May 11, 2025 • 29 mins
Pastor Vera McEwen is incredibly excited to give an open welcome to all at Love God Ministries! An online community where all truly are welcome, Pastor Vera embodies the Love of Christ through witness and discipleship. She founded Love God Ministries because conversations with people revealed a need for a community of believers where it does not matter how you look but recognize that you are a child of God.
Pastor Vera has been teaching and preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and the Word of God for over 30 years. Her primary emphasis is spreading God's Love by providing pastoral care, preaching God's Loving Word, teaching God's Light-Filled Word, and implementing God's Living relational group architecture via in home communities.
She is currently reviewing the prospects of a doctorate in religious studies with an emphasis on Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic as encouraged by her professors at seminary. In addition to her vocation as Pastor she ministers as a certified professional and personal coach.
With God's help, she implements 1 Thessalonians 5.11, motivating people to be and do their very best by building one another up. Pastor Vera is a joyous, ever singing sister in Christ who after years of being pursued by God, stopped running and answered the call, halleluiah, הַלְלוּיָה
https://www.lovegod-ministries.org/
Pastor Vera has been teaching and preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and the Word of God for over 30 years. Her primary emphasis is spreading God's Love by providing pastoral care, preaching God's Loving Word, teaching God's Light-Filled Word, and implementing God's Living relational group architecture via in home communities.
She is currently reviewing the prospects of a doctorate in religious studies with an emphasis on Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic as encouraged by her professors at seminary. In addition to her vocation as Pastor she ministers as a certified professional and personal coach.
With God's help, she implements 1 Thessalonians 5.11, motivating people to be and do their very best by building one another up. Pastor Vera is a joyous, ever singing sister in Christ who after years of being pursued by God, stopped running and answered the call, halleluiah, הַלְלוּיָה
https://www.lovegod-ministries.org/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The following content is provided by I am Refocused radio
contributor Pastor Vera McEwen with Love God Ministries. We'll be
sharing today's message, and now here is your host, Pastor
Vera McEwen.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Called by my name.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
One of the beautiful things about reading the Word on
a daily basis is that you come across these long
chronicles of names. I remember when I first started reading
(00:49):
the Word of God, I would skip over them.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's like, why do I need to read each and
every name?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And then as I began to read the World of
God in different languages, I found that the names were
the easiest to walk through. So I enjoyed reading each
and every one of the names.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Turn with me to Second Chronicles.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
In Second Chronicles chapter seven, we read something that totally
floored me.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It was new. And that's the beautiful thing about the
Word of God. Each and every day.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It is newly created, as you are newly created each
and every day, not the same as yesterday, not quite
the same as the day before, and not quite the
same as you'll be tomorrow. So here we are in
Second Chronicles chapter seven. We're gonna hone In on verse
(02:07):
thirteen and fourteen, God is speaking to Solomon, and God
is instructing Solomon to understand something. God begins by saying,
you know, when I shut up the heavens, when I
cause calamity, when I send plagues and locus to devour
(02:32):
the land, and then it comes to plagues like Covid
among my people.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And read with me verse fourteen.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
This week, as I've been preparing this sermon, I've finally
landed on something that I felt like I hadn't really
studied quite as deeply before until this week. It says here,
if my people, I ask you, who are God's people?
(03:09):
When we recognize that God's people are the people Israel,
we recognize even that that name is Rayel.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Is God calling Jacob a new name is Rael?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It says, if my people, And this is what floored
me when I first read it for preparation, this message.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That says, who are called by my name? Wait a minute,
Read that.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Again with me, Braylan, who are called by my name?
Is God saying that we're called by God's name. I
had to take a deeper dive, so I read it
in Hebrew. And I remember specifically the word name in
Hebrew because it's shame like don't be ashamed of your name.
