Transcription
Joining in praise with the group. I want before this to pray, calling on the Lord's presence, and I invite Adrian here to lead us in prayer and to entrust into the Lord's hand this time of worship that we dedicate to Him. >> We come before You, Lord, and thank You. because You have revealed to us the grace of Your kingdom. We thank You that You have included us in Your kingdom here on earth. We thank You that we live with this hope in our hearts, that one day we will see You, and therefore, Lord, cleanse our hearts, all of us, so that we may see You, so that nothing may come between us and You on that day, Lord, when we stand before You, because we want to fully behold Your beauty and glory. Therefore, Lord, we thank You today as well that You reveal Yourself to us out of Your goodness. Bless our souls. Help us to be nourished this evening as well. Bless our souls and give us Your peace. Let Your Holy Spirit rest upon us and upon this program that we have prepared, and lead us. We want to praise You with all that we are and with all that we have, and we want, Lord, to be strengthened in faith and to be able to say that You were with us this evening as well. Amen. >> Let us sing with all our hearts and lift up clean hands to Him, as our song says. We want God to be in our lives and to exalt Him with all our hearts. We lift [music] to heaven, clean hands to the only [music] lamb. Only He [music] is a wonderful Lord. How good, how great He is! We lift to heaven [music] clean hands to the only lamb. [music] Only He is a wonderful [music] Lord. How good, how great He is. And together we sing [music] we all sing. [music] >> [music] >> Holy is God, Lord over all, [music] the whole earth in praise. Holy is God, new [music] over all, the whole [music] earth we praise. >> [music] >> We lift to heaven clean hands to the only [music] lamb. [music] Only He is a wonderful man. How good, [music] how great He is! [music] And together we sing [music] we all sing. Holy is God, the Lord over all. [music] The whole earth in praise. Holy is God, [music] Lord over all. The whole [music] earth praises and is exalted now. Higher and higher [music] is a heavenly ascent towards His glory and [music] it rises now. Higher and [music] higher is a heavenly ascent towards His glory [music] and together we sing. We all sing, holy is God, [music] Lord over all, the whole earth praises. Holy is God, Lord [music] over all. The whole earth praises Him. Holy is God, [music] Lord over all. The whole [music] earth praises. Holy is God, new over [music] all. The whole earth praises Him, the whole earth praises Him. [music] >> So let us also unite with all those who praise the Lord, let us give Him all glory. He is Lord over all and from His greatness He looked upon us, offering us grace, salvation, forgiveness, new life. Let us praise with all our hearts. desire and may that greatness grow in you and may we understand Glory. Take your seats and let us continue our praise. I then invite Mihai, Dragoș, and Liviu, who have an exhortation, and then Adi, we will unite with them in their call to prayer, and let us this evening give all praise to our Lord. There is a name in heaven [music] above all when you speak it. And if you call for salvation in it, [music] you receive it, whatever the name. [music] Before Him, enemies are defeated, mighty ones flee [music] to break every yoke, every name. [music] Jesus, [music] Jesus, what a mighty [music] Lord Jesus, [music] Jesus, reigning forever on the throne [music] is a cross. >> [music] >> A wood of suffering and [music] the power that it bestows [music] lives. At the cross there is [music] blood that cries until [music] it is finished. The entire price [music] at the cross was paid with blood. [music] Jesus, Jesus, what a [music] mighty Lord Jesus, [music] Jesus, [music] reigning forever on the throne Jesus, [music] Jesus, [music] what a mighty [music] Lord, Jesus. [music] Jesus, reigning [music] in His name, Jesus. Let [music] chains, addictions, fears, and [music] strongholds fall. Restored lives, daughters and sons return, peoples [music] come to life through the Spirit of the living one. In the name of [music] Jesus, let chains, [music] addictions, fears of depression, and any strongholds fall. Restored lives, daughters and sons return, [music] peoples come to life [music] in the name of Jesus, let chains, addictions, fears of [music] depression, and any strongholds fall. Restored lives, daughters and sons return, [music] peoples come to life through the heavenly Spirit. Jesus [music] Jesus, what a [music] mighty Jesus [music] Jesus, reigning [music] Jesus, Jesus [music] what a mighty [music] Jesus, [music] Jesus, [music] reigning [music] on the throne. Amen. I would like us to offer a prayer this evening for the Team Challenge center on the outskirts of Bucharest and to bring before God all those who have a problem of addiction, let's say. They work there and speak about Jesus every day. They have all sorts of things they do physically to occupy their time and to be able to break free from the routine they once knew. And I spoke with Robert Ivașcu today, and he gave me good news for the young people of my generation. We know Andrei Hârlea, who used to come with us to youth group some time ago, and he decided to enter this Team Challenge program. We know that God changes lives there and works powerfully. Perhaps we don't know him very well ourselves. Perhaps some of you have never heard of this boy. However, I would like us to offer a special prayer for him and for all those who are in the program now. For all those who have been in the program in the past. There is a great temptation after leaving the program to return to the old ways. And for those whom God has prepared to enter the program in the future, let us offer this prayer through faith. Let us also remember Robert in our prayers, as he does a difficult work with people whom we might not meet or might avoid many times. And I would like us all to stand up, to bring them before God, to think about how blessed we are, that perhaps we have never gone through such situations, and to be a pillar as a church for these people who come and want to integrate into the body of Christ. May God work in their hearts and bless them. Let us pray together. of the church that is outside and that I ask You, Lord, to give them strength, that they may have the grace that means true grace, who have evil and to restore this evil. Let us take our seats and praise the Lord. Then Mihai will address us with an exhortation. You bring me to light [music] and I understand that You never left me. [music] You did not abandon me. You brought me to light, fear and [music] every worry that possessed me. You, Lord, [music] have scattered them in an instant. Jesus, [music] You never forsake me. [music] You fulfill [music] every promise, You are [music] on my side, Jesus. [music] I will believe in You. I believe [music] that You said, "I am who I am." [music] Lord on earth, I will believe in You. Even if I have to [music] go through a difficult trial, You will fight for [music] me, Jesus. [music] You never forsake me. >> [music] >> You fulfill every promise, You are on my [music] side, Jesus. Under Your wings [music] You hide me. You surround me with peace, my shield. You are my song, [music] Jesus. [music] Neither weapons, nor fear will defeat me. [music] Neither evil, nor night will conquer me. [music] For all power belongs only to Him. [music] My freedom is Jesus Messiah. [music] Neither weapons, nor fear will defeat me. [music] Neither evil, nor night will conquer me. [music] For all power belongs only to Him. My freedom is Jesus Messiah. [music] Jesus, You never [music] forsake me. You fulfill [music] every promise, You are on my [music] side, Jesus. [music] Under Your wings You hide me. With [music] peace You surround me, my shield. You are my