Tag Archive for: Adult Education

A Devoted Heart

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This Sunday we will be continuing our study on the dual nature of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man.  Our study’s focus will be on Jesus as fully human.

John 1:14 reads, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

The humanity of Jesus is as equally important as the deity of Jesus.  Jesus was born as a human being while still being totally divine. The concept of the humanity of Jesus co-existing with His deity is difficult for the finite mind of man to comprehend. Nevertheless, Jesus’ nature—wholly man and wholly God—is a biblical fact.

This truth tells us that in order to save us, God became one of us.  To do so he did not abandon his divinity (only God can save us), but he fully clothed himself with humanity.

Christian and I look forward to having you join us as we study scripture to gain a better insight into this great mystery.

For His Glory alone,

Helena and Christian

A Devoted Heart

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This Sunday we will be continuing our study on the dual nature of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. Our focus will be on Jesus as fully human.

John 1:14 reads, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

The humanity of Jesus is as equally important as the deity of Jesus. Jesus was born as a human being while still being totally divine. The concept of the humanity of Jesus co-existing with His deity is difficult for the finite mind of man to comprehend. Nevertheless, Jesus’ nature—wholly man and wholly God—is a biblical fact.

This truth tells us that in order to save us, God became one of us. To do so he did not abandon his divinity (only God can save us), but he fully clothed himself with humanity.

Christian and I look forward to having you join us as we study scripture to gain a better insight into this great mystery.

A Devoted Heart

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“A Devoted Heart”

Hello friends,

This Sunday, Christian and I would love to welcome men, women and children of all ages to join us as we begin our 2nd season of our Bible Study ministry, “A Devoted Heart.”

If I were to ask you who is Jesus?  How would you reply?  Would you say, are you joking with me?   Or would you respond that is a good question, I never really thought about it.

Now what about if I asked you to describe Him?  I’m confident you could use your intellect to answer the basics.  But what if I asked you to close your eyes and answer it like this, who does your heart say Jesus Christ is?

In Luke 9:18-20, Matthew 16:13-15 and Mark 8:27-29, Jesus poses that question to his disciples.

And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?”  They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.”  And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?

My dear friends, it is time in our faith life that our relationship with Jesus Christ goes from intellectual head knowledge to a heart encounter.  I believe that once we get this revelation of who Jesus truly was, truly is and always will be, it is a game changer in our journey of exercising our faith!

Please come ready and willing to share with the class who Jesus is to you.  In this second season of our Bible studies, we will encourage, challenge and bring each other up higher in diligently seeking, pursuing and cultivating our relationship with Jesus Christ. We will go from rituals and routines to a deeper, more personal relationship with Jesus Christ through studying Him in scripture.

See you upstairs in the church at 12:30 and bring a friend!

In His service for His Glory alone,

Helena and Christian

A Devoted Heart

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“A Devoted Heart”

Hello friends,

This Sunday, Christian and I would love to welcome men, women and children of all ages to join us as we begin our 2nd season of our Bible Study ministry, “A Devoted Heart.”

If I were to ask you who is Jesus?  How would you reply?  Would you say, are you joking with me?   Or would you respond that is a good question, I never really thought about it.

Now what about if I asked you to describe Him?  I’m confident you could use your intellect to answer the basics.  But what if I asked you to close your eyes and answer it like this, who does your heart say Jesus Christ is?

In Luke 9:18-20, Matthew 16:13-15 and Mark 8:27-29, Jesus poses that question to his disciples.

And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?”  They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.”  And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?

My dear friends, it is time in our faith life that our relationship with Jesus Christ goes from intellectual head knowledge to a heart encounter.  I believe that once we get this revelation of who Jesus truly was, truly is and always will be, it is a game changer in our lives!

Please come ready and willing to share with the class who Jesus is to you.  In this second season of our Bible studies, we will bring each other up higher in diligently seeking, pursuing and cultivating our relationship with Jesus Christ. We will go from rituals and routines to a deeper more personal relationship with Jesus Christ through studying scripture.

See you upstairs in the church at 12:30.

In His service for His Glory alone,

Helena and Christian

Bible Study

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It is with great delight in my heart and spirit to announce that “A Devoted Heart” Bible Study will be starting up again on Sept. 20th!

How I have missed our time together in God’s precious Word, studying and searching for how the Lord wants to speak His love, guidance and encouragement into our everyday lives through scripture.

 

I would like to honor and thank Fr. John for the blessing and opportunity to continue this ministry the Lord laid on my heart.

It has truly been my privilege to have you come along side me and listen to me share my passion of the LOVE of God the Father and Jesus Christ for all of us.

Jesus said to him, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father…” John 14:9

Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus, the nature of God in action.

 

Christian and I would love to welcome and invite you back to study God’s Word in action with us.

We will meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month at 12:30-1:30 upstairs in the church.

 

We look forward to seeing you all soon and we can’t wait to hear how The Lord has been moving mightily in your lives since we last met!

 

In His service for His Glory alone,

Helena and Christian

 

Women’s Bible Study

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Hello my favorite friends of “A Devoted Heart” I pray everyone is well and rising over your current circumstances! (Listen to this song on Youtube by Britt Nicole, “the sun is rising”)

This Sunday, May 24th, I am happy to announce we will be having our Bible Study.

