Why do we face temptations, especially during fasting? In this episode of Double Edged Sword, explore how temptation is a universal struggle—from Adam and Eve to Christ Himself—and a vital part of our spiritual journey. Discover why we should rejoice in these trials, not despair, as they test and strengthen us through God’s grace. Learn how Satan targets our weaknesses, how Jesus overcame, and how we can endure with divine help. A powerful reflection for Lent and beyond!

Join Father Genard as he explores the deeper meaning of fasting in this inspiring Christian podcast episode. Moving beyond the 40 days of Lent, he emphasizes that true fasting isn’t just about abstaining from food like dairy, poultry, and meat—it’s a lifelong call to repentance, obedience to God’s Word, and spiritual discipline. Drawing from scriptures such as Isaiah 40:8, Matthew 6:16-18, and Ephesians 4:25-5:21, Father Genard urges believers to reject sin, gossip, and worldly distractions daily, not just seasonally. With insights from St. John Chrysostom and the Church Fathers, discover how to live a sanctified life, reconcile with enemies, and align with God’s eternal truth. Ideal for Christians seeking biblical wisdom, spiritual growth, and practical ways to embody faith year-round through prayer, humility, and devotion.

Through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins — and Paul did not yet tell them how. After the synagogue in Antioch, the people begged him to come back the next Sabbath. Many Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Then the whole city gathered. Envy rose. The Jews opposed and blasphemed. The apostles turned to the Gentiles as the Lord had commanded: a light to the nations, salvation to the ends of the earth.

Paul did not ram the Scriptures down anyone’s throat. He planted a seed, won their admiration, and left them hungry for more. He preached Christ simply: the fulfiller of the prophets, the only salvation. Sometimes we do not even need many words. Live the Scriptures. Let a changed mouth and a repentant life do the asking. He did not baptize them on the spot. There was need to persuade them further, that they might remain steadfast. In the Assyrian Church of the East, baptism is not a ticket to a wedding. It is burial with Christ, purchased by His blood, entrusted to the Church. Do not be hasty in laying on hands.

Baptism is not a daily shower and not a mere symbol. St. Peter calls it the antitype of the flood that saves you. St. Cyprian says that as none outside the ark were saved by water, none are saved without baptism in the Church — the one ark. God’s will is that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. We make ourselves unworthy of everlasting life when we reject the Son. Receive the light. Continue in the grace of God.

Key takeaways:

• Paul proclaimed forgiveness through Christ before he explained the whole mystery — and the people asked for more

• Baptism is not a symbol or a convenience; it is the flood that saves, in the one Church

• Envy tried to stop the word and only sent it farther — to the Gentiles

• God desires all to be saved; we exclude ourselves by unbelief

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Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord — and the sea would not let him. After the Rogation of the Ninevites, this episode turns from the city that repented to the prophet who would not go. God called him to preach against Nineveh. He paid the fare the other way. Never be reluctant when God calls you to a ministry. He speaks through His Church — the bishops and the priests — not through “God told me.” When the priest gives the prayer of absolution, it is as if God Himself is giving it.

You cannot escape Him. If they hide in the depths of the sea, Amos says, He will command the serpent. The storm was no accident: the ocean is a servant of God. The sailors tossed the cargo and the ship was still too heavy, because the heaviest freight was Jonah and his sin. Come to Him, all who are heavy laden. Fast. Pray. Enter the church laden and leave light. The sailors would not throw him over at once; they loved a single soul. That is the lesson: love your enemies, as God loved us while we were still His.

Jonah is a type of Christ. Jonah slept in the storm; they said, “Call upon your God.” The apostles cried to Jesus, “Lord, save us” — because He is God. Jonah was cast into the fish; Christ of His own will descended into Sheol, not as one punished by the Father, but to make death powerless and to reclaim the righteous. As Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man in the heart of the earth. When God calls, do not ask how and why. Ask when and where. His word does not return empty.

Key takeaways:

• Reluctance to obey the Church is reluctance to obey God

• No one escapes His call — sin is the cargo that sinks the ship

• Jonah in the fish is a figure of Christ in the heart of the earth

• When God sends you, go; do not flee to Tarshish

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You do not know what you missed. In love, this episode is for those who were not in church — last Sunday, last month, or since the last wedding or funeral. Psalm 84: a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. The tabernacle is now the church, the altar, the presence of the Lord. Miss it, and you forfeit more than an hour.