(04:09):
Shame sham, shame sham. But this is Shemi. And that
E on the end means my.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Name.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
So yes, it does say if my people who are
called by.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
My name, you Dante, you Eric, you are called by
God's name? What does that mean? Let's just take the
name Israel to begin with.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Now, this is what really formed me when I started
reading the Bible through and reading each and every name
in Hebrew.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
At the very end of the names, I would see
Samuel L.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And the old lay was those two letters that say el.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Like el Shadai, al Roni, al Shamah, God of the mountain,
God of seeing, God who sees, God who hears.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
So literally, Israel is called by God's name. Are you
ready to be called by the name of God?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
To be called by God's name?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
If you are ready, I suggest I suggest you add an.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
L to your name.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
You can add it to the beginning el Veda, can
add it to the end, Veda L. You can add
it wherever you like. But what I want you to know.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
This day, Shamaiah, with the breath of God breathed into
your name, Shemaiah, is that you are El Shamiah, you
are smaiyah l.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You are called by God's name.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
God goes on to say, if my people who are
called by my name el my name.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Will humble themselves. Whoop. Okay, wait a minute.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You can be called by God's name, but there's a
requirement to God forgiving your transgressions. That says, if the
people who are called by my name humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
(06:49):
then I will hear them. I will hear them from heaven,
and I will forgive their sins. And wait a minute.
This is huge, and I want you to read this
with me.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And will heal their land. Now the words in Hebrew
say I let hm, I let now wait a minute.
What does that mean? Now?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
I know that means the land, and we often talk
about the word is full.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Of God, the people the land. But this doesn't mean
just the land.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It means all creation. So that means Deborah L. If
my people who are called by my name will humble themselves,
pray and seek me, turn from their sinful ways, then
I will not only forgive them, I will heed ow
(08:00):
all creation.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So tem meel.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
When you turn from.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Whatever is going on in your life that you need
assistance with, and you become penitent. You pray, you seek God.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You turn Samah, You turn from.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Your ways, seeking God in humility.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That God would not only wash and clean you, make
you new, create a very new being in you. But
God will also heal all creation.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
The penitent person is called by God's name, healing all creation.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
I want you to say something with me. I have
L in my name.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I have L in my name. You are a child
of God. And not only does that mean.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
You inherit all of God's kingdom, all of God's creation.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It means that you are here to pray, seek.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Turn from whatever's going on that brings you down, humble
yourself in penitence, and in asking for forgiveness, you heal
all creation. Turn with me to the Psalm of the day,
(09:52):
Psalm one point thirty. It is one of my absolute
favorite songs. It's because the Psalmist has this play on words.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
The Psalm as plays on the word wait.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
The same word means hope, it means keep, it means guard.
And so as you read through this song, take a
moment later on today and read through the entire song.
We're gonna hone in specifically on verses five, six and seven,
(10:32):
primarily six, because I just love the cadence. It says,
I wait, I wait for the Lord. My whole being waits,
and in God's word, I put my oh, I put
(10:55):
my hope because I know that God will keep and hold.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Me as I wait for God.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It goes on to say, I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen
wait for the morning. And here we have Israel with
the L in the name, and Israel means.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It's a combination of words, right.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
It's the word L, which is God, and the word
said Ah, like Sarah Sarah sarah, which means to struggle,
to strive for like a wrestling with God.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
The person who wrestles with God, the person.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Who strives, who is stricken, who is working and struggling with.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
God, puts hope in God.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
And what kind of hope in God's unfailing love, unfailing alarm,
this love.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That is forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
Chas dope.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Ha said, I'm failing love, love that's forever eternal. The
penitent person is called by God's name.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Can you say with me, I have l in my name.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
The penitent person is called by God's name, healing all
creation through prayers of hope, Through prayers of hope in
God's unfailing love, Turn with me to first John one.
(13:03):
First John one is always the New Testament, toward the
apocalypseus toward the revelation. Now, the reading was from eight
and ten, but we're gonna hone in beginning with verse seven,
because it speaks of who we are. When we are
(13:26):
called by God's name, You're L Deborah, L Doris, L
l So poet. It says, if we walk in light,
as he is in the light, speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we have fellowship with one another.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
This is important.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
We have community with one another when we are walking
in the light, when we have l attached to our name,
when we hope in God's unfailing love. We are walking
in this light. That is a communion of light. But
then it goes on to say, and the blood of
(14:14):
Jesus Christ purifies the blood of Jesus Christ changes us,
It purifies the penitent person, it purifies us. And I
love this next verse because I remember when I was
(14:39):
arrogant enough to think I don't I'm not really a sinner,
you know.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I don't really sin.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
I don't have those big sins like some people do,
not recognizing that every day.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Is the opportunity for sin.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
And if we claim that and recognize that, then every
day we can ask for that forgiveness and.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Turn from our sinful ways.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Because it says he, if we claim that we are
without sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not
in us. I love that the name Vera means faith truth.
