Red Letters: Braided - Pastor Josiah Elias
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- Jan 12
- 4 min read
Pastor Tim prayed, “We want You! Saturate this room with Your presence.” And He did. He was so present in the room that worship time was extended because we want to go by His timeline not ours.
Pastor Josiah then declared,”His presence above everything-we want Him to have the final word.” He continued,”We want to stay in alignment with Him.” Then Pastor Josiah reviewed some of the key points from last week’s teaching of going deep and wide, of productivity aligned with the Lord’s plan, and of the Lord teaching us to fly. We are to avoid complacency and lean into the Lord and His will for us corporately and individually. Two weeks ago when Pastor Josiah preached on the ten healed lepers, we learned only one returned to thank Him. The Lord blessed that grateful leper even more with salvation.
This week we returned to the Red Letter series, and this sermon was entitled “Braided.”
The passage was in Luke 18 where Jesus told His disciples to “always pray and never give up.” Luke 18:1b (NLT) He described a judge who did not “fear God nor cared about people.” Luke 18:2 (NLT) However, a widow incessantly demanded justice from her enemy.
What we know & can assume:
She’s a widow.
She’s persistent
She seeks justice.
The judge ignored her constant demands until “finally he said to himself, ’I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy.’” Luke 18:4b-5a (NLT) Pastor Josiah commented that you do not know how stable you are until you are leaned up against. She kept on pressing in on the judge until he gave up. Her persistence yielded the justice she sought since the judge was not deciding for her because of ethics or morals. He decided because he was annoyed.
The unjust judge acted justly. How much more will our God be just?
“Then the Lord said, ’Learn a lesson from this unjust judge.
Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you
think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who
cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?’”
Luke 18:6-7 (NLT)
Our Abba Father loves us and calls us His Beloved. Of course, He will bless us with justice.
Jesus began this lesson with pray and never give up and ended it with faith. “But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” Luke 18:8 (NLT) He braided together always praying, never giving up and faith.
The Braided Lesson:
Always praying-Several verses encourage us to pray. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NLT) “Never stop praying.” Ephesians 6:18 (NLT) “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” We need to bring God with us wherever we go: to the grocery store, the baseball game, work, lunch with friends. “God is as close as your acknowledgement,” reminded Pastor Josiah.” Acknowledge His presence and engage with God constantly.”
Never give up. Some verses that remind us to persist are Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (NKJV) Also a passage in the Old Testament dealt with Elijah and a rainstorm. Elijah told his servant to look to the sea, but the servant saw nothing the first time. Elijah directed the servant to look six more times. “Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, ’I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.’” 1 Kings 18:44 (NLT) That was the indication of the upcoming rainstorm. Elijah saw the spiritual dimension whereas we often only see the physical dimension. “What is more true?” questioned Pastor Josiah, “the Word or the situation?” Then he told of a lady born blind who had gone to their Africa meetings. She went up to the front to be healed of her blindness, and she was slain in the Spirit but was not healed the first time, then again on the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh times. The eighth time she went up to be healed, was slain in the Spirit, and declared,”I can see.” That is persistence!
Faith-There’s a facet of faith that anchors itself in persistency. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
Get braided: Always pray. Never give up. Anchor into persistent faith. Reconcile the situation with the Spirit; keep contending for it.
The Paramount Point is Faith acknowledges a current reality, then changes it!
Let us pray, never give up, and anchor into faith persistently. Then we can be salt and light in this challenging world.
Calendar:
1/16/26-LBs first potluck of 2026 including Daniel fast friendly food, worship and Orlando Munoz and Joel Munoz sharing about Salt and Light. Come and learn in the Activity Center at 6:00pm
1/30/26-Bernie Moore's and Ed Moore’s celebration of life. Please bring finger food for the reception immediately following the celebration.
Blessings,
Larry and Annette
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