song, Jesus. [music] >> Jesus, [music] You never forsake me. You fulfill [music] every promise, You are on my side, Jesus. [music] Under Your wings You hide me. [music] You surround me with peace. You are my shield. You are [music] my song, Jesus. When it is good, when we are full, then words of thanks and gratitude come easily to our lips. But when we are in the wilderness of this world, in trials, in troubles, when we feel alone, words of praise do not come easily to our lips. The psalmist David says at one point, and it is written in Psalm 63, starting with verse 1: "O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Well, yes, but when you are thirsty, you drink water, when you are hungry, you eat. Above all, in the wilderness of this world, we seek Him, knowing that if we have Him, our spiritual and material needs are met. David understood this, and not only him. All of God's people, going through trials, walking with the Lord, have understood. And let us be conscious of this truth once more and seek the Lord always. Especially when it is difficult to be grateful to Him, when it is difficult to thank Him in need, in sickness, in troubles. Verse 2. "So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, behold, to see Your power and Your glory." So many times we have seen how God works with us or with those around us. We have seen healings. We have seen people around us who were sick and the doctors gave them no chance, and yet they were healed through prayer, through faith. In one way or another, God worked and healed them. I have told here in church how my daughter Rebeca was born with her feet turned very far inward. They were in casts, and I didn't know if they would remain that way or if they would heal or how many surgeries she would need. And we prayed, and in a relatively short time, even the doctor who was taking care of her was amazed. After he removed the cast, she practically had nothing left. The miracle was that the healing and recovery time was very short. We took it as a miracle, even though she was treated by doctors. But God, whether He heard our prayer, or worked through the doctors, or both, the important thing is that it was a miracle. Your goodness, for Your goodness, verse 3, is better than life. I have not meditated much on this verse. What is goodness, Lord, and what is life? It is clear, the goodness of God. But this life, how should I value this life? What value does it have? It is fleeting, and I was built up and I searched myself a lot, asking myself, and at one point I found in this context in John 10:10, the second part, when the Lord Jesus Himself, where it says Jesus and His sheep, the Lord Jesus Himself says: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Notice, my sheep, meaning us, to have life and to have it abundantly. It is clear that it does not refer only to this fleeting life; it is clear that it refers to eternal life that begins here. An abundant life is not just a fleeting life; it is a full life that begins here and continues into eternity. Praise be to God that our life begins here with God and continues into eternity. that His goodness is better than this fleeting life. Goodness, along with this abundant life, are blessings that can satisfy us at any moment if we think about them in the wilderness of this world, when our soul, if and only if our soul, always thirsts for God. May God help our souls to thirst for Him. in the wilderness of this world, when we go through trials or when things are good and words of praise and thanksgiving come easily to our lips. "I will bless You, therefore, all my life." We can also say this together with David. Amen. >> Let us say this in the following prayer. Lord, because we know that Your goodness is better than life, because we know that You have prepared for us an abundant life, starting from here until eternity, I want to bless You all my life, starting from here and into eternity. To give You praise and for it to be a living testimony for You. Amen. Let us pray in this sense. With thanksgiving. Amen. Take your seats and let us continue our praise. After which Dragoș will lead us to the reason for the next prayer. I love You. Your mercy is endless. Day by [music] day You hold me in Your hand from the dawn of morning [music] until dusk [music] I want to sing of Your goodness. I love You. [music] Your hand is endless. Day by day You hold me in Your hand [music] from the dawn of morning until dusk I want to [music] sing of Your goodness. You have always been with me. You have always [music] been so good, and as long as I [music] have breath, I want to sing of Your goodness. [music] With Your voice You have led me through trial and difficult night. [music] You have been beside me. We have You as [music] Father, we know You as a good friend. >> [music] >> We have experienced Your goodness. [music] You have always been [music] with me. [music] You have always been so good [music] and as long as I have breath. I want to sing of Your goodness. [music] You have always [music] been with me. You have always [music] been so good [music] and as long as I have breath, I want to sing of Your goodness. [music] Jesus, You overwhelm me with Your goodness. [music] Jesus, You overwhelm me with Your goodness. [music] I bow before You now, I worship You, I surrender myself completely. Jesus, You overwhelm me with Your goodness. Jesus, [music] You overwhelm me with Your goodness. Jesus, [music] You overwhelm me with Your goodness. I bow [music] before You now, I worship You. I surrender myself completely. [music] Jesus, You overwhelm [music] me with Your goodness. >> [music] >> You have always been with me. You have always been so [music] good, and as long as I have breath. [music] I want to sing of Your goodness. I want to sing [music] of Your goodness. >> Praise the Lord. >> How wonderful it is to know that He has been and will always remain good to us, and that we are protected by Him, and that we are in His hand, and that being in God's hand, we are in the safest place we could be. Praise the Lord. We are so joyful and so peaceful in our hearts to know that whatever news may come upon us and whatever worry we may have, we can come before God with an open heart, knowing that He knows us so well and that He wants our good. Praise be to Him. There is much bad news circulating, as was said earlier. Unfortunately, there is also much bad news circulating, and often among believers and spread by believers. And for this reason, I would like us to pray especially this evening for spiritual discernment. I see this need becoming more and more acute, and I know we have prayed for this before, but just as we pray every Sunday for the sick and for missionaries, I believe we are living in a time when we must pray more often for spiritual discernment and also help each other, as brother Adi exhorted us in previous weeks, to exhort each other and in this way to truly discern good from evil, truth from falsehood in a world where fake news is so prevalent and takes forms that often make it so difficult to detect. The Lord has put this exhortation on my heart, and I even thought at home, I told Him: "Andrei, if I am asked to exhort, this is what I want to exhort the brothers to do." I received a message this afternoon on one of the WhatsApp groups I was added to. I fell into a trap. I've told you this before. I've left many groups. I couldn't leave this one because the person who created the group initially contacted me, and I didn't know what I was getting into. And it was a very alarming message. Yes. That the global deluge is coming upon us and all sorts of calamities, which, if they were indeed as described there, would almost make your blood run cold. A very long message. Somehow the good intention, brothers, is to be on guard, that the world is evil. We know that the world is evil and lies in the evil one. Yes, but there