You miss the quiet of the house of God — the altar and the cross. You miss protection from the flaming arrows of the enemy. You miss the warmup: the early morning prayers, Sapra, an hour before the Qurbana, where the mind is cleared before the liturgy. Language is not the excuse; even where the Raza is served in English, the seats are still empty. You miss kneeling before the Gospel (His divinity), the Cross (His humanity), and the Holy Eucharist (His real presence in the Bread and Wine). You miss rest — in Assyrian, the ʿumra, the dwelling place — from the hustle of the world. You miss strength to strength: the Sunday pit-stop, new “tires,” the grace of the Spirit. You miss the heartburn of Emmaus, when the Scriptures are opened. You miss the assembly of the Body, iron sharpening iron.

One day in His courts is better than a thousand in the tents of the wicked. Come early. Leave the phone in the car. Prostrate without shame — you are there for Christ, not for the people. This has not even reached confession, absolution, or the commemoration of His Passion and Resurrection. That is how much you miss. Without Jesus Christ at the center, you have no life. He is life.

Key takeaways:

• Missing church is missing the presence, protection, and rest of the house of the Lord

• Come early to the prayers; wandering minds need a warmup, not an excuse

• We kneel before the Gospel, the Cross, and the Eucharist — Christ Himself, not men

• One day in His courts is better than a thousand; without Christ at the center there is no life

Listen, share, and let the double-edged sword do its work in you today. Rate and review the podcast so more people encounter the living Word.

In this episode, Father Genard explores the relationship between faith, love, obedience, and authority in Christianity. It emphasizes that true Christian faith is not just about believing in God, but living out that belief through actions, particularly love and obedience to God's commandments. The speaker quotes St. John Chrysostom, highlighting that love for Christ is expressed through obedience, not just words. The connection between the Father, Son, and the apostles is also a key theme; to know and love the Father, one must first accept and obey the Son, as the Son is the way to the Father. The apostles, chosen by Christ, are also essential to the faith, and rejecting them is akin to rejecting Christ and, by extension, the Father. The speaker stresses that a complete relationship with God involves not just loving the Father and Son, but also honoring the apostles and participating in the Church. The passage concludes with a reminder that faith without deeds, as described in James 2:17, is insufficient. To truly follow Christ, one must live according to His commandments and recognize the authority of Christ, the apostles, and the Holy Spirit in their life.

God raised Him from the dead — no more to return to corruption. Continuing Paul’s first sermon in Acts 13, Father Genard Lazar shows why the promises made to the fathers were fulfilled in us, His children, only through Jesus Christ. Not through Moses. Not through David. Not through any office, philosopher, or preacher. Only through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 16:10 and Isaiah 55:3 are not about David. David served his generation according to the will of God, died, and saw corruption. This Holy One did not. His sinless body was laid in the tomb, but it did not decay. The fathers teach that His divinity raised His humanity. Through that incorruptibility, we who will taste temporal corruption in the grave are promised resurrection: 1 Thessalonians 4:17, to meet Him in the clouds when He returns in glory. Every other founder of a religion has died, been buried, and seen corruption. Only Christ did not.

Through this very One is preached the forgiveness of sins. The risen Lord breathed on the apostles (John 20) and entrusted that gift to His Church. “Once saved, always saved” misuses Ephesians 2. By Him all who believe are justified from all things from which the law of Moses could not justify us — because the law was weak through the flesh (Romans 8:3). Believe. Be baptized. Die with Christ and walk in newness of life. Then beware: Habakkuk 1:5 still stands over those who mock His humility.

Key takeaways:

• The promises of God are fulfilled only in Jesus Christ

• David saw corruption; Christ did not — and that is our hope of resurrection

• Forgiveness of sins is preached through Christ and exercised in His Church

• Faith and baptism save us from the bondage of the Mosaic law; then we must live piously until He returns

Listen, share, and let the double-edged sword do its work in you today. Rate and review the podcast so more people encounter the living Word.

To you is the word of salvation sent. In Antioch of Pisidia, Paul addresses the descendants of Abraham and those who fear God — and he does not hide what Jerusalem did. The leaders did not understand Jesus, nor the books of the prophets read every Sabbath. They found no cause of death, yet they asked Pilate that they might kill Him. All that was written was fulfilled.

Father Genard Lazar teaches that this is not an excuse. It was wicked. It was also foreordained. Christ had authority to lay down His life and to take it again. He submitted Himself to death in order to destroy it — for you and for me. God raised Him from the dead: the divinity of the Son raising His humanity. For forty days He was seen in the flesh, heard, and touched. Thomas proclaimed, “My Lord and my God,” and Jesus did not correct him. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

The promise to the fathers was fulfilled to their children: “You are My Son; this day I have begotten You” (Psalm 2:7). Do not mock Moses and the prophets. Christ Himself spoke of them. They predicted His birth from a virgin, His signs, His suffering, and His resurrection. Salvation is release from the jurisdiction of the Mosaic law through His death and resurrection. We enter that salvation by faith and by baptism — buried and raised with Him — then we strive to enter the narrow gate, producing fruits of repentance, until we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Key takeaways:

• The prophets were fulfilled in Jesus — not discarded, not mocked

• Christ gave Himself up; death did not overcome Him

• The risen Lord was seen for forty days; He is not a myth

• Baptism is death and new life with Christ; then we must live a pious life until He returns

Listen, share, and let the double-edged sword do its work in you today. Rate and review the podcast so more people encounter the living Word.

He stood at the edge of the boat and said, “Be still.” The sea obeyed. In this episode, as the Church still keeps the feast of the Nativity toward Theophany, Father Genard Lazar names the only New Year’s resolution that will hold: Thy will be done. There will be death, suffering, war, and persecution. Christ is not shaken. He reigns from heaven. Let His guiding and protecting hand be upon all who cry to His name.

Then Paul’s first sermon in Acts 13. John Mark leaves for Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas go into the synagogue on the Sabbath, listen to the law and the prophets, and are invited to speak. He does not pounce with a Bible. He begins where they already know: Egypt, the wilderness, the judges, Saul, David — a man after God’s heart — and from David’s seed, according to the promise, a Savior, Jesus. John the Baptist is the last witness: I am not He; I am not worthy to untie His sandals.

The law and the prophets are not dirty words. Christ did not abolish them; He fulfilled them. Until they were expelled from the synagogue, the apostles heard the Scriptures on the Sabbath and broke bread on the first day of the week with the baptized. Old and New belong together: the eighth-day circumcision and baptism without hands (Colossians 2:11–12); Ezekiel’s shut gate and the ever-virginity of Mary; the bronze serpent and the Cross (John 3:14–15). There is one way to God. It is Jesus Christ. Do not be intimidated by a dark past. When God calls, preach.

Key takeaways:

• Christ is unshaken by the storm; the year’s resolution is His will, not ours

• Paul preached Jesus from the history Israel already knew

• The law and the prophets still testify; they are fulfilled, not abolished

• Do not refuse the work of God because your past is dark

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The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Saul and Barnabas.” The missionary call of the Church does not begin with a résumé. Saul had already been called from heaven and baptized. Why then the laying on of hands? Because calling, baptism, and ordination are not the same gift. He was buried with Christ in baptism (Romans 6:4), washed by water and the word (Ephesians 5:26), and then — after fasting and prayer — apostolic hands sent him to the Gentiles.

St. John Chrysostom says the new ordination took place at this time. As Moses laid hands on Joshua (Numbers 27), God still uses His people. Apostolic succession has not ended. In Paphos the proconsul Sergius Paulus wanted to hear the word of God — Jesus Christ, not a bound volume. Elymas the sorcerer tried to turn him from the faith. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, did not avenge his own past as a persecutor. He named the deceit, and the hand of the Lord struck Elymas with blindness for a season — the same medicine Paul himself had received — hoping for repentance, not destruction.

Do not be intimidated by what you were. If you have been baptized and have repented, you are clothed with Christ. The prodigal was still a son. You are God’s handiwork, created for good works (Ephesians 2:10). Those who truly love us never pull us from God; they draw us nearer. Rebuke in love. Take the plank from your own eye. Then others will ask you to take the speck from theirs.

Key takeaways:

• The Spirit calls; the Church ordains by the laying on of hands

• Apostolic succession is how God still uses His people

• Do not be silenced by your past once you have repented

• Severe awakening can be mercy — blindness for a time, that the soul might be saved

Listen, share, and let the double-edged sword do its work in you today. Rate and review the podcast so more people encounter the living Word.