Why Are We Never Content?

Our beloved Fathers, Deacons, Nuns and Faithfuls, both who are present in this Holy Church and everyone who is watching us through live streaming, may the Almighty God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one in nature and one in essence, bless you, guide you, protect you and deliver you from the snares of the enemy, whether it be visible or invisible, and the blood which was shed on Calvary for the salvation and the redemption of the entire world, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, all glory to his holy and mighty name, Amen. The Gospel of today is according to Saint Luke and chapter 7, verses 31 till the end of it, which is verse 50. It is the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter 7 and specifically from verses 31 to the verse 50, which is the end of chapter 7. It is exactly what the Lord is trying to send this profound message to all of us, our beloveds, and that is, when are we going to be satisfied? When are we going to be happy and satisfied? When the weather is cold, we complain and when the weather is hot, we also complain.

When it is raining like today, we complain. This is why I asked you, see, I got you. It is a miserable weather, Father, but you know what? Every condition and every situation we go through, there is always a complaint of some sort.

We are never content. We are never happy. The Gospel of today is about this woman who happens to be a sinner.

Big deal. Who isn't? Aren't we all sinners? Aren't we all sinners? Well, the Lord Jesus was invited into one of these Pharisees' house. His name was Simon and being a Pharisee, meaning he is a man of the law, he watches every letter, every word.

He puts it under the microscope and makes sure that everyone adheres to it except himself. He is the first one that has broken the very law which he thinks he has mastered. He is the first one that has broken the very law which he thought he had mastered.

So anyway, the Lord was invited into this Pharisee's house by the name of Simon. And while the Lord was sitting there, this woman hears that he is in this Pharisee's house. Jesus Christ is there.

So she runs and she brings along with her an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and she comes from behind him and starts washing the Lord's feet with her own tears and then drying them up with the hair of her head. And then she pours that fragrant oil, a very expensive one, on the Lord's feet and anoints the Lord's feet. This Simon, this Pharisee, this master of the law, in his heart says silently, if this man was a prophet, if this man, referring to the Lord Jesus, if this man was a prophet, he would have known what kind of a woman touched him.

He wouldn't have allowed that to happen but looks like what I heard about him maybe was a mistake. Since Jesus Christ is God revealed in the flesh, i.e. reads every heart, reads every mind, every thought, every human being, the Lord knew what this man had just said and judged in his heart. So the Lord turns to Simon the Pharisee and he asks him this question but he gives him this little story then the Lord follows with it with a question.

He says there was a creditor who had two debtors. One owed him 500 denarii and the other one owed him 50 denarii. Both of them were unable to repay the debt.

This creditor happens to be a very merciful person, a very kind one. He forgives them both their debts. Then the Lord asks Simon the Pharisee, Simon which of these two debtors loved the creditor the most? Simon with confidence replies and says to the Lord Jesus, I believe the one who owed the most 500.

Of course the one who was owing 500 would have loved this owner more than the one who owed him 50. The Lord says to Simon, so correctly you have judged. Simon let me then say this to you.

You see this woman whom you just judged in your own heart, I entered your house, you did not give me water to my feet. This woman with her teeth she washed my feet. You did not even kiss me.

This woman ever since she came in did not stop from kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil. This woman anointed my feet with fragrant oil.

Therefore because she loved the most her sins are forgiven. Because he who loves a lot a lot is forgiven and he who loves little little shall he be forgiven. And then he turns to the woman and says, your faith has saved you.

Go in peace. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

Prior to that, the Lord begins with verse 31 and says, who do I liken the people of this generation and what do they, who do they look like? They look like little children in the street or in the marketplace. This group of children saw another group of children and they yelled out to them and they said, we played the flute for you and you did not dance and we mourned for you and you did not weep. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and you said he's got a demon.

He has a demon in him because he's not eating, he's not drinking, there is something wrong with him, mentally sick. And then the son of man came eating and drinking and you said he's a glutton and a wine bibber and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Which one is it? So if I come eating and drinking you say, why are you eating and drinking? And if I come not eating nor drinking you say, what's wrong with you? Why aren't you eating nor drinking? How do I win with you people? What else can there be done that has never been done by me, I Jesus Christ? I've done everything for you but you are still whinging and complaining.

