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Day 341: Eternal Weight of Glory (2024) AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

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Episode: Day 341: Eternal Weight of Glory (2024)

Day 341: Eternal Weight of Glory (2024)

Author: Ascension
Duration: 00:23:25

Episode Shownotes

In our reading of Acts 20, Fr. Mike reflects on the healing of Eutychus, Paul's willingness to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, and Paul's tender affection for the people he ministered to. In 2 Corinthians, Fr. Mike also highlights Paul's encouragement to hold onto the hope of beholding

the glory of God with unveiled faces and to persevere in our afflictions as they prepare for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Today's readings are Acts 20, 2 Corinthians 3-5, and Proverbs 28:25-28. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Summary

In Day 341 of The Bible in a Year podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz delves into Acts 20, focusing on Paul's unwavering commitment to the Gospel despite facing imprisonment and suffering. He reflects on the miraculous healing of Eutychus, symbolizing God's power. Additionally, Paul emphasizes the importance of ministry and the joy of giving, encouraging believers to endure temporary afflictions in anticipation of an eternal weight of glory. This episode highlights Paul's deep connection with the community and the transformative power of the Spirit in preparing believers for God's eternal promises.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Day 341: Eternal Weight of Glory (2024)) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:04 Speaker_01
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.

00:00:12 Speaker_01
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 341. You guys, well done. Gosh.

00:00:24 Speaker_01
Day 341, you made it this far, and we are in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20. We're reading 2nd Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapters 3 through 5, so three chapters today, as well as Proverbs, chapter 28, verses 25 to 28.

00:00:35 Speaker_01
As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I am using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible into your reading plan,

00:00:42 Speaker_01
You can visit ascensionpress.com slash Babylonier. You can also subscribe to this podcast to receive daily episodes and daily updates. It is day three 41.

00:00:50 Speaker_01
We're reading Acts chapter 20, second Corinthians chapters three, four, and five, as well as Proverbs chapter 28 verses 25 through 28. Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20. Paul goes to Macedonia and Greece.

00:01:04 Speaker_01
After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and having exhorted them, took leave of them and departed from Macedonia. When he had gone through these parts and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

00:01:15 Speaker_01
There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return to Macedonia.

00:01:24 Speaker_01
Sopedor of Baroia, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him, and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, and the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus.

00:01:35 Speaker_01
These went on and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days. Paul preaches and heals Eutychus in Troas.

00:01:49 Speaker_01
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

00:01:57 Speaker_01
There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window.

00:02:03 Speaker_01
He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer, and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and embracing him, said, Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.

00:02:16 Speaker_01
And when Paul had gone up, and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the lad away alive, and were not a little comforted.

00:02:27 Speaker_01
But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mytilene.

00:02:38 Speaker_01
And sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus.

00:02:46 Speaker_01
For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Paul speaks to the elders of Ephesus.

00:02:58 Speaker_01
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them,

00:03:05 Speaker_01
You yourselves know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

00:03:26 Speaker_01
And now behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

00:03:37 Speaker_01
But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

00:03:49 Speaker_01
And now behold, I know that all you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will see my face no more.

00:03:55 Speaker_01
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

00:04:04 Speaker_01
Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you guardians to feed the church of the Lord, which he obtained with his own blood.

00:04:12 Speaker_01
I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

00:04:22 Speaker_01
Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

00:04:30 Speaker_01
And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.

00:04:41 Speaker_01
You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

00:04:46 Speaker_01
In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

00:05:00 Speaker_01
And they all wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken that they should see his face no more.

00:05:08 Speaker_00
And they brought him to the ship. The second letter of St.

00:05:15 Speaker_01
Paul to the Corinthians, chapter three, ministers of the new covenant. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

00:05:26 Speaker_01
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men.

00:05:33 Speaker_01
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

00:05:46 Speaker_01
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us.

00:05:49 Speaker_01
Our sufficiency is from God who has qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code, but in the spirit for the written code kills, but the spirit gives life now.

00:06:01 Speaker_01
If the dispensation of death, carved in letters of stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look on Moses' face because of its brightness fading as this was, will not the dispensation of the spirit be attended with greater splendor?

