People who end up in hell do not repent, from what the Bible tells us, said respected New Testament scholar Don Arthur (D.A.) Carson. Carson said that as far as he can see in the Bible, "there is no hint anywhere that people in hell genuinely repent." ...

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

• Evening
  • St. Luke 9:10-17
• Morning
  • St. Matthew 17:20-28
• Before Holy Qurbana
  • Exodus 23:14-19
  • Psalms 16
  • Isaiah 40:27-31
• Holy Qurbana
  • Acts 9:10-18
  • II Corinthians 5:14-20
  • St. Luke 9:10-17

Life is short and death is sure; the hour of death remains obscure.

A soul you have, and only one; if that be lost all hope is gone.

Waste not your time, while time shall last; for after death ‘tis ever past.

The all-seeing God your Judge will be, and Heaven or Hell your destiny.

by Dr. James Hamilton, Associate Professor of Biblical Theology

We Christians sin. All the time. But most of us don't set out to spit in God's face. We don't mean to attack God by our sin, nor do we get up in the morning planning to transgress his boundaries.

What happens to us?

How is it that a genuine Christian can sin, and so often, sometimes so flagrantly?

In Hebrews 5:2 we read of how people are "ignorant and wayward," of how we are all "beset with weakness." One of the first steps to overcoming ignorance, waywardness, and weakness is recognizing it for what it is.

I had a dream the other night that brought this home to me.

We recently celebrated "Father's Day" here in the US (June 17, 2012), and the dream I had was probably connected to the fact that I didn't feel I had done enough to communicate to my dad how grateful I am for him.

In the dream I was in the office at Southern Seminary where the faculty have mailboxes. I was talking with a student as I poked my head into that office to see if there was any mail in my box. I noticed on top of my box a glass jar full of change that my wife had wanted out of the house, so I took it up to the school. Not wanting it in my office, I had stuck it on top of my box.

Seeing the change now, I thought to myself that I could buy a coke with it.

I stuck my hand in and counted out what I thought were four quarters.

But when I looked at them, I realized what I held in my hand, and my heart smote me.

These were old coins, and valuable. Silver dollars, Susan B. Anthonys, pre-1963 quarters, none of which, now that I realized what they were, I wanted to throw away on a can of coke. These were coins that my father had collected, coins that he had looked for, found, kept, and passed on to me.

Suddenly the old coins I held in my hand—in the dream there was a silver dollar from 1903, there were coins with designs on them that have long since passed out of circulation, coins that clearly came from this country but that were so old they had become exotic—suddenly these coins in my hand were much more than merely pieces of change. They had become mementos. Mementos of my father. Gifts he had given to me.

The gifts evoked memories of my Pappaw, my dad's dad, sitting on the couch, almost lying down really, with a stack of coins on his chest, rubbing the quarters together until their faces were smooth. They reminded me of times when I was the ages my own sons are now, 8, 6, 4, times when my dad and my sister Dayna and I would sit at the table or sprawl on the floor and sort coins. The Gifts I held in my hand made me think of recent days when my dad has done the same thing, sort coins, with my sons, only now he wears reading glasses to see the dates and designs.

Those memories showed themselves to be linked in a vital way to my whole relationship with my dad: all the ground balls and free throws and conversations in the car. All the ways he shaped me and loved me and cared for me. All the time he spent with me, the mound of moments we have enjoyed together.

There I was in my dream, holding those coins in my hand. They had become priceless to me because of what they signified, and I was horrified that I had almost thrown them away on a cola that wouldn't have been good for me anyway.

This is how our ignorant, wayward, and weak hearts find their way to sin. We forget the gifts our God and Father has given us. We become unmindful of what his mercy means to us. We neglect the mementos, the testimonies, the stories and songs of the Scriptures.

And all too often we are prepared to cash in our relationship with the living God for filth, filth that would ruin our lives and destroy everything precious and sacred to us. We are ignorant, wayward, and weak enough to throw away the world to come in exchange for a syrupy mixture of caffeine, sugar, and fizzy water, or worse, far worse: shameful things not to be named. God help us get hearts of wisdom.

"Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones"
-Prov 3:7-8.

About The Author:

by Oswald Chambers

"He is . . . a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" - Isaiah 53:3

We are not "acquainted with grief" in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.

by Michelle Vu

People who end up in hell do not repent, from what the Bible tells us, said respected New Testament scholar Don Arthur (D.A.) Carson at The Gospel Coalition National Women's Conference in Orlando.

