The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Conversation With An Orthodox Priest! (EP 180)

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

In this episode, Bryce speaks with an Orthodox Priest!

We consider the Eucharist truly one of those mysteries that we can't explain, but truly becomes his body and blood and it's necessary for our salvation. I am so logically hardwired. And that has been one of the hardest things for me to accept with all the sacraments, which is why I wanted to talk to you particularly about the Eucharist today. If you wanted to watch this episode early, exclusive content and more, check out our Patreon. Our Patreon is the best place for you guys to support us.

Keep us producing the podcast. Keep producing the evangelism videos, sending us out on the street. and in return, you get exclusive content that will only be available on Patreon, early access to all podcast, evangelism videos, our inner circle group chat, and more. So if you want to support us, go to patreon.com slash Bryce Crawford today, join the Patreon, support the mission, get early access to podcast, videos, exclusive content, and more. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryson today. I'm sitting down with Father Lazarus of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Thank you for sitting down. Thank you. I'm excited. There's a lot of things I want to talk to you about. I've been, I never prepare notes to not only read, but also to learn. I think one of the hardest thing that's been for me is to be able to sit down, process, verbally kind of understand certain things, particularly sacraments, particularly tradition. Something that has been on my hardest tradition and sacraments. I am very, I love and respect deeply how you hold tradition.

And from the moment we've walked in, the fear of the Lord that you have, the weight and reverence you have for the sacraments, for the murals, for the saints. It's deeply respectful, and it's something that I long for and want a better understanding on. So thank you for sitting down with me. with me. Blessing for me. Thank you. To kind of open up a little bit, I mainly wanted to ask a little bit about, like, how did you start following Jesus? Where did that start from? Yeah, I was born and raised in the Coptic Orthodox Church and had loving parents, and they did all they could to kind of show me who Jesus is. Actually, what's interesting is my dad would sometimes go to the evangelical

church, even though he was a baptized Coptic, and once in a while we'd go to the evangelical church, but mostly in the Coptic Orthodox Church. And they put me in Christian school. So they did all they could. I would say in my late teenage, early college years, I kind of strayed away. And, you know, wasn't the worst guy in the world, wasn't doing the worst things,

but definitely wasn't having a relationship with the Lord. And I remember one day that I looked and I sat, and I looked at myself in the mirror and I said, if you die today, you know where you're going. Because I wasn't really living with Christ, even though I knew of Christ. And I would say I loved Christ, but I wasn't living with Christ.

And so I didn't know what to do at that point. And at the time, there was a, our patriarch, his name was Pope Shunuda III, a very amazing, amazing teacher and blessed Father. So we have our patriarch. our own pope, but we don't consider the pope as the Catholics consider the pope. Like, we don't consider him infallible. We don't, we don't have those kind of doctrines with pope. And even though we're part of the Oriental Orthodox tradition, like so there's

the Eastern Orthodox, we're the Oriental Orthodox. The patriarch of Alexandria was historically, like throughout the first centuries, was revered as one of the highest patriarchs. Some of the greatest church fathers came out of Alexandria. But we never exercised our authority over the other jurisdictions ever, even after we split off in 451. So that's just an aside, but he was coming to visit our church, Pope Shunudan. And my mom said, you have to go to church. The pope is coming to our church. My local parish where I grew up, it was like, okay, fine, you know, what am I going to

lose? So I ended up going, and we had one of the bishops who was part of the, entourage, the Pope would travel with bishops. One of the bishops came up to me and he gave me the biggest hug ever, like we're best friends. And saying, so good to see you. And even when I looked in his face, there was a light. It was a light emanating from his face. Supernatural. I can't explain it. And he said, it's so good to see you. What just happened? Who is this guy? I knew that person, had something in him that I didn't have. And I wanted to find out

what was the secret. And all these thoughts were going through my mind. Does he think I'm someone else? Or did I meet him before and I forgot? I wanted to find out, I was curious who this person was, and I found out he's a bishop. And he's the bishop of the youth, and he would come every summer to give conventions.

And it was life-changing for me. I saw someone who loves Jesus Christ, who was filled with the love of Jesus Christ. and he was giving the gospel in a message that I could grasp and understand, and it was a message of joy. That's what drew me first, you know, most, even though I grew up in the church. So soon after that, I started to confess. Confession was a big part of my, I wouldn't say conversion, because we would say a revert, right?

Because I was born and raised in the church, but I started confess. confession, and a father of confession plays a pivotal role in a person's life, because this spiritual father, his sole most important task is our salvation. So he guides us, and then I was confessing, and I saw myself as this unworthy person, then all of a sudden he asks me to start to serve Sunday school, and I was like, what? Like, you know who I am? Like, how would, who am I to to start to serve and to try to influence kids in the right direction. I started to serve and I was reading the Bible and of course you come across Matthew 25, we were talking about there earlier and Matthew 25

it changed my life all the more and I said wow to be a Christian it's synonymous with serving those who are in need it's there's no question about it if you're not serving those who are in need you're not a true follower of Jesus Christ literally the Lord is going to separate everyone at the end from those that loved him and served him and had faith in serving faithfully serving him and those who didn't right i was hungry you gave me food i was thirsty you gave me drink i was a stranger you took me and i was naked you clothed me i was sick and imprisoned you visited me and what you do to the least of these my brethren you did it to me those are the ones who are going to inherit and turn away and those

who didn't do that are going where the what was created for the devil and his angels so it's a combination of really seeing the love of Christ in someone, somebody taking me under his wing and disciplining me, service and having a personal relationship with Christ, and then the most important, I would say the Eucharist, started partaking of the communion, the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on a regular basis. And that's where really I felt God's presence bolst him. Wow. So I love the language that you used like discipleship, a script. A script. that has been really shaking me to the core recently is when it says even the demon's belief. Yes.

