love with this girl. For 30 years the mother tried frantically to get her son to wash one plate. Never was successful. In 30 seconds this girl who came yesterday she not only made him wash the dishes not the plate but she made him to cook, clean, cut the grass, go to Westfield shopping, he took her everywhere.

19:40 But mom struggled to go with him anywhere. Poor mom. The girl comes, he acts like crazy. The mom looks at him and says, is this my son? No. But I know it's my son. But the way he's behaving, that's not my son's behavior. Why? Because when you fall in love with a person or when you love something, you will do things you've never done before in your life.

20:13 Love makes you do crazy things. But the problem is, you can't do it unless you choose it. The choice is done through the will. And the love is the drive to do what you chose to do. Without love, there is no doing. Without choosing, there is nothing there to choose. Or to do. So the Lord Jesus, at the end, He put two paths. And then at the end, He spoke about the will in relation to Jerusalem. Now why the word Jerusalem, He mentions here. Because he put the narrow door, that is the light, that is life.

20:57 And the fox way, darkness, night, that is death. The Lord Jesus says, there is two paths, either the light, Jesus Christ, or darkness, death, Satan, the world. Then he says, in order to be in the light, I said to Jerusalem, I came to save you. I was willing to save you, but you were not willing. So the will determines if you're going to be with Christ or with Satan. You want to live? You better choose Christ. But if you want to end up in the grave and dead forever, go and chase the world. Satan will devour you before you know it. And look at the people. So many young men and women chose to live for this world.

21:46 Where did they end up? Absolute destruction and drugs and alcoholism and so many naughty things destroyed their lives, destroyed their future, destroyed the person whom Christ made. But where are those who followed the Lord Jesus? Saints. Saints in heaven, living forever. And you see, when the Lord spoke about the will, He brought Jerusalem. Now why? You see, Jerusalem, in the original language, whether it's Hebrew or in Aramaic Syriac, in Aramaic, which I speak this language, in Aramaic is Ur Shalim, not Jerusalem. Ur Shalim. It's a compounded word, two in one. Ur means city. And Shalim means peace.

22:49 The city of peace. And that's the meaning of Ur, Shalim, Jerusalem. And also has another meaning. In Aramaic, Ur can also mean road. And Shalim can mean the end. So Ur can have two meanings. Either city of peace or end of the road. So Jerusalem is where everything started and where everything will end. Why? Because it's the city of peace.

23:22 Now who is the prince of peace? Who is the king of peace? Christ. So Christ is the king of Jerusalem. And since Christ is the king of Jerusalem, because there is no one that can give you peace but Christ. It is not Isaac. It is not Ishmael. It is Jesus who was crucified on Golgotha. And until we receive Jesus Christ, there is no peace. Because peace cometh from God.

23:59 And Jesus Christ is God revealed in the flesh. Period. So since Christ is the king of peace, Jerusalem, then Christ... is love. And where does love dwell? In the heart. The will is to do with the heart, Jerusalem, where Christ rules. One of the church fathers says, in everyone's heart, there are two things. There is the throne and there is the cross. If you enthrone yourself, you have crucified Jesus Christ. But if you enthrone Christ, then you have crucified yourself. You want Christ to rule over your heart or do you want Satan? If you want Satan, enthrone yourself and crucify Jesus. Satan rules over your life. But if you want Christ to be the king over your heart, then crucify yourself, i.e. deny yourself and say along with

25:06 Saint Paul, I live but no longer I but Christ who lives in me. I live for him from now on, no longer for myself. Now I have enthroned Christ to be king over my heart so that his will is done in me, no longer my will. His will. Every time you pray, say our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.

25:38 Why did the Lord Jesus teach this prayer when his disciples asked him and said, Lord, teach us on how to pray. Because the Lord says, there is your will and there is my Father's will. If you want to follow Jesus Christ, then you better do what Jesus did as the man, as the human side of Christ. The perfect man, what did he do? He never ever did things through his will. Everything was done through his father's will.

26:11 And he said it. He said, I did not come to do but the will of my father. My food is to do the will of my father. It is not who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of God. But it is he who does the will of my father shall enter the kingdom of God. If you want Christ, then deny yourself like he did in order to live for his dad. And then Jerusalem fell.