were falsehoods upon falsehoods. And I tried to respond. Usually, I don't respond, but I responded by saying: "Yes, indeed, what is happening is very dangerous, very tragic. Please give us three or four credible sources for all this information." It was information about socio-political, global, occult matters, and I don't know what else. And he said, "Give us some sources so we don't believe a lie." Because, my dears, do you know what the problem is? The Bible says that truth is Christ and that truth makes us free. But falsehood or lies, where do they come from? From the father of lies, from the evil one. There is no idea of inducing fear, of telling a falsehood with a good purpose. Apparently. What good purpose can there be in disinformation, even if the purpose is to put people on guard? This is not how it is done with disinformation. And we will see some biblical texts shortly. Look at the apostles of the Lord. Look at the Lord Christ. They had enough bad things to bring forward and about which to warn people. They did not invent, in addition to the evil that exists in the world, an evil that does not exist just to scare them, to convince listeners in a better way. But know that these tendencies have always existed, not just now when we have access to WhatsApp and all sorts of TikTok and all sorts of sources of mass disinformation, not just now do we have this problem. Look what John said in another context, in a fight against heresies, but still with false, heretical information, which said that Christ, that God cannot incarnate. The God who is pure spirit cannot mix with matter, which was by definition evil. The Gnostics said this, and he says in 1 John 4:1: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." Yes, they went out then, and they have gone out now. I would say, "Do not believe every message that might put you in a state of fear, because not all are from God. Everything that does not stem from truth is not from God. Everything that stems from a lie, even if it is a lie, in quotation marks, well-intentioned, the lie is from the father of lies, from the evil one. And often believers, perhaps unintentionally, without controlling, without verifying, roll those messages forward, thinking they are doing a great good, that they are those watchmen crying from the ramparts of the city, yes, wake up, the Lord is coming. We need such messages, but they must be true. The world lies in the evil one. We have concrete issues about which to warn, things we know from Scripture, warnings that are good and we could popularize them, but not lies, because a rolled-out lie does not lead to good. The purpose in this matter never excuses the means. Paul also faced fake news, and he says in 2 Thessalonians 2:2: "Do not be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word, or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come." And he says, "Do not be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word, or by letter, as though from us." In other words, there were false messages sent in the apostles' names to gain acceptance. The idea of "I am the author, I must put my name on it" did not exist then. The important thing was that the message circulated. And there were false epistles. We have false Gospels, the Gospel of Thomas, of Judas, the Gospel of James, the Protoevangelium of James, the Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus, Apocalypses as many as you want, epistles as many as you want. We have many such writings from the early Christian centuries that are not real, they are forgeries, and such epistles circulated even in Paul's time, and he says: "Do not be shaken in your minds, do not be troubled. But how can you not be troubled? How can you discern between truth and falsehood when at the end it says: 'I, Paul, greet you in the name of the Lord.' Yes. And Paul said: 'Remember what I taught you.' In other words, remain in the Gospel, remain in the truth, remain in the Word. Because if you remain in the Word and receive an alarming message that seems so real, but if it doesn't align with Scripture, you have no reason to be unnecessarily scared. Yes. So there are so many sources of disturbance, of fear, let's say, in this world. Let us be as vigilant as possible. First, let us not be affected by such corrupting messages, and second, let us not popularize them, let us not pass them on. If we are not sure of the source of a message, if we are not sure of a piece of news, it is better to leave it there, not to do even greater harm by rolling, by passing on, yes, by rolling out fake news of this kind. Why? Because the truth makes us free, and lies, falsehood, no matter how good the intentions behind them may seem, can never lead to anything good. God does not work through such means, methods. God is in truth, and whoever loves the Lord remains in truth. He does not remain in lies. Therefore, as John says, do not believe every spirit. In the context where we also know from Scripture that it is a great sin not to believe in the good work of the Holy Spirit. But John says, in other words, even at the apparent risk, do not believe every spirit, because there are many who say, "Rather than blaspheme, I'd rather believe everything, and the Lord knows my heart is pure." No, I would say: "Do not believe every spirit, every manifestation, every message as if from us," says Paul. Yes, test, remain in Scripture, remain in the Word, and I pray that God will give us this capacity for discernment, because the world lies in the evil one, it is troubled, but if we also follow the way of the world and are not factors of stability in this world, what will become of this world? If the light is darkness, how great must that darkness be? God has called us to be light, beacons, yes? We have His Word available. Let us live as wise people, not foolish, and in this way let us await the day of the Lord, let us prepare ourselves, let us be vigilant, but let us remain in truth and know how to discern, and may the Lord help us. Amen. Let us stand and pray. Lord and hope, sanctify us, Lord, Lord, whom the Father, Lord, Lord, do not leave us, Lord, to jump, Lord, and what, Lord, to help us, and to let ourselves be carried away by life, by life. Let us continue to praise the Lord by taking our seats, and then Adi will invite us to pray for those who are sick. You hear me when I [music] sing to You. from dawn. Even if the night is difficult, I [music] see Your light. How can I be afraid? [music] The enemy [music] You have crushed, he is under Your feet. You are my sword and my shield, even in [music] trouble, like clay. How [music] can I be afraid? I know who leads me [music] and is on my side. Armies of angels stand under [music] His command. He who is my friend reigns [music] forever on the throne. He is always with me, the Lord of hosts. [music] You are my strength, [music] only You can save me. You are my deliverance. The victory is Yours. [music] How can I be afraid? [music] How can I be afraid? I know [music] who leads me and is on my side. Armies [music] of angels stand under His command. He who is my friend reigns forever on the [music] throne. He is always with me, the Lord of hosts. [music] Whatever stands against me, will not take me from Your hand. You are faithful [music] and in Your word I will [music] believe. I will believe. Whatever stands against me [music]. Will not [music] take me from Your hand. You are faithful [music] and in Your word I will believe. I will [music] believe. I will believe. >> [music] >> I know who leads me and is on my side. Armies of [music] angels. Stand under His command. He who is my friend [music] reigns forever on the throne. He is always with me, the Lord of hosts. I know who [music] leads me and is on my side. Armies [music] of angels stand under His command. He who is my friend reigns forever on the throne. [music] He is always with me, the Lord of