And that challenges me as someone who claims to have been following Jesus for five years. Yes. What makes me different than the demon? What makes me different than those who are slaves to Satan? And that has challenged me, especially now being a husband. where it's like, no, I've, I've experienced this beautiful covenant. I'll never forget on my wedding day, just this new beautiful, profound revelation of Christ being the bridegroom and the church being the bride and just being like, wow, I am

saying to my bride, I'm willing to die for you, this new thing. Like, what makes me different than the demons? What makes me different in this and laying this life down? The importance of discipleship, I would love to, I think. I'd love to talk a little bit about that, and that's something that I think is extremely important to the believer. Something that I deeply love and respect about orthodoxy, Catholicism, these people that hold deep tradition is this weight of discipleship. Why is it so important that people are disciples?

Well, we're depositing the faith. You know, for us, faith is a matter of life and death as we have the icon of the 21 martyrs behind us. Right? So we're depositing the faith and we're passing this torch and making sure those who receive it know the weight of what they're receiving. We're children of the king. And there might be a time where there's going to be a knife to your throat and a gun to your head. Even children. Like in Egypt, a conversation parents have with their children, if somebody threatens to kill you, even with a gun right to your head and tells you, don't believe in Jesus Christ

deny Jesus Christ you say no I will always be a believer in Jesus Christ children are infused with this so this deposit of faith we are carrying the most important task I'm to deliver

and we see it as I'm a piece of heaven the Lord said the kingdom of heaven is within you I'm a peace of heaven and my job is to tell others and deliver others to heaven when everyone, and especially in Egypt, when everyone surrounding us, it's a hostile place, right? It's, you know, they say about 20% maybe more of Egypt is only Christian.

The rest are mostly Muslim. And majority are moderate, but there are many that are extremists. And so kidnappings of women that are not veiled and are folks. were forced to become basically sex sleeves. Martyrdom. My cousin was martyred in the year 2009. His name is George Fatih. He was a faithful servant in Egypt.

And through him, people were asking about Christianity and the Christian faith. And many people came to Christ through him. And so two brothers of one of the girls that became Christian found out he was the reason. So they followed him home. tortured him, sliced up his body, and lit his apartment on fire. And that's an honor for us.

And that's the beauty of this is that when we face persecution, it solidifies our faith all the more. I'll tell you another story. Several years ago there was a church bombings, and it happened on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is one of the most packed days of the year in the Coptic Orthodox Street. it's the it's the it's the kickoff for for holy week holy week we spend 60 to 70 hours in the church praying and chanting and preparing for the resurrection the crucifixion the resurrection of our lord

jesus christ it's intense right so so palm sunday to that's like the kickoff right that's the precursor to everything three three churches were bombed okay everyone thought these these these extremists did this to throw off our Holy Week services to make people feel scared. That night, because we go back to church that night, so we spend like six hours in the morning, and then we come back at night for four hours.

That night, usually as Holy Week builds up, like, the seats are half empty, and then little by little, as we head towards the cross and the resurrection, the church gets more and more packed throughout the week, right? usually Sunday night it's not that many people because we had a long day that night every single Coptic church was filled and the priest was one priest who was near one of the churches that was bombed

he gave a sermon he said I want to thank you thank you you you bombers because we call people and we beg people come to church you know come on let's let's go of your life come on let's let's let's start folks start holy week from the very beginning and you filled it for us with one one one bomb or a couple of bombs. You filled the churches. You made everyone want to give their life to Christ fully. You made everybody ready to die. You. What you're doing and thinking that this is going to work to the opposite, it's working to the glory of God. This is the faith that we're giving to our children. This is the faith that I'm entrusted with to give. You know, in the West here, we have it so easy. It's so nice. You were talking earlier, right? Martyrdom to us. You were saying

What? It's like a hate comment. A hate comment, right? Somebody didn't like my post, right? Yeah. No, for us, you know, a good friend of mine, Ishav Arabia. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell a personal story of his. He shared it with me.

When he was a kid, he was taught to hate Christians. And he saw a Christian monk, Coptic Orthodox monk walk in the streets one day. And he said, hey, hey, hey, hey. And he spits in his face. and he was crying when he was sharing this and I was telling him actually that was a blessing for that you know some Coptic Orthodox

pray Lord let me be worthy to be spat upon because if I can have the grace of having what you faced for me this is the least I can do for you another story of another priest a late name is Father Bishuah camel he was lately canonized as a saint

every morning as he would walk to the church he would have to take the same route there was a you know extremist uh shop owner every time he would see father bouchoy he would spit at him every day because he had to walk the same route to get to the church every day he spat him spatter him spatter him spatter him one day that man wasn't there the shop owner wasn't there so father bishoy at knox usually the shop owners would live upstairs like it would be the shop downstairs and the apartment would be upstairs. So Father Bishoy goes up and knocks. And the wife, she's a veiled lady, a Muslim lady.

But she looks at the father. She knew what her husband was doing. She thought he was going to do something to harm them. She said, nothing. We don't want anything for me. He said, no, no, no. He said, I'm looking for my friend. She said, what are you talking about?

He said, my friend that greets me every morning. I'm looking for him. She said, are you talking about my husband? He said, yes. She said, he's sick. He doesn't want. he said can I come and greet him and tell him I missed him this morning

and he changed I don't know if he became Christian but this is what's been deposited this is what we're entrusted yeah that's so beautiful I think that's something that that's I love the beauty of discipleship Dietrich Bonhofer's book on the cost like there's an exchange

there's something preferences comfort whatever it may be and the way that you describe the beauty of being hated for the sake of Jesus, whatever that looks like, whether being spat upon or martyred, with your life being taken.

It's something that in Western America, you know, we have the comfort of being able to walk in the street and being like, I'm a Christian, or I follow this religion, and people are like, okay. And I think the most dangerous thing that I feel like we're under attack is,

stay true to your truths. You do you. I feel like that is extremely dangerous because what you're saying, to me, the thing that unites me and stokes my fire as a believer is when I hear a story like that or I hear of another believer or the 21 martyrs in Libya and hearing how their life they were willing to lay it down

for the sake of, I'm not even going to utter the words. I don't believe in Jesus. They don't utter those words. That costs their beauty, the evidence of Jesus in their life. Now, you said something very interesting earlier when you were sharing the testimony of when you began to follow Jesus.