Carson said that as far as he can see in the Bible, "there is no hint anywhere that people in hell genuinely repent."

Pointing to the well-known parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, Carson, who is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill., noted that in the story the rich man dies and from hell he looks up and sees Lazarus and Abraham. But instead of admitting that he was wrong to treat Lazarus poorly while they were alive, the rich man continues to boss him around.

"Wouldn't you expect him (rich man) to say, 'Oh Lazarus, did I get that one wrong. I am so sorry. Would you please forgive me?'" Carson posed. "But he doesn't even address him. He was a nobody in the days of his flesh. The rich man doesn't deal with nobodies, he goes straight to the top."

Paraphrasing verse 24, the theologian recalls the rich man saying, "'Father Abraham, tell Lazarus to go dip his finger into water and bring something to cool my tongue. It's pretty hot here.'

"Where is the repentance in that? He still thinks he is the center of the universe! He is still going to order Lazarus around! There is no brokenness, there is no contrition, there is no shame!"

Moreover, the rich man argues theologically with Abraham, "'No Father Abraham you got that one wrong. If someone rose from the dead that would really make a difference, don't you see?'

"Hell is not filled with people who are deeply sorry for their sins," Carson stated. "It is filled with people who for all eternity still shake their puny fist in the face of God almighty in an endless existence of evil, and corruption, and shame, and the wrath of God."

Carson's explanation of hell was part of a wider message based on Revelation 21-22, titled "Home at Last: The Spectacular God at the Center." In that message Carson spoke at length about the symbolism behind the descriptive vision of the new heaven and new earth, noting that there are not sufficient categories and understanding for the writer and people presently to grasp what kind of world will come about. He compared our inability to understand the new heaven and new earth to a people group living in a pre-Stone Age culture trying to understand how electricity works.

Nonetheless, Carson explained some of the symbolisms in Revelation 21-22, including Revelation 21:1 where it says "there was no longer any sea." He said that the Bible doesn't mean there will literally be no more sea as in a body of water, but sea in the Old Testament is connected to the wicked. Isaiah 57: 20 reads, "But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud." Therefore, the verse in Revelation saying there will be no more sea means that there will be no more chaos and evil in the new heaven and earth, said Carson.

He also explained Revelation 21:22, which says there will be no temple in New Jerusalem. There is no temple in the city because no mediating structure is needed because the entire city is the most holy place and God dwells in the whole city.

Such wondrous truths cannot even begin to be fully comprehended by His redeemed! It will take all of FOREVER just to begin to experience and enjoy the PERFECT LOVE of our Heavenly Father.

My dear friends, DO NOT ever limit the will of God the Father for your life here in time, for to do so is to only lie and cheat yourself from the Father's HIGHEST and BEST (Rom. 8:28-39). DO NOT ever second guess the Father's love for you, for to do so is the height of foolishness and to be a liar and deceiver unto ourselves (Rom. 8:31-32). DO NOT ever doubt the Father's wondrous concern and innumerable thoughts toward you, for to do so is to call the Father a liar (Luke 12:6-11). My dear friends, we only will cheat and rob ourselves and then open ourselves up to Satan's lies and falsehoods when we are unbelieving and unstable in the ALL that the Father has spoken to us in TRUTH. Satan despises with all his being the PERFECT LOVE of Almighty God, which is in PERFECT TRUTH and in RIGHTEOUSNESS (John 8:44). He rebelled against it in the beginning and will continue to be vindictive and full of rage against it FOREVER (Rev. 20:10).

DO NOT ever doubt the Father's wondrous concern and innumerable thoughts toward you!

As the Holy Scripture states; "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." The Father LOVES us and we as His children need to let Him do so. The hardest thing for a child of the Father to do is to let God the Father LOVE us. For the LOVE of the Father again seeks only the HIGHEST and BEST for the object (you and me) of His PERFECT LOVE!

The Lord Jesus spoke to those fathers who were sincere and concerned in seeking their children's well being in a dark and trying day stated these powerful words, "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matt. 7:9-11)

God's ETERNAL and PERFECT LOVE transcends the realms of time and ETERNITY. It seeks ONLY our HIGHEST and BEST in RIGHTEOUSNESS for this world and our ETERNAL future.

