What You Don't Know Can Kill You!

hey i want to welcome you to our time together today we're going to talk about what you don't know can kill you we're going to we're going to get into that we're gonna give people just a a little bit of time to jump in here with us we got a lot of people who are gonna be joining us from around the country and uh they're filling up the first few rows quickly what i can see by the way while we're waiting for everybody to get in here uh be great to hear a little bit about where you're from if you wouldn't mind putting that into the chat and we can get a little idea of where everybody is from here i know we have people all over the united states but we have people also from all over the world in fact i think we have people from europe joining us too i was just over there last week i was in switzerland france germany and netherlands and met up with a lot of wonderful people uh i was in a church called trier in the city of trier in germany where the bones of saint matthias are and what's interesting is that just a mile or so from that magnificent church in trier is a big statue of karl marx because that's where he's from so i thought this is a great juxtaposition in that little city in germany so yeah go ahead tell me where you are from and uh lots of people very good anna got a lot of annes barbara good to see you connie coming in lisa louise nancy peggy paul hey rob robert more and more vicky virginia thanks for joining joining me today we got a lot of callers calling in that's good jenny's with us and christine linda very good people still coming in don't push while you're coming in very good all right waiting a little bit longer here well i have a feeling that the title of this this uh webinar might have caught your attention what you don't know can kill you and uh and that is the truth and we're going to talk a little bit about that i do want to welcome you you're in my office now and uh this is where i study and this is where i'm able to produce the shows that we do with ascension press every week it's such a delight to do that got a great team and i just want to say thank you too because i noticed by a lot of the names here i noticed some of the names i i know you from bible study and you have been involved in the great adventure bible studies throughout the years and bible in a year have you heard of that bible in a year if not check it out but uh thank you for the work that you've done you know at ascension press we've got an awful lot of people working and people like myself and father mike schmitz uh we're working hard as well but without you in the local parish working with us and putting on bible studies and so forth our stuff sits in the warehouse doesn't get used so thank you for for uh for doing that okay so we're going to talk today and if you do have questions by the way i'm going to talk for about oh maybe a little over half an hour or so about this topic and if you have questions uh i encourage you to put those questions uh into the into the chat and we have a team behind the scenes that's putting together uh you know collating those questions so that i can answer some of those coming up in just a little bit all right okay let's begin with prayer shall we in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen lord jesus i thank you today for giving us life and i thank you lord for paying the ultimate price for us so that we would be with you in heaven that we would be able to spend eternity worshiping you and serving you and and sharing this incredible friendship with you i thank you lord for leading and guiding us here today and i pray that what is shared will will result in life and that if there are questions that people have about about sin about those things that may may hurt them may kill them and they're not aware of it lord open that up so that we might understand that more clearly in jesus name amen name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen well we're going to talk today about what you don't know can uh kill you and uh i think that actually caught a lot of people's attention because you know the number one fear that we have in life is the fear of death and that's re you know right behind that i think is lalaphobia lalia phobia is the fear of standing up and speaking in front of a crowd and then i think third or fourth is the fear of snakes which fits perfectly into what we're going to talk about today the fear of snakes the fear of snakes and how that how that uh fits into what you don't know can kill you you know the things that can kill us a lot of things are pretty obvious you know if you stand in front of a car going down the highway there's a good chance that you're you could get killed if you jump off of a building there's a good chance that you could be killed if you drink poison there's a good chance you could be you could be killed uh you could die but there's a lot of situations in life that uh are very deadly but you don't have a clue you don't have a clue what is right around the corner for example and i've got some notes i'm going to be referring to here with you today i did my prep everyone is familiar with uh tv commercials about blood pressure for example and uh people are walking around with very high blood pressure but there's no evidence there's no feeling nothing but they call it what they call it the silent killer it's the silent killer they didn't know they had high blood pressure but one day they fell over they had a stroke whatever it might be there's another one a silent killer that men worry about a lot i think men and women both do but men fear what is called the widow-maker and the widow-maker is when their arteries are clogged particularly the left anterior descending artery and all sudden boom they have a heart attack it was called the widow maker they didn't know the thing was wrong but all of a sudden they died and so what they didn't know killed them both in the area of high blood pressure or the the widow the widow maker and many people also set out on in adventures you know if it's um if it's out in the desert for example in arizona or california and they're going to go on a hiking trip they have no clue that just around just around the corner there is a rattlesnake or they're going to go into the jungle and they have absolutely no idea that a black mamba is right around the corner and so what they don't know could kill them if they are not if they're not careful so what they didn't know would kill them and uh and they they didn't know it was there they didn't sense it was there they couldn't feel it they couldn't taste it nothing and suddenly boom they died but there is another silent killer in our lives today and you can see the manifestation of it around the world and that is sin and when we talk