You said, I love Jesus, but I wasn't living with him. Yes. Explain to me what living with Jesus is. So there's a dangerous notion of faith alone saves. But the only time in the scriptures, the words faith alone are present. In the book of James, it says, we are not saved by faith alone.

We are not saved by faith alone. You said, you asked that question earlier, what makes me different than the demons, right? The demons believe. So it means it's faith working through love. The three have to come together as a Trinity. Faith working through love. And that's what St. Paul says in Galatians.

All that matters is faith working through love. It can't be just faith, and it can't. be just works and it can't be just faith and works is if i have faith to move mountains and have not love profits me nothing and if i give all my goods to the poor and even my body to be burned but have not love it profits me nothing right and then st paul gives the most beautiful passion love suffers long and it's kind love does not envy love does not parade itself as not and even when our lord jesus christ was asked what are the the greatest commandment the lord said what love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself. He didn't say faith alone. So love is the key. If I truly have love for God, I will have faith, and I'll be working to serve him. And we are not saved by works, right? We are saved by grace. We say this. We have a prayer that the priest prays every night called the absolution of the priest.

In this prayer, we utter these words, we are saved by your grace. So nothing that I do will ever earn salvation. But I have to live with Jesus Christ. When the five foolish virgins, you know, the story of Matthew 25 also, you know, we could say they were all believers. They all knew what they were supposed to be doing. Some had the oil.

Some did not have the oil. The Lord will tell them, depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. And there will be time where people will say, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name and done many wonders in your name? Depart from you, you workers of lawlessness.

So there has to be faith, there has to be works, there has to be love, and it's a participation. And this is why we make a big emphasis on the sacrament. The Eucharist, we do believe that the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we believe it's the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, in a mystery that I can't explain, this is important to our salvation.

Because the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ waited till the night that he would be, right before he was crucified, that he would institute this. This wasn't just a, hey, you know, let me show you something. Like, this was the peak of his ministry. This is like, right, he's about to head to the cross. That's it.

He wanted to leave us with this beautiful, this he what we call instituted this great mystery it's a great mystery and it's a mystery just like when two people you just got married two people when they get married they become what one

explain that to me because the Lord said they are no longer two don't even consider them two anymore they are one right that's a mystery or a true believer has the Holy Spirit inside of them how how is God inside of me if you cut me open you're not going to see him this is a mystery, or that we two or three are gathered in my name, he's there with us.

So we consider the Eucharist truly one of those mysteries that we can't explain, but truly becomes his body and blood, and it's necessary for our salvation. That has been, I think, I'm so logically hardwired. I love to have answers to everything. And that has been one of the hardest things for me to accept with all the sacraments is the beautiful mystery of them. Which is why I wanted to talk to you particularly about the Eucharist today. Yes.

Because it has been something that I have been wrestling with, wanting to take more serious, have started to take more serious. I would love to share with you where I'm at right now. And I just want to ask a lot of questions. I was raised being taught that it is merely a symbol. And when I started sincerely following Jesus, I realized that that couldn't have been further from the truth. While I do believe it has symbolic nature in a sense,

it represents something. I don't think it's just a symbol. And I think if you read the scriptures and you experience communion, it's not just a symbol. And I think because I had that initial mentality being taught that growing up, it was hard for me when I started actually partaking in communion as a believer

it was just oh this is something I do this is a symbol and I had to repent because I was like man I don't think it's just a symbol anymore and I feel like I've been unknowingly sinning against God the thing I have a really hard time wrapping my mind around I haven't been fully convinced of trans substantiation. Sure.

I believe in the real presence. I had a moment with communion a couple months ago that could make me cry. I was in a church with a very lovely pastor friend of mine who leads a Protestant church, who has a deep, reverent respect, who go to Mass at Catholic Church. And he was like, we need to institute the Eucharist,

it's so important. We've been doing it. We've been doing it wrong. We've been doing it wrong. And I'm sitting in this church. And as I'm taking communion, I'm sitting here going, God, I just, I'm so sorry that I've thought this was merely a symbol. And the presence of God impacting my heart was so unreal in that moment.

And I've never had. And to think that that is the case every time. Does it surprise us that our Lord. will humble us to this point, it doesn't surprise. The one who would leave being worshipped by the angels. To come confine himself to the womb of the virgin. To be a little child born in the worst of circumstance. The worst circumstances ever in history.

And then for him to flee to another country because his life is sought after, wanted to be destroyed by Herod, to be raised for the first few years of his life in a foreign country in Egypt, to come back, live a very poor life. Every day to hear nails, hammer, wood, nails, hammer, wood,

reminding him of what's going to be before him because his earthly father was a carpenter. I'm sure there be times he would be crying and his mother didn't know why. He knew what was ahead of him, right? Does it really shock us that this one who would do all this and suffer and die in the worst, most excruciating way, literally the word crucifixion comes from the word crucifixion.

Literally. To be stripped naked, to be spat upon, the one who was whipped, the one who would be nailed, the one would be thorns. Does it that he would humble himself that much? Of course he would humble himself to be some crumbs. Crumbs. God became crumbs. And this is going to be blasphemous. to many and people are you going to get some hate speech and people are going to say what are you doing

but get away this is not here no this is my god in a mystery i can't explain transubstantiation tries to put it into words what we can't explain and this is a catholic doctrine yeah we orthodox we don't go there i don't have to go there because when jesus was asked why or how how can this man give us his flesh to you this is the first time in history first time ever in history someone said you have to eat my flesh to be safe what is this question

what is this crazy talk he said in John 652 how can this man give us his flesh to eat what the Lord says is so important he says most assuredly I say to you

unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day for my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him as the living father sent me and I live because of the father. So he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven not as your father's ate the manna and are dead

he who eats this bread will live for they asked how he never explained how we don't need to know how we will never know how but Martin Luther he actually gave a good answer because the first to really teach this

was a guy named Zwingli Zwingli and Martin Luther had a conversation back and forth they both believed scriptures alone they had the same scriptures but they were arguing on the meaning of the scriptures the interpretation of the scriptures. So that's why we also believe that scriptures alone is scary,

it's dangerous, because what happens when we have different meanings? So Zwingli said, how? It looks like bread. It tastes like wine. Martin Luther said something very interesting. He said, well, people when they saw Jesus, they saw what? A man. But we know he's God in the flesh.