hosts. He is always with me, [music] the Lord of hosts. >> Amen. >> Imagine, my dears, that you have been at home for about three weeks, you haven't been able to go out. You have managed with everything in the house, and one day you feel better. The only problem is, you are 89 years old, and you realize that you can no longer go out, and you will continue to live in the house. There are many in this category in our church who, even if they felt better and were healed of their illnesses, their age no longer allows them to leave the house. And for them, we want to pray. May God strengthen them and give them power. And I ask Sara to put up the photograph of Sister Viorica Martinescu. Not long ago, Dragoș and I visited her. She is, I think, 92 years old, if I'm not mistaken. No, 86. That's right. And at the same time, I have an exhortation for you, so that we can prepare ourselves for this coming period. So, expect it. If the Lord does not come, and if we do not go to Him, this is what we will go through, and it is good to prepare ourselves for such difficult moments. So, Sister Viorica is full of the Holy Spirit. If you consider yourselves needy for encouragement and blessings, visit the sick in this category. And she is full of grace and full of the Holy Spirit. She is connected with us, participates in our services, prays with us, and we were glad to see her and to know that the Holy Spirit guides her in her solitude, but she is still connected with many people. She has a list on WhatsApp and she told us about each person individually. But for many, she said: "He is with the Lord, he is with the Lord." But she, she is between two worlds and has the right to look in both directions with ease. Ultimately, that's how we should be too, to look in both directions, because we are not far from it, or perhaps even closer to it, to look equally at the things above and at those on earth. That's how she looked at us, at about the same distance as she looked at others who had gone to be with the Lord. And it is the most correct perspective I have seen so far. And we prayed, we sang together, the sister encouraged us. How many blessings we received from her. Now I'm not sure who encouraged whom more. And my exhortation is that I saw what this woman does. So she is full of action. Her hands move, and they tend to move even when she talks to us. When I saw what she was sewing there, doilies, I praised her. I told her: "You are doing an extraordinary work." But then, when she took us into a secret room and we saw stacks of doilies, I was amazed. I said: "Look, why does her brain work so well?" Now, this was my deduction. I have seen this in many cases with our elderly brothers who occupy their minds with some information, with something to do. When they read, when they study in old age, it helps them a lot. And I received these doilies, both Dragoș and I, because she was generous with us, and I was thinking now, what should I do with them? I'll put them on OLX because I don't really need them that much. I hope she doesn't hear me. But even if she hears me, she hears me. But anyway, I also have the good part. This image is the good part. So, when I received this photo, a spiritual peace came over me. I said: "Look, how wonderfully the doilies received from Sister Viorica Martinescu have been used." So these dolls are dressed with doilies from there. It's art, effectively. And I thought, "How beautiful it is to have elders in our team who work in different ways, both spiritually and in handmade crafts." We believe we need everything. Praise the Lord. Look, we are useful in the family of Christ. May God strengthen Sister Viorica, give her strength and grace. She is an example for us. We pray for every brother and sister who can no longer come to church. Many people in our church have changed, and they don't know the elderly, they haven't had time to visit them. May God keep us in holy unity. I would like us to pray for Ava as well. Tomorrow she will have surgery for polyps. She has had many problems with otitis. These nasal passages have often been blocked, and tomorrow the surgery will take place. May God touch her with His grace. May He guide the doctors in this intervention as well. May the surgery be successful, and it will be so in the name of the Lord. It will be so. We believe in God's power that He will guide this little girl and the doctors, and God will strengthen us all. Let us also pray for Manciu, and tomorrow Manciu will go to the hospital to see if he will receive an aerosol for breathing. May God guide the doctors. I think, in our opinion, he needs this aerosol. Now, may the doctors have mercy on him and give him the device, so that he can take it home and function under the conditions he has there. We also pray for others whom we know. I won't keep you any longer. Let us also stand up and pray together, and may God hear us. Amen. Take your seats, and let us add to our worship this time our gratitude for the fact that God cares for us and gives us the necessary resources for our lives every day. While brother Vasile helps us, let us sing "The End of the Age." We live with struggles, hatred, and war, but happily we look to heaven. It is not long, and the Lord will come to us again. Let us strengthen our hearts in faith and strengthen our expectation with faith of His meeting and His return. The end of the age, we live with struggles, hatred, and war. But happily, looking to heaven. It is not long, and the Lord will come to us again. He is coming again. [music] He is coming again. What unspeakable joy it will be, the end of the bitter night. For the Lord [music] is coming again. Heaven and earth are full of the signs of His coming. His word is amen. In Him, there is no shadow of change. He is coming again. He is coming again. What unspeakable [music] joy! The end of the bitter [music] night will come, for the Lord is coming again. What a great day, what splendor, when the trumpet will sound and the Lord [music] will come to us. Without murmuring, full of glory, we will sing to Him. He is coming [music] again. He is coming again. What unspeakable [music] joy. The end of the bitter night. [music] For the Lord is coming again. He is coming again. He is coming [music] again, unspeakable joy. The end of the bitter [music] night will come. For the Lord is coming again. >> Unscheduled, David and Lili are visiting us. We pray that God will bless them for coming spontaneously. This has led to the postponement until next Sunday of a message through which we will have a fresh report from them and reasons to continue supporting them in prayer. This evening, I would like us to unite with them in the reason for their visit. They have come because Mr. Gheorghe, Liliana's father, is very gravely ill, and we would like to pray for him. Lord, let Your touch be upon him. Liliana's desire in her heart is for him to know God, to receive Him as Savior. Let us stand before the Lord and unite in this prayer. I will pray aloud. Accompany me by calling on the Lord's power and healing over him. Lord, we thank You that You give us grace so that in our brotherly bond, through whatever trial we go through, we may feel mutual support and strengthen our faith and our expectation of Your intervention in our favor and in favor of those dear ones whom we bring before You. We thank You for Liliana and for David. We thank You, Lord, for the work to which You have called them and which You are fulfilling through them. But we unite now with them in this burden of suffering of Liliana's father, calling on Your name, Lord, calling for Your healing over him, Lord, make a sign for him so visible that he cannot pass by indifferently, but may receive You as his Savior. We believe, Lord, that You can do this, that in trial, in suffering, his heart may turn towards You and discover You as his Lord and Savior. We bring him by faith into Your