about a silent killer there it means that there is original sin in everybody due to the fall of adam and eve and this original sin that we are all born with uh really does affect us it affects our our our judgment it affects the way we make decisions in our lives and if you don't know about it it can kill you in fact it will kill you let me read to you real quickly here uh what it says in james chapter 1 james talks a lot about very practical things and he says let no one say when he is tempted i am tempted by god for god cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death and so we want to start off today by identifying a silent killer in our life and that is original sin because original sin baked into our lives is this this this dynamic of death the end of sin is death whether people are aware of it or not and paul talks about this and it's similar to you know a snake in a way when we talk about the bite or we talk about the sting when he says in first corinthians 15 56 he says the sting of death the sting of death is sin the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law now maybe you knew that coming into this uh webinar right there and saying well that's not news to me but what i want to do is to is to develop this further to talk about uh to talk about the nature of sin how does it operate how will it try to fool you and get you to a point where you're not paying attention anymore and that can kill you especially if you get into serious sin or what the catechism calls grave sin that will kill you for sure that will kill you so um like a poisonous snake sin comes in a variety of ways and uh paul said to the romans in chapter 3 and verse 23 uh he says since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god so this is something that every single one of us has been affected by that is original sin and then complicating that the sin that we may commit in our daily life whether it's sin of commission or the sin of of omission but one of the things that i want to really get across to you which which i cannot say you know i i cannot stress enough how serious sin is and sin is so different than a mistake we all makes make mistakes people don't go to hell or die spiritually because of a mistake necessarily but sin will do it every single time now one of the um one of my favorite writers on this issue of sin and what you don't know can kill you is john paul ii the saint john paul ii the great and i had the the privilege of covering him on ewtn i had the privilege of meeting him a year before he passed away he was my hero and he has a book on reconciliation in penance a small little booklet that i would really recommend that you get and he has so many beautiful things in there uh revealing the seriousness of this problem with sin and how it can fool us and get us into a place where we don't realize we are affected by it and we can die from it but sin affects the soul instead of the intellect guiding the will by the light of truth the intellect once we have original sin once original sin came in the intellect is darkened and the will is weakened and so we we we consider this this situation that we're in after the fall to be the situation that's described as concupiscence big fancy word concupiscence which literally means kind of a disordered self-centeredness in our lives and the intellect is darkened and the will is weakened before the fall of adam and eve before the original sin came in we would drive through a uh mcdonald's line and the lady would say you want to biggie size it and we'd say well you know the the intellect says no that's not a smart thing to do really and the will says i'm game let's not do it let's not do it but but then after the fall suddenly now do you want to biggie size it and the intellect says well that's probably not a good idea and the will says yeah but it's friday thank god it's friday let's do it biggie sighs it so everything is backward now and we are compromised at this point now listen to what john paul ii says about this silent killer the silent killer called sin and what happens in our souls if we don't wake up and deal with it in our lives if we don't recognize that black mamba before us if we don't recognize that spiritual high blood pressure if we don't recognize that that spiritual widow killer right here's what he says he says sin is a product of man's freedom and sin does not acknowledge god's sovereignty that's what sin is it's a product of man's freedom we've got this freedom to choice to choose and adam and eve chose themselves and they chose the creation rather than the creator now he goes on and he says that sin is not merely to deny god you know to say uh i'm just gonna deny god he says sin is also to live your life as though god didn't exist and this is part of this silent killer the things we don't know can kill us to where we can think in our head i believe in god i think there is a god um and i would argue that there's a god but in my everyday life i live my life as though he doesn't exist it's like someone saying high blood pressure can kill you i believe it i'll sign off on it i've seen documentaries on it but i don't live my life as though that's the truth and so you can fall over dead from high blood pressure or a clog in your artery you can believe all those things but live as though that isn't really the truth and that can happen in our life with god where we believe in god and believe that he exists but the truth of the matter is if you followed me around for a week you'd say i don't think you really believe this about sin do you so he goes on also and says that as a rupture with god sin is an act of disobedience now listen to what he says here because this is so powerful he said that sin is an act of disobedience by a creature who rejects at least implicitly the very one from whom he came and who sustains him in life that's why it's a killer because we reject the one who sustains us in life it is therefore get this a suicidal act so when we talk about sin and those things that we don't know can kill us john paul ii says that that sin is actually a suicidal act you think i would never do that of course you wouldn't of course you wouldn't i wouldn't do it either but that goes into the whole area of the things that i i didn't know can kill me i didn't realize this could kill me he goes on and says since by sinning man refuses to submit to god his internal balance is also destroyed and it is precisely within himself that contradictions and conflicts arise and when you say that that is really true in your own life from time to time where you think to yourself you know what man i don't know why i do what i do i can't figure myself out and i i i wish i could figure myself out well welcome to the club you know paul said the same thing he said the