You're The One Who Walked Away, Not God

See, my beloved, before, when I was lost and confused, wanting to fight, wanting to revenge, I argued, I shouted, I yelled, I wanted to break things. But instead of doing all of that, what should I have done when I became troubled? I should have gone into my own room, closed the door, and listened to a hymn. And then after listening to the hymn, I should have read from the book of Psalms a Psalm or two.

And then after that I should have gone to the Holy Gospels and would have read from Matthew or Mark or Luke or John a chapter, few passages, few paragraphs. If I had allowed for myself being in trouble rather than retaliating, rather than jumping into wrong conclusions and making wrong decisions in that turmoiled, confusing time and moment, I should have hit on the brake and gone straight to my room, closed the door, and be in silence. And to calm myself down, I needed to be in touch with the Word of God, the Holy Bible.

When you go to your room being troubled, you listen to a hymn, close your eyes, and be silent and listen to a hymn. Then pick up the book of Psalms and start reading a few Psalms. And then go to the New Testament and read from the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

What will happen, you will see that troubled soul of yours is restored. That troubled soul of yours is restored. Prior, it was lost, and now you just found it again.

See, my beloved, a troubled soul is like a dead person. And what does a dead person need? That dead person needs somebody to come and revive that dead person. And the only one who can revive you is God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

And obviously, as a Christian, I try on God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But here we are talking about the Lord is my shepherd, so we are talking about Jesus Christ of Nazareth specifically. That's why I mentioned Him only.

When you read the Word of God, the Word of God is, as King David also puts it in Psalm 119 verse 105. Psalm 119 verse 105, King David says and explains what the Word of God is. It is, your word, King David says to God, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So when you eat the Word of God, green pastures, which is verse 2, you are carrying the lamp. And when you drink the Word of God, the still waters, you are being filled by the Holy Spirit, which is the oil that is placed in that lamp.

Which is the oil that is placed in that lamp. Let me tell you this, in the golden days, when they used to use those lamps or lanterns to see their way at night time, you see that lamp, if you don't put oil in it and you try to light it up, what will happen to that piece of string? It will give smoke. It will give out smoke, and what will smoke do? It will suffocate the person.

But when you fill it with oil, and that string, that piece of cloth, gets drenched in that oil, when you light it up, it gives light and shows you the way. You see, the Word of God, without the oil of the Holy Spirit, when you read it, it suffocates you. And that's why some people open the Holy Bible, and they close it as quickly as they open it.

Why? Because they are not filled by the Holy Spirit, that oil to that lamp. You need to be filled by the Holy Spirit, so that when you read the Word, it becomes light, not suffocating smoke. So when I eat the green pastures, I'm carrying the lamp.

And when I drink from the still waters, I am being filled by the Holy Spirit to enlighten that lamp. That's why King David says, Your Word, God, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. A lamp without light is not good at all.

So the lamp is your body, and the oil is the Holy Spirit, which you receive through the sacrament of the Holy Baptism, when the Holy Spirit dwelt in you forever. So, what do we need to do? We need to continue being filled by the Holy Spirit, i.e., the oil. Don't let the oil run out of the lamp, i.e., of your body.

Don't let the Holy Spirit be diminished in that body of yours. Always be filled by the Holy Spirit. Fill the lamp of your body with the oil of the Holy Spirit, by the following.

So how do you fill yourself with the Holy Spirit? By the Holy Spirit. By reading the Word of God, always. By listening to hymns.

By sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus in silence. So you need to pray. You need to read the Word.

You need to listen to beautiful Christian hymns. And you need to also make time to sit at the feet of the Lord in silence, like Mary did, and like Martha. So are you busy all the time? You need to stop.

Are you running all the time? You need to stop, because a running engine eventually will cease. You'll either run out of petrol, or it's going to overheat. You can't keep it running all the time.

When the human being is on the go always, busy, busy, busy, running, running, running, thinking, thinking, thinking, before you know it, you're going to collapse. So when you have the opportunity, by the grace of the Lord, to have five minutes of sitting in silence at the feet of the Lord, please do. This is why I encourage you, my beloved, turn your homes into a church.

Make a place, a little corner at home, where you have the Holy Cross, the icon of the Lord, the Holy Mother, a saint that is close to your heart. Make a little church at home, where you have five, ten minutes of absolute silence, kneeling on that floor, and just staying silent, allowing yourself to hear the voice of the Lord. If we talk always, we won't be able to hear the voice of Christ.

We need to be quiet in order to hear Him, because He may have something that He wished to convey to you, my beloved. Make time. So, fill the lamp of your body with the oil of the Holy Spirit, by praying, by reading the Holy Bible, by listening to a hymn, by sitting in silence at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

Make time, in other words, for the Lord Jesus. Make time. When you are filled, when you ate and drank the Word of God, you will see your soul automatically restored.

I was just about to go and punch someone, but when I went into that room, and I sat in silence, and I listened to the hymn, and then I read the Word of the Lord, all of my thinking changed. Changed. I came out fully restored, calm and collected.

No more that chaotic wild ocean. I became very calm. It is exactly like a dead person being brought back to life once again.

