Deliver Us from Evil (Proper 30c)

     Deliver us from evil is the culmination and a summary of the Lord’s Prayer. Some chilling news – evil is “live” spelled backwards. The ending in Greek indicates it is a male identity. Ie. He, the evil one or Satan. As I share in Going Spiritual, I did not really understand evil until I was hitchhiking through the battlefields of France. I realized evil is intentional destruction of human lives for no purpose or benefit– very different from “bad things” that happen by accident. In the Readings:

·     Joel gives us an End Times warning and hope – destruction is coming - and God will send Jesus / Holy Spirit to deliver us  

·     Timothy Reading omits the very important warning about false teachers v.1-4 and then assures us that God will rescue the righteous from every evil attack–particularly by false teachers

·     Jesus is teaching us that humility and repentance deliver us from the evil and the destruction of Spiritual pride 

 

1.   Deliver Us from Spiritual Death

Called and Anointed to Proclaim Healing and Deliverance (St. Luke's Day)

 

This is Jesus mission statement. It should be the Churches’ mission Statement and it should be the mission of all Christians. Sadly, it is not. It is not because it can be dangerous and requires real commitment and community prayer support. You would think people who wear crosses would get it that crosses are for killing dangerous people. We avoid the hard, supernatural things in ministry – and Jesus weeps.

 

1.     We Are Called and Anointed – Its Spiritual!