ST. MARY’S CATHOLIC CHURCH – DUBAI

BIBLE FAITH SHARING

CONDUCTED BY: BR. HILARY Da VEIGA

HELD ON: 15th March 2005

SCRIPTURE QUOTE

MT 13:52

And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of this treasure what is new and what is old.”

1st CORINTHIANS

(Chapter 2:9-16)

The preacher told us a little story of an email he received:

A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to him that he went to church every Sunday, that he had done it for over 30 years now and in that time he would have heard something like 30,000 sermons but he can’t remember a single one of them. So he thought he was wasting his time and the preachers are wasting theirs too by giving their sermons. This led to a flow of “Letters to the Editor” as it caught the interest of others and it went on for some weeks until someone wrote “I have been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 60,000 meals. But I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I know this – that it did feed my body, they all nourished me and gave me the strength that I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead. Likewise, it does not matter whether you remember what was preached to you but it has strengthened your soul, nourished your spirit and kept you spiritually alive today.” Praise God for that. Alleluia.

The preacher advises that what he tells us tonight, we may not remember a word of it but is positive that God is going to speak to each one of us. Alleluia. God has a purpose in bringing us here. Some of you could have stopped coming for various reasons that you are feeling sleepy or tired. Many, who were here a long time ago and have gone to different parts of the world, still remember the Bible Study and the foundation that was given to them here and they remember it when they go through difficult times. Alleluia. Praise the Lord. We are here tonight because God has chosen us to be here. We are not here by chance.

1 Cor 2:9

But as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”

Friends, Brothers & Sisters in Christ Jesus, if you see what follows in Verse 10 in continuation of Verse 9, it is amazing: “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.” What did God reveal it to us through His Spirit? What human eyes cannot see, what human ears cannot hear, what human heart cannot understand but if you have the Spirit of God inside of you, you know something that the ordinary human beings do not know.

We can see something that human beings cannot see. Alleluia. That is what the preacher keeps telling us always, that your eyes and mind should not be on this world because if it is on this world you will see what the world sees but you have to see what the Spirit of God wants us to see and that is to be there in heaven.

Even if your eyes are shut, your ears are shut, you could still see and hear, you could still know that God has something better planned for you, something beautiful which no one can take away. Alleluia. Our bodies may waste away, we may get news from our loved ones that they are sick or are going through trials and tribulations but everything of this world has to waste away and vanish and will be gone into thin air. Dust you are and into dust you shall return but no one can hold your Spirit down there!

If, in the midst of all your trouble, you cannot praise God then your spirit is down. It is easy to praise God when all things go well in your life. When all things go well, everything is good, everybody is good with you, everyone can praise God with you but when you are going down, going through trials then like it happened to Job, it will happen to you! Your best friends will curse you, some may say it is because of some sin in your life, you must have done something wrong, and why did you do this or that. Mind you, in the midst of all the difficulties if you fix your eyes on Jesus and if you fix your eyes on heaven, what will happen? Only one thing will happen that will amaze everybody – How can this man still praise God when he is going through all this? That is what everybody will be asking. The reason is because we have a Living God, a Loving God who wants to prove to us that He will never leave us, He cannot forsake us. Amen.

If everything is going well and you are praising God, if you love only those who love you, what is your reward? You are not doing anything extraordinary. If you thank and praise God for the people who do good in your life you are not doing anything extraordinary, you have to do everything opposite of that. The world can praise God because God is blessing them and they are having a good time. But we know deep inside of us no matter what happens our God will never leave us or forsake us.

When Jesus was on that Cross, He knew precisely His Father would never leave Him but Jesus still cried out in a loud voice, (Aramic) “ELOI, ELOI, LEMA SABACHTHANI” which means “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME.” (Mark 15:34) Why did He say these words? If God says I will never leave you or forsake you, why did He say these words? He was carrying upon Himself your sins and mine. God and sin cannot go together. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was literally sweating blood not because He was going to suffer or He was gong to die that death but because He knew He would be separated from His Father whom He loved the most. Amen. That is exactly what it is. He suffered that separation for us so that we will never have to be separated from our Father in Heaven ever again. The Bible tells us the only thing that can separate us is our sin.

St. Paul is telling the Corinthians what eyes have not seen, what ears have not heard, what the human heart has not conceived, the Spirit of God reveals to us who love God. God loves us and it is we who have to love God, then we will not be worried about our problems or difficulties, we will just be praising Him in every situation. That is what He wants us to do. Alleluia.

1 Cor 2:10-11

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches every thing, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.