Verse 3. He restores my soul. And when the Good Shepherd, who is my Lord, the Lord is my Shepherd. Verse 1. When this Good Shepherd restores my soul, when He does that, what happens? As if nothing has ever happened.

Before, I thought it was the end for me. Before, I thought it was the end of the world. Before, I thought I was dead, and it was all over.

Dead, finished. There is no comeback. But when the Lord, who is my Shepherd, restored my soul, suddenly, I saw that it was all good.

Nothing is lost. It was all good. And why was it all good? Because He restores my soul.

He restores my soul. In these few words, we notice one thing. It is He who restores my soul, not me.

He restores my soul, meaning it is the Lord's job, not my job. It is He who restores it, not me, my beloved. You see, sometimes, and I will stay with this word, sometimes.

I don't want to say a lot of times. So I'll stick with sometimes. Sometimes, we ask certain people, our beloved faithfuls, Why don't you come to church? Father, believe me, I would love to come, but unfortunately, I'm just too busy at the moment.

When I have time, trust me, Father, I'll come. They will never come. When I'm ready, I'll come.

They will never come. Why? Because you can never find time for yourself, and you can never make yourself ready to face the Lord Jesus. It is He who restores the soul.

It is He who brings you to the church. So stop saying, when I'm ready, I'll come. When I have the time, I'll come.

Because you'll never come, because you can never find time for the Lord. It is the Lord who finds the time for you to be in His holy presence. So now that you are in the church, who made the time? The Lord, not you.

Trust in this. Believe in this. It wasn't you who said, you know, this evening, I'm deciding to go to the church to listen to the preach.

You didn't say that. The Lord put it in your heart, in your mind, to say to yourself, I'm packing up and I'm going to the church. It was the Lord, not you.

You better believe in this, because this is the truth and the whole truth. And nothing but the truth. Alright.

It is the Lord who brings you to the church, my beloved. All we need to do is to turn around and face Him. That's all that is needed of me.

I need to go to the Lord and say, Lord, I can't come to you. Can you bring me to you? I don't have the time for you. Can you make time for me to give to you? I can't do it.

Can you do it, please, Lord? That's all you need to do. You ask the Lord to make you ready. Otherwise, it is not difficult.

It is impossible for you to be ready for the Lord. Impossible. Because He restores my soul.

Not me. The prodigal son, in Luke chapter 15, all he had to do was one thing. He said, I will go to my father and say to him, I'm sorry.

What did this prodigal son do? He just thought of it. He hadn't done anything yet. It was just a thought in his head that I will go.

I haven't gone yet. I will go to my father and say, I'm sorry, dad, for everything I've done. Just for having this thought of going to the father, before knowing it, the father had already embraced him and put him in the core of his heart.

It takes a thought. It takes an intention of what you wish to do. The rest is history.

It's not that hard to come to the Lord. It's not. The Lord made it beyond easy.

Just make the effort of turning and face Him once again. That's all you need to do. Verse 3. He restores my soul.

We're just getting into the rhythm, yes? All right. He restores my soul. Now, why does the Lord, who is my shepherd, restores my soul? Why? Why does He restore it? You see, when He restores my soul, where will He lead me thereafter? Verse 3 continues and says, He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Why does He need to restore my soul? Because He wants to lead me in the paths of righteousness. That's why He is restoring my soul. Because without the restoration, there is no leading to paths of righteousness.

He needs to restore me first in order to lead me to the paths of righteousness. You see, my beloved, before that, I was lost. I was confused.

Why? Because maybe I went through certain moments of life where it was extremely difficult for me to bear. All of us, we face challenges. All of us.

Every single human being, but let's talk about Christians. As Christians, we go through struggles of life all the time. So when we go through that difficult time, through that dark tunnel, what happens? That difficult moment makes me lost, confused, troubled, chaotic, and don't know.

I lose my sense of orientation. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know where to go, how to go.

I'm just frozen in my spot, not knowing what to do again. But when I turned back to the Lord and I asked for His help, what did the Lord do? The Lord restored my lost soul and gave her comfort and serenity, peace. Please, we need to be very, very careful on here.

It is only the Lord who gives you peace. It is only the Lord who gives you clarity of vision. It is only the Lord who gives you the insight to the divine to know what is His will in your life and what is the purpose of your very existence.

It is the Lord. So you need to go back to Him and say, Lord, please, I'm lost. Find me once again, Lord.

So what He does, He restores this troubled and lost soul and gives it comfort and serenity. When the Lord restored my soul, what did He do after that? He showed me the way, He showed me the path of righteousness. The moment He restored my soul, straight afterwards He showed me the path of righteousness.

The path of righteousness. Now, who is righteousness here in this verse 3? Christ. Jeremiah the prophet, he says Christ, he says the Lord is our righteousness.

Jeremiah 23 seeks. So who is righteousness? The Lord. So righteousness is not a word.

Righteousness is a person called Jesus, Christ of Nazareth. Christ is our righteousness. So now the Lord restores my soul in order to lead me to the path of righteousness.

Meaning, when He restored my soul, He brought me back to Him because He is righteousness itself. So He restored my soul in order to bring me back to Him once again. To the path of righteousness, i.e., He brought me back to Him once again.