L Vera would be God's truth. The truth is not
in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful
(15:31):
in our unfailing love and just and will forgive our
sins and purify us, purify us from all on our righteousness.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
The penitent person is called by God's name. Say I
have l in my name is called by God's name. Healing, healing,
all creation.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Through prayers of hope in God's unfailing love. That love
purifies us. Turn with me to the gospel reading for
the day. The gospel reading can be found in Luke
(16:26):
chapter eighteen. You'll have to go back from John toward
the New Old Testament Luke chapter eighteen, and today's reading
is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with this arable, but
(16:49):
it speaks of a pharisee, and you can imagine the
pharisee going to the wall, and the pharisee is standing
up right, and the pharisee speaks, and the pharisee says, God,
(17:12):
I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers,
or even.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Like that tax collector.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I fast twice a day and give a tenth of
all I have. The pivoted person is called by God's name.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I have L in my name, called by God's name,
healing all creation through prayers of hope in God's are.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Failing love, love that purifies us.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And then we have the tax collector. The tax collector,
it says, stood at a distance.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
He would not even look up to Heaven, but bent
and beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me,
A sinner, a penitent person called by God's name, having
(19:00):
L in their name, healing all creation through prayers, prayers
of hope, in God's unfailing.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Love, love that purifies us.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Jesus tells us at the end of this parable, I
tell you that the man.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
The tax collector, rather than the other.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
The pharisee went home justified before God. For all those
who exhalt themselves, all those who exalt themselves.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Will be humbled.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Those those who humble themselves. The penitent person called by
God's name, healing all creation through prayers of hope in
God's unfailing love that purifies us, will be exalted. Purifies us.
(20:48):
God purifies us so that we may serve one another.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Uh oh, this is where it gets real. We may
serve one another in humility.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And when we serve one another in humility through our
penitence to God. When we serve one another in humility,
we literally exalt all life.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
The penitent person.
Speaker 7 (21:26):
Is called by God's name, healing all creation through prayers
of hope in God's unfailing love.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That purifies us, so that we so that we.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
May serve one another in humility, exalting all life. I'd
like to read to you a narrative of a mother.
(22:17):
We lived in the Bronx, all seven of us kids
and my single mom.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It was mid.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
January and a huge snowstorm hit. The snow was so
thick that highways came to a complete stop. We lived
a half of a block from the highway. The darkness,
(22:52):
the darkness of night was approaching. There were several cars stuck,
literally stuck, with people and their families and their pets
inside the vehicles on.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
The highway that was a block from our house. Mom,
my mother.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Mom stood up and said to my brother, I will
open my house.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I will open my house to the stranded people on
the highway.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
She said, please go and invite them to our house.
We had thirteen families, thirteen families come. Our living room
was covered in sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
In the morning, we had.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Three pots of coffee, one huge pot of hot chocolate, bacon, eggs,
and warm French bread. Everyone showed such gratitude. Mom's act
of kindness and humility was so profound to me.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
She showed us.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
She showed us all the selflessness of helping others.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
The penitent person is called by God's.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Name, healing all creation through prayers of hope in God's
unfailing love that purifies us so that we can serve
one another in humility, exalting all life. That narrative, that
(25:02):
story was by Diana Allan Castick California from the Reader's digest.
I remember my father, and if you've been listening to
Love God ministries, you'll recall this narrative.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I was born and raised.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
In ann Arbor, Michigan, and my father would go to
campus where the University of Michigan is during holidays.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
He would go.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
There and ask any of the students, any of the professors,
people who were here, who couldn't go home for Christmas, here,
who couldn't go home for Thanksgiving Easter, to come over.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Now my mom. My mom didn't do that, but what
she did was even more profound.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
She would pour her heart into every last dish she prepared.
She would begin preparing those dishes several days in advance,
German chocolate cake, sweet potato pies, turkey and dressing, collar greens,
(26:17):
black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And I remember being, you know, quite like.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Ungrateful when people would start showing up at the door.
They would get to sit at the big table, these
students and professors that we.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Didn't even know, and they would.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Get to partake in my mom's amazing cooking. She fed
the university and the streets of ann Arbor. What a
Mother's day gift to give to her children.