For our study we will be reading from the scripture of Acts 1:9-12 , Jesus Ascends to Heaven.

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

The Eastern Orthodox church celebrated the Ascension on May  21st 2015.  Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Pascha following the count given in Acts 1:3.

When you think of Christ, how do you think of Him?

As the babe lying in the manger?

Do you think of Him in terms of His ministry on earth and His mighty words and works?

Or perhaps you think of Him as the one who died and rose again.

There are many ways we may and should think about Jesus Christ and how we do so is tremendously important to the issues of life.

I’d like to invite you this week to particularly think of Jesus Christ as One who ascended into heaven. It is imperative that, like Isaiah from the Old Testament, we see Jesus exalted or high and lifted up regardless of what is happening on earth.   The Ascension completes the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christ’s death would be meaningless.  And without the Ascension, the Resurrection would also be incomplete.  We would have a resurrected person, but not one who was now at God’s right hand in the place of authority as we recite in our Nicene Creed.

What does the Ascension mean to us?  What difference should it make in our belief and behavior?

Few things in life are more exhilarating and fulfilling than the crowning celebration of some great achievement.  What makes it so, of course, is the struggle to get there; without the agony and the pain the triumph would not be as sweet.  It is this glorious Ascension that is the culmination of the atoning work of Christ, the guarantee of His promises, the proof of His claims, and the beginning of His dominion.

See you Sunday.

 

In His Service for His Glory,

Helena and Christian

Matthew 26:26-56

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St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church

Adult Bible Study-Gospel Of Matthew

Matthew 26:26-56

Sampson Kasapakis

Text:

Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new[b] covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’32 But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”

33 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” 35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.

The Prayer in the Garden

36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless[d] I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

Notes:

  • We will be discovering the true meanings of some of the verses by looking at the original Greek. When we do this we can understand the text better because the original language has beauty that gets covered by translations.
  • Within this text we will discuss the fact that we have sin within our lives, the power of prayer and watchfulness so that we do not fall to temptation and sin, and the foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven.
  • Weekly Challenge: Christ is Risen! Let us continue to remember Pascha and the power of God conquering the devil and sin so that when we pray to Him we can pray as Jesus did and say “Thy will be done.”

Women’s Bible Study

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Christos Anesti!

 

Hello my precious ladies and gentlemen of “A Devoted Heart,”

I am delighted to let you know we will be meeting this Sunday, May 3rd. I have missed your fellowship and our study time togetherJ

 

During Holy Week and Pascha, one cannot help but feel the love, obedience and submission of Jesus Christ to the Father’s plan for mankind.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

 

One must ask him/herself what does God’s love for me look like in my life today?  Allow yourself to ponder and reflect that answer.

Breath in His goodness, because YOU are outrageously loved by God!

 

The God of the universe, the same God who paints a sunset, shapes a mountain and plans the waves at the beach, has chosen to love us, not because of who we are, but because of who He is.

Our role in this is to BE-LOVED.

 

In Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross because He loved us.

Jesus laid down His life for us, (John 10:14-18) it was not taken from Him by the Jews or the Romans, He was not their “victim”.

Jesus choose the Father’s will not His own. There is no greater love than sacrificial love.

 

In our upcoming Bible study, we will consume ourselves with the Love of our Everlasting Father for us.  It is my prayer that you will know how deeply and outrageously loved you are by our Father in Heaven.

God loves you just as you are right now.  His love has never changed toward you although your circumstances would challenge you to believe that lie, God is constant, He cannot lie.

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”   Numbers 23:19

Please join me and Christian, as we invite the Holy Spirit in and allow our Heavenly Father to work in our hearts piercing the deepest parts to soothe, mend, heal, and restore.

 

For His service to Honor and Glorify His name, above all names,

Helena and Christian

Matthew 26:14-16; 20-25

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The Gospel of Matthew

Session 58th – 4/26/2014

Fr. John Codis

26:14-16; 20-25

The Traitor’s Bargain and Love’s last appeal

 

The Traitor’s Bargain

We can pinpoint three real reasons why Judas betrayed Jesus:

  1. It may have been of avarice
  2. It may have been because of bitter hatred
  3. It may be that Judas never intended Christ to die.

It’s not Jesus who can changed by us, be we who need to changed by Christ.

“Rabbi , is it I?” (Matt 26:25)

There is no question that Judas went about his deceitful business with complete secrecy. He had to conceal his plans from his fellow disciples but could not conceal them from Christ.

Christ knows always what we have in our hearts and minds no matter how hard we try to hide or forget.

The only weapon that Christ will ever use is the weapon of love’s appeal.

When Christ seeks to stop us from sinning he does two things:

  1. He confronts us with our sin.
  2. He confronts us with Himself.

“He sees a man to become aware of the horror of the thing he is about to do, and of the love which yearns to stop him doing it.”

“Our hearts revolt against the son or daughter who cold-bloodedly breaks a parent’s heart – which is what Judas did to Jesus – and the tragedy is that this is what we ourselves so often do.”