Now, why? Because when I was troubled and lost, I walked away from Him. And this is why I ended up troubled and lost, because I walked away from Him. Now in order to be trouble free, and in order to be found rather than lost, the Lord needs to find you, the Lord needs to restore you.

He restores you in order for you to come back to Him, which He is the path of righteousness. See, when the Lord brought me back to Him, I became calm and very serene. My soul was restored once again.

When I was filled by the Holy Spirit, when I ate and drank, when I ate from the green pastures and when I drank from the still waters, which is the Word of God, it was then and then only I saw myself walking with the Lord Jesus again. Before, I saw myself walking alone. And when I saw myself alone, I was lost, I was troubled, I was vulnerable, I was weak, I was crying, I was angry, I was hurt, I was disappointed, I was all these terrible things.

But when the Lord restored my soul, He found me and He brought me back to the path of righteousness, back to Him. How did He bring me back? Because the Lord made me to sit in green pastures and He led me beside the still waters. He gave me Himself again.

His Word was that drink and that food for my lost and dead soul. He brought me back to life once again, brought me back to Him. When I read His Word as food and drink, I saw myself once again, not alone, but walking with the Lord.

Everything is cool, everything is good, nothing is lost. I thought it was the end, but before I came to that conclusion, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, all glory to His holy and mighty name, changed it before I blinked my own very eyes. Amazing is the Lord.

Just let Him come into your life. Allow Him to be free in your life. Don't block the way, don't shut the door in His holy face.

Just allow Him, give Him your will and say, Lord, let Your will be done in me. Not my will, but Your will. And this is what the Lord Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane.

He said, Father, let this cup, bitter cup, pass me by quickly, but let it be not my will, but Your will. Your will, not mine. Your will.

Sorry for a moment. Is it hot? Is the temperature hot? Or is it okay? Must be my presence in the sun. So my beloved, when I was lost, when I was seeing myself being alone, I thought the Lord had walked away from me.

I thought the Lord would never come back again and search for me. I thought I was not anymore that precious child of His. He's gone and left me behind.

But when I was calm and serene and at peace, I saw that He was with me every step of the way. The problem, it was I who was not with Him all along. He was always with me, but I was not with Him.

And then I turned around and said, the Lord left me, but it was me who left Him. It was me. The Lord never leaves nobody.

It is us who leave Him. You know, like one of the church fathers said it so beautifully. He says, the earth revolves around itself, and when it turns and gives its back to the sun, it says the sun went down.

The earth rotates around itself, and when it gives its back to the sun, it says the sun went down. It wasn't the sun that went down. The sun never goes down.

It is the earth that turns its back to the sun. But when you face the sun once again, the light is always there. The light of the world, who is Christ Jesus, is always there shining on you.

But when we give Him our back, our face faces darkness, and we say, He walked away from me. It was I who walked away from Him. The light of the world and the sun, S-U-N, of righteousness, never goes down.

He is always shining. So, all we need to do is turn again and face Him. And we will see His light shining upon us once again.

Very easy, as long as we are willing to face Him once again. As long as we are willing. Now, verse 3. He leads me in the paths of righteousness.

Are you ready now? Are you? Let's go deeper now. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. The word paths, I want to stop at it for a moment.

Question here. What is the difference between a path and a road? Path, my beloved, path is made when someone had gone and come, i.e. walked on the same place many, many times. When somebody walks on the same place over and over and over again, goes and comes on the same place over and over again, what happens? He creates a track.

That track is called path. That track is called path, my beloved. Now, this track, the width of the track is determined upon what had walked on it.

Example, if it was the feet of a human being walking on that track, the width of that track will be the width of the human feet. If it was a chariot that walked on that track, it will be the width of a chariot and so on and so on. Now, this created track is called path.

Now, what is a road? A road is a laid, paved, it's laid down and it's paved. It is all one level. When you see a road, the entire width of the road, that road in its entirety, it is all one level, unlike the path.

Why? The path is a footprint sunk in. When you walk in it, you cannot come out of it. I'll elaborate more.

Because this track has been walked on so many times, the ground was compacted by the weight. It became lower than the rest of the ground. So, when you walk on this specific area, over and over again, what have you done to that specific area? You have compacted it.

When you compacted that place, that place became sunk in. It became lower than the rest of the ground. So, when you walk in that particular track, which is the path, you can never come out of that track.

Exactly like the train. The train travels on tracks. What is that track of the train? Path.

When the train is on the track, it cannot come out of it. It cannot come out of it. And this is why the train doesn't travel on a road.

Because it will come off the road. But it cannot come off the track. You see, when you're on the road, you can come off it, but when you're on the path, you cannot.

Just like the train, glued on the track, on the path. See how the Holy Bible is so specific and precise and in depth. When the Lord restored my soul, He led me to what? Not the road.

He led me to the path. A path that is designed for me to walk in and never to come out of it. If He had led me to a road, I would have veered off the road very easily.

Because the road has no tracks. Are you with me? You with me? You sure? That's good. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did.