things i don't want to do i do and the things i do i don't want to do oh my gosh who's going to deliver me from this body of death thanks be to the lord jesus christ which that's what we're going to get to the power of the word of god the power of the holy spirit the power of walking with jesus can open up our eyes to those things that can kill us that we're not aware of right now so it's good news up ahead so the sensitivity to sin is something that we need to talk about here now if you went out into the jungle and there's a black mamba out there wouldn't it be nice if you could somehow sense that that black mamba is there rattlesnake little different you can sense that a rattlesnake is out there and you can hear that that rattle and that should put some fear in you right there black mamba not not so much and you certainly can't hear the high blood pressure or the clogged artery but by hearing the gospel the church teaches us you gain a sensitivity to sin so the more you get into the word of god which i'm going to get into here in just a little bit i've got my great adventure bible i hope you have your great adventure bible oh by the way they have them in uh large print now for those of you who are over 30 50 70. but the word of god is going to play a very important role in making us sensitive to the things that that can kill us right now you might say well i think i'm pretty sensitive to some of the big you know the big ticket items that could kill me you know murder adultery and bearing false witness and and so forth but there is a lot about sin and how wily the enemy is and how clever sin is read c.s lewis's book the screw tape letters and you get kind of an idea very clever and if we think we're more clever than the enemy then we're kind of playing into his game but if we can become more sensitive to sin more sensitive to those things that are going to that have the potential of killing us then that's a good thing so by hearing the gospel you gain a sensitivity to sin the sense is rooted in man's moral conscience and it is as it were it's it's a thermometer so the more you get into the word of god the more you dig into the word of god the more you meditate on the word of god the more you read it and do lectio divina the more you understand the teachings of jesus that thermometer inside of you becomes more and more sensitive to the things and the opportunities down the road that can kill you that's why the bible is so important that's why bible in a year is so important that's why catechism in a year is going to be so important because because we're facing a battle guys in the world today we're facing a serious battle and it's for lives and the end of sin is death i want to be as sensitive as i possibly can to those things that can kill me when the conscience is weakened the sense of god is also obscured and as a result with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference the sense of sin is lost it's lost in fact pope paul vi said or pope pius xii rather pope pope pius xii said the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin and this is where it becomes dangerous it becomes deadly so what you should understand is that sin is stalking sin wants to destroy you so what do we do what's our response to sin in our in our life if we know that that this action or this word or some aspect of sin can kill us what do we do what's our response to that if we if you knew for example when you buy a home these days you've got to get that home checked out for what well for structural damage and so forth but also something that you can't see can't smell can't touch but will kill you radon so you've got to get that you've got to get that checked out and if you find out there's high radon levels in that house that you're going to buy you got to respond you got to do something about it you can't say yes there's high radon levels in that house i'm going to buy but i'm going and i believe it but i'm going to live my life as though it's all right that's the killer right there so what should you do well paul told timothy in second timothy 2 2 2 that's a good one to remember just remember 2 2 timothy 2 22 paul told timothy to flee from youthful lusts one of the things we do when we see the black mamba get out get out of there you got a clogged artery get surgery right high blood pressure see the doctor flee flee from youthful desires so shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness faith love peace along with those who call upon the lord from a pure heart you flee father groschell was a good friend of mine of course he's passed on he's he's gained his reward with the lord but we did a lot of conferences together in a lot of shows at ewtn and i wrote him one time and i said father what do you do i mean you've got this unusual habit you you look unusual you know as a franciscan priest what do you do when you travel and you go to a hotel room and you know if you travel you know what i'm talking about you go to a hotel room you're isolated you're alone with that television what do you do there's all kinds of things that are that are offered to you which what you don't know though can kill you can kill you and the trap that you get into can kill you i said to him what do you do to deal with that on the road and he said to me he says well i'll tell you what i do it was so funny he said i'll tell you what i do when i go to check in at the front desk uh i introduce myself i'm i'm a father groschel i have a show on ewtn let me ask you a question yeah you got pornography in these rooms and the lady at the front desk says uh yes you do okay can you turn it off from up here at the front desk yeah we can't would you turn it off please and then he said to me he said he said it's a heck of a lot harder to call him up and say turn it back on in other words he's fleeing youthful lusts you know even though he was quite old lean lust do something about it and if we fail and we sin we must repent and we must go to confession and do penance but what happens if we don't repent if we know that something can kill us and we live our lives as though it doesn't matter and we start to feel the results of this death in our lives in our life getting more and more complicated what happens a habit forms now listen to this what i'm about to share with you in the next few minutes is very very important and again if you have questions go ahead and um and put those questions you know in the in the chat we'll get to those in just in just a bit but this is really important what i'm going to share with you if people are caught up in pornography if people are caught up in illicit relationships if people are caught up in money laundering you name it we can go on and on with a you know a whole a whole menu of of sins people seem to think that