presence and we pray, Lord, make it happen as soon as possible in his heart, that he may choose, that he may decide, Lord, to surrender his life to You, and whatever his future may be, Lord, may it be in Your hand, in that safety from which nothing can shake him. We thank You for hearing us, we bless You, we praise You, our Lord, and we place our lives in Your hand with the faith that there is no place where we can be safer than in You. We thank You and praise You. Amen. Take your seats. We have, once again, good hearts to praise the Lord. One is Azaria, who wants to recite a psalm. May the Lord bless him, and then Ovidiu and Roxana will praise the Lord. We unite with them and say to the Lord as well: You are worthy of all praise, of all honor. Psalm 23, a psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Divine love, holy love, what depths You bestow, and from the heart of Jesus, through the ages, [music] You are the same. He will open to us the pearly gates in heaven, and washed in His blood, we will step saved [music] by grace. And washed in His blood, we will step saved by grace. Like a hunted beast, like a struck hawk, I was. Jesus saved me from death, over my wounds. He will lay His hand. [music] He will open to us the pearly gates in heaven, and washed [music] in His blood, we will step saved [music] by grace, and washed in His blood, we will [music] step saved by grace. Divine love, [music] holy love, You have forgiven all my sins. I will sing of joy all my life [music] without ceasing. He [music] will open to us the pearly gates in heaven, and washed in His blood [music] we will step saved by grace, and washed in His blood, we will step [music] saved by grace. In the hour of sunset, when weary I reach the threshold, [music] I will enter, looking at Jesus, [music] among the saints and the redeemed. He will open to us the pearly gates in heaven, and washed in His blood, we will step saved [music] by grace. He will open to us the pearly gates in heaven, and washed in His blood, we will step saved [music] by grace. Amen. My dears, I invite you to stand for a few moments, listening to God's word from the Gospel of John, chapter 9, a passage titled "The Healing of a Man Born Blind." John, chapter 9, from verse 1 to the end of the chapter. As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made mud with the spit. Then He anointed the eyes of the blind man with this mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he is like him." He himself said, "I am he." So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received my sight." "Where is that man?" they asked him. He replied, "I do not know." They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. And it was a
It was the Sabbath day when Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes. Again the Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight. And he said: "He put clay on my eyes, I washed. And I see." Then some of the Pharisees began to say: "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." Others said: "But how can a sinner do such signs?" And there was division among them. Again they asked the blind man: "What do you say about him, regarding the fact that he opened your eyes?" "He is a prophet," he answered them. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called his parents. And when his parents came, they asked them: "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind?" How then does he see now? In response, his parents said: "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but how he sees now or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is of age. He himself can speak about what concerns him." His parents said these things because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had now decided that if anyone confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he should be cast out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him." The Pharisees called the man who had been blind a second time and said to him: "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I know: I was blind and now I see." Again they asked him: "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" "I have already told you," he answered them, "and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear again? Surely you do not want to become his disciples too?" They insulted him and said: "You are his disciple. We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from." "Herein is the wonder," that man answered, "that you do not know where he is from. And yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a God-fearer and does his will, him he listens to. Since the world began, it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." "You were born entirely in sin," they answered him. "And you want to teach us?" And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he found him, he said to him: "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered: "And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?" "You have both seen him," Jesus said to him, "and the one who is speaking with you, that is he." "I believe, Lord," he said, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said: "I have come into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees who were near him, when they heard these words, said to him: "Surely we are not blind too." "If you were blind," Jesus answered, "you would have no sin. But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains. Amen. Take your seats. My dear friends, I have read this passage, a passage very well known to many of us who are familiar with reading Scripture, full of teachings because we find many meanings in what was not only the healing of this man, but his interrogation by the Pharisees, the answers he gave, the outcome, the end of it all. All of this presents us with the way in which God can bring light into the life of a person living in darkness. It is the fulfillment of what John said at the beginning of his Gospel. He was the light. He was the light, and the light was the life of men. Jesus came to bring light, and this passage, on the one hand, shows us how a man born blind miraculously regained his sight. But looking in the context of the Gospel of John, this miracle is not just one by which a man who could not see managed to overcome this problem and continue his life seeing, no? But it is the way in which God makes the identity of Jesus to be revealed, to be known. This is in agreement with what Jesus said. "As long as it is day, I must do the works of him who sent me. I have come to be the light in the world," he said. And saying this, he spoke about how, by looking at the works he does, people should be able to see God, to feel God's love for them, and to receive it with joy and gratitude, to turn to Him with all their heart. When John describes the reasons for which he selected in his Gospel the miracles and the words of Jesus, he said: "There were many other things that Jesus did, miracles that he performed, things that he said." If all had been written, he used a hyperbole there, the whole world would not contain the books. But we have written down those that are useful for you to believe, and by believing, to have life in his name. From this perspective of Jesus' words, "I have come to bring light," and to the conclusion of the Gospel of John, "I have mentioned this to you so that you may know that He is the Savior, and by believing, you may have salvation," we understand that this miracle had to do not only with the man's escape from the darkness caused by his physical blindness, but it is the account of how the light comes. Jesus was the light, and with every miracle, with every circumstance, with every word of his, people should have, should have been able to glimpse this light more and more, to shine before them and to follow this light. Unfortunately, however, this passage presents