The Good Shepherd. The Lord is my Shepherd. Psalm 23 verse 1. The Lord is my Shepherd.

So what did the Lord do when He brought me back, when He restored my soul? He put me in His track, in His path. He led me to the path of righteousness. Righteousness is Himself.

He is righteousness. So He put me in His track, in His path, lest I walk away again. He glued me in that track.

Amazing. I'll give you an example of what I really mean here. One day, the Lord Jesus was talking.

And in that crowd, in the midst of that crowd, a certain woman raised her voice and spoke to the Lord and said, we find this in Luke chapter 11 verses 27 to 28. Luke 11, 27 to 28. Luke, what happens here? And it happened as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you.

But He said, the Lord replies, but He said, More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Wow. This woman was referring to the Holy Mother.

Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you. But the Lord says, but more than that, He didn't say no. He said, but more than that, blessed is the one who hears the word of God and keep it.

Meaning, blessed is the one who hears the word of God and live by it. Keep it meaning, living the word. Not just hearing it, hearing it and then living the word.

The Lord was literally saying to this woman, Woman, let me tell you something about my mother now, since you are referring to her. Let me tell you what kind of a mother I have. Now this is to everyone who has an ear to hear, let him hear.

He said, woman, my mother was not blessed only for bearing me in her womb and breastfeeding me. Why? Because if this was the case, then the blessings of my mother would have been short lived. Because if she was blessed for bearing me, the day she gave birth, the blessing is gone.

And if the blessing was for breastfeeding me, the day she stopped breastfeeding me, also that blessing would have been gone. But my mother's blessings is forever and ever and ever. You know why woman? Because my mother not only bore me, not only breastfed me, but she heard the word of God and lived by it every single moment of her life on earth.

That's why her blessings are everlasting. Now when you hear the word and live the word, you are in the path of righteousness. You are on the track of Christ where you cannot come off that track.

You see, the Lord was saying to that woman, he said, woman, you see, God dwelt in her womb for nine months, but he came out. But when she heard the word of God and lived the word of God, God dwelt not only in her womb, he dwelt in her heart. And when God dwells in the heart, God never leaves the heart.

He remains in the heart forever. But in the womb, he remained nine months. But in Mary's heart, he remained for eternity.

And the only way for God to dwell in Mary's heart and remain there forever, because she heard my word and she lived by my word. She walked in the paths of righteousness. When I led her to the tracks, she said, I am all ease and I'm willing to walk in that track and never come off it.

Just like the train. And when you listen, when you hear the word and live the word, what did the Holy Mother do? What did our Holy Mother do? Just like God dwelt in her heart, she also placed him in her heart. Luke 2.19 says, But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

When the shepherds came to where the Lord Jesus was born in that manger, the shepherds said, Well, we saw the angels of heaven saying, Today is born unto you the Savior. And he is now born in Bethlehem in that manger. So when the shepherds said what they saw to our father Joseph and the Holy Mother, Luke 2.19 speaks about the Holy Mother and says, The Holy Mother did not say anything to the shepherds, but rather she pondered all the things which they said in her heart.

Why? Because I am walking in the track of my Lord Jesus. I heard the word and I lived by the word. I thought of the word in my heart, not in my head.

Because if you think in your head only, you're walking on the road. And the head can take you right, can take you left. But when you walk with your heart, i.e., love, not logic.

The heart is love, the head is logic. So when you think of it in your heart, you are loving the Lord. When you love the Lord, you will never come off his tracks, the paths of righteousness.

What an amazing Holy Mother she is. What an amazing Holy Mother she is. Never came off the tracks.

And this is why I'll challenge everyone with love and respect. Read the entire New Testament from Matthew to Revelation. I will challenge you with love and humility.

If you can find anywhere in the New Testament the Holy Spirit saying that the Holy Mother made a mistake, you will not find it. I challenge you. Because she never came off the track.

Never. Because she lived the word, not only heard it, but lived the word as well. Now, when the Lord restores my soul, he places me in his heart.

And when he places me in his heart, meaning, he is putting me in his track, in his path. He is engraving me in that path. And the Lord said it in Isaiah 49, 16.

See, I have inscribed you, inscribed you meaning engraved you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

The Lord is saying here, I have written all of your names one by one by the nails that pierced my hands and my feet. There I have engraved, inscribed your names in the palms of my hands. With the nails, I engraved your name in my wounds.

There is no power in existence ever that can wipe, can remove the name which I engraved with the nails in those wounds of my hands. No one can take you away from me. Except one.

You. Unless you choose not to be with me. You are the only one that can take me out of this hand.

But there is no power that can take you out of the hand where your name was engraved in that wound. You are the only one who has the choice to walk away and be gone. See my beloveds, these wounds will remain with the Lord Jesus forever.

Even in that glorified body which he rose with after three days from the tomb. Even that glorified body will have the wounds. See, on the second return of the Lord, those who are faithful to him, he will give them that glorified body.

The only difference between the glorified body we receive from him and his glorified body is one thing. His glorified body will have the wounds none of us will have. So that way when we are in heaven forever and ever and ever more.

