Be anxious for nothing - HG Bishop Angaelos - Grapevine Fellowship Meeting

never the Father the Son the Holy Spirit one God on them so today's a special day and we joke about it but people are genuinely feeling anxious about the world whether it's been what the Middle East has gone through for the past five years or what we've gone through in European referendum or the American elections or what we've seen unfolding around the world there's anxiety there's a sense of being unsure and it even changes even turns into being fearful but I need us to remember that we're here for a purpose and I know it's a big ask sometimes I know as Christians we're asked to always go above and beyond we're always asked to do something that is superhuman but we are really here for a purpose when our Lord praise to God the Father in John 17 chapter 5 verse 15 and says I do not pray that you should take them out of the world that's for a reason our presence in the world has purpose we need to be able to put our own personal anxieties aside and be sure of God's presence in God's power and God's sovereignty and it's any when we do that that we're then able to be reassurance for others I can't tell you how many times over the past five years I have spoken at different events in different sit settings in different meetings and it's all talking about pretty much the same thing what's happening in the world whether it's one of these Christians Christians around the world whether it's religious freedom whether it's a response to war and turbulence and I sit there and listen to people speaking around me and they speak great facts I've learnt so much being around people who speak I learn facts I know figures I understand contexts I become wiser and better informed and it's my turn to speak and I've always got to remind myself that my presence there is different I'm not there as another politician I'm not a politician I'm not there as an NGO because technically I'm not an NGO I'm not a humanitarian organization I'm not a relief organization I'm a church I'm a servant I'm a minister and in that context what I have to give my niche my expertise is hope not because I need to throw out the party line not because I have to follow that context it's because it's what I believe I'm just talking about me I'm speaking about me as a minister a bishop as a Christian and I've heard it from so many other people and you can tell you can tell the Christian mindset from how people deliver a message you know we do run a risk of sometimes sounding delusional or sounding disconnected misinformed or even apathetic when we turn around and say but there's good there are good things there are things that are worthy of our praise there are things that are worthy of our recognition of God's presence we must say what are you talking about look at what's happening with our suffering we have and that responsibility to be that sobering and calming and reassuring voice again not because that's what we're supposed to do not because there's a script but because it's what we believe we believe that we are in the hands of a mightier God than any obstacle we can face we believe that we are in the hands of a God who is mightier with more authority more power more sovereignty than any obstacle we can face and that's why when we look at what's happening around us we don't separate ourselves from it we still try to help if there's an opportunity to speak we speak to advocate we advocate to help we help to support we support we don't isolate ourselves from the world we don't separate ourselves from the suffering of people but we don't get engulfed in the same suffering in the same way I've said this to you before that if you see someone drowning you don't just dive in to stormy waters and try to help them if you can't swim the best thing you do is to stand on solid ground throw them a line and pull them out and that's what we need in this world more and more these days to be able to stand on the solid ground of our faith with our feet firmly established and throw in a line and pull people out if we get engulfed in the same hopelessness and misery or if they use and I was discussing someone with someone earlier today the context of salt if you know our Lord says if if salt is no longer salty then it's it's cast out it just means we don't have the same function anymore and the world needs us the world needs you the world needs me the world needs us together to be able to show it that there is hope if we go to this verse you are the salt of the earth but if salt loses its flavor how shall it be seasoned it's food for thought excuse the pun because if I don't have hope in God if I don't have hope in his power and his sovereignty what else is going to give me hope the seasoning I give to this world what the preservation I present in this world is through God's presence in my life where I can say it's okay come and see come and see what I've seen what I've sensed what I felt what I've experienced what I'm sure of if I don't have that nothing else can give it to me and sure we see people seeking your reassurance and lots of other ways people will want to have extra income extra wealth people will go out and buy weapons people will build fortresses lots of things that protect us protect us and our family is now wealth and our security lots of things but does it really present the hope that we need the protection that we have the one big insurance policy that covers everything is the fact that there is hope in God I'm going to share a slightly mundane story with you I had a mini meltdown earlier this week because wait for it I don't want anyone to fall over but I had a problem my phone and so I called my service provider and they said okay we'll send you a new fund so I need to back it up and so I because I believe in this stuff plugged it into