So how does that bread and wine become his body and blood? I can't tell you how no one should ever be able to say how. but he said it is and when does regular bread and regular wine get people sick and die that's what happened in 1st Corinthians 11th people became sick and died why

saint paul says it because they were guilty of the body and blood of christ he equated the bread and wine to the body and blood he equated it and he said because they weren't discerning the lord's body what more words do we need the Bible literally says so there's two camps of people

let's say two sets of Christians there are Christians who are not discerning the Lord's body and there are Christians who are discerning the Lord's body that this is truly the Lord's body so I have to make a choice and some of his disciples walked with him no more

in John 666 666 that from that time his disciples decided to walk with him no more because they said this is a hard saying who can understand this. Still trying to figure the how. And the Lord Jesus, who searches for the lost sheep, every lost sheep, he will search for him.

He let them go. You don't want to accept this, go. So this divided Christians from the beginning. We can say that. It's still dividing us till today. Yeah. Yeah, I guess a practical thing that comes in my brain is, you mentioned, like, it's necessary,

it's necessary to partake in this. I didn't say that. Jesus said it. So if that's the case, right? If that's the case, Jesus says it, you agree. How often then? You know, that's the brain. It's like, how often when's wrong, you know, what?

And I love that you brought that up in 1st Corinthians 11 because when I had that moment in that church, I had this like, God, thank you that those moments I unintentionally wasn't taking this serious, that I wasn't punished. Yeah. the same thing that happened to them and First Corinthians 11th didn't happen. But he meets us where we are. This is his mercy.

Okay. Like I do believe like people that are innocently just practicing and maybe are not part of a tradition that don't believe in the real presence of Christ. God meets them where they are. This is, I mean, we leave the judgment up to God. But now that this is something we can all study, now this is something we can all look into,

now we could see what the early church taught. I mean, we have writings of disciples of the disciples. And what they taught about communion, it's very clear. Like St. Ignatius of Antioch. He called it the medicine of immortality. Ignatius of Antioch. He was a disciple of St. John the Beloved, who wrote the gospel of John.

He calls it the medicine of immortality. He says, I have no hunger for any other bread except the bread which is the body of my Lord Jesus Christ and his blood of the son of David which he shed for me this is all I hunger and thirst for he says this so how often you ask that question it's very simple you just look through the book of Acts they steadfastly kept in the apostles doctrine in the breaking of bread in prayers and in fellowship steadfastly and it said from day to day they would come share the breaking of bread. At least every Sunday we as believe in Christians.

Acts 20 verse 7 on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. They came to break bread. Every time we see the words breaking bread, it's referring to the Eucharist, right? This is how I know Jesus Christ. The two disciples on the road to Emius. They didn't recognize this stranger walking with them telling about Jesus.

why are you so sad? Until what? It was the Lord, and he broke bread and said he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he said,

you guys are coming for the wrong reason. Some of you are hungry, some of you are drunk, some of you are full. You are not coming to partake of the Lord's supper. Had church been focused on other, something else more important,

he would have said, you had not come to hear the word of the Lord. You had not come to hear to worship. You had not come here to hear the sermon. He didn't say that. You are not coming to partake of the Lord's Supper. Some will say, well, he's talking about their sins because they were hungry and drunk of this and they were looking at as a feast. No. He was diagnosing that illness. That was their illness. For us, we have other illnesses. Some of us are living double lives. Some of us are addicted to porn. Some of us have money hungry, this and that. it's still, are you discerning the Lord's body?

Are you partaking of the Lord's body and blood in an unworthy manner or not? I should be repenting, I should be confessing. And then this is another thing. I think a lot of churches are coming to the understanding of real presence. And you have a big platform. You're going to be tasked with this. This is part of something. If you feel that God is shedding light to you,

you're going to be responsible to share to everyone. And there's going to be some people. they're going to hate you and not follow you anymore. But our job is, we're going to have to answer to God. If when the neck is, my knife, knife is on my neck, whatever, I can't deny the truth, whatever it is. I'll share with you one other thing about the Eucharic. Two weeks ago, I had this dream.

I saw the dead body of the Lord Jesus slaying on it. It was a bloody mess. Bloody, shocked. He didn't even look like a human being. And immediately my mind went to the Eucharist. You, Lord, went through that. Give me your body and blood. But it's not just a carcass that we're partaking.

We're partaking of the resurrected. We can't separate his crucifixion from the resurrection. So look at his love that God would become crumbs. Why is it that Jesus at the last supper, he mentions that the next time he will partake in this meal. Sure. Excellent. The marriage supper.

Very good. Very good. What is the importance of that? So we have to think of this. We have to kind of take the whole, let's take the Last Supper as a whole. Some people will ask, well, how could Jesus give us his body when he said it's broken, when he hadn't been crucified yet, right? Well, he's also called the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So in a mystical way, God is not bound by time.

Our Lord is not bound by time. He could give that. Okay, that's one thing. Second thing is, he says, do this in remembrance of me. A lot of people just say, well, it's just a remembrance. That's a wrong understanding. When do we do a memorial or remembrance for someone? When someone is what?

Dead. Dead and gone. Yeah. Is Jesus dead? Is he gone? He's very much alive. Very much alive. So the word remembrance, it's taken from the word anemnesis.

Anamnesis, a better translation, is present again. present again of what I gave to you. It's where we get the word animation. Animation is you're seeing real time like something that's presenting again, right? And it's more of a recognition than a remembrance because a remembrance is for somebody dead. Recognition is somebody alive and present.