Every time we see the Lord Jesus in that glorified body, we see the wounds. It's a reminder for all of us that my wounds made your being here possible. So it will be a reminder for eternities that it was my wounds that brought you into the Father's house.

Without the wounds you wouldn't have been in my kingdom. That's why I'll keep them on me to remind you who brought you here. So that you never forget the love I showed for you on Calvary on the cross.

When I put you in the path of righteousness, when I put you on my track, you will never leave except on one condition, when you decide to leave. Then I won't be able to stop you because love, in love there is no force. In love there has to be done with willingness and with freedom.

You cannot love someone and you are forced to love them. You need to be freely loving that person. Otherwise it is no love, it's a fake love when you are forced.

But when you are willingly, choosing freely to love that person, then the love is genuine my beloved. Is it hot now? It's hot a bit? Now why did the Lord restore my soul and led me in the paths of righteousness? Why did he restore my soul in order to lead me to the paths of righteousness? Reason being is for his name's sake. For his name's sake he restored my soul and he led me to the paths of righteousness.

If it wasn't for his name's sake, he wouldn't have done it. Now I'll explain to you what it means here, for his name's sake he restored my soul and brought me back to the paths of righteousness. The Lord expects from us to keep his name always holy.

The Lord expects from us to keep his name always holy. When the disciples approached the Lord Jesus and asked him, Lord teach us on how to pray. The Lord's prayer, Matthew 6, 9, Luke 11, 3. The Lord says every time you pray you say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your name be holy, hallowed be your name. Now a question, is God's name not holy until we make it holy? He is holy, his name is holy. It is not us who make him holy or not.

He is in his nature holy. In his nature, in his being, he is holy. But the Lord taught the prayer and said, When you pray you say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Let your name be holy in me. Ask your heavenly Father every single day, That your name, my heavenly Father, to remain always holy in me. Why do we ask this of our heavenly Father? Because I'm saying to our heavenly Father, Your name is holy, but I am not.

And my fear, when you give me your name, Because I'm unholy, I will stay in your holy name. That's why I'm praying and begging you, When you give me your name, help me, So that I can keep your name holy, For it is worthy of every holiness. The fear is, I'm not holy, I don't want to stay in it.

Like the prodigal son again, When he left to that far away country, And dwelt in the pig's field, He stained the name of his father. What did he say? He said, I'm not worthy to be called his son once again. I'm not, because I've stained your name.

Your name is holy, you gave me your name, And you called me son. But your son was unholy. And he stained your holy name.

For his name's sake, The Lord keeps on restoring our souls. And he keeps on bringing us back to him, So that we don't remain, Staining his holy name, With our filthiness, With our evilness, With our wrongdoings, With our sins, With our inequities. That's why he restores us, He brings us back, So that his name remains holy in us.

We've done a few times commentaries on the Lord's Prayer. It's amazing, the Lord's Prayer, by the way. Seven statements, Covers your entire Christian faith.

If you want to know what is Christianity, And what does it mean to be a Christian, Get to know the Lord's Prayer. It will answer every question about your faith, And about how to live as a Christian. It's all in those seven short statements.

Amazing. Amazing is the Lord. No, no, no, put it up.

It's a bit cold. It's amazing. You know when the disciples asked the Lord, To teach us on how to pray, They didn't know what they were getting themselves into.

They wouldn't have asked him. But it was meant to be anyway. When we come and pray, And say, Our Father, Who art in heaven.

The Lord is saying to all of us, I came, I Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I came for one reason. To make God Daddy. And to make you his sons.

I came to make God your dad, And to make you his son. But there is an issue here. Your dad is the holy of holies.

So every time you come and you say, Our Father, When you are invoking God's name as your own dad, Are you ready to be his son? This is the question. You see, it is easy to build a church. But it is not easy to have people ready to enter the church, And worship the owner of the church.

We build churches, yet we are not ready for it. We build churches, and we enter and we fight. We enter and we argue.

We enter and we are jealous. We enter and we attack one another. We enter and we seek positions in the house of the Lord.

From clergymen to the laity. We fight in the house of the Lord. Why? Because I entered the house of the Lord, Who is the holy of holies.

Yet I entered as a sinner. That's why He is always faithful. I'm not.

He is always loyal. I'm not. He is always holy.

I'm not. That's why the Lord is saying, The reason why I kept on restoring, And restoring, and restoring, Over and over again your soul, Because I wanted to bring you back to my path, To my track, To keep you in that path of mine, In order to keep my name holy in you. I don't want you to stain my name.

I don't want you to stain my name. In a simple approach, A Christian doesn't swear, Because Christ doesn't swear. A Christian doesn't take drugs, Because Christ never took drugs.

A Christian doesn't lie, Because Christ never lies. A Christian can't kill, Because Christ never killed. A Christian can't walk in darkness, Because Christ is the light of the world.

A Christian can't be worldly, Because Christ is heavenly. A Christian can't be materialistic, Because Christ is spiritual. That's why the church, The day the church imitates the world, Has lost the Messiah.

Has lost the Messiah. Doesn't matter if you are a Pope, You're a Patriarch, You're a Cardinal, You're a Bishop like me, Who cares? It doesn't matter. What matters is, Where is your treasure? Who is your treasure? Is Christ your treasure? Is He everything to you? Well, guess what? The Lord says, Wherever your treasure is, There your heart will also be.

