Christian Living and Doctrines – Page 6 – Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church Sunday School Department

Glory to God!

“O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!”

“Be angry and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26)

Anger in the biblical dictionary is defined as “A violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury; usually accompanied with a propensity to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party. This passion however varies in degrees of violence, and in ingenuous minds, may be attended only with a desire to reprove or chide the offender.” (King James Dictionary)

“Blessed are the Merciful” (Matthew 5:7)

The Sermon on the Mount of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, specifically His Beatitudes evokes about blessing, revealed through the beatitude on as to how to be blessed. “To be blessed” means “being in an enviable state of those who are in God’s heavenly Kingdom.” Focusing on a particular Beatitude which is “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy,” it is important to understand, we shall be merciful for God shall have mercy on us. (Matthew 5:7)

“Away with you, Satan!” (Matthew 4:10)

Counterfeit preaching and lies about the existence of evil and the devil as well as his existence in this world confuse people hindering them to reach the truth. However, through learning the words of God, it is probable to understand the truth. One of the best gospel passages for us to learn about the devil, evil and temptation is the reading in Matthew’s Gospel about the Temptation of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Matthew 4:1-11)

Patience

Patience is literally defined as, “The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness. Patience may spring from constitutional fortitude, from a kind of heroic pride, or from Christian submission to the divine will.” (KJV new version Dictionary)

“Return to me, and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7)

God calls all humans for repentance; He says: “Return to me, and I will return to you.” Repentance is our way to salvation for we shall we be cleansed from our sins. Father Anthony Mourad of Coptic Orthodox Church defined Repentance as, “Repentance is both the Journey and the Destination of our salvation.” He added saying, “The Church labels this phenomenon by stating that there is both Repentance to life, as well as a life of Repentance.” (Malachi 3:7)

“To godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love”

Human’s virtue lies on their goodness in heart in doing good by others with love. Our relations amongst shall be based by love and care-some on a daily basis. It means to share our feelings in times of sorrow and happiness. When we grieve for those who are sad and be delight for those who are happy, there exists love.

Entreaty

Entreaty according to the King James Dictionary is “To make an earnest petition or request” People make entreaties for a variety of reasons. For example they say, “If God hears my heartache; I will do this it for him. If Saint Mary hears my vows or supplications, I will submit an umbrella for the service of Church.” Or else they promise to give as much their capacity. When their vows were fulfilled, they say, “Our Lady has given what I pleaded.” They submit an umbrella as an entreaty in her for honor in the Church.

Hope in God

The Hope in God is unshakeable and basically confidence in Him. Every humans hope in reaching our destiny is unquestionable if God is on our side. So, our hope depends on how much strength we have to hold on to His hands. Even if we are in a bad situation and circumstances, God is will heaves us through. We hope and pray that one step in our lives would be the stepping stone to our future.

Sins of the Tongue

Almost half of our sins are mostly caused by our speech. Therefore, it is off the essence to know about the sins of the tongue. The first is the seriousness of the sins of the tongue; the bible says, “for by your words will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned. Speech of the man could bring Judgment on him. Lord Jesus Christ early sins of which He spoke of in the sermon of the Mount is the sins of tongue. He said, “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 12:37, 5:22)