us with a paradox, a paradox of the contrast between an unlearned man, born blind, reconciled, as they said, "You were born entirely in sin." And the religious leaders, the elite, the Pharisees, as they were called, the separated ones, those who lived at the highest level of obedience to God's law. That is how they considered themselves, and they are in a position where they cannot recognize him. This is the meaning of Jesus' words: "I have come so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may remain blind." My dear friends, I would like us to go through this passage and pray that God will bless us and not only anchor our trust. God can intervene in our situations too. Know that perhaps the wonder regarding this man was and is described in his words. It has not been heard that someone healed a man who was born that way. Probably there were conditions when people lost their sight and regained it, either through what they did, and at that time, with what was rudimentary. We know about Laodicea, that they had a magical ointment with which they treated their eyes for affections caused by sand dust carried by desert storms. There were probably certain improvements in vision, and therefore the miracle is presented in the form of "No one has heard of someone being born blind and regaining sight." But, as I said, we do not look to this work of the Lord only to encourage us and to leave this evening with faith. "Lord, if you could and if you healed, you made a man who had never seen, who was born blind, see, then my situation is not too difficult for you. Then the crisis I am going through is not impossible for you." And this is important, my dear friends, to leave this evening with faith. He who opened the eyes of a blind man who had never seen can also touch me, can also grant me grace, so that this crisis, this illness, this situation in which I find myself does not break me. He can lift me up and I can move forward. Moreover, what we see in this miracle is that precisely such a crisis can generate light in your life, can lead you to light. This is the meaning of the Lord's words. "I have come so that those who do not see may see." In that crisis, being healed of his blindness, that man was able to recognize Jesus and say: "I don't know what you are saying, but one thing I know: I was blind, and now I see, and I know that God does not listen to sinners. And I have another wonder. How is it that you, who call yourselves leaders, do not know him? You should know the one who opened my eyes, because that is your job, that is your calling to identify him." In other words, you didn't tell them: "Check your antennas and your discernment, because something is not right with you. You should have presented him to us and told us: 'What the prophets promised is now being fulfilled. Here is the Messiah,' and you are missing this." But we will see what can lead you to this state. Instead of being able to experience God's work in your life and rejoice, and for this to bring light into your life. What consists in being able to say with more certainty: "Now I am calm and at peace, because the Lord of life is with me, because the light of the world is with me. I have no more fear. I have gone through this trial in which He miraculously gave me deliverance, and now I believe that He can give me everything He promised, and He promised to give me eternal life. Therefore, I believe this. Whether I die and have part in the resurrection, or whether I have part in his glorious return and meeting him in the clouds, I do not know how it will be, nor do I prefer either of them, but I know that I can meet him, that I can be with him in glory." My dear friends, it is important to know that often in our trials, know that it is the best state in which God favors us through them, so that we can see the light for those who are familiar with what light is, but not only for them, as we all know. The thicker the darkness, the fainter the light is perceived. It is like this: as the light increases, if you have some weaker lights, you don't even notice them. Those LEDs that, if you turn off the other light sources, immediately appear. Any spark of light, any light, however small, when the darkness is thick, comes out, is seen. This tells us, my dear friends, that God often favors the appearance of light in our life trials, the coming of light to us. It is a different perspective. I don't know how many of us have ever stopped before a trial and said: "Lord, increase the darkness, and how good it will be that the light will be seen even more clearly." We don't have that reflex, but I pray that God will give us grace this evening, to add at least to what comes to our minds when trials come upon us. We say to him: "Lord, is this not the time when you want the light that I do not easily observe to shine?" This is not desirable. We should not expect the darkness in our lives to grow thicker. There is enough darkness in the world to see Christ. But unfortunately, we are so skeptical that sometimes thicker darkness is needed for us to see the light. I would like, first of all, to learn this evening to ask different questions when trials come into our lives. Observe what the questions were, and not just different, but in accordance with what God is and wants for us. The question the disciples asked when they saw this man was: "Lord, who sinned?" Have you encountered this reflex, perhaps even in your own case: "Lord, what have I done wrong?" And know that it is not entirely bad. Often, life trials or situations in which we stop and say, "I have been wholeheartedly concerned with knowing God," it is okay when you are in a trial to say: "Lord, I have neglected what it means to know you. Is it not for this reason that this trial has come, so that I can focus my attention on you and set aside those things that I have sought and to which I have attached my heart too much?" But returning, these people asked wrong questions. It is not the first time. It is not the first time. Remember that in the Gospel of Luke, Luke recounts the turmoil and the question of those who heard about the Galileans massacred by Pilate, about the Jews on whom the walls of the Tower of Siloam fell. In those situations, they came to tell the Lord about these tragedies with the question and their turmoil: "How sinful must these people have been?" Why do we know this? Because the Lord's answer, who read their intentions, was: "Do you think they were more sinful than you?" I tell you, no. And in their minds was the same connection and the same relationship that the disciples had when they asked: "Lord, this man was born like this because either he or his parents sinned gravely." And this is his punishment from God for what they did, or he did. That was the reasoning. God punishes those who do wrong. That's how they thought. A pagan concept. This was not a concept about our God. God does not do that. And when he punishes us, says his Lamentations, Jeremiah, who proclaims judgment, the seventy years of captivity. And burdened himself by what he proclaimed, by the fact that God would let his people be taken into captivity, he begins to weep, and God speaks to him and says, among other things: "Do you think I punish with pleasure? Do you think I am at peace that this people must go into captivity? No. My heart is troubled that my people must go into captivity. But it is the only way. We have reached a situation where the only way, after I have spoken to them through prophets, after I have called them in many ways to turn away from idols, from their false worship, they continue to worship idols. Unfortunately, it is the only way for them to know, to taste that those idols have no power and offer them nothing good. It is like the situation of children in believing families who grow up feeling constrained. Misfortune has befallen them to have pious parents, and they are not