Speaker 8 (27:00):
The gift of giving the gift of pouring your hearts
into a meal and providing it for those who are
not with their own mother.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
The penitent person is called by God's name. My mother's
name is Mildred. L Mildred. We'll put him in an
L behind her name, because we all know that Mildred
has God in her name. Called by God's very name,
(27:36):
you are called by God's.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Very name, healing, all healing, all creation, so that.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So that through prayer, through prayer and petition and seeking
God out, we can hope in God's unfailing love that
purifies us, creating us anew, closing us from all our sins,
(28:21):
so that we can serve one another, serve one another
in humility, exalting all life. Be the peace of our Lord,
Jesus Christ be with you all ways.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Take a moment and share that.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Peace day is shall I agree with and Refocused Radio
make sure you go to Refocus radio dot com to
listen to today's episode. Once again, if we always say keep
God first, stay focus in peace,
The following content is provided by I am Refocused radio
contributor Pastor Vera McEwen with Love God Ministries. We'll be
sharing today's message, and now here is your host, Pastor
Vera McEwen.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Called by my name.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
One of the beautiful things about reading the Word on
a daily basis is that you come across these long
chronicles of names. I remember when I first started reading
(00:49):
the Word of God, I would skip over them.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's like, why do I need to read each and
every name?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And then as I began to read the World of
God in different languages, I found that the names were
the easiest to walk through. So I enjoyed reading each
and every one of the names.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Turn with me to Second Chronicles.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
In Second Chronicles chapter seven, we read something that totally
floored me.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It was new. And that's the beautiful thing about the
Word of God. Each and every day.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It is newly created, as you are newly created each
and every day, not the same as yesterday, not quite
the same as the day before, and not quite the
same as you'll be tomorrow. So here we are in
Second Chronicles chapter seven. We're gonna hone In on verse
(02:07):
thirteen and fourteen, God is speaking to Solomon, and God
is instructing Solomon to understand something. God begins by saying,
you know, when I shut up the heavens, when I
cause calamity, when I send plagues and locus to devour
(02:32):
the land, and then it comes to plagues like Covid
among my people.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And read with me verse fourteen.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
This week, as I've been preparing this sermon, I've finally
landed on something that I felt like I hadn't really
studied quite as deeply before until this week. It says here,
if my people, I ask you, who are God's people?
(03:09):
When we recognize that God's people are the people Israel,
we recognize even that that name is Rayel.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Is God calling Jacob a new name is Rael?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It says, if my people, And this is what floored
me when I first read it for preparation, this message.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That says, who are called by my name? Wait a minute,
Read that.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Again with me, Braylan, who are called by my name?
Is God saying that we're called by God's name. I
had to take a deeper dive, so I read it
in Hebrew. And I remember specifically the word name in
Hebrew because it's shame like don't be ashamed of your name.
(04:09):
Shame sham, shame sham. But this is Shemi. And that
E on the end means my.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Name.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
So yes, it does say if my people who are
called by.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
My name, you Dante, you Eric, you are called by
God's name? What does that mean? Let's just take the
name Israel to begin with.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Now, this is what really formed me when I started
reading the Bible through and reading each and every name
in Hebrew.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
At the very end of the names, I would see
Samuel L.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And the old lay was those two letters that say el.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Like el Shadai, al Roni, al Shamah, God of the mountain,
God of seeing, God who sees, God who hears.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
So literally, Israel is called by God's name. Are you
ready to be called by the name of God?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
To be called by God's name?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
If you are ready, I suggest I suggest you add an.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
L to your name.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
You can add it to the beginning el Veda, can
add it to the end, Veda L. You can add
it wherever you like. But what I want you to know.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
This day, Shamaiah, with the breath of God breathed into
your name, Shemaiah, is that you are El Shamiah, you
are smaiyah l.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You are called by God's name.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
God goes on to say, if my people who are
called by my name el my name.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Will humble themselves. Whoop. Okay, wait a minute.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You can be called by God's name, but there's a
requirement to God forgiving your transgressions. That says, if the
people who are called by my name humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
(06:49):
then I will hear them. I will hear them from heaven,
and I will forgive their sins. And wait a minute.
This is huge, and I want you to read this
with me.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And will heal their land. Now the words in Hebrew
say I let hm, I let now wait a minute.