if they get caught god is punishing them but it isn't that way at all at all the punishment is not getting caught getting caught at a sin let's say that that maybe you have a problem with pornography and you are watching pornography in secret well first of all john paul ii second says there is no sin that's so secret that it's only you that's affected the whole body of christ is affected like dropping a a pebble into the water and it hits all the all the shores but let's say your your wife walks in and she catches you two o'clock in the morning she catches you the jig is up you think okay i'm being punished now no when you're caught that's mercy that's mercy because being caught in sin which is that which will kill you that is like a flare being shot up and shows you who you really are in the midst of the darkness you get an opportunity to see who you are that's god's mercy that's god's mercy punishment on the other hand is the attraction the sin exercises upon you this is the tough mess this is part of the the tough message that paul brings us uh in other words the punishment becomes the pleasure we experience resulting in a desire for more and ultimately addiction and we are caught this is what is so deadly and so wily about about sin you know sin is a trap a trap is designed to not look like a trap and a sin is designed to be stronger than the one it's intended for if i want to trap you i'm not going to make it look like a trap and i'm going to make sure that that trap is stronger than you are that's the nature of sin and what happens in our lives so as it's you know suddenly everything is backward evil becomes good and it's our good and and uh the good becomes bad it's uh you know the man who has a relationship out of marriage and he feels like well this is so good and this feels so right everything is backward at this point sin has its teeth in you isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20 says woe to those who call evil good and good evil eventually god removes your restraints and turns you over to your passions and it's right here in romans chapter 1 and verse 24 through 28 therefore god gave them up to the lusts of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about god for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen for this reason god gave them up to dishonorable passions their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error and since they did not see fit to acknowledge god god gave them up to a base mind into improper conduct so you say he's saying god will stop loving me no he won't stop loving you but there is a time when his hands are removed where where you have kind of gone beyond a point that is very hard to get back from and that's a warning you know if i was uh to talk to you today about well sin is so easy to conquer you know well all the self-help books wouldn't even be necessary out there but the truth is is that getting caught is mercy the punishment is the attraction to it to where it becomes a habit and the bad becomes good and the good becomes bad and you're trapped that's a tough place to be but the lord can still bring you out of of that so god shows mercy in the midst of our addictions car wreck lost job wife discovering you with your pornography all these things can be mercy they can be mercy i remember talking to one guy was had a real problem with drugs and alcohol he got into an accident and he became a quadriplegic head neck down totally paralyzed you know what he told me he said jeff the night i got the night i got into that accident was the best thing that ever happened to me in my life he said i was so lost i had nothing would have changed my mind but god in his mercy stopped me so i could see what was really going on in my life i hope that doesn't happen in your life so now getting getting you know around to the the answer to this this is where the bible comes in handy this is where the bible i shouldn't say handy that sounds kind of weak this is where the bible is necessary because it's the word of god and god reveals himself in words and these deeds and he's telling us who he is and he's also telling us who we are and how to live in a right relationship with him and if we were to sin what do we do how do we deal with this the bible is nothing less than a life-saving emergency kit for people who are struggling with sin and even those who aren't aware of how serious it is and it'll kill you the word of god can make you sensitive to sin more and more so if you feel today my friend that that i am so insensitive in my life that it scares me i'm so insensitive to sin i can i can just do anything i i want i can go to confession i even plan my sin around my confession yeah you're you're in a tough situation get into the word of god the word of god will make you more and more sensitive to to sin and will continually give you the answer concerning repentance and turning your heart around very very important as i was preparing for this i was actually thinking to myself that that there are people listening right now to this whether it's live or you're listening or watching on uh on a playback that your life is on the line your life is on the line you have spiritual high blood pressure and you didn't know it you didn't know it and you need to turn it around and god is giving you this opportunity to do that now we there's a need for several things uh one when we read the bible we're going to discover the need for humility the need for humility uh proverbs 16 18 says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall if you're going to fall there's usually going to be a prideful haughty spirit before before that fall ah this is this is nothing i can whip this and it's not as big of a deal as people think and all sudden boom like a sinkhole in your soul there's a need for insight and we get that from the scriptures uh there's a need for insight psalm 119 105 says thy word is a lamp to my feet in a light to my path listen if i if i set you out on a path we'll call it life and i told you that there were black mambas up there about 400 yards there was rattlers on the left over there and there was uh someone else over up ahead that can do some serious damage and that there is uh uh quicksand up on the left about a mile or so and it's dark out wouldn't you like a light yeah and that's what the scripture does the scripture is like turning two big high beams on right in front of you and it shows you what you are walking into you leave the high beams off and you put it well away know what happens when you walk in the dark right you're gonna be tripping and running into things you didn't intend to run into i like what saint jerome says he says ignorance of scripture is ignorance of christ and what you need when trapped by sin or to become more sensitive