00:06:15 Speaker_01
For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.

00:06:22 Speaker_01
Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all because of the splendor that surpasses it. For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor.

00:06:35 Speaker_01
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor, but their minds were hardened.

00:06:45 Speaker_01
For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds.

00:06:57 Speaker_01
But when a man turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

00:07:07 Speaker_01
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Chapter four.

00:07:20 Speaker_01
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word.

00:07:31 Speaker_01
But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

00:07:42 Speaker_01
In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

00:07:50 Speaker_01
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

00:07:57 Speaker_01
For it is the God who said, let light shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Treasure in earthen vessels.

00:08:09 Speaker_01
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.

00:08:24 Speaker_01
Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

00:08:34 Speaker_01
For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, death is at work in us, but life in you.

00:08:47 Speaker_01
Since we have the same spirit of faith as he who had wrote, I believed, and so I spoke, we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

00:09:00 Speaker_01
For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. Living by faith. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed every day.

00:09:18 Speaker_01
For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Because we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

00:09:29 Speaker_01
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Chapter five. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

00:09:45 Speaker_01
Here indeed we groan and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on, we may not be found naked.

00:09:52 Speaker_01
For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

00:10:01 Speaker_01
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.

00:10:16 Speaker_01
We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.

00:10:26 Speaker_01
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive good or evil according to what he has done in the body. The Ministry of Reconciliation Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.

00:10:41 Speaker_01
But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

00:10:46 Speaker_01
We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to be proud of us so that you may be able to answer those who pride themselves on a man's position and not on his heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God.

00:10:58 Speaker_01
If we are in a right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on because we are convinced that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

00:11:08 Speaker_01
And He died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for their sake and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

00:11:20 Speaker_01
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.

00:11:33 Speaker_01
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

00:11:39 Speaker_01
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

00:11:54 Speaker_01
We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

00:12:12 Speaker_00
The book of Proverbs chapter 28, verses 25 through 28.

00:12:16 Speaker_01
A greedy man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be enriched. He who trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

00:12:27 Speaker_01
He who gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse. When the wicked rise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase.

00:12:43 Speaker_00
Father in heaven, we give you praise.

00:12:45 Speaker_01
We thank you so much for this day. We thank you for a new day, a new word that you share with us. We thank you so much for the grace that you pour out on us. We ask you, please, Lord, to come and meet us with your blessings.

00:12:58 Speaker_01
Come and meet us with your mercy that is new every single day. We ask that you also Like you, showing your glory upon Moses and transformed his face. Give us your Holy Spirit, that as we are in your presence, we look more and more like you.

00:13:14 Speaker_01
That we come to share more and more in your glory. We come to share more and more in a heart like yours, in a mind like yours, in a will that is conformed to yours.

00:13:24 Speaker_01
As often as we hear your word, Lord God, we ask you to please help us to become more like you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

00:13:33 Speaker_01
So, oh my gosh, Acts of the Apostles, Action Pact, more like it, Action of the Apostles Pact. So, Paul's on the move, and so here he is in Troas,

00:13:42 Speaker_01
On the first day of the week, he says in chapter 20, verse 7, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them. Now, to break bread, this is code.

00:13:50 Speaker_01
Whenever there is that in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, that gathering on the Lord's Day, gathering to break bread, the breaking of the bread, and prayers, this is code for the Mass. And so here is St.

00:14:00 Speaker_01
Paul, and here are the Christians gathered together to say Mass, to participate in the Eucharist, the holy sacrifice of the Mass. And Paul preaches a little longer than maybe people appreciated.

00:14:12 Speaker_01
The young man, Eutychus, is falling asleep during his sermon, and that gives, I think, a lot of comfort to a lot of preachers who may have put some people to sleep in their time.

00:14:23 Speaker_01
And yet, the grace of course here is not just that Eutychus fell asleep because Paul was preaching so late into the night, but that also Paul bent over him and braced him and said, do not be alarmed for his life is in him.

00:14:33 Speaker_01
Here is Paul, we talked about this before, that Peter, he almost like recapitulates the life of Jesus in his life, where he is healing like Jesus healed, he's preaching like Jesus preached, and there's conversions like Jesus was able to rot, to wring, to bring about.