God's ETERNAL and PERFECT LOVE transcends the realms of time and ETERNITY. It seeks ONLY our HIGHEST and BEST in RIGHTEOUSNESS for this world and our ETERNAL future. It is the Father's delight to give us good things! And the majority of those good things that He gives us are NOT material blessings but spiritual blessings and wisdom, heavenly discernment, reality, truth, ETERNAL and Heavenly perception, earthly provisions, good, sound believing friends in the Lord, Divine protection from the evil one, opportunities to bring glory to His WONDROUS Name (1 Cor. 1:30, Phil. 4:19).

Remember WITH ALL OUR BEING our Heavenly Father and His ETERNAL goodness towards us in a world that despises and hates His Person and RIGHTEOUSNESS (1 John 3:1)

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Ajish Mathew is the only son of Kunjumon and Mary Mathew. Ajish was born on July 24th, 1994 in New Rochelle, NY. His father, Kunjumon Aluvila Mathew (Hillview Bungalow Pallom) is a long time member of White Plains Church and has held different roles in the church administration. Ajish's mother, Mary Mathew is the Assistant head Mistress of the Sunday School in White Plains. Ajish has two sisters, Ashley and Ancy.

Ajish hails from a family of priests. Ajish's grandfather is the Late Rev. Fr. Koshy Mathai of (Ezhamkulam- Adoor), who presided as Vicar of St. Ignatius Church known as Kallooparambil church in Pallom Kottayam and also the Vicar of St. Mary’s Jacobite Syrian Church, Nedumon, Adoor. Ajish’s paternal Grandmother's uncle is Late Very Rev. Fr. K.P Thomas Corepiscopa of Kallumkathra St. George Church. Ajish’s second cousin Rev. Fr. James Cherian, is the Assistant Vicar of St. Thomas Orthodox Church in Detroit, Michigan.

Ajish has grown up with a good sense of spirituality, from a tradition of going to Church every Sunday and attending Sunday school with his sisters. On July 24th, 2005, at the age of 11, he took his first steps in becoming an Altar Assistant. He was led to the Altar with the guidance of His Eminence Mathews Mor Ivanios of Kandanad Diocese in Kerala, India in the presence and blessings of his Grandfather Rev. Fr. Koshy Mathai. He has been serving as an Altar assistant at St. Mary's Church, White Plains ever since.

In 2010, Ajish successfully completed all of his Sunday school studies by achieving top rank in Region 1 of the Malankara Archdiocese Sunday school Association. As of now, he acts as a Substitute Teacher in Sunday school, eager to help when needed. He is also an active member and the Treasurer of the St. Mary’s Church Youth league.

by Stuart Briscoe

"You can fool yourself, you know. You'd think it's impossible, but it turns out it's the easiest thing of all." —Jodi Picault, Vanishing Acts

A couple years ago I wrote a book based on the Apostle's Creed entitled 'Belief Matters.' I liked the double meaning in that title. It dealt with theological matters of belief, but it continually reminded me that what we believe matters tremendously.

A dear friend, Dave, learned this the hard way. During a season when his marriage was "drifting," a lovely young woman came into his office. He had unmet desires; she had unfulfilled needs. He met her needs and she fulfilled his desires. Willingly, he was drawn into her seductions. Consciously, he ignored the heartfelt warnings of his friends at church. Intentionally, he decided to leave his wife and two small kids for the affections of this younger woman.

The pastor of the church engaged him. Looking across the table at him at a diner, his words were clear and few: "We've got to talk about church discipline, Dave. Until you are walking with Christ again, you're not welcome to worship and fellowship with us. We look forward to seeing you come back." The pastor got up and walked out.

It was a slap in the face, but the shocking truth woke him up. With no one else to blame, he felt the shame and realized the consequences of everything he had lost.

That day he went home to his wife and begged her to forgive him. By God's grace and in His power, she did. In time, they restored their marriage and have been together ever since.

It's a stunning story, but what stunned Dave was how easily and thoroughly he was deceived by the evil one. He told me, "Pete, I actually got to a place where I thought it was God's will for me to leave my wife for that other woman. I believed it's what He wanted for me...." He was a living example of 2 Corinthians 11:3:

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Is it possible that you, a believer in Jesus Christ, could be deceived by the Father of Lies too?

Abba Father, humble me. Show me my blind spots. Reveal where I think I can stand on my own before I fall. Right now, right here, show me where I am already in sin, where I am already taking control of my life in my own limited strength and flawed wisdom. I surrender to Your loving leadership and Your eternal wisdom again. I trust You in me to do what is right. Amen.