my computer backed it up and felt wow this is so good I felt reassured I felt comforted got the new phone that yeah it's just a breeze you plug it in and everything goes back on your phone lost everything everything now if you can imagine everything for me you know you're talking about thousands of contacts thousands of diary items you're talking about text messages and emails and and and funny photographs that people send you and they have nothing better to do with their lives and you know all of this sort of really important stuff now thank for the industry assure you that the important things will backed up somewhere else but it didn't work I lost everything I turned around thought what do I do now and I was so miserable I I turned into one of those guys that you see on those Airport documentaries where they go and they give the poor lady behind the counter a really hard time I called the service center you know what are you doing I was really upset and then I finished and thought what am i doing what I'm doing so I lost some stuff I know that the important stuff is saved somewhere else so that's not a problem I can get that back and in some strange way and I don't know if you ever had this feeling I felt quite liberated you know the 5,000 apps I had on my phone I suddenly thought I don't need them I'm actually living ok without them the things that had accumulated over years I didn't die we're still breathing my heart still pumping the world still spinning we're okay I'm just giving you the story to show you that we put our trust in certain things and then we realize well actually as long as the important things are secure as long as my life my life with God people around me and their lives with God then I can be reassured again watching the news Kali this morning with the results of the presidential campaign in the USA people were distraught and I mean let's face it it was it was a long shot everyone thought this was a real joke and now suddenly it's reality but I know we're in the hands of a mightier God it'll be okay they'll be fine we had worse the world's gone through worse we've experienced worse in our lives people running around like it's the end it's not really the end that's the great thing about elections you don't like the guy you don't elect him next time makes a mistake in and like the next time he gets it right you elect him again that's it's the the way it goes but our trust is not in governments and rulers how trust and not it is not in telephones and backup systems and synchronization our trust is in God who has our lives in his hand and I've really got to feel that when we listen to Jobe saying the Lord gives the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord we all know that verse we all say it do we believe it don't really live by it when I lose certain things am I really in a position to say the Lord gives the Lord takes away blessed be until the Lord or am i distraught my angry my anxious my unsure suddenly everything is shaken up you know there's a reason that we lose things sometimes and that's because if we didn't we would accumulate far too much we'd have too much clutter around us even memories we sometimes lose memories that's because our minds wouldn't be capable of storing everything we've been through and you know I remember his Holiness Pope Shenouda saying something which was really profound when you think about it he said that when you speak about a loss of memory all of us speak about it as a huge tragedy but actually in some cases it's a great blessing you know think of all times you've you've suffered the loss an embarrassment a failure imagine if all of that was present in your mind all the time it was always there every time you tripped over and embarrassed yourself by falling flat on your face in front of your friends or you had a major loss in your life or you lost someone close to you or you had a major disappointment and we've all had them I've been through situations I am so thankful I can no longer remember because we're in the hands of a mighty God and what he does is he takes away the unbearable from us if we just let God now sometimes we like to hold on to the unbearable because we feel that it's almost a lack of faithfulness if we don't but that's not really the truth we're meant to live a life that shows others that were different I am after the election this morning I sent out a tweet so if you may have seen it something along the lines of you know it's difficult to be gracious in unexpected loss or success but we need to be reconciliatory for the sake of all and and the young man sent back a message thing thank you Father but these people would have you deported or something to that effect my response was well and I saw he said no and I can't forgive I can't reconcile my response was well you know if you don't reconcile you stand to lose a lot more than a citizenship you lose your Christlikeness of being a reconciler so if we can't do the basic things if we can't forgive and reconcile if we can't put things aside if we can't say well I understand why it happened maybe there's a justification maybe there's a reason maybe there's a purpose maybe it's an excuse and through that we forgive if we can't do that if we don't know how to do that if we don't try to do that then we lose some of what it is we are meant to give Matthew 547 if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others Matthew 5:44 45 love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you all of these things we all go through competitive times in our lives and sometimes because we go through competition or comparison we can't let go of it if we're defeated we feel like it's it's a it's a loss to smear it's an attack on my integrity and so I can't let it go so how important is what I think I've lost to me is my pride that