Until when are you going to stop from complaining and once in your life say, thank you Lord, I am very content with everything you have given me and you have done for me. You can never satisfy people. Please pay attention.

You can never satisfy people no matter what you do or not to do. A little beautiful story. There was this young man and all young men and women are are energetic, they're very enthusiastic and they're on fire.

No matter what you say to them, they don't have the brakes. They just put their foot on the accelerator and try and speed as fast as possible. As we grow older, we tend to hit the brake more often than the accelerator.

But while we're young, there is no brake. It's a v8 brother, push it. So this young man went to this old man and he said, father, today I will do something, I'll make sure every person is happy with me and satisfied.

The old man looked at the young man with a big smile on his face and said to him, my son, my hair has gone white and my beard like Bishop Murray, the good looking one, and I've never was able to satisfy people no matter what I did for them. He said, listen to what I'm saying, I am more experienced than you are. The young man insisted, no, I will prove to you, my old man, that today I'll make sure everyone is happy with me.

The old man looked at the young man and he said, looks like talking with him is not going to go anywhere. Okay, my son, let's see what are you going to do. They had a donkey.

So the young man came with this genius idea. He said to the old man, he said, you get onto the donkey, you sit on the back of it and I will, with this rope tied to the donkey, I will pull the donkey along. I'll walk and you sit on the back of it.

He said, okay, son. So they come out, people look at them and then people said, what kind of a father is he for him to sit on the back of the donkey and let this poor son walk on foot? Shame on you, father. Didn't win.

So he went back again and he said, look, this time I will sit, the young man, I will sit on the back of the donkey and you old man pull the donkey. He said, okay, son. So they walk out, people look and they say, there you go.

A young person, healthy, strong, sits on the back of the donkey and poor old man, barely walking, let him walk. Shame on you, son. Didn't win.

So he goes back again and he said, okay, this time both of us will sit on the back of the donkey and we'll ride the donkey together. He said, okay, son. So they sit both of them on the back of the donkey and they go out, people look and they say, poor old donkey.

All its life carries weight. Shame on both of you to sit and break the back of this donkey. You have no mercy.

The young man goes back to the old man and he said, this time I got it. Both of us will walk and pull the donkey. So they come out walking, both pulling the donkey.

People look and criticize them again and say, are you dumb or are you dumb? What is the donkey for? You leave the donkey and you both walk, no brain. A young man gave up. The Lord says, John the Baptist came fasting.

You said you are demented. The son of man, meaning Jesus Christ, came eating and drinking and sitting with tax collectors and sinners. You said, how dare you eat and drink and sit with sinners and tax collectors? The Lord said, okay, then what else satisfies you? Whichever way I come to you, you are always not happy.

What makes you happy? He gave that example of that woman who was a sinner. What is the secret of contentment? What is the secret of saying, I am happy and satisfied with whatever I have and whoever I have? The secret is one thing and one word. L-O-V-E.

Love. Love is the secret. And this is why the Lord turned to Simon the Pharisee and said, this woman loved too much.

That's why her great sins were forgiven because the more she loves, the more she is forgiven. All she wanted, all she wanted is to come back from behind the Lord and wash his feet with her tears. She said, if I can do this and if I can dry them up with my own hair, I am satisfied.

Did you know my beloveds, did you know that the honor of the female is her hair? The honor of the female is the hair and the honor of the man is the beard. I'm talking to you biblically. The honor of the female is her hair and the honor of the man is the beard.

And this is one of the reasons why we grow a beard. There is other reasons. You see, as priests, we grow the beard, which is our honor.

And then we come and bow our head before Jesus Christ to say our honor is at your feet. And this woman came with her own tears, washed the feet of the Lord and with her own hair, dry them up. She could have used a handkerchief.