to sin is you need you need uh scripture in in your life there's also not only a need for humility to need for insight but a need for a model and jesus is the model and the more you get to know him and become a disciple of jesus the the more you're going to be equipped to deal with the temptations in life and the sin in your life and i'd add to that that models are also the saints the saints were given to us as models of the faith they're warriors they're uh they're successful read their work learn from them and uh don't walk in the darkness there's also a need for wisdom you know we got humility insight a model wisdom uh proverbs 9 10 says fear of the lord is the foundation of wisdom and we certainly need power and if you've been confirmed if you've been baptized yay you have dealt with original sin in your life and that's how original sin is dealt with you must come to god and you must be baptized and become one with jesus and he died for that original sin that's if you have not been baptized you have not come to christ this is this is your webinar and that i'm calling you to repent and come to christ say i don't know exactly how call up your local church call up uh call up your local catholic church and say to them i want to become a member of god's household i want to be baptized myself and then the second part of that is confirmation where you are filled with the holy spirit which is the power to walk this walk and to deal with sin in your in your life now i came across two days ago a scripture with my wife my wife and i do devotions every morning we spend we spend a good hour and a half every morning just reading scripture and praying and talking to each other about this and so i got i got a wonderful um covenant partner and we ran across sirach 5 5 which said of forgiveness of forgiveness be not over confident adding sin upon sin oh that one's worth putting on an index card right there of forgiveness don't be over confident don't be over confident and put you know add sin upon sin like the person that says you know i i'll be okay if i can get to confession you really want to gamble you're is that what your life is worth to gamble on on your soul kill you it'll kill you so and let me let me share this and i'll get ready to wrap this up i'm going to take some of your questions here but we've got a lot of people joining us this is fantastic i know there's going to be a lot more going to be joining us uh when we play this back uh i want to remind you of one of the virtues that will will help you in this issue of uh that which you don't know will will kill you sin uh the the the virtue is called prudence and the prudence is called the charioteer of the virtues and paragraph 1806 in the catechism says prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it the prudent man looks where he is going keep sane and sober for your prayers prudence is right reason in action right saint thomas aquinas following aristotle it is called the charioteer of the virtues it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure the prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment with the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve in the evil to avoid prudence prudence live a prudent life you know where you want to end up in heaven right come back to today make prudent decisions wise decisions don't believe in god and act as though he doesn't exist it can kill you it can kill you and then just one couple more things catechism verse paragraph 51 it pleased god in his goodness and wisdom to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will his will was that men should have access to the father through christ the word made flesh in the holy spirit and thus become shares in the divine nature so wisdom is connected to access to the father and sharing in his nature and that's what you are called to you're not called to share in the nature of this world the nature of animals the nature of the enemy lucifer satan but you're called to share in the nature of your heavenly father and you have wisdom now in scripture teachings of the church and now you have to live a a vigilant life tenacity eyes wide open purposeful life and and that's how you're going to become successful you see jesus has taken the poison i mentioned earlier that paul said that the sting of death or the the sting of death is sin that's the poison that's been injected into humanity jesus has taken the sting he has taken the poison and suffered the penalty of sin he suffered the penalty of sin which is death and he took the bite and the sting and paul says sting has been taken care of so i want to encourage you today uh to um to take take some time today and really think about this and and to be honest with yourself and sin in your life and and purpose not to play with it and uh and and not to acknowledge that there's a god but then to go on as if he he didn't exist because that's where you really get it that's where you are taking advantage of and and that's where you can fall into uh traps and habits that are harder to get out of later so the things you don't know certainly can kill you but if you know if you know then you can avoid and you've got the power to do so in baptism and confirmation so we're going to run to some of your questions here oh you've got some really good ones here's a good one how can we know if someone is sinful is there a list of sins that is more specific and comprehensive than the ten commandments yes there is and i will sell no i'm no i don't have a list but i can tell you this that the ten commandments is certainly a good place uh it's a it's a it's a very good place to begin is with the the ten commandments broadly speaking we would say that that sin is when we reject god and we pursue our own avenues if you look at the nature of sin back in the garden of eden uh god said uh that they could eat freely of any tree of the garden but the the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they cannot eat of it unless they die and the enemy comes in and says did god say you can't eat of the tree eve says we can't eat of it we can't even touch it thus we die and the enemy says that's not true god knows that if the day when you touch it you're gonna be like him don't you get it eve he doesn't want you to be like him he's he's holding back he's holding back and and so what happens is in chapter 3 in verse six she looks at the tree and how does it describe the tree it doesn't say it had adultery and bank robbery and murder all you know like a christmas tree or a church where you pull something down to buy nothing like that she describes it as it's good for the taste and beautiful for the eyes and makes one wise not too bad right and so she took it and she ate and gave it to her husband and that's when the original