26:41 will truly be Jerusalem, the city of peace. And that city is you, not the one in the Middle East. The Lord is not talking about earthly Jerusalem, but He gave an example from the tangible realm to get us out of the tangible realm and lead us into the spiritual realm, the heavenly Jerusalem. And that heavenly Jerusalem is when Christ is king over your heart. Because wherever God is, there is heaven. That's why our church fathers refer to the Holy Mother Mary as the second heaven. This is one of her many titles. The second heaven. Why is she the second heaven? Because when we pray the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father, what do we say? Our Father who art in heaven. So wherever God is, heaven is. God

27:43 is not just in heaven. God is everywhere. But wherever He is, that place becomes heaven. Because God... makes the place heaven. So if heaven is associated with God, then when God the Son dwelt in the womb of the Holy Mother, then the Holy Mother became the second heaven because where God is, heaven is. And when you are embedded in Christ and Christ embedded in you, then you are living heaven on earth. And when you live heaven on earth, the Lord Jesus says, You are the light of the world because heaven is light and earth is darkness.

28:23 You are the light of the world. Let the world see your light and come to this light and glorify not you, but your Father who art in heaven. You be the reason for Christ to be glorified because of you. You be the reason. You want to just go out there and do like the rest of the world does. And then what? I went out and I had fun.

28:50 I went out and I went to the party and I went dancing and I went clubbing and I went to a restaurant. And we went to the city and we stayed till early morning. And it was beautiful. The lights were on and there was also a lot of colorful lights going and coming before my eyes. Not only the ones in the street post. No, there was walking lights as well. If you know what I mean. Get me meaning. When I got up in the morning, so when I went there and I did what I did, I was with my friends and then they said, try this and take this, smoke this, smell this, drink this.

29:27 And then what? And then what? And then what? Is this what life is all about? Is life about just I do as I wish, as I please? You are destroying your life, my child. So dangerous. You can't play with this life. Because once it goes, no one can bring it back except Jesus Christ. Lazarus died Four days later, Lord, Jesus appeared, brought him out of the grave. And I'll leave you with this. May the Lord have mercy on all of you. Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your staff and your rod Comfort, the staff and the rod put together is the cross. Because the staff stands this way, you lean on, and the rod is used to discipline people

30:43 so it stands this way. So when you put the staff this way and the rod that way, you get the cross. Why? I am comforted even though I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Because you Lord are with me. Because Psalm 23 begins with the Lord is my shepherd. This shepherd is with me even if I am walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Question is, and I'll leave you with it.

31:15 Is there shadow to death? Yes. Psalm says it. King David says it in Psalm 23. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Is there shadow to the death? Yes. What is the shadow of death? Hell. So which one is stronger? Death or hell? Hell is stronger than death. Hell is much stronger than death. You see, death entered through sin. And when sin entered, sin sentenced me to hell. Because of sin, death entered. And when death entered, that death took me to hell. What King David is saying, when you allow the Lord to be your good shepherd, the good shepherd, when you allow him to be your shepherd, not only If you die. When you die. But even if you go to hell. He will get you out of hell. Because. Hell is the impossible.

32:25 Who makes it to hell will never get out of there. It is impossible to come out of hell. Maybe it's possible to come out of the dead, out of death. But it is impossible to come out of hell. King David says, Jesus Christ not only got me out of death, but he got me out of the impossible which is hell. Choose willingly to walk And strive. And walk through the narrow gate. Choose the Lord. When you walk through the narrow gate. Our human nature. Our fallen corrupt human nature.

33:08 Always carries the luggages of the past. You know. Every time. We talk about something. We bring the past back. Husband and wife. Brilliant at this. Especially the wife. Amazing. You know. The husband, poor thing, he made a mistake 250 years ago. Now, after 250 years later, they're talking and then it clicks with her. I'll never forget what you said to me 250 years ago. It was on Thursday, 9 a.m., before leaving work. I said, woman, I can't remember five minutes ago, not 250 years ago. We carry the luggages of the past.

33:46 The Lord Jesus says when you walk through the wider gate, the wider gate allows you, not only you enter, but you enter with your luggages and with all your friends that have destroyed your life. And when you are so preoccupied with your friends and so preoccupied with carrying the luggages of the past which are weighing heavily on you, you will never have the time to for the phone call made by Jesus Christ to you. Because the lion is engaged. I'm too busy with people around me, surround me.