The Holy Mother made Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Her entire treasure. That's why her heart was with the Lord, 24x7 non-stop. That's why she is the Holy Mother, And we're not.

So when some little kid comes along, And says things inappropriate about the Holy Mother, In a way, I don't get angry, To a certain degree, Because they don't know any better. They're still little kids. If they had known, They wouldn't have dared to say anything, But love and respect and utmost veneration, To the Queen of Heaven, The Holy Mother Mary.

Don't you dare say anything about her. You're offending her son, Who is God. You say anything wrong about the Holy Mother, You're offending her son, Who is God.

So go and answer to God now. Good luck. So this is why the Lord, Keeps on searching for us.

Keeps on restoring us. Keeps on bringing us back into His track, So that way we don't veer off the road. It's a track, it's a path, it's not a road.

It's easy to walk away from the road, But it is hard for the train to come up the tracks, Unless the train decides to speed, Where it was not allowed to speed. Habibi. The Lord has put you on the track, And He says, come to church, you go to the club.

You're going to veer off. The Lord Jesus says, come and read my word, And you go and read Satan's word. You came off the track.

The Lord Jesus says, come into the light, And you go into the darkness. You came off the track. The Lord Jesus says, come and drink me, In that wine that was turned into my true blood, By the power of the Holy Spirit.

And you go and drink the wine of drunkenness of this world. You came off the track. The moment you walk away from the Lord, You came off the track.

When you come off the track, Your soul is lost. And when it is lost, You are absolutely in a very chaotic way. You don't know where is your head, And where are your toes.

You can't differentiate between your right, Nor your left hand. You're lost. You're dead.

It takes God, To bring back a dead soul, Into life again. It takes God. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul, And leads me to the path of righteousness, For His name's sake. You know, When we look, I don't know, Do we have the other verses on the screen? Verse 2 and 1? Can we put them all? Can we put them all there? I just want to show you one thing. And I'll sum it up.

And I'll sum it up. Look. Let's take it from verse 3, And we climb up to verse 1. He restores my soul, He leads me in the path of righteousness, For His name's sake.

How was that made possible? Because He made me to lie down in green pastures, And He led me beside the still waters. Now why did He take me to the green pastures, And He led me beside the still waters? Because the Lord is my shepherd. And since He's my shepherd, I shall not want.

Who chose to be the shepherd? The Lord. Now I'll leave you with this. Choosing.

When you come to choosing something, Choice is to do with the will. To do with the will, And it's to do with love. When you come to choose anything or anyone, It's got to do with will, And it's got to do with love.

See, when you want to do something, You need to decide on doing it, And to be able to decide on doing it, You need the will. You see, without the will, I don't have that tool to be able to do it or not to do it. It takes the will to do something that I chose to do.

But the problem is, I will never choose something unless I love it. So you see, choice has got to do with will and love. With the will you choose, But you don't choose something you don't love.

You need love to enable you to choose it. And with that will, there is no choice. And with that love, there is no choosing.

So now for the Lord Jesus, To choose to be our shepherd, What is that telling you? He chose us, Willingly, freely. Why? Because He loves us. That's why He chose.

You don't choose someone you don't love. You only choose the ones you love. So for the Lord to choose us, He must have loved us.

And for Him to choose us, Then He was free, because He is the Lord, He is God. He is free. So freely He chose, Lovingly He chose.

That's why, Even when I am lost, He never loses sight of me. When you love someone from the heart, No matter what they say, Or do, You'll never let go of them. Who lets go easily? The one that doesn't love.

But the one who loves, Hangs on till the very end, In the hope, That maybe they'll come back. Till the last drop, Of my blood, Till the last breath, Of my life, The Lord is holding on to me. Because He chose freely, And He chose lovingly.

He will never let go. Because the one who loves, Is stuck. No matter how painful it is.

But they, Hold on till the end. Why? Because they love. Love doesn't let you go.

Doesn't allow you to let go. You're stuck with the love. God is not weak.

But He is weak, Because He is love. So love is the strongest, And the weakest ever. When you love, You move mountains.

But when you love, You get shattered and broken, Very easily, At the same time. You are the most powerful, And you are the weakest. A muscly guy, All tattooed, He can put his hand, Right through a brick wall.

But one Juliet, So weak and fragile, Shatters this muscly guy, And he goes into depression, And ends up in Liverpool Mental Hospital. Because she left him, For another guy. The muscly, Heavy duty, Is gone, finito.

Why? Because he loved from the heart, He was broken, When he was hurt. But even though she left him, He will always remember her, Wherever he goes. Every time he drives to a certain place, He'll remember, We used to sit here, We used to eat here, We used to walk here.

When he gets a message, Ah, she used to message me, I used to message her. When he gets a phone call, Maybe it's her, Maybe it's not. He will always remember her.

Why? Because love is painful. That's why the Lord suffered. Because he loves.

Freely he chose, Lovingly he chose. We hurt him all the time, But he never hurt us. Never.

He never hurt us. We walk away from him, He never walks away from us. We deny him, He never.