allowed to do this. That is their mentality. We are not allowed to go there. We are not allowed. Unfortunately, they are not to blame. The parents who formed this mentality are to blame. I have spoken about this before at blessings. It is formed simply when the flimsy motivation you offer when you tell them to be good is: "You are pious and you are not allowed to do that." In their mind, the thought develops: "Because I am pious, and ultimately Dad is pious and Mom is pious, and because they chose to be pious, I don't have the freedom to do whatever I want." And they start looking at other children whose parents don't ask them where they've been, what they've watched, how much they've used their phone, what they do when their parents aren't present at school, what groups they frequent, and what company they keep, and they say: "How good it would be if I didn't have believing parents." That's what happened to Israel. They looked around. God told them: "Do not worship idols, because that means abandoning me. I am a jealous God, and only in purity is your worship one that truly brings my blessing into your life. Do not worship idols." And they began to think like those children. We are constrained. And we are constrained not to be allowed to do that, to be forced to do this, to be forced to release slaves in the seventh year. Yes, they thought, all pagans buy slaves, they become their property, and they enjoy them when they want, they sell them and do business. If a Jew ended up as a slave, selling himself into slavery, the one who took him into slavery practically did him a favor. He didn't gain much. Because he had to keep him as a slave for six years, to work for him, and after six years to offer him the resources with which to start a free life. I don't know if a slave received that much money, certainly not from a master who bought him and was his property. He didn't receive it. He received food and shelter so he could work the next day. A Hebrew slave had to be released in the seventh year and receive from the master that money, those resources with which to start, to restart the life of a free man. And imagine that the Jews thought: "Misfortune has befallen us to be from the Lord's people. We could have gotten rich too." God told them: "No one from God's people is allowed to hold property for more than one generation, property that is not theirs, which they acquired by buying it from someone else. Not stolen, they bought it. Every property must return to the one who inherited it by right, or to his heirs in the jubilee year." This happened every generation, every 49 years. It had to come back. Imagine that when they bought a property, they didn't just think about what they would do with that property, what it would be used for, how much they would earn, and for how much they would sell it. No, they said: "I am buying it to see what I can do until the jubilee year. If there were a few years left, to see what I will earn." And they calculated that what they paid for it would be less than what they earned from using it. Imagine that they began to think: "We are miserable. Instead of doing what we want with what we bought." My dear friends, I tell you this only to understand how easily wrong concepts about God settle in people's minds. They began to believe things about God that were not true. Among other things, they also believed that God, you know what he does? He looks from heaven to see when you are good and obedient, and immediately when you do something disobedient to him, know that he sends you a punishment. That's what God does. This concept came from the pagans. Also, everything they did for the idols to whom they offered sacrifices was to gain their favor and not to harm them too much. Why do you think God tells them that I am your father? Why do you think God tells us, and even his son? He comes and says: "Know that your heavenly Father does not react. If you thought that he sits and waits to see what you will do next. Did this one do well? Let me give him a blessing. Did this one do badly? Let me think what illness to send him." Do you know what the Lord said? Your Father is not like that. The God from whom I come to reveal him to you and for you to truly know him. Know that he makes the sun rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. You are profoundly mistaken if you believe that you receive from the Lord what you deserve. And if we received what we deserved, it would be like that answer the Lord gives. "Do you think they were more sinful than you?" I tell you, no. And if you do not repent, you will all perish in the same way. If you received what you deserve, you would not be here. Neither you nor I. We are here because we receive grace, because we receive favor, kindness, forgiveness. We worship him with this motivation simply because we are here. We did not deserve it. Their question was: "Who sinned, Lord?" And this, as I said, they brought from the pagans. They lowered God to the level of pagan idols. That's what Jonah did when he brought God down to a God who has the territory of Israel. When he wanted to flee from the face of the Lord from Israel to Tarsus, he thought like the pagans. God has authority in Israel. In other countries, the idols of those countries have authority. So I will escape from the face of the Lord by fleeing to Tarsus. And he will not question me anymore about whether I obeyed or disobeyed his sending. What was serious in the first place with Jonah was that he, the prophet, began. It is incredible. God's prophet did not know God. He thought that God was only in Israel. That's what the pagans thought. Another way in which the false thinking that their God is only over Israel settled in their minds. Even though they knew God created everything. He rules everything, and they had to tell him. He thought that other people belong to the idols they worship and to whom they belong. And the Lord teaches him a lesson to tell him: "They are mine. Are you upset that your umbrage, this plant for which you did nothing, has dried up? All these people who do not discern left from right are mine, and I care about them. You refuse to go and tell them my message, thinking, 'What do I have to do with these people, Lord? They are mine. They don't know me.' And what I expected from you, my people, was to make me known to these people, so that they too would know that their idols are false. And instead of doing that, they began to think of their God as an idol. How easily! Sometimes we think this thought is innocent. Let me think quickly. It seems so spiritual. As soon as someone has sinned or become ill, to move to confession. Behind this, instead of remaining what is pure and true about confession, is this concept. Unfortunately, see what you have sinned with, because God has sent you this illness. Identify it. James is so blunt when he says: "If you begin to believe that God is the one who fabricates evil, it means you have no idea who God is. God cannot be tempted to do evil. Everything good and perfect, everything good you experience, know that it comes from him. If you want to ask yourself what this God we worship does, identify everything good in your life and say about it: 'This comes from God.' And if there is something bad, know that that does not come from God. That comes either from the consequence of what you have done in your disobedience, the hardening of your heart, yes? And the refusal to do what the Lord says, the lack of trust in what he teaches us, yes, or from the attacks and the consequence of the presence of evil in the world. The presence of evil in the world, in itself, exposes us to all the evils around us. So, my dear friends, know that very easily we judge the Jews of that time. We judge them and say about them, how could they have been so volatile in their concept of God when they knew him so many times, when God revealed himself