sin and this poison entered and men and women began to die people are shocked in the bible oh i don't know how they live 700 and some years that just seems kind of i don't know about that well you're shocked at the wrong thing you're shocked that people are living a long time you need to be shocked that they're dying that's where the shock that's where the shock should be my word they're dying and so what happened with adam and eve is that they chose the creation that which is created by god over the creator god and this can happen in your life too so if you want a list of sins then you can you can start to list in your own life the areas where you have rejected god and you have made the creation an idol you know in in your life saint augustine said that all sin is really an attempt to be happy and you can become happy by either obeying god or you can reject god you can go after yourself bank robbery what's wrong with bank robbery well it's it's against the law the other just trying to be happy yeah but it's causing destruction in society and lives can be lost dreams can be burned and so but i was trying to be happy yes we understand now you're gonna have to be happy in jail so you can come up with a list in your own life starting in your own life of are there ways in my life that i have rejected god are there ways that i'm living my life as though he didn't exist am i filled with pride have i rejected god as my father and uh and you can come up with your own list now natural law that's with inside inside of us it does a pretty good job of letting us know what is wrong murder and adultery and so forth um but i would start with the ten the ten commandments um here's another good one and amen to this after confession i feel so she says so good or he after confession i feel so good but i am always discouraged as to how quickly i fall back to a repetitive sin how do we keep the grace given for a longer time after confession so instead of one or two days you want to bring three or four days so now i get what you i get what you're saying what you're saying there is that a discouragement can come in because you're aware of the sin in your life whatever it might be and you go to confession and you you pour your heart out you pour your heart out and and then a week later you're right back there with that same list or that same item and it's discouraging to you and then so you go to confession again and then the same thing happens i i don't know your situation you know completely obviously but what i would do is to encourage you to take a look at your penance your your sense of contrition is what the church calls this um a good confession uh in a good confession it's implied that there is good contrition you know your sin you can even name the number and everything everywhere you were whatever it might be things you said but the contrition is that sorrow for the sin and what this has cost god and that's one thing you need to look at is that your sin it didn't just come your forgiveness didn't just come free like god says that's not a problem i forgive you i forgive you this was this was incredibly costly god gave his only begotten son for you and jesus died for you he loved you so much that he died for you this is not cheap this is not cheap grace this was incredibly expensive the most expensive thing in the history of the universe was the blood of jesus being shed for you and a good contrition will face that face to face will come to face to face with this reality of oh my gosh what has my sin done that is my sin is part of the reason that he's on that cross he died for me and so i think that a good contrition of just how serious this is when you go into it you you can't consider going to confession as fire insurance that oh i'm glad i got to go to confession you know and you know i got that taken care of i'm i'm good to go for two or three days until i lose track of where i'm at again you know and uh and if i do remember what it said in sirach five five don't don't take lightly forgiveness don't heap sin upon sin because you're thinking well he's going to forgive me there may be a day where it's your last day you couldn't have guessed it but for people all around the world right now today is the last day they don't know it you know jesus talks about that story of the man who was very wealthy very well to do and he said what am i going to do she says i'm going to tear down my barns and build bigger ones so i can fill it with all the things that i have have gained and will gain and i'm going to eat drink and be merry and jesus said you oh today today your life will be required of you and so you know what i would say to to you and to you know and remind myself as well this isn't a lecture for you this is a reminder for all of us don't gamble do not gamble eternal life is so valuable it's so valuable and if you miss it like the five virgins who didn't have enough oil and they went begging to the five virgins who who had oil to prepare for the coming of the king the bride bridegroom if you are not in a state of grace you're lost forever ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and there is nothing in this earth worth gambling for that that treasure of eternal life i think that we i think that sometimes we don't we don't uh we don't recognize the value of eternal life there's so much around us that's so good and shiny things and got food and got everything you know and nice homes and stuff and you know you got netflix what else do you need and in and we think to ourselves you know life is good eternal life is better and eternal life is the one thing that's on the line here for us eternity dependent on how we live our life don't do it don't do it my brother don't gamble don't gamble throw yourself down before the lord you have to do it every day do it every day throw yourself down before the lord and beg and say lord i have sinned lord help me help my heart to hate this so that i can serve you and love you and make those those good decisions uh deborah writes what is uh the title of the reference to john paul ii writing on sin good question he has um i should have brought it out here uh what he what that uh booklets called reconciliation and penance reconciliation in penance it's a small looks like a you know a little um small little booklet daughters uh um trying to think of who sells that but you can go on google and you can find it reconciliation and penance john paul ii joseph writes if solomon was the wisest of all i know where this one's going to go if solomon was the wisest of all people what was he missing the most and what should he have asked god for in place or in addition to that virtue of wisdom because he fell short of being a good person humility they suggest humility that joseph that is such a good