"Lord...Lord"

ANYONE WHO SAYS “LORD…LORD” WILL NOT ENTER INTO THE

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT ONLY THOSE WHO PUT THEIR FAITH INTO

PRACTICE.

In today’s gospel, Jesus says anyone who says, “Lord…Lord” will not enter into the kingdom of God but only those who put their faith into practice. Yes, by calling, “Lord…Lord” one will not enter into the kingdom of God. There is a beautiful story about a man who invented fire. When he invented fire, he went to North Pole to teach them. People were so excited to learn and they were happy. They appreciated him saying, ‘now we can protect ourselves from cold and bad weather’ then he moved from village to village to teach people how to make fire. It went on and on. Then one day as usual, some people got so jealous of him and killed him. But people never forgot him; they built a big statue of him and put it in the temple along with the instrument he used to make fire. The worship went for centuries. People talked about the fire inventor but forgot how to make fire.

Yes, people who call Jesus “ Lord…Lord” but forget to do what he says is like those people who worshipped the inventor of fire, they will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

One-day man told me saying, “Father… I had a terrible accident once just ten minutes away from my home”. The first thing I did was calling my wife. Then what happened, she did not come? I asked why. She said, “I will come there in forty minutes because I am doing my morning prayers. I do not want to be disturbed. Yes, these people are called, “ Lord… Lord” people. They do not put their faith into practice.

I think I told this event before. A couple who were so faithful and came to church every Sunday without any excuse. But the only thing was they were sitting on the same pew for twenty years. One day they came late to church and their seat was taken. They got so upset and left the church, never came back. These are the people called “ Lord… Lord” people. They do not put their faith into practice.

Then who are the people who put their faith into practice?

One day a lady said to me, “Father, my son is a good man. He does wonderful job for the community. He is right now involved with Haiti, helping the poor there. He goes to Haiti at least once a year” I am so proud of him. But the only thing is he does not come to church or practice his faith.

He helps others out of human needs, not putting his faith into practice.

Then another person said, “ father… my grandchildren are so much involved with fund raising and helping others. They are so wonderful people. They feel the feeling of others and the only thing is they do not believe in God. They do help others. Yes, they are doing out of generosity but not practicing faith.

The danger is when these people are being recognized or not being recognized for their wonderful action, they get easily depressed or disappear because they are like building on the sand but they are people like you who do everything for the glory of God and you are given courage to face any challenge. You are like house on the rock. You do everything for the love of God.

There are only two types of people, people like Charlie sheen and mother Theresa. People like Charlie sheen needs our prayers and thus they may come to know how to build their house on rock and put God in everything they do. Let us pray that they all know how to put their faith into practice. Amen.