She could have used a part of her of a dress to dry the feet. No, she said, I'll use my honor, my honor. I'll put it under your feet, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Why? Because I love you. And since I love you, then all of me is yours. I don't want nothing.

I just want you to be honored and glorified. Love, my beloved. Love.

You see, when you truly love, you will do things you could never, ever have done unless there was that love in you. See, in the olden days, they used to sit on the floor. There was no chairs.

They used to sit on the floor and they would bend their legs back to the back. So the Lord would have sat and his feet behind him. That's why this woman came from the back.

Why? Because she didn't want to be seen. Why? Because she's a sinner. She's embarrassed to be seen in front of everyone who was in that house, invited along with the Lord.

So she came from behind, hiding of shame or hiding from shame. But she came even though it was a very difficult thing for her to do, even though it was a very shameful thing to do, to be seen by people. Yet she is a sinner and people knew she was a sinner.

So if they had seen her, they would have criticized her like Simon the Pharisee did in his heart. He said, if this man was a prophet, he wouldn't have allowed this sinner to touch him. So she was criticized.

She was judged. She was ridiculed. She was looked down at.

But she still came. You see, as a Christian, as a Christian, when are we going to be seen different in dark moments and in difficult times? That's what's gonna differentiate between a Christian by name and a Christian by deed. When the time is difficult and tough.

But what makes me continue on going? What makes me still stand and scream on top of my voice for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ? Love. Love, my beloved. It's love.

It is the love that keeps you going forward. It is the love that motivates you to continue even when everything is going against you. It is the love.

It is the love that will make you do things you don't normally do. It is the love. You'll go that extra mile.

You'll do some crazy things. You will accept humility. You will accept persecution.

You will accept being ridiculed. You will accept rejection. You will accept deposition.

You will accept everything for the sake of that love. And if it wasn't for that love, why should I accept all this? That's why you see some church leaders sitting in limousines and you see some other church leaders walking and sitting at the footpath. Who you love and what you love determines your place.

You want to sit with high people? You want to sit with prestigious people? You want to sit at a very high platform to be seen globally? Then Christ is not your potion. If you're seeking your own glory, Christ cannot be your potion. But if you are seeking Christ's glory, then you will accept every humility.

You will accept. You see, God himself, God himself, when it came to love, he did something not in his nature. When he came to create us, the human being, what did he say? He said, let us go down.

Read that in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. Let us go where? Down. God cannot go down.

But he said, because I love you, because I am creating you to be my own child, I will accept the exalted, elevated, sovereign authority, the only ruler over everything and everyone. I accepted humility. I came down for your sake.

Why? Because my love for you is genuine. My love for you is genuine. And because I love you from the heart, I did what I don't normally do as God.

I don't go down. It is not in my nature to go down. But you see, when it comes to love, which is the ultimate miracle, the ultimate miracle, and the only supreme ethic, and the only thing that makes life and everything with it possible, it is that love that made God do what he normally does not do.

Let us go down and make man in our image, according to our likeness. The first thing God did to create this man, he put his hands in the mud. Because the word Adam derives from the Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic name, Edemtha.

Edemtha means red mud. So God put his hands in the mud. My question to all of us, who plays in the mud? Little kids.

Little kids. But why do they play in the mud? Because this is all they know. They don't know any better.

Their intellect is not mature enough. But hang on a second. God is the source of wisdom.

Does he not know what he's doing? Of course. Well God, how come you put your hand in the mud, playing in the mud like a little kid? He said, when you love, you do crazy stuff. When you love, you will go out of your comfort zone.

You will do the impossible. When you love, you will do things others will see you as crazy. God put his hand in the mud.

He said, because I love you, I'll do the impossible. And I died for you, because I love you. To bring you back to me, I died for you.

So we need now to understand this. And I'll leave you with it. The Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus is God, revealed in the flesh.

God is love. God is love itself. So God speaks love.

God lives love. And God shares this love with whom he loves. He loves us all.

And all of his creation. Therefore, my beloveds, God will only look at love in everything we say, and in everything we do. I could stand and pray for hours on end, with no love in it.