Jesus is with us. When he says, I will not drink up the cup again until I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. when we are receiving communion here when did he ascend he ascended after the 40 days when we partake of communion he's partaking of communion with us that's what he's saying when I go to my father king as you partaking I'm with you

I'm receiving because in communion I'm offering myself to him as he's offering himself to him that's why he said he eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I and in there's an intimacy I come and I bring my whole world my universe, all my problems, all my ailments, all the people I'm praying for, I come and I offer this to Jesus. And I receive him. There's an interaction, there's an offering of one self to the other, like an intimacy, like a husband and wife. So this is, you felt something so precious, so beautiful, so intimate with our Lord. It's an exchange, okay?

So this is what he's telling us. I'm receiving you as you are receiving. and we take him and we bring him out to the world. This is the most beautiful thing of come. I receive him and now it's my duty to show the whole world who he is, the love that he invites me to, his arms that are stretched waiting for. Now, if a believer says, like if I came to you and I said, a father, it's past week, I feel like I feel like I feel cloudy in my thoughts, I feel like I'm having a hard time hearing the Lord,

maybe reading the scriptures, understanding the scriptures, digesting them, name a few issues. I feel like I'm having. Sure. Would you think, do you think that the scriptures would say,

hey, maybe the reason is, are you partaking in the Eucharist? And I would say, I haven't been partaking in the Eucharist. There's a combination. We, even when we're partaking the Eucharist,

like I partake of the Eucharist every day, by God's grace. Not a boast, it's really because it's my medicine. Yeah. because I need it to. So I still get those cloudy thoughts. I still get tempted.

My mind wanders here and there and I need to fight and make sure I'm bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I still, you know, I have to battle pride all the time. I'm a sinner. Like, so not just because we're not taking communion, but we are still in the flesh. And this is why we need to partake of it regularly.

Because he said, given for the remission of sins. Whenever do we hear the word remission, something is in remission. It's usually about cancer, right? Somebody who had cancer, they got the treatment, and their cancer is in remission, right? Well, he used that word very clearly

to tell us it's like sin. Sin is always trying to wreak in our lives. Reek its havoc in our lives. It's like a sickness. And it's a remedy to fix what we did from the very beginning. Wrong. Adam and Eve, they disobeyed God,

they ate, sinned, separated, and died. This is the remedy. Obey, take eat of it all of you. For this is my body, given for the remission of sins. So obey, eat, drink, given for the remission of sins. It's called communion to bring us back into union with God. Right?

And then he said, He who eats this bread will forever. Give us eternal life. so this is part of my relationship with it. It's not just communion that's going to give me salvation. It's not just believing in God that's going to give me salvation. It's not just confessing with my mouth and believing in my heart. It's all, we don't want to cheapen my relationship with God to a sentence. That's so cheap.

If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, Jesus Christ, you know, the son of God and he was raised from the dead, you'll be saved. Okay, that's a big part of it, yes. But then if you read the next verse, it says, for one believes unto righteousness. I have to be living what I believe. And we know we have to follow every command.

The Lord said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word. Every word. So Jesus commands us to partake. It's every word. If the scriptures tell us confess your sins to one another, that's part of every word. If Jesus said, he who believes and is baptized will be saved,

That's every word, okay? Every word. Yeah. Yeah, I love that you said that because even when you hinted back, I was thinking of this as you were bringing up Matthew 7, depart from me. Immediately after that, Jesus says, build your foundation on the rock. Right.

Build it on the rock, exactly what you're saying. Like, hey, if you want to avoid that, yes. I'm going to say, if you want to avoid that, build your foundation on the rock, which is me. Hear all these sayings and does them. Yeah. That's built, the building the foundation.

foundation, the rock is Christ, okay? And on top of that, the apostles, we were built and the church is on, so it's building on Christ, he is the foundation, but he said, what is building? He who hears these things in mind and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his foundation. That's why I love even, too, that you were bringing up not only the saints, but like the disciples of the disciples. I grew up learning about solo scriptura, but as I've gone along. I'm like, well, I don't want to just know what the scripture says. I want to see what the guys that walked with the guys that walked. Jesus, I want to know what they think about this issue. I want to know what they're thinking. If it comes to baptism, confession, the Eucharistic, whatever it

may be, these guys probably know something that I don't, especially with the time period we're in, the technology we have, the things that we have at our fingertips, the progression of society. It's like I don't, and I think that's why I'm so beginning to be convicted. I love just the freedom we have in America to be bold for Jesus, to be able to go, I'm a Christian in the streets, and people go, you know, you know, I love that. You do you. Yeah, it's like to a sense. I'm like, thanks, you know?

But then again, it's like, I want you to know the same thing I have. But also I'm like, the beauty of tradition and the beauty of sacraments is, is, becoming more and more important to me. And in particular, you just brought up a moment ago, confession. Yes. And I would love for you to talk about that. I know we were talking a little bit about it earlier, but. Well, confession, part of it is discipleship.

Part of it is receiving absolution. The Lord breathed into the face of the disciples, and he said to them, if you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven, if you retain the sins of any of they're retained. So why would he give this to them? God is the one who forgives. well we see this played out even in the early church

in the book of Acts in the story of Anonice and Sapphira right they did a sin against God they lied to the Holy Spirit but St. Peter was trying to get them to confess yes the wife did you sell it for this much

this is between her and God no he was trying to get her to confess had she confessed she wouldn't have died instantly right so so we see confession It says that people came to be baptized by John the Baptist confessing their sins in John Chapter 4.