00:14:46 Speaker_01
And here's St. Paul, similar, very similar, where Paul is doing a lot of what Jesus did. And this is the message for all Christians, is that the disciple does not become greater than the master, but the disciple is supposed to become like the master.

00:14:59 Speaker_01
And so we pray like Jesus prayed, and we try to live like Jesus lived, and we try to have that same spirit that dwelt inside Jesus, that raised him from the dead.

00:15:07 Speaker_01
And that here, Paul was able to participate in and raise the young Eutychus from the dead as well. One of the things that I just think is really powerful in chapter 20 is verse 23.

00:15:17 Speaker_01
In verse 23, it says that, you know, Paul's traveling around and he says, he gives this address to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He says, you know how I've lived and everything? And he says, here's what's happening.

00:15:28 Speaker_01
Behold, I'm going to Jerusalem. This is verse 22, bound in the spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there.

00:15:33 Speaker_01
except this is verse 23 except that the holy spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me and that's just there is something so powerful about hearing saint paul say this he's saying that no i realize that following after jesus christ and doing his work

00:15:50 Speaker_01
Isn't bringing me worldly peace isn't bringing me worldly comfort isn't bringing me all this success I know that what awaits me is imprisonment and afflictions and he doesn't blame God for that He doesn't get mad at God about this it goes on in verse 24 He says but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself If only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God

00:16:16 Speaker_01
And that is, that's so good for all of us who, you know, sometimes we can get it into our heads that if I follow Jesus, it's going to be an easy road. If I follow Jesus, then what are these obstacles doing here? And yet here is St.

00:16:29 Speaker_01
Paul who is saying that just, he has the heart of the master, right? He has the heart of Jesus himself.

00:16:34 Speaker_01
Jesus, who knew that he was going to experience persecution, who knew he was going to experience torture and death in Jerusalem, and nonetheless, he set his face like flint toward Jerusalem.

00:16:45 Speaker_01
And here's Paul doing the same thing, knowing that certain death, at least, imprisonment and affliction awaited him, and he still set his face like flint towards that destination.

00:16:55 Speaker_01
At the end of this chapter, we have something that's just such an insight into who Paul was. You know, Paul, he writes these fiery letters sometimes, you know, in 1 Corinthians, these fiery letters to the Galatians.

00:17:06 Speaker_01
And yet, the people loved him because he loved them so well. At the end of chapter 20, verse 36, as St. Paul is basically saying, you're never going to see me again. He says, when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

00:17:19 Speaker_01
And they all wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see his face no more.

00:17:26 Speaker_01
And there's something so powerful about that, that I know that we can have this maybe cold and antiseptic view of St. Paul, especially because he just sometimes he can rub people the wrong way.

00:17:36 Speaker_01
I think, you know, I know he's rubbed me the wrong way at times, but nonetheless, He loved them, and they knew that they were loved by Him. They loved Him back.

00:17:45 Speaker_01
And so this is why here they are weeping at the idea that they would never be able to see Him again in this life. And that, again, it's a message for all of us, that sense of the people that we are here to care for, that God wants us to take care of.

00:17:59 Speaker_01
Am I loving them the way they should be loved? Would they weep if this was the last time they saw me? And, uh, I think of that a lot of times because I know I've worked with different pastors. I've worked different priests and whatnot.

00:18:09 Speaker_01
And, and sometimes one of the, this is a little insight, a little inside baseball right now.

00:18:13 Speaker_01
Um, one of my thoughts was at times I know being like the, the visiting priest or the guest priest and the pastor is away and the staff is like, Oh, we can relax now. Cause father's away. And I remember thinking, I guess, is that always how it is?

00:18:26 Speaker_01
Is that how it has to be? That when the pastor's away, the people can relax? Is that mean that they're on alert when he's present? Does that have to be the case?

00:18:35 Speaker_01
And I've been so honored by my students and by the missionaries that I work with because there are so many times when I have to go away and even if it's for a day, I'll come back and they'll say, We missed you."