God will say, I have heard you not. But when you pray, no matter how short or long it is, God will come and measure the love you had for him when you were praying. And he will pay you according to the love you had for him, not for the amount of prayers and the hours you spend praying.

Because maybe some people pray to be seen. But some people pray without making nobody realize they are praying. Because love does things in secret, most of the time.

Most of the time. Because when you truly love, the last thing you want to be is a show-off. Who are you trying to show off to? My only concern is the one I love.

I don't care about the world. I care about my love, my sweetheart. So all I care about is this person.

Not everyone. It is the one I love. That's what I care about.

So, when you pray, the Lord will look at the love in that prayer and he will pay you accordingly. When you come to church from home, how much love did you have for the Lord Jesus as you were leaving home, sitting in the car and driving all the way to the church? The Lord looks at the love and he will pay you accordingly. When you're in the church, who were you looking for? Who are you missing? Who are you longing for? Who are you loving? Why did you come? What was the reason for your coming? The Lord will look at that love and pay you accordingly.

Everything with the Lord has got to do with love. Nothing else. What makes you different to others is love.

What makes people saints is love. Not I'm an Orthodox, I'm a Catholic, I'm a Protestant. Get a life all of you.

Get a life. It is the love I had for Jesus Christ that made me a saint. It is the love.

It is the love. As we speak, there are monks living in deserts, in caves where nobody knows they exist. But the Lord knows.

These monks, we are still living, eating, going and coming because of their prayers for us. I can show you. This I guarantee you.

What makes a human being like us to leave their comfort, their life, their family, their lifestyle and go in the wilderness, in a cave and face the dangers of the wilderness and the enemy Satan attacking them every single day. What makes them do this for years on end, 20, 30, 50, 60, 70 years some of them. It is the love.

It is the love for the Lord. You see some of us will come and say these people are crazy. No.

You see your love for the Lord is minute, tiny compared to their love, their love for the Lord. That's why you will never understand their love until you get to their level. So they'll come and say there is no such thing, there is no such way, Jesus never said that.

No, you're speaking out of ignorance as a little kid. You need to grow up because love has no end to it. Just because your love is this much, how dare you judge someone whose love is a million times greater than yours.

And you're calling them crazy? They're not crazy, you're just blind, still a little kid. How can you forgive someone that has hurt you? Love. Love.

I'm not dumb, I'm not stupid, I'm not ignorant. The only issue with me is because I love them. But you see when people do not have the same level of that love as you do, they will always misunderstand you.

And they will always misjudge you. If this man was a prophet, he wouldn't have led this sinner to touch him. She has defiled him.

Simon, I am NOT a prophet, I am God. Get it? If you call me a prophet, I'm not just a prophet, I am God Himself. So I know exactly what kind of a woman that came from behind and touched me.

I know exactly what kind of a man you are, and I know exactly every single one of you. I know. But you see, the reason why I allowed this sinner who is like you Simon, in fact she is better than you Simon, but the reason why I allowed this sinner as you said in your heart is because I love you all.

It is my love. I'm not ignorant, I know exactly what I do. But everything I do and everything I say is out of love.

That's why you do not understand now what I do. One day you will. One day you will.

So my beloveds, next time you want to stand and pray, ask the Lord before you pray, say, Lord please let me love you in this five-minute prayer. Before you come to church, say, Lord allow me to be focused on you all the way from home to church. I'm running to you because I miss you.

You see, because I love you, I miss you. As if I haven't seen you a lifetime, and it's only been a week, maybe a few days, maybe a day, maybe a few hours. But when I truly love, even that second is seen as if it's a lifetime sentence.

When I am away from the love of my life. When I am away, ask the Lord to fill you with his love, to teach you how to love, and to help you how to carry this love, not only to the people in your circle, but to the people of the world who are the outer circle. Love your enemy.

Amazing how the Lord talks. How can I love my enemy? How can I love the one who has persecuted me? How can I love the one who has attacked me and hurt me so badly? How can I love them? It is not me, it is the love of Christ. When I allow it to come into my heart, that love does wonders, my beloved.

Does wonders. Because if Jesus Christ is your love, then what people do to you, and what people say about you, is totally and utterly beside the point. Beside the point.

Because the one you love is the one who takes all your focus. Therefore, what others say, mean nothing. It's very easy, you see.

But if you don't love the Lord, and you speak in his name, and somebody attacks you, no, no, all hell will break loose. Will break loose. See, because I was preaching to gain my glory on the account of Christ.

So when I'm doing it for my own glory, for my own personal benefits, to gain wealth and fame, then I will not allow anybody to touch me or hurt me. And if anybody does, I will retaliate with great force. But when I'm doing it from the heart, to the heart, to the sacred heart of Jesus Christ, when I'm doing it for him, then whatever people do or say about me, I am absolutely joyous and happy.

Because it matters not how people perceive me. What matters is that Jesus says, this is my son, in whom I am pleased. That's all I want.

And this is the only thing every true Christian needs to reach and receive. Look for that moment when the Lord Jesus points that finger at you and says, this is my son. Angels salute him as he walks through the gate of heaven.

Welcome him with honor, with glory, for he is my son, whom I have loved and died for. This is the ultimate gift, the ultimate reward every Christian and every faithful needs to look forward to, when Christ acknowledge you as his son. Anything and everything outside of that is absolutely vanity of all vanities.

It means nothing that I was a Pope. It means nothing that I was a cardinal. It means nothing that I was a bishop.

It means nothing that I was a president. I was a king. I was a prime minister.

I was a wealthy person. I was a very influential person. All of this means nothing until Christ says, this is my son.

Jesus is love and he wants you to love him back. That's all Christianity is. When you love him back, then he will teach you how to come to church, how to pray, how to read the Holy Bible, how to preach, and how to live for him.

He is the teacher, not me. He is the master, not me. He is the good shepherd who leads me to green pastures and still waters.

I am the sheep. I can never be the shepherd, even though the Lord put me as a shepherd in the church. But when I come to him, I am his sheep.

I'm not the shepherd, for the shepherd is one, and that is Christ the King, period. From the Pope to the deacon are all sheep, followers of Christ. And if any church leader tries to take the place of Christ, he will ruin himself and ruin the entire church with him.

The church is destroyed. The enemy will come and infiltrate and decimate the whole church. But you see, Satan cannot withstand love.

He hates a place that has love in it. He hates it with a passion. That's why you see, wherever there is a family that loves one another, it will come and attack that family.

When he sees a church that loves the Lord, he will come and attack. When he sees a person loving the Lord, he will come and attack. And he will do it in either of two ways, or he uses both.

Whichever one comes first and succeeds, he'll go with it. One, snake, the other, lion. Snake is a sneaky way, in a very nice, deceptive way.

You go to church, you want to be close to the Lord Jesus, and you're doing fine. All of a sudden, all these thoughts and people come up in your life, in your circle, and say to you, come on, let's go out. Would you like to come with us? Come on, brother.

Just do it, be a man. Come on, were you not a nun? Come with us. We're not going to do anything wrong.

All we're going to do is just go downtown, and have some fun. We'll eat, we'll drink, and then come back. If Satan sees with that nice talk, it's not working with you, he will come with that nasty talk, as a lion.

Next time, he will make sure people go against you, and start destroying you with their nasty, nasty, nasty swords, and nasty arrows. You'll see people talking against you badly, trying to, what they call character defamation, destroy you, destroy your reputation, your image, wipe you out. They will do anything and everything the nasty way.

See, because Satan didn't win with the nice way, he will come with the nasty way. But if you stand till the end, you will receive the crown of life from the Lord Himself. Say to the world, world, all of you, and everything that is in you, for me is nothing but one little tip, where they throw rubbish.

So clubbing is a tip. Star City Casino is a tip. Drugs, tip.

Alcoholism, tip. Gambling, tip. Men, women, and in between, tip.

I belong to Jesus Christ, the love of my life. I'm not for sale, because I'm already being purchased by the blood of the Lamb of God. I am taken.