It says in James, you confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed, right? So confession is a beautiful thing. We were talking about, you know, I'm not trying to bring up some, I'm not going to put names out there, but like some of these giants in like the evangelical world that at the end the life we saw a fall from grace or some people that are really well known a fall from grace had they been confessing regularly could have that been alleviated maybe i know i think when we have confession we're humbling ourselves we are we are talking about the thoughts that we have so it's not

just when i sin it's my intentions we have this prayer we say purify our thoughts purify our intentions, heal our sicknesses, forgive us our sins. Like we say, forgive us our sins that we commit willingly and unwillingly, knowingly and unknowingly, the hidden and manifest. Like we are scrutinizing every facet of our heart, okay, to make sure that my heart, my mind, because the Lord said what, love the Lord of God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. That means what?

I have to be scrutinizing every detail of my heart, soul-minded. Yeah. And if there is a little step this way, and if I'm not confessing, if I'm not confiding in someone that's guiding me and praying for me, and his sole goal for me is my salvation. So what am I missing out on? And I think a lot of churches now are coming with like the small groups and accountability partners.

And I think this is a way to kind of move back. But like, that's the thing. You know, you came to this beautiful really. you came to this church and this pastor that's like, we need to go back and we were doing this wrong. This is the beauty of being part of an apostolic. I don't have to go back. We are living in the back.

We are living in the ancient times. People when they step into our church, they feel like they stepped into the third and fourth century. We literally have churches still standing from the third century and fourth century in Egypt. So there's this line of martyrdom. There's a trail of blood from the very beginning. all the way till today.

We were even killed by other Christians when we split off from the Byzantine and the Roman Catholic Church at the time. We were slaughtered by them. So we have this trail of blood that's till today, we've kept this faith. We don't have to figure it out.

I don't have to. And we have the writings of these early church fathers. So as we said from the very beginning, like when Solis Scriptura was outed and taught, two early reformers, they disagreed. Like, that shows how Sola Scripura fails because it's about the interpretation.

So instead of me trying to figure it out, let's look what the ancient church said. And what the Holy Spirit has guided the church to always teach. That's the promise of the Lord. The gates of Hades will never prevail against it. And the Holy Spirit, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that are said. Holy Spirit will always guide the church. So there has to be a trail all the way back. That's where you find security.

and that's where you feel really you're being disciples in the right way. So let's say, just, I'm thinking practically here, someone falls to sin. And they go, okay, well, now I need to go and confess and I need to partake in that sacrament. And then a couple hours later, they have a heart attack before they're able to confess.

What is the perspective, the idea behind that? Yeah, look. God knows the intention of the heart. If my heart is heading in the right direction, let's say, forgive me to kind of use an extreme example. Let's say somebody's watching what we're doing, presenting today, and they weren't presented before that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Christ, but some of the things they heard today, they're like, hey, wait a second,

I may have missed the boat on this. I think I want to look into this more. And let's say that's the moment they pass. For sure, I know God. knowing the God that's merciful and loving, he loves people more than we will ever imagine, right? Look what he did to die for us. No greater love does one have, right?

So, of course, God in his mercy, he meets people where they are. But my job is always to be heading in the right direction. That's why St. Anthony the great. And Anthony is the first Christian monk. He was an Egyptian. He came to the church after his parents passed away at 19 years old. and he didn't know what to do. Christ, you know, sorrowful.

His parents died, and he was pretty well off. But he comes to the church, and he's like, okay, I'm going to hear the gospel of the day because every liturgy would have a gospel reading and Pauline epistle, Catholic Epistle, Acts, and several other readings. Here's the gospel that he says, when the Lord told the rich young woman,

if you want to be perfect, go sell all that you have, give to the poor, and come follow me. He said, this is it. This is my message. He sells everything he has and 19 And he goes

And he lives a life of devotion And he starts the monastic movement Beautiful rich history Some of the great beautiful stories Of the desert fathers All started because of this man God's work in this man So St. Anthony said

If you wake up every day telling yourself this may be the last day I live on this earth and if you go to sleep every night telling yourself this may be the last night i ever sleep and if you lived like this you will be prepared for the lord so we keep and this is why we pray unceasingly the bible tells us you know pray unceasingly we have this beautiful prayer it's called an arrow prayer it's a little prayer that we shoot up as little arrows daggers up to heaven lord jesus christ have mercy on me lord jesus this is something that people can

me throughout the day as they're driving as they're in a in a you know tough situation in the workplace something i love to do is i make a little cross with my finger like as i'm sitting i just i do this and i remind myself my lord jesus christ paid the ultimate price he loves me and i'm holding his hand somebody taught me this years and years ago it's as if i'm holding his hand i was reminding myself he's always with me if i'm going through a situation where somebody's talking to me and I feel tense. I just do this. I feel like holding twice. No, with confession in particular, you know,

the psalmist David writes, someone very nice, that search my heart, God, almost like reveal to me the areas of my life where I may be blind. Yes. What if someone, when it comes to partaking in confession, you know, they're thinking of it from a practical standpoint

of like, oh, well, I didn't look at this person lustfully, and I didn't do this thing and I didn't do that thing. They're not thinking about it like that. How can someone practice confession in a way like King David? It's like, hey, God, I, you know, I'm trying to diagnose my heart right now. Can you just reveal to me areas I may be? And this, I'm glad you brought up King David because when did he realize his error? When Nathan the prophet came and told him, like even King David,

the man after God's own heart, after he, you know, impregnated Bathsheba, killed her off her husband, you know, ended up marrying her. He was fine. He was still King David. Yeah. He was maybe even wrote some Psalms in that time, right? But he didn't recognize his heir, until Nathan told him,

oh, there's travest in your kingdom. What happened? It was two men, two neighbors, one very rich man, who had many sheep, and he saw his neighbor who had one lamb, and it was like his own daughter. And he had a guest, coming in visiting him. And instead of taking one of his sheep to slaughter, he took the lamb of his neighbor.