The Spirit searches all things. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God. Alleluia. We can proudly say we have received the Spirit of God. If we have received the Spirit of God we cannot go to hell, we cannot go anywhere else but we can only go back to where we came from. We came from heaven from where the Spirit of God is and we will only go back to heaven from where we came.

The Spirit of God is going to show us, is going to guide us and lead us, to guard us and teach us, to be with us in all our trials and difficulties. With the Spirit of God that is given to us we can only praise God even when we are in the dumps because Jesus did that and He taught us to do that.

We have received the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God. If we have received the spirit of the world we will be concerned about the things of the world. All of us want to have a good life, we want a comfortable life, we want our children to be well settled, we want enough money in the bank, we want a good home, and if God is choosing to give us these things, Praise be to God. Also if God chooses to give us something else, let us praise God.

We know the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus suffered in this world but he got his blessings in heaven. It is better to suffer here and have plentiful blessings in heaven. Do not be weary when troubles come into your life. The most important message in today’s lesson is if we have the Spirit of God we would not be sad. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Joy. God’s Spirit is given to us to keep us rejoicing all the time no matter what we are going through. Learn to praise God - that is the secret of Christianity. God may try you, God may send all the floods against you but He knows when to stop them as well. He knows how much you can endure. Do not be weary when there are difficult times. The Bible tells us he who endures to the end will be saved.

We may go through difficult times, but as long as we look for the Spirit of God which is within us and we do not look at the things of the world, it will pass away one day or another - all things will pass away. No one has taken a single cent or his best clothes to heaven and no one will. All the fame, the name, all the good positions that we have will all remain here and we must really believe in that God or we better start to believe in Him right now. Alleluia.

If we really believe in Him let us do what He tells us to do as spiritual people and not as people of this world. Alleluia. There is a difference between us and the people of this world – make sure there is a difference between you and the others. That difference can be seen by the smile, by the love that we to show to others, rather than the grumpy faces, complaining attitude, etc. We have to make others in the world see the difference and the Bible tells us in Jn 13:35 ‘By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.”

If you love one another – what does it mean? For a Christian, by this love shall men know we are His disciples if He is there in your heart or does He live somewhere else? Amen. Sometimes when we are in the church we act holy but if for eg. we are on the internet, we go to different sites and we chat and see and do things we ought not to. God can see everything and the person at the other end also knows that you are a Christian!

1 Cor:2:12-13

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

God is giving us so many gifts and one of the greatest things that God is freely giving us is the GRACE by which are sins can be washed away. Another thing God has given us is HIS SON AND HIS OWN PRECIOUS BLOOD. Amen. The Spirit has to speak to each one of us when we read or hear the Word of God. The Spirit has to be our Teacher.

1 Cor 2:14-15

Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.

A man without the Spirit of God cannot accept the things that you and I receive. If you want someone to know God, if someone has to know God, God’s Spirit has to come first and then what you speak will make sense, they will understand, they will be able to see the spiritual things and compare the spiritual things with spiritual things. Otherwise you will be wasting your time. Amen.

1 Cor 2:16

For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. What was or what is the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is in you, the mind of Christ is nothing but the same Spirit that God gave us to understand that your Spirit knows to compare with the other spiritual things. The mind of God is nothing but for us to understand that you and I are part and parcel of God’s Spirit. This is the mind of Christ. In God’s mind you are His children. You are His person, you are created in His own flesh and blood when He formed you in His likeness and gave you His Spirit and He wants you to come back to Him. That is what is in His mind. We must have the same thing in our mind. That we belong to Christ, we do not belong to the world any more, that we are part and parcel of Christ. If I tear this nail of mine it hurts, if I cut a finger of mine it hurts, so If you have the mind of Christ and if you believe that you are part and parcel of God, you would never be against Him, you would never sin against Him. You do not have the mind of the world, but the mind of heaven that we are going to be there one day. That one day Christ and I will be one. Alleluia. Amen.

The preacher felt wonderful to be in the presence of the Bible Study group and to know that we all have the mind of Jesus. That we are different from this world and we have to show the world that we are different. Any thing can happen to us in this world but whatever happens we will go back to where we came from, to the arms of God, and nothing can stop us, nothing can change that.

Jesus loves us very much and we have to make that commitment to Jesus that no matter what happens in our lives we are not going to question – Why me? We are going to praise God irrespective of what comes because He has promised never leave us or forsake us. Even though trails and troubles will come, that GRACE also will come. AMEN.

Another Story

One day, while a poor woman was collecting water from river, her bucket fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "My dear child, why are you crying?" The woman replied that her pail had fallen into the water and that she had no other one. The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden bucket. "Is this your bucket?" the Lord asked. "No." replied the woman.