We sold him with 30 pieces of silver, He purchased us with his own precious blood. We swore and we said, We don't know him. I swear to you, I don't know this man.

And the Lord says, Before my father I said, This is my son. Welcome to my father's house. Wow.

Amazing is his love. Is it too much for such a loving God? A loving shepherd? A loving friend? A loving heavenly groom? Is it too much to give him 2 hours a week? By coming to his holy house? Is it too much to kneel at home for 5 minutes and say, Lord I love you? Is it too much to read his word? Is it too much to do something good in his name? Is it? Isn't he worthy of every love we offer him and we give him? What hurt the Lord Jesus, and I'll leave you with it. What hurt the Lord Jesus immensely were not the nails, nor the crown of thorns.

Because these wounds can be healed after a little while. You remove the nails, after 1 month, after 1 year, the wounds will be healed and the pain will be gone. But the wounds where the Lord is suffering from was the wounds of his beloved ones who denied him and ran away.

The very ones whom he died for were the very ones who said, we don't know him. And they ran away and left him alone. And he said, you will leave me alone but I'm not alone for my father is with me.

But at the same time it hurts, because I loved you from the bottom of my heart. When I needed you the most, I could not find you. You were all gone.

These are the wounds that never healed. When you love somebody from the heart and they don't appreciate that love and don't see that love. In fact they deny it and walk away that easily.

That is the wound that never heals. Love the Lord Jesus my beloved. Please I beg you.

Let me show you once again. May the Lord strike me dead this very moment where I'm standing before you. If I am lying or falsifying anything.

Let me tell you, the Lord Jesus himself showed me heaven and hell. Literally I saw it. Literally I lived it.

He showed me both sides. There is definitely heaven and there is definitely hell. Don't ever say there is no satan.

Satan is the ugliest, the most poisonous thing you could ever come across. He hates you with the passion. He hates you to the core.

If it wasn't the Lord who is my shepherd that protects us every single moment. Satan would have destroyed us all before we even blinked our eyes. He is very powerful, very cunning, very deceptive, very poisonous.

He is the old snake. And he is the father of all lies. But on the other hand, the truth, Christ the King is real.

And he is God revealed in the flesh. You will never ever find anyone when the spirit leaves the body. Don't ever expect to find anyone else.

But Jesus Christ of Nazareth. There is no other God but Him. There is no other way but Him.

There is no other life but Him. There is no kingdom without Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is the way to the kingdom.

He is the one who makes heaven, heaven. He is. Without Him there is no heaven.

Without Him there is no existence. For this I live. For this I die.

Non-negotiable. Jesus Christ for me is God revealed in the flesh. My Creator.

My Savior. My Redeemer. My Good Shepherd who leads me beside the still waters and He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He is everything. But He shouldn't be just for me. Should be for every single human being.

For every single human being. But how much more for you when you claim to be a Christian. Don't be fanatic about your faith in the sense where you say unless you are from this group you'll never make it to heaven.

That's a joke. What takes you to heaven and I'm going to be blunt here. What takes you to heaven is not Catholicism.

It's not Orthodoxy. Definitely not Protestantism. What takes you to heaven is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

God revealed in the flesh. For God's sake please wake up. But be proud to be a Catholic.

Be proud to be an Orthodox. Be proud that you are not a Christian. No.

A follower of Christ. A follower. Because Christian alone is not good enough.

You need to be a follower of the Lord. What does it benefit for me to be a Christian and I'm not following the Lord. So many Christians don't follow the Lord.

It means nothing being a Christian. You need to follow Him. Meaning walking on His tracks.

So you don't veer off the road. But you see to walk on the tracks He needs to lead you to the still waters. And leading you to the still waters means you need to follow Him.

I.e. you need to choose to follow Him. I was born in a Christian family. I was forced to be a Christian.

But I'm not forced to follow Christ. So that's why there is no difference whether you were born in a Christian family or a non-Christian family. There is no difference.

Christ is calling every single human being. Because see if someone said I was born in a non-Christian family it's not my fault not to know Christ. Christ will say so many were born in a Christian family and never knew me.

And so many were born in a non-Christian family and now they know me. I don't differentiate. So you can't blame me why didn't you make me a Christian.

Because I made people Christians and they still walked away. Because it's not about being born in a Christian or a non-Christian family. It's about are you willing to give me your heart.

Because it is not that family that brings you to me. It is I Jesus Christ when you give me your heart. And that's why people were born in a Christian family and now they are atheists.

And there are atheists who became Christians. I am fair with everyone. So no one can blame me in the end and say I didn't know.

You didn't tell me. No. So as a Christian it's good.

Not good enough. Follower of Christ. Thumbs up.

Follower of Christ. I'm walking in his tracks. Like a train can't come off now.

A Christian walking on the road very easily to Virov. Follower of Christ is walking on the tracks. If you struggle getting to Christ a piece of advice.

Ask the Holy Mother. She'll help you. I did.

Not only I did. I always do. Till this very moment I always do.

People agree, disagree. That's their choice. That's fine.

That doesn't matter. But Mother Mary. She's the love of my life.