And, who is this man? He must... You are there. So this is what the father can... It's not just what I'm not doing. All right, I didn't do this. I didn't do this. And what I am doing,

it's not just that, like, I've, you know, I've been tempted to watch some things that I don't like and this and that. It's, how can I become... this is this is salvation in the orthodox perspective not being just being saved now i one day will go to heaven that's not salvation is crucified with me die with christ to be united with one with no longer i who live christ too this is salvation to us as you grow father confession it takes us step by step disciplining us. Little by little,

he gives us the milk first, little by little solid food, then the meat, then you're growing. My father, confession, I'll tell you a funny story. My father, confession. He said, the last thing I ever imagined, this is a very holy spiritual man. He said, you know what? I want you to download a game

and start playing some puzzle games on your phone. I'm like, what? like I you know like I looked him for prayer and he's telling giving me like a prayer rule and like when you know how to do service and this and that and keep a mindset and all these things they want you to that's even like look at the beauty and the care like honestly that made me love this man so much more because he he he knows like he felt like I need a break a little bit here and there and try to take some time just to kind of place I was I was like so happy I'm like really I had to hear it again and say say that again

Abuna. Abuna means father in Arabic. Did that again? He said, yeah, I want you to play some puzzle puzzle, puzzle games, you know, just like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. What kind of puzzle games do you play? I play this block puzzle. Nice. Blockbuster. Blockbuster. That's what I'm great. That one's great. Yeah, block blasters, awesome. They got that on the plane, too. You know, you can play it on the screen.

Yeah, that one's good. That's awesome. That's so cool. something that you have at your church consistently i've seen not only outside but inside are these statues of jesus representing matthew 25 and i know we we mentioned it at the beginning but that was also another thing um i really wanted to talk to you about because um i think we skip over in the book of james when he talks about partiality yes a lot i think we do um and that seemed that is such a prime beautiful example um that you guys are or reaching here, teaching here, the interaction. Even, it was so funny this morning when we were walking in,

as you were showing me the statue, that lady that you guys had given a meal standing right there. And I'm just like, man, this, these, it just breaks my heart that I personally feel like in America, you grow up and you say, hey, don't talk to the homeless guy because all they want is to use your money for bad stuff. And I, like, shared with you earlier, it breaks my heart now, being a believer in reading that scripture.

That was one of the first scriptures that shook me to the core. It shakes me to the core still this day, reading it over and over again. It's not just the fact that God's going to separate the sheep and the goats. And it's the fact that Jesus, when the goats, they asked for, like, when do we ever see you in that position? Yeah. Like, what are you talking about? What do you mean like you were naked and you needed clothes?

What do you mean you were in prison and we didn't visit you? Like, when did we ever see you there? Yeah. And when Jesus says how you would treat them, you would treat me, that shook me to the core. Again, like going like, I don't want these, the weight of that is beautiful. Yeah. Particularly the prison thing too. Yeah.

My local church back from where I grew up in Georgia, they have a location inside of the state prison. And I got the opportunity to go visit those guys. And the hope that they carry convicted me as a comfortable American that gets to go home, gets to drive my car, gets to eat at the restaurant. The hope that they have, the hope that some of these homeless people carry is unmatchable in comparison to sometimes the hope that I have for, you know, myself, because I know me. you, you know. The beauty of it, I think, is so important. Why is it so important that we serve the least of these, according to Matthew 25? It's Jesus. He said, that's me. That's me.

And what you do to them, you're doing it to me. It's not as if you're doing it to, or a symbol of doing it to me. You are literally doing it. So we can meet Christ. And that's actually our ministry. We called ourselves initially before we became Christ a good shepherd church. We started off as a homeless ministry. We called it Meet Christ ministry. I meet Christ and I'm to portray Christ. So they are to meet Christ in me and I meet Christ. And we honor them, cherish them, and we love them,

and we're not to judge them. Even if I see somebody doing something wrong, even the fact that, think of this one, like when the Lord said, I was naked in your code. who are usually the people that we see naked in it's somebody so gone so far gone mentally like we feel sorry for them like they must have just done a tremendous amount of drugs or just severely mentally ill they're naked they're just standing there's Jesus says that's we're the prisoner like not everybody in prison is is in prison for a lofty reason or like a you know

a noble reason yeah yeah i would say probably 99.99% of the people people there are not there for the right reasons. And he said, that's me. So he really wants us to look at everyone through his eyes. And he's searching for every lost sheep. We're not to judge. We are to love. Yes, we do it with wisdom.

Not saying haphazardly just give out tons of cash to everybody. Not saying that. But if you want to love and serve them, you will find a way. Yeah. You'll find it. I agree. Yeah. And, you know, I love, I love the ministry that you guys have with a homeless.

And I love getting to have conversations with them as well because they're people, you know. And I think it's important, like, they're not just people. It's Christ. It is. It's Christ. And the price, the price God puts on my life, your life, anyone's life is his own. The price is the same. It's consistent.

But when I got to go visit that prison that I shared, Hey State, those brothers there that are following Jesus, it was shocking to me how much hope that they had, in particular, this prison, many of the men in this prison are their life without parole. Like, they're there forever.

And the warden at Hayst State is just an incredible, God-fearing man who has helped allow my local church back at home to go in there. And, I got to go, I got the opportunity to go into the cell blocks where they stay. And we went into this one cell block and they're all just high-fiving. Oh, man, so good to see you in a great moment, like worship in the Lord.

They're on their knees crying out with the little that they have. And I'm just like, man, I am so comfortable. I'm so comfortable and so convicted. And I think that's the biggest thing for me too is this constant state of conviction. I feel like every time I interact with people that fit the description of who Jesus says are the least of these,

I am blessed more. Absolutely. Than me thinking, oh, I'm about to be the blessing of this person. I feel like I am blessed more. I agree with you, hope. The conversations, the gentleness, the kindness. It's so holy. And I don't want to lose that.

How do we not lose that? I think we have to maintain the relationship with Christ. See how he dealt with everyone. Look how he dealt with the sinner woman caught in adultery. Or the Samaritan woman, right? Look how he was so delicate with these people, the man born blind, the least of them. And we see how he elevated.

I mean, gospel of John is probably the most important gospel, and maybe even the peak of all of scripture. The fact there would be like a whole chapter dedicated to a Samaritan woman, a whole, like almost a whole chapter dedicated to a man born blind, you know, a significant amount of a chapter dedicated to the paralyzed man. Like, I mean, this is the gospel of John. This is like what's supposed to change the whole world. And look how important an individual.