What does that mean? Now?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
I know that means the land, and we often talk
about the word is full.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Of God, the people the land. But this doesn't mean
just the land.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It means all creation. So that means Deborah L. If
my people who are called by my name will humble themselves,
pray and seek me, turn from their sinful ways, then
I will not only forgive them, I will heed ow
(08:00):
all creation.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So tem meel.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
When you turn from.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Whatever is going on in your life that you need
assistance with, and you become penitent. You pray, you seek God.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You turn Samah, You turn from.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Your ways, seeking God in humility.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That God would not only wash and clean you, make
you new, create a very new being in you. But
God will also heal all creation.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
The penitent person is called by God's name, healing all creation.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
I want you to say something with me. I have
L in my name.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I have L in my name. You are a child
of God. And not only does that mean.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
You inherit all of God's kingdom, all of God's creation.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It means that you are here to pray, seek.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Turn from whatever's going on that brings you down, humble
yourself in penitence, and in asking for forgiveness, you heal
all creation. Turn with me to the Psalm of the day,
(09:52):
Psalm one point thirty. It is one of my absolute
favorite songs. It's because the Psalmist has this play on words.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
The Psalm as plays on the word wait.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
The same word means hope, it means keep, it means guard.
And so as you read through this song, take a
moment later on today and read through the entire song.
We're gonna hone in specifically on verses five, six and seven,
(10:32):
primarily six, because I just love the cadence. It says,
I wait, I wait for the Lord. My whole being waits,
and in God's word, I put my oh, I put
(10:55):
my hope because I know that God will keep and hold.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Me as I wait for God.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It goes on to say, I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen
wait for the morning. And here we have Israel with
the L in the name, and Israel means.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It's a combination of words, right.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
It's the word L, which is God, and the word
said Ah, like Sarah Sarah sarah, which means to struggle,
to strive for like a wrestling with God.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
The person who wrestles with God, the person.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Who strives, who is stricken, who is working and struggling with.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
God, puts hope in God.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
And what kind of hope in God's unfailing love, unfailing alarm,
this love.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That is forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
Chas dope.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Ha said, I'm failing love, love that's forever eternal. The
penitent person is called by God's name.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Can you say with me, I have l in my name.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
The penitent person is called by God's name, healing all
creation through prayers of hope, Through prayers of hope in
God's unfailing love, Turn with me to first John one.
(13:03):
First John one is always the New Testament, toward the
apocalypseus toward the revelation. Now, the reading was from eight
and ten, but we're gonna hone in beginning with verse seven,
because it speaks of who we are. When we are
(13:26):
called by God's name, You're L Deborah, L Doris, L
l So poet. It says, if we walk in light,
as he is in the light, speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we have fellowship with one another.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
This is important.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
We have community with one another when we are walking
in the light, when we have l attached to our name,
when we hope in God's unfailing love. We are walking
in this light. That is a communion of light. But
then it goes on to say, and the blood of
(14:14):
Jesus Christ purifies the blood of Jesus Christ changes us,
It purifies the penitent person, it purifies us. And I
love this next verse because I remember when I was
(14:39):
arrogant enough to think I don't I'm not really a sinner,
you know.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I don't really sin.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
I don't have those big sins like some people do,
not recognizing that every day.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Is the opportunity for sin.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
And if we claim that and recognize that, then every
day we can ask for that forgiveness and.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Turn from our sinful ways.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Because it says he, if we claim that we are
without sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not
in us. I love that the name Vera means faith truth.