question and every year you know when the litany of the saints is read an easter vigil solomon didn't end well if you read kings you know if you read uh kings first kings 11 and 12 he did not end well at all and yet he's in the litany of the saints and so i'm thinking wow the grace of god that's amazing isn't it that's that's amazing so you're right uh god gave solomon a choice uh he said um you know do you want the power and the riches and so forth what do you want and uh and solomon said i want wisdom to lead i want wisdom to lead and so god gave him everything you know at that point but i think that solomon is a cautionary tale for all of us in that he was the wisest man in the world he was the great builder of the old testament jesus is greater than solomon the new testament he is wisdom he is the master builder but solomon had this incredible wisdom and yet at some point he did not walk in that wisdom and the scripture seemed to point to the relationship that he had with his wives he had 600 wives and 300 concubines 700 wives 300 concubines and in the scripture says that his foreign wives had a part in turning his heart against god and allowing the gods of the canaanites to to reign in some areas and around jerusalem and uh allowed other places to to build monuments to these to these uh these foreign these false gods and uh and he fell he fell so you know you say what more could god have given him well god isn't going to force you to do something everybody has a free will and they can choose to walk in that wisdom or not and he didn't he did not so that's uh that's a cautionary tale right there but the church is filled with people who are wise who did not choose to walk in that wisdom at one time or another and to one degree to one degree to another all of us could probably say that you know that we we didn't walk in a wise way we made a bad decision that wasn't just a mistake it was sin in our life kathleen writes i completed the bible in a year yay what would you recommend i do next before catechism in a year well kathleen congratulations number one for finishing bible in a year that's great because for some people it's bible in a year and a half and for others it's bible in two years meaning that they're taking a year and a half or two years to go through it which is fine um and that's that's that puts you in kind of an elite group you know you have read the bible you've listened to the bible not just the whole bible but you listen to it as a complete narrative in chronological order that was the special thing about this is that you were hearing god's amazing story of sure goodness his plan of sure goodness as it would really make sense you know the prophets speak where they're supposed to speak and so forth and i guess you're asking well what would you recommend before catechism in a year i have a great recommendation uh essentia in the last number of years i put together two studies with ascension press one is called unlocking the mystery of the bible and unlocking the mystery of the bible i took the entire salvation history in the bible timeline chart front and back and we take the entire bible divided up into 12 color-coded periods and then i i show you out of the 73 books i show you the 14 books that are narrative in approach in other words they keep the story moving and then i show you the 59 books and where they fall into these 12 periods and the 14 narrative books and i also show you on the chart every person and every major event right there on the chart well there's two ways of going through that one is a short way that's unlocking the mystery of the bible and that is um i think it's eight half-hour sessions to go through the whole bible together and you'll get it you'll get the basic story but that's just the beginning just like bible in a year is really just the beginning and then uh there's a bigger one 24 hours through the entire bible and that's the great adventure that's the great adventure so you've got the great adventure bible timeline chart you got unlocking the mystery which is the uh the short one unlocking the mystery of the bible the great adventure bible timeline study that's the big one that's 24 hours together through the entire bible with a great workbook and leadership training for your church you can do it alone you can do it with your best friends you can do it in your church and ascension press has an uh uh unparalleled uh text system uh set up to where you individually or your church or your group can go through that together at your own pace so that is super cool ben i wish my parish had a bible study i could go to but it doesn't how do we get one started ben i get that question an awful lot from people where they say they feel alone usually loneliness goes with it where i feel alone in uh and our parish doesn't have a study or it's too small what i would suggest there is ben you started say well what are me i don't know how to start a bible study that's where we can come in and help ascension press has an entire team of people who all they do is help bends around the world they help bends and kathleens around the world to start bible studies at their church and or in their small group maybe it's your apartment you have four friends that you guys get together and you're going to do it or you're a sports team and you do it together or you do it individually we've got people standing by and we'll put that information hopefully in the in the webinar notes here for you but the reason i say you ben is because you're thinking of it you're there who else is going to do it you're the man you're a dumb man do it and we'll help you we'll be there with you and the type of studies that unlocking the mystery is and the other a longer one it is self-contained we will help you get through it it's not dependent upon your brilliance even though i have a feeling you are brilliant then just a few more questions carol can you address the scandal of clergy sexual abuse and abuse of power no next quest yeah can i address it yes i can address it can i explain it not completely uh can i address it yes uh all throughout salvation history all the way from the beginning of the bible to the end of the bible we've got men and women characters who are a part of the narrative and part of the covenant family of god who made poor decisions and some were in very um [Music] somewhere in in very high positions and uh this is not a new thing in in human nature uh it's not a new thing in the church and it's not a new thing in government the shocking thing is that we should know better and we have the word of god and we have wisdom but it shows you the battle that we are in in that there are people who we're not aware of the thing we're talking about here what you don't know can kill you there are people in positions