00:18:47 Speaker_01
And I think, oh my gosh, Lord, thank you. I'm blessed in a way that I don't deserve. That they're not saying, good, he's gone. Maybe they'd say that behind my back. I don't know. But I don't think they do. They're saying, we're so glad that you're back.

00:19:02 Speaker_01
We hated that you were gone from us for even a day. And I just feel like Wow, I'm participating a little bit in what St. Paul experienced in just being loved by the people of Ephesus. Again, that's not about me.

00:19:14 Speaker_01
I mean it more in the lines of for us who serve those, whether you serve as a parent or serve as a boss or serve as a pastor in any way or shape or form.

00:19:24 Speaker_01
I don't know, I wonder if we should have that kind of relationship with those people that we serve, that they miss us when we're gone instead of they're relieved when we're gone.

00:19:32 Speaker_01
And I'm sure there's probably a ton of people who are relieved when I'm gone, but that's what I'm striving for, to be like St. Paul, that, you know, people, you know, they know they're loved, I guess. Maybe that's what I'm trying to say.

00:19:43 Speaker_01
That was a random tangent. I apologize for that. for that, because St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians is beautiful. I'm just going to be brief about this. St.

00:19:51 Speaker_01
Paul, oh gosh, he says, he talks about, you know, the first dispensation, the old covenant, and the new covenant, and how, here's Moses, remember we talked about Moses, we read about, heard about Moses, how when he went into the tabernacle to visit with the Lord, his face was transformed, so transformed that he had to put a veil over his face.

00:20:08 Speaker_01
And here's St. Paul saying, okay, that was the old covenant. Here is the new and complete, the everlasting covenant Should not we be more and more transformed into God's likeness? In fact, I love it. Oh my gosh. Chapter 3, verse 17.

00:20:21 Speaker_01
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. This is an incredible line. Verse 18.

00:20:28 Speaker_01
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

00:20:38 Speaker_01
unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another another translation is from glory to glory it's just so incredible and yet at the same time St.

00:20:48 Speaker_01
Paul goes right from there into therefore we hold these treasures in earthen vessels There's a song from when I was a kid that was about the earthen vessels.

00:20:57 Speaker_01
I never knew what it was talking about, but basically it's talking about we have the most incredible gift that has ever been given, the gift of eternal life, the gift of the gospel, the gift of God's grace, and yet we hold it in clay pots.

00:21:08 Speaker_01
We hold it in stuff that's basically, here's St. Paul saying, I have the most incredible message in the world, but I am not the most incredible messenger.

00:21:16 Speaker_01
I hold the most incredible treasure in the world, but I'm holding it in a very ordinary container that we hold these treasures in earthen vessels. And so it's not about us, the ones who are holding the treasure. It's about the treasure.

00:21:32 Speaker_01
It's about the apostolate, right? It's about the work. And it's so good. The last thing I just want to highlight is St. Paul in chapter five. He says, yeah, we know that the outer man is wasting away. We know that we're going to die.

00:21:44 Speaker_01
We know that we're in suffering. And he says, this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

00:21:51 Speaker_01
One of my favorite essays in the world is an essay entitled The Weight of Glory by a young man named C.S. Lewis for this slight momentary affliction.

00:21:59 Speaker_01
is preparing us for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison because we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen goes on to say therefore and this is verse chapter 5 verse 6 says therefore we are always of good courage we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the lord

00:22:17 Speaker_01
We are of good courage, in verse 8. We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.

00:22:25 Speaker_01
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive good or evil according to what he has done in the body. We know that we are judged upon what we do.

00:22:34 Speaker_01
It's one of the reasons why we affirm that we are saved by grace through faith, working itself out in love. Again, the whole thing, we're saved by grace, free gift, through faith, right?

00:22:43 Speaker_01
Our response to God's gift, working itself out in love, knowing that we'll be judged on our actions. And that is something that all of us, well, I know myself, just need to say, Lord, make me more like you.

00:22:54 Speaker_01
I want to love like you, I want to live like you. And that's why we keep coming back to God's word. Lord, help me to love like you. Help me to live like you. And so I'm praying for you.

00:23:04 Speaker_01
I'm praying for you that you continue to love like Jesus and to live like Jesus. Please pray for me that I can love like Jesus and that I can live like Jesus. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.