important that I would be willing to not forgive and therefore not reconcile and therefore not be called the son or daughter of God is that what it's worth is that what we we need to do that's why our Lord goes a little further and sister love your enemy love your enemy and sin Maximus the Confessor explains this in he says when our Lord says love your enemy it's not just so you can forgive them you can say but so that he may free you from hatred sadness anger grudges these things that might poison us because if we're filled with these things then we can't fill ourselves with the good things of love and forgiveness and graciousness we become consumed that's what we see and God knows over the past years we've seen so much hatred and anger political parties individuals candidates campaigners and you get so drawn into it and so riled up that you forget we forget that our Lord loved those who hated him and even those who crucified Him don't forget that the greatest time to shine comes when there is the greatest darkness so the greatest time to forgive as when you feel that you have been wronged in the most and let's assume you've been wrongly you've been wronged someone has insulted you someone who's been competitive and beaten you surely that's the time to forgive how how and why would I figure if I have nothing to forgive so unless I can do that what image am i presenting to the world why am I here some pole goes into great detail about how we are ambassadors for Christ an ambassador represents an ambassador stands for an ambassador steps up so if you are and I are ambassadors for Christ's surely would be we should be acting in a christ-like way all the time now I say all the time because we will get it wrong sometimes of course we're not perfect when we do get it wrong that's where repentance and confession come in that's where holding yourself to account or having those around you hold you to account comes in that's where all of these things start to play a role there's checks and balances those safeguards those boundaries because then in the midst of that I can still make a mistake I can still be at salt I can still be that light I can still be transformative there's a lot of transformation needed transformation of darkness to light and hopelessness to hopefulness death to life a sense of loss or the presence of faith all of these things and that's why we're here that's the difference you and I can make when people see you at work in the morning what do they see do they see someone who is just as anxious and hopeless as everybody else well that surely is not helpful what they should be seeing is someone who looks at everything that is around us and then says but you know it's okay it's okay because I know I know where I am I know what I stand for I know what I need I know what the world needs of me it needs of me to be that presence of Christ it needs of me to be his light and the only way I can do that is by giving myself completely to him and you know we say words like completely and totally and always and I know I'm raising the bar but as we know the higher you raised above the high you reach up if the bar is down here then we're likely to hit this but if the bar is up here even if you're short we're still reaching up so yes we are always called to be transformative we're always called to be his image in his likeness you shall love the Lord with all your heart all your soul and with all your mind all now if all turns into 80 percent 70 percent 60 percent that's better than going 50 percent in the up of 10 but that's it we're called to all two absolutes as much as we can because if we go for this if we love God with all our heart soul and mind then surely that is what allows us to transform the world around us that says to us nothing can overcome you nothing get in your way nothing stops you nothing becomes an obstacle that is too high for us if ever we find an obstacle we realized that it is God who comforts us and allows us and empowers us and I know that sounds idealistic and theoretical but as Christians we have to aim for ideals it's not a bad thing it's not a condemnation to aim for ideals is right look at the disciples they aimed for ideals they were well well short of perfection but the ideals that they aimed for led to the Holy Spirit empowering them and then going out and preaching and speaking and changing the world on that day of Pentecost everyone who's there to celebrate the Feast suddenly saw these men come out of the room where they were hiding and start to speak and speak with power and speak with authority and some Peter who was the illiterate fisherman who was rash no spontaneous and cut off an ear who denied all of that he was transformed into someone who spoke spoke and through those words changed the lives of at least three sound three thousand people that day as well as everyone he touched throughout his life in his ministry so if we go back to where we started we realized that we have a purpose in this world don't let things that go on and things that will continue to go on beyond our lifetime don't let those things change us there will always be uncertainty there will always be war there will always be rific injustice what we can do is try to help alleviate that to speak the truth and to help those who come by our way to love and to forgive and to reconcile but don't ever let the darkness of the world put out the light that is in you that is meant to break that darkness and glory be to God for

Channel: Archbishop Angaelos

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Keywords: HG Bishop Angaelos, Bishop Angaelos, Coptic, Grapevine, Grapevine Fellowship Meeting, Anxiety, Hope, Fear, Sovereignty of God, Jesus Christ, Christianity

Id: EUgrx13Mr00

Length: 29min 22sec (1762 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 11 2016