that didn't realize this would end in death this would end in disaster this would be horrible but they were blind and sin caught them the viper bit the the the um widowmaker took place the blood pressure caught up the spiritual high blood pressure uh the radon suddenly was was there we saw it so um it's it's people making poor decisions and choosing to reject god and to be god and to make those decisions for their own happiness and what they could get and it ended up in a disaster it doesn't compromise the truth that we've been given by jesus and handed down through the years by the bishops and the holy father but it shocks us and it should shock us and it should disturb us and it should cause us to pray more and more and what i would encourage you to do is to pray for your good priests and let them know how much you appreciate them because for them this is a heck of a battle to stand up with that collar and walk down through the mall by your neighborhood that takes some courage and just let them know i appreciate you being courageous in the midst of this uh robert what is purgatory can one be saved if they die in sin and go to purgatory uh purgatory is one of those things that uh we we don't know a lot about it in terms of uh people coming back and giving us a color commentary on that but the bible is clear in that nothing that is uh nothing unholy can be in the presence of god in heaven and so if we in our lives have sinned and there is the lack of a better word the residue of sin there are things in our life that still need to be dealt with in our lives to be purified and call this a purgation then there would be a process that we would go through before entering heaven which is typically called purgatory how long it is and how short it is is not it's not something that we you know really know or have measuring tools uh for that but there certainly is going to be this purgation and paul talks about it with the corinthians when he talks about how uh that which is gold silver and precious stone will make it woods hay and stubble not there's going to be this this uh this progression that takes place and you ask the question um if if people sin can one be saved if they die in sin and go to purgatory yes if you're in purgatory you're you're fine it might be a little bit of a rough ride but you uh you're going to be okay you know if you get into purgatory um but if it's grave matter meaning mortal sin the teaching that jesus gives us in the teaching the church is that a person who dies in mortal sin is gone is lost and uh if there is venial sin in our life venial sin is forgivable through the eucharist confession and that brings up another thing too and that is go to confess you say i don't have any grave matter no mortal sin great go to confession and and become strong become strong don't become flabby you know in in areas but if a person dies in mortal sin no they won't be going to purgatory they'll be going to hell and if a person does land in purgatory it is a purification to meet the bridegroom and that's a yes and we can pray for those in purgatory time for one last question what if a person is not aware that what he is doing is sinful is it still a sin yes it is still a sin it's still a sin and paul talks about this in chapter one when he talks about the different ways that we come to know god and he says that that that every person will be judged accordingly because people will always say well what about those pygmies in south america they never heard or saw a bible or didn't even know what a christian was and never heard the word of jesus which by the way i ran into someone the other day who had never heard the name jesus i did in europe and uh and they and they don't know god will judge rightly he will judge rightly but paul does say that if you look around us and the catechism talks about we can know something of god in creation in the human person and in reason and paul says we are without excuse so god will judge people and god only can judge that's way above my pay scale and your pay scale but uh yes uh yes he will well so wrapping this up i want to encourage you and i want to encourage you to um to take this to heart and pray about it and and uh you know look yourself in the spiritual mirror and ask yourself are there things in my life that that i that that i are going unattended that i'm i'm not addressing and i think i might be fooling myself and be honest about it don't let that silent killer get you don't do that address it go to confession name it for what it is if you're not sure go and find out you know be hungry for righteousness be hungry for righteousness be hungry for um for being right with god in in your life and when you go to confession you know own it own it that's why i say to men i said just own it stop being a own what you did and and say this is what i've done and and i confess this and i'm sorry god restore me restore me and give me a sensitivity to sin that i haven't had before and god will give that to you i hope this has i was gonna say i hope this is beneficial to you but i also would say in all seriousness i hope this has saved your life i hope this has saved your life because god is speaking through his word in the teachings of the church let's close in prayer in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit lord i thank you for my friends my my good friends who are with me here today and i thank you lord for their their desire for you and their hunger for you and they're here because they do want to know more about you and they want to know you not just about you lord i pray that you would meet them right where they're at right now and take them to that next level of their walk with you and that you would take their sincerity their heart felt reaching out to be made whole and pure to be holy and lead them lord in that next step i thank you lord for or releasing people from the bondage of sin i thank you for giving them wisdom in the face of sin i thank you for giving them humility and helping them to walk in humility so that they can truly cry out and know that they do not have in themselves what it takes i thank you for giving us jesus as the model i thank you for giving us mary our mother as an intercessor and an advocate for us lord we give you this webinar and ask that lives would be changed in jesus name amen name of the father and the son in the holy spirit amen well god bless you and uh keep uh keep tuned in to ascension press we're gonna have many more sessions like this not just with me but with many many other people it's gonna be a good place to check in and tweak your life god bless you

Channel: Ascension Press

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Length: 67min 56sec (4076 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 25 2022