She's my crown of glory. She's my pride. Whenever I'm in trouble I go to Mama.

Actually there was a video that was done maybe, maybe in a not a nice way. Thinking that the bishop is saying don't pray to Mary. No, no, no, no.

I will never say that my dear friend. The Holy Mother is the love of my life. I adore her.

I venerate her. To the utmost. For me the Holy Mother is one side and all the saints are on the other side.

There's no comparison. The Mother will always be the crown of glory of every saint. Of every saint.

So whenever I'm in trouble I go and say Mom, I need your help. She never... Man she comes quick. So quick.

You know after the incident. I'll leave you. After the incident.

You've heard me say this. But I have to say this. Because this is my mom.

This is my mom. I love her. No, no, it's not enough.

I adore her. I'm crazy for my mom. I'm crazy for her.

So anyway, after the incident four months of hell. Four months of... I will never wish it to nobody. To nobody.

To the worst of the worst enemies of me. I'll never wish it for them. Absolute hell.

Unbearable. A split second was like eternity for me. A split second.

To live four months of hell to the core. Unbelievable. You know who took me out of that hell? My sweetheart.

My mom. I knew it. And I don't want to go into details.

I knew it. On her feast day. August, which is coming next month.

On her feast day. Everything will be finito. No more hell.

This red carpet here. I walked into the church to celebrate the holy mass on her feast day. It was Sunday.

I walked. It was early morning. Not many people in the church.

As I was walking, I didn't even get half way through this beautiful red carpet here. Something just... came out of me. And hell was gone.

No more. The enemy tried very hard to take me back to those haunting things. He tried frantically.

The holy mother was my shield. Who willed it? Her beloved son. Why did he will it? Because he chose her out of love.

From the very beginning to be his mom. Do you think when he loved her from the beginning, he's not going to love her in the end? Of course he will love her always. He's God.

He never changes. So because the love he has for her, he wants her to be honored by his children. He wants her to be venerated by his children.

And he wants her to be heard and known by her children. That's the will of the Lord Jesus. Because he loves and adores his mom.

So my beloved, but the Lord is the center to everything. Is the reason for the season. The Lord is the way, the truth and the life.

He is the only savior. He is the only redeemer. He is the only one who can forgive your sins.

He is the only one that can get you to heaven. The holy mother will get you to her son. That's her role.

But it is the son who gives you eternal life. No one else. No one else.

When it comes to salvation and redemption, Christ stands alone and alone. There is no one else but him. So don't mix.

But she is his mom. I have to honor her. She is his mom.

But the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It is the Lord who provides for all of us, including his mom.

It's the Lord. Very simple. When we want to make it simple, don't complicate things.

Don't mix things. The Lord is everything. Hold on to the Lord Jesus.

I pray the Lord blesses you all here in the church and everyone who is watching. I pray the Lord Jesus grants you your wishes. I pray the Lord Jesus heals your wounds.

I pray the Lord Jesus relieves you from your heavy burdens. I pray the Lord Jesus releases you from the chains of Satan, from bondage. I pray the Lord Jesus brings you out of that slavery.

Whatever addictions, whatever trouble you are going through, whether it's a marital issue, whether it's a financial one, whether it's a social one, whatever it is, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, whatever it is, may the Lord, who is God revealed in the flesh, who is the shepherd that leads us to green, make us to sit down in green pastures and lead us beside the still waters. May he heal all your wounds. May he set you free from every evil tribulation.

May you be in his light, for he is the light of the world. May you walk in his way, for he is the way, the truth, and the life. May you be resurrected, for he is the life and the resurrection.

May he shepherd you, for he is the good shepherd who lays his life for his sheep. May you hear his voice and follow him. For the Lord said, My sheep hear my voice and follow me, but they don't follow the voice of a stranger.

I pray that you always discern the voice of Christ in your life, and never follow the voice of the enemy. For the Lord is the only one, and there is no one else but him. May God bless you.

Bless your families. Bless your loved ones. May God make you prosper in everything you do for his glory.

May God show you the way. May God lead you. May God enlighten your intellect, your soul, your heart, your entire being.

May the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords reign over your life, control your life, takes it all in his capable hands where he engraved your name and those wounds that were afflicted upon him through those nails. May the Lord be always your home. Always your home.

Always your home. My son, I kiss your hand and feet. Don't go to those dark places.

Don't walk with so-called friends that take you to the wrong places for the wrong reasons. My beloved daughter, I kiss your hands and feet. Don't do things that would upset the Lord.

You are beautiful in his eyes. That's all you need. Who cares what the world thinks of you? Don't ever make yourself beautiful to the world.

The world is nothing. The world is vanity. The world will fade away.

Christ remains forever. You are beautiful in his eyes because he is the one who shaped you, who mold you, who made you. It is him who fashioned you.

My beloved daughter, you are beautiful for him. Remain beautiful for him. Don't try to prove it to anyone else outside of Christ.

And if anybody says to you, you are not beautiful, say, well, the Lord sees me beautiful. That's what matters. I don't need this elephant man to say to me, I am beautiful or not.

The Lord. The Lord. The Lord, my beloved.

Amen.