One single person, how the Lord spent this beautiful time, this interaction, so delicate. So we can't write anybody off. Yeah. And who knows, like, maybe that's my, I really believe Christ appears in the homeless. Like, sometimes he himself, like, because we know we can entertain angels in the book of papers. It says that. But I do believe that there are times that even Christ himself appear.

I agree. Even that, even that John chapter 4 with the woman at the well, it's like, why are we going this route? I've got to stop somewhere. Yeah. It's so intentional on how he focused. on people. And that makes me the same way I feel about my salvation, you know, like God met me

on a knife that I, on a night that I thought was my end all be all. And you know, I think like the the, you know, just blanket statement of God, oh, he's got a lot on his plate. He's not thinking about me. But the intentionality

of the father is so precise. Yes. And it cuts perfectly. And I'm grateful for that, don't want to lose that. And I agree with you. I think he does. I believe he does as well up here. I wanted to kind of close with, I wanted to know if there's like a particular passage or a scripture that really rests on your heart.

I know Matthew 25 is one of those, but is there like... There's two. Sorry. Yeah. Do? Two. You are the one he loves. loves. John chapter 11 when the message to our Lord was he whom you love is sick, the one you love.

He didn't tell him Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha from the town of Bethany, the one you visited on this day, you know, he's sick, please come and heal him. He whom you love is. So you are the one healing. Every one of us, individually. And when our Lord was on the cross, he was thinking of me. When he was taking the bread and breaking and said, this is my body. He said, this is broken for you and for many. He was thinking of me. Each one of us individually, he never has too much on his plate.

You are the only thing before him. You are the only one before him. The longest conversation for the Samaritan woman, the longest conversation our Lord had with anyone recorded with this Samaritan woman, a sinner, a Samaritan and a woman, right? So every person, every lost sheep, everything that we're going through is so important. So you are the one he loved. Another one.

There's two more, sorry. Do it, do it. Our Holy Mother, St. Mary. I feel that like sometimes in the evangelical world, the pendulum swung so far too, because maybe there are some things in some language that was used maybe in the Catholic tradition, like calling her co-redeemer and things like this, the evangelical world took such a harsh stance and went the opposite. She's so beautiful.

He's a mother to us. He's so lovely. And her whole life is to point to Christ. If we can summarize her whole life, it's in one sentence. Whatever he says to you do it. We see her in this light. She's just a tool. She's our mother.

She's the mother of God. And even this is biblical. because even it says, Behold, the Virgin will give birth to a child. The Virgin, St. Mary, will give birth to a child, and his name will be called Emmanuel, which means what? God with us. God with us.

The Virgin is the mother of Emmanuel. The virgin is the mother of God with us. It's biblical. It's not wrong to call her the mother of God. Jesus is God with us. So her whole life, she is like the moon. She's reflecting the light of the sun unto us, pointing to her son,

whatever he says to you do. And she intercedes. We saw that there in the wedding. She interceded. Those who are in heaven, it says in Hebrews Chapter 11, talks about all the heroes of the faith.

At the end of chapter 11, it says, and they will not be made, they will not be perfected apart from us. they will not be perfected apart from us it means we are together we united we are one body in christ the saints and us and then it says we are in first of twelve we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses therefore so the chapters came later but this is all one big passage these heroes abraham and moses and all these heroes they are they will not be perfected apart from us

that means you're united with us and they're surrounding us Hebrews 12 we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witness so this is the role of the saints and our Holy Mother too they are not dead God is not the God of the dead

but of the living Abraham Isaac and Jacob so he is the God of the living they're praying for us there's joy in heaven over one sinner repentance want us to repent the other passage that I want to share

Luke chapter 12 says what the Lord will do for us. Why our Lord created us? He said, do not fear little flock, it's your father's good pleasure to give you. God created us to give us the kingdom,

including himself. And what will he do in the kingdom? It says later on, blessed are those servants whom the master will come when he finds some watching, he will come, bring them, have them sit down to eat,

and he will come and so our lord wants to serve children for eternity this is heaven to god is heaven would you um would you pray for yeah not just us but everyone watching and listening sure in the name of the father the son the holy spirit own god amen we love you and we praise you and we glorify you we thank you lord for your great glory your great love thank you lord for my brother bryce and his brothers that he brought with him here, Lord, to serve. Thank you, Lord, for all the work that he's doing. Continue to allow him to glorify your name and to fill his heart with your love and joy and all those who are watching and myself included, that we love you with all our heart, all our

soul, all our mind, and all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to see you in each and every individual, even those who seem so far, even those, Lord, who think that they hate you. We know, Lord, that they are doing this in ignorance. They do not know what they're doing as you prayed on the cross. Help us, Lord, to have the devotion and the love that these 21 martyrs had for you, to be willing to lay down our life because you said there is no greater love than to lay down one's life. As you showed us this, Lord, let us lay down our life for you and others.

Lord, we pray, Lord, for people to open their hearts to really understanding what the Eucharist is all about, to receive you in a mystery that we can't explain, but that you are offering to us yourself in bread and wine, in words that fall short, Lord, but we know, Lord, and we recognize you are with us, and you have never left us, and this is not just a memorial because you're gone, but you are truly present with us. Let us devote our hearts to you, Lord, and change this world. We see, Lord, so much destruction, so much division, so much hatred, Lord. Reveal, Lord, reveal, Lord, your beauty, your light to the world. Use us, Lord, as tools to be

a little piece of heaven, walking and showing others, Lord, what heaven is as you are living in us, and that your name is glorified and that you increase and we decrease. We pray this through your holy and precious name, and as all the angels and the saints are praying with us, hear us, Lord,

as we pray in the way that you taught us, saying, Our Father, O hearts in heaven, hallow it be thy name, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Need us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one. Christ Jesus, our word for thines the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen.