Greater Is He In You

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

October 06, 2025

in Spritual Growth

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Readings: Habakkuk 1:1-6
2 Timothy 1:1-14, 2:1-4
Luke 17:5-10

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025 Homily – Abp. Hines

God has done so much for us but there have been many times we lack the respect that’s due to Him. Take creation for instance, He has prepared everything for us beforehand. The sun, moon and stars, night and day, the air we breathe, all the vegetation have been given to man in perfection. But do we thank Him? Even the Scriptures that were given to us as a guide to living, do we pay attention to it? We set our own directions; we set our own course. There’s even a school of thought that we don’t need the past at all. But we do need the past to be able to know where we came from and where we are going from here. All His blessings given to us are for us to be His beneficiaries. God tells us to rightly divide the truth, to study and dissect the Scriptures in order to gain a better understanding. And it is our duty to fulfill His will in faith.

Man thinks he is so wise that he does not need to give credit to the One who created him. We are to trust the Lord and do good. Having confidence in what He has promised He will fulfill. God is all-wise. He created us and knew everything about us. Ezekiel 28:12-18 Son of man, take up a song of mourning over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade, You were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, you covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was haughty because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I threw you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you. “By the multitude of your wrongdoings, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore, I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you.”

There is a reason why God does not give us every single thing in fullness. It is up to us to seek this fullness. Although He’s given us everything, we must seek it. It does not automatically do its work. We’ve got to use it so that there will be growth. The disciples were asking for more faith. God gives us measures of faith for us to use. Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” We are temples, and our bodies should be living sacrifices. 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” When we use these blessings for His honor and glory, it is a worship unto Him. When Christ was here on earth, He did not pray for healing. He simply spoke the Word. He commanded. Therefore, we must be the ones to act. God will not force anything upon us. He’s given us the Holy Spirit, He’s given to us His image and likeness, and He has blessed us to be fruitful. Do we even realize that the enemy cannot touch us, unless we allow him? Many times, we just succumb and accept the enemy’s ways. We are accepting the enemy’s deception if we believe we cannot do things according to God’s ways. We have been seated with God in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers. Greater is He in you than he that is in the world. God even said, “the things that I have done, you will do, and even greater.” We must restore our confidence in Him. We lack in no good thing.

Sickness does not come from God. It comes from sin. We must not accept defeat. We have authority over our bodies so we must care for them. The Great One is in us. We must rekindle afresh the gift which is in us. God gave us life. This life does not include the things of darkness. Romans 6:12 “Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.” Choose you this day whom you will serve should be our foundation. And if God says something, He will do it. We need to hold firm.