to them, when he explicitly told them who He is, there is no other God. They had the first commandment in the Decalogue. "I am the Lord, and there is no other God besides me." And the Lord tells them: "When you have broken one commandment, you have broken them all." This means that after they began to believe that there were other gods, they were already lost. And the Lord tells them: "Neither this man has sinned, nor his parents." Stop thinking like that. To those who came to report the tragedies in Judea and Galilee, he told them: "Ask the questions well, otherwise you will stumble." If everyone who sins had to die, why don't you ask the question differently? Why do you ask the question: "Lord, then why are we still alive?" If that were true, that should be your question. "Lord, then why are we still alive?" Because we are also sinners. And know that this is the reason why he gives them the parable of the fig tree in the vineyard. Someone interceded and said: "Leave it for another year." And he said: "I will bless it, I will put manure at its roots, I will dig around it. Perhaps it will bear fruit." If we ask ourselves why we are well, it is God's blessing associated with the expectation that it will bear fruit for me, that I will be one of those who make my light shine, who bring it to light. My dear friends, a man who generated such questions, and how simply the Lord answers them, I like it so much. He almost told them: "It is not for his sin or his parents' sin that he was born like this, but for you." What would you say? If you think, "Well, what could this man have sinned with," and the Lord tells you, "Do you know why he got sick? For you. So that you may see the glory of God. He was born like this because in this circumstance God knew that the light would come out. In his darkness, in his trouble, in his blindness, is the state in which God brings light. He brings light for all of you, my dear friends. I would like to stop here this evening because time has already passed, and to keep this in our hearts. I would like to go to a wake for a few minutes, and therefore I will ask for your indulgence not to wait for me at the door, but to get in the car immediately after we finish. But I would not want to leave without correcting any thinking, without asking the Lord. "Lord, help me to understand, to transform my suffering into the occasion of your light shining." When you are in suffering, when someone else is in suffering, when you are in a crisis, stop and say: "Lord, I am going through this crisis, but I know that you are God. I do not doubt that you love me, and I eagerly await to see how I will know you now, as I go through this trial with you, I will have another victory. I will taste once more who you are. Are you ready to add this to your thoughts?" That is the truth about God. Unfortunately, very easily we take the others. Very easily we live more and more frequently what these people said. Did you hear? I have heard more and more recently about ancestral sin, about ancestral sin. Go back and see what your parents might have sinned with. There is only one thing true in this: that indeed the choices that we, our parents, make before have consequences in people's lives. But to say that we are destined for certain spirits because our parents, those Jews who asked the disciples, they have Ezekiel's prophecy which said: "There will no longer be times in the new covenant, when he speaks of the New Covenant, when the saying will still apply: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' But the soul who sins shall die." In other words, God explicitly conveyed to them: "Know that the time is coming when no one should accept this anymore." I tried to understand where this is reappearing. You know, I got a little light when I was in the animist environment, when I was in Madagascar, I realized where these influences come from. Yes, in Madagascar, animism, among other things, or among the spirits that people fear greatly, is the spirit of death and associated with it is the spirit of the ancestors who have died. That is why the tombs in Madagascar, I saw, I visited the historical area. The palace could have been left in ruins, it was rebuilt in recent years, but it is not the same with the tombs of the kings. The tombs are kept meticulously because in animism, the spirit of the ancestors favors them or disfavors them if they do not treat what they were before with respect. I then saw that most of those who wrote books about this had missionary experiences in the animist environment, but I believe their mistake is that they imported those concepts from that environment and brought them into an environment that is not animist. We do not believe in the spirit of ancestors, and I believe that in this way things were taken lightly. They said: "But so-and-so said this thing, but he showed us from Scripture, and those passages that speak to us are taken selectively from Scripture." My dear friends, what God tells us is that if today you hear his call, it means that He loves you and wants you to respond so that He can give you salvation, so that He can bring you light. Therefore, I would like to conclude this evening with a prayer of this kind. "Lord, we easily slip into thinking about you when trials come, when crises come, that you have sent them to us. Forgive us. If it were so, our lives should have been only torment until now, because we deserved nothing good. But we live these things because you are good and because you give them to us every day. We want to remain convinced that You are the Master. You are the God from whom we receive all these things, and we want, Lord, in the trials we go through, in the darkness left by them, to see your light better, more clearly, more distinctly. Bless me. Perhaps you are in trial right now. Perhaps its perspective, the perspective of crises, is before you. Perhaps you have thought, if it is true what they say, that everything is getting more expensive and purchasing power is decreasing, dare to add shadows to your perspective, and perhaps it is an occasion for your light to shine even more strongly. Let us feel, let us begin to feel that you care for us. Lord, when things are going too well for us, we forget so easily. But we don't want to, there's no need for that, my dear friends. There's no need for that. No. God is forced, Jeremiah says, to allow this in our lives, so that we can see the light. Lord, we do not want to force you for your light to shine in us, in the crises that will come, but we love you and we want your light to be seen in us, through us, for us every day. Let us rise to stand before God. And let this be the prayer with which, leaving this place, we dare to say: "Lord, I do not know what will come new into my life this week, but what is clear to me is that your light can be revealed to me more and more. If this is the context, the conjuncture in which it shines, I eagerly await to know you, to see you, to have you as the light of my life." Let us pray together. Lord, and who even for those who are great, increase and cast out what remains, Lord, and let us understand health, this mixed, Lord, what is ours, you are the one, and let us continue to grow, to choose, to live thus, when we live with you, when you are by our side. We are safe. Therefore, we tell you, Lord, we pray, go with us, and we choose, Lord, to remain with You, removing all that is false in our thinking about You. We thank you for receiving us, and safely, Lord, we leave this place, eagerly awaiting your light to grow in us. Be blessed. We entrust ourselves into Your hands and give You all our worship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. >> Be blessed by the Lord, my dear friends. May He accompany you with His grace. Do not forget, Sunday is the first day of the month, it is March 1st, and we have the Lord's Supper together. Be blessed.