34:22 I'm so busy. This came, that went, this said, that did, this one danced, this one broke my heart. Too busy with people. No time for Jesus Christ. Let go. Come through the narrow door. The narrow door is narrow meaning it's difficult, but it is good for you. Why? Because when you come to walk through the narrow door, The narrow door the Lord made sure it fits you and you only. So you come with your luggages, can't fit.

34:53 You need to drop them off. Well, I'm standing now straight. I was bent to the ground because I was heavy burdened. The Lord relieved me from all my luggages of the past. I'm standing straight. I had a lot of people with me. Sorry, the door only fit me Bye bye everyone. I walked alone. That's why it's difficult. That's why it's narrow. It's tight because I walk alone. I wasn't used to being alone.

35:27 I was surrounded by hundreds of people. Now I'm left alone. But blessed are you when you walk alone. For Jesus Christ himself said, You will all run away and walk away from me. And you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, for my Father is with me. When you walk alone through the gate of Christ, there and there only you will find God. See this holy man, Pope Cyril VI? It was the opening ceremony of the big cathedral in Cairo. The president of Egypt was there, of course. And there was millions of people watching, thousands, delegates from governmental bodies, from church hierarchies. The whole lot were there present on the opening of the cathedral. After the day was over, this Pope, Cyril VI, my sweetheart,

36:31 my saint. He was going back to his apartheid, the place of his residence. And his secretary happened to be a deacon where he himself said this secret after the Pope had went to paradise. The secretary of the saint said, I was with the Pope in the car. And I looked, I was so overwhelmed with joy for this historical day.

36:56 It was incredible. And I was speaking with joy, leaping over joy, with joy. And I turned to the Pope and I saw his face so sad, so miserable. And I said, Pope, why? If anyone needs to be joyous and happy, it's you. Look what you've done, Pope. This has gone into history. He said, my son, you don't understand.

37:22 He said, what do you mean, Pope? He said, my son, when I was in that windmill in the heart of the desert, I was by myself. I saw no people. But I saw God. But in this cathedral, yes, you're right, I saw plenty of people and very high delegates, presidents and leaders. I saw people, but I didn't see God.

37:48 One hour, Of the windmill. I would not replace it. For all the glory. Of what you're talking about. Because it is only glorious. It is only joyous. When you see God. Not people. When you are with God. Not with people. Because people today. They love you. Tomorrow they will deny you. It is God. Your holy companion. The never failing friendship. The always faithful friend. How many people you trusted and they let you down? Christ never lets you down. In that windmill, I was seeing God. But on this historical day, as you say, plenty of people I saw, but I didn't see God. That's why I'm sad.

38:38 That's what you call a saint. Love the Lord. Ask the Lord Jesus to enter your heart. And make your heart the true Jerusalem. Where there is peace forever. It is the peace no one can take away from you. Because when God gives, no one can take away. My daughter, you want to live in peace? Find Christ. And then find through Christ, Romeo. And my son, you want to live in peace? Find Christ. And then through Christ, find your Juliet. But Romeo and Juliet outside of Christ, it's hell.

39:32 You'll be plugging each other's feathers in no time. You need the Lord in everything. I'm a bishop. Without the Lord, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. That's the truth. I'm good for nothing. In fact, I'm poisonous without the Lord. I'm ugly. I'm unbearable. I'm horrible. But when the Lord speaks through this piece of rag, people see someone different. It's not me. It's the Lord. Church leaders need... to focus on Christ and they need to put Christ first for people for the flock to see Christ not the leaders not the leaders they need to give Christ to the flock not themselves in order for the flock to live they need to have the encounter with Jesus Christ not with me I'll take you to hell if you follow me but if

40:41 you if I'm following Jesus and you follow me then all of us will go to heaven Because it is the good shepherd who leads me to green pastures and still waters, not me. It is the good shepherd whom I care not even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It is the good shepherd that is with me and I shall not want anything anymore.

41:03 Because in him I find all my need. He is my utopian world, the perfect world. Let's bow our heads. In the 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. 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 in the paths of righteousness. Please

41:55 them along with the saints in your kingdom by the assurance of the hope of their faith in 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.

42:15 And Holy Spirit forever. Amen. So raising the dead is not the ultimate miracle. But you see, Lazarus lives forever because Christ changed his heart through love. Illustrated on the cross. Thank you.