I belong to Christ, I don't belong to no one else but Him. Satan, be gone. The world, be gone.

You cannot buy me. You cannot, because I am bought by the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All glory to His holy and mighty name, for there is no other one but Him.

He is the only way to God. He is the only truth, and He is the only life. He who has the Son, has eternal life, but he who does not have the Son, has the wrath of God bestowed upon him, and there is no life in that person.

Christ is the only way to eternal life, period. Period, my beloved. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and this truth comes based on love, divine love, where God loved us so much, He created us to be in His image and likeness, His own child, and when this child veered off, when this child walked away, He gave Himself up on the cross to bring that child back into His bosom once again.

This is the true love, when you give your life for the one you truly love. You give your life, sacrifice it. Simon, I forgive this woman's sins, because she loved too much.

See, I am the God of love, and everything you do, I look at the love in what you do, and what you say. I measure that love, and I pay accordingly to that love, nothing else. So don't stand here for hours and hours and talk about me without love, I will hear you not.

But if you come for a second, with your heartbeat longing for me, I Jesus Christ, I'm all yours. Because I'm not the God of lip service, I am the God of hearts. I want your heart.

Don't come and be a show-off. Show me your heart, not your lips. Show me your hearts.

Amen. All right. So, next time you come to church, you say, Lord, I love you, help me to love you more.

I want to come, so I can love you more, and more, and more, and more. Lord, before I leave the house, I want to be with you. Let's go together.

Say to the Lord, let's go together to the church. I'm coming to your house, Lord. So let's go together.

Sit in the car together. Don't leave the Lord behind. Bring him with you from your own home to his own home.

So when you sit in his house, you're sitting with him. You're sitting for him. He is the reason why you came.

Not this bishop, not anyone else. It is the Lord who is the reason for me coming today. And every time I go to church, it is because of the Lord.

Jesus Christ, I love you. I want you to hear it from my heart to your heart. And I want it to come out of this mouth so loud that it may shake the entire world from its foundation.

Jesus Christ, you are the love of my life, and you will always be the love of my life. No matter what happens, you are my love, my dad, my mom, my brother, my sister, my friend, my home, my kingdom, my everything. Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.

It is him who makes life possible. It is him who makes life beautiful. It is him who brings things from nothing into existence.

It is him. All glory to the one and only Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the love of my life. And let me say this to Hollywood.

I want to dance with this body. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I don't want to dance with somebody because that somebody could be Satan.

So I leave Satan for you, but my God is Christ the King, and he will always be my God. Say amen. Come on.

Shout for the Lord. Don't be weak. Don't be afraid.

Love the Lord from the heart. And when he doesn't come, turn the whole world upside down to make him come. And for that matter, turn all heaven upside down because I miss you Lord.

So you better come because your son is a nutcase. Your son is crazy. He's crazy for you.

Yes, he's a lunatic for you. His wires have crossed and they are going jizz, jizz, jizz like sizzler. So you better come, otherwise all the fuses are gone.

See, he's smiling. There you go. Love is the secret of contentment.

Let us bow our heads and ask the Lord Jesus to forgive us like this woman who came and washed his feet with her teas and dried them up with her own hair. We ask the Lord to accept us like this woman for the ultimate reward is the Lord's acceptance of us sinners. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God.

Amen. Our good God and full of mercy, our good God and full of mercy, whose grace and mercy is poured upon all. Pour my Lord the compassion of the delightfulness of your love upon your servants and again transform them in the hope of renewal to the life of repentance.

Renew in them your Holy Spirit by whom they are sealed for the day of salvation. Purify them by your compassion from all flesh and spiritual blemishes and assure the hope of their faith by the aid of your grace and instill the walks of their behavior in the paths of righteousness. Please them along with the saints in your kingdom by the assurance of the hope of their faith in the adoption as your children and in the joy of your absolving mysteries.

Empower them by the aid of your mercies to observe your commandments and fulfill your will to confess, worship, and praise your Holy Name, the Lord of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever. Amen.