L Vera would be God's truth. The truth is not
in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful
(15:31):
in our unfailing love and just and will forgive our
sins and purify us, purify us from all on our righteousness.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
The penitent person is called by God's name. Say I
have l in my name is called by God's name. Healing, healing,
all creation.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Through prayers of hope in God's unfailing love. That love
purifies us. Turn with me to the gospel reading for
the day. The gospel reading can be found in Luke
(16:26):
chapter eighteen. You'll have to go back from John toward
the New Old Testament Luke chapter eighteen, and today's reading
is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with this arable, but
(16:49):
it speaks of a pharisee, and you can imagine the
pharisee going to the wall, and the pharisee is standing
up right, and the pharisee speaks, and the pharisee says, God,
(17:12):
I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers,
or even.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Like that tax collector.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I fast twice a day and give a tenth of
all I have. The pivoted person is called by God's name.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I have L in my name, called by God's name,
healing all creation through prayers of hope in God's are.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Failing love, love that purifies us.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And then we have the tax collector. The tax collector,
it says, stood at a distance.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
He would not even look up to Heaven, but bent
and beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me,
A sinner, a penitent person called by God's name, having
(19:00):
L in their name, healing all creation through prayers, prayers
of hope, in God's unfailing.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Love, love that purifies us.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Jesus tells us at the end of this parable, I
tell you that the man.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
The tax collector, rather than the other.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
The pharisee went home justified before God. For all those
who exhalt themselves, all those who exalt themselves.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Will be humbled.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Those those who humble themselves. The penitent person called by
God's name, healing all creation through prayers of hope in
God's unfailing love that purifies us, will be exalted. Purifies us.
(20:48):
God purifies us so that we may serve one another.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Uh oh, this is where it gets real. We may
serve one another in humility.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And when we serve one another in humility through our
penitence to God. When we serve one another in humility,
we literally exalt all life.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
The penitent person.
Speaker 7 (21:26):
Is called by God's name, healing all creation through prayers
of hope in God's unfailing love.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That purifies us, so that we so that we.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
May serve one another in humility, exalting all life. I'd
like to read to you a narrative of a mother.
(22:17):
We lived in the Bronx, all seven of us kids
and my single mom.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It was mid.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
January and a huge snowstorm hit. The snow was so
thick that highways came to a complete stop. We lived
a half of a block from the highway. The darkness,
(22:52):
the darkness of night was approaching. There were several cars stuck,
literally stuck, with people and their families and their pets
inside the vehicles on.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
The highway that was a block from our house. Mom,
my mother.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Mom stood up and said to my brother, I will
open my house.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I will open my house to the stranded people on
the highway.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
She said, please go and invite them to our house.
We had thirteen families, thirteen families come. Our living room
was covered in sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
In the morning, we had.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Three pots of coffee, one huge pot of hot chocolate, bacon, eggs,
and warm French bread. Everyone showed such gratitude. Mom's act
of kindness and humility was so profound to me.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
She showed us.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
She showed us all the selflessness of helping others.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
The penitent person is called by God's.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Name, healing all creation through prayers of hope in God's
unfailing love that purifies us so that we can serve
one another in humility, exalting all life. That narrative, that
(25:02):
story was by Diana Allan Castick California from the Reader's digest.
I remember my father, and if you've been listening to
Love God ministries, you'll recall this narrative.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I was born and raised.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
In ann Arbor, Michigan, and my father would go to
campus where the University of Michigan is during holidays.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
He would go.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
There and ask any of the students, any of the professors,
people who were here, who couldn't go home for Christmas, here,
who couldn't go home for Thanksgiving Easter, to come over.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Now my mom. My mom didn't do that, but what
she did was even more profound.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
She would pour her heart into every last dish she prepared.
She would begin preparing those dishes several days in advance,
German chocolate cake, sweet potato pies, turkey and dressing, collar greens,
(26:17):
black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And I remember being, you know, quite like.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Ungrateful when people would start showing up at the door.
They would get to sit at the big table, these
students and professors that we.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Didn't even know, and they would.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Get to partake in my mom's amazing cooking. She fed
the university and the streets of ann Arbor. What a
Mother's day gift to give to her children.
Speaker 8 (27:00):
The gift of giving the gift of pouring your hearts
into a meal and providing it for those who are
not with their own mother.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
The penitent person is called by God's name. My mother's
name is Mildred. L Mildred. We'll put him in an
L behind her name, because we all know that Mildred
has God in her name. Called by God's very name,
(27:36):
you are called by God's.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Very name, healing, all healing, all creation, so that.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So that through prayer, through prayer and petition and seeking
God out, we can hope in God's unfailing love that
purifies us, creating us anew, closing us from all our sins,
(28:21):
so that we can serve one another, serve one another
in humility, exalting all life. Be the peace of our Lord,
Jesus Christ be with you all ways.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Take a moment and share that.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Peace day is shall I agree with and Refocused Radio
make sure you go to Refocus radio dot com to
listen to today's episode. Once again, if we always say keep
God first, stay focus in peace,
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