Verse of the Day

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Seventh Sunday after Trinity


Today we celebrated the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday. 

On Point
Someone asked, where do the quotes come from?  The answer is from the people who uttered them.  But, how did you find them?  Oh, that.  Some from Bishop Jerry, many from Rev Bryan Dabney, a few from other places, some from Rev Geordie Menzies-Grierson, but overall mostly from Bryan.  He always has some great ones to share.  On to the On Point quotes –

On marriage
Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I’m afraid even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.
Jack Lewis
The Horse and His Boy

For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isaiah 41:13

The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Zephaniah 1:14-15

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
St. Matthew 21:22

...Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
St. Mark 14:61-62

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Romans 12:3

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16

Our time is a talent given us by God for some good end, and it is misspent and lost when it is not employed according to his design.
Matthew Henry
17th and 18th century English pastor and author

True religion is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy, we are filthy altogether in the sight of God...
Charles H. Spurgeon
19th century English Baptist pastor and author
 (Morning and Evening, p. 373)

Tell me not that you have been baptized, and taught the Catechism of the Church of England, and therefore must be a child of God. I tell you that the parish register is not the book of life.
JC Ryle
19th Anglican bishop and author
(Are You Ready For The End Of Time, p. 173)

Governments produce nothing, so governments must live off of the producers. It is the nature of governments to grow bigger and bigger and consume more and more of the national wealth. Do you see this happening? At some point, government... finally consumes more than the people can produce. So then, modern bankruptcy of national governments is... the over-consumption of the national wealth.
Bob Livingston
20th and 21st century American conservative commentator
(Can The U.S. Go Bankrupt?, Personal Liberty Digest, 7-28-14)

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
American patriot and president

If there is any risk or threat during or after a serious catastrophe or collapse from some faceless Them, it comes from where you’d expect it to: those prepared, organized and operating under the color of authority, but using that last for their own selfish ends... [T]he minute The Man decides that the correct course of action is to take an interest in what you and your community... are up to, and what resources you possess, rather than working to coordinate the success of communities everywhere while leaving them largely alone to sort out local problems, rest assured that your primary target has probably just pulled into view. Any enforced socialism, at that point, shall be a hanging offense.
The Raconteur Report
(Mutant Zombie Bikers
Aesop” on www.raconteurreport.blogspot.com , 7-23-14)

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very hall of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor—he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and wears their face and their garment, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation—he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city—he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
1st century BC Roman statesman

Ultimately, the money system is based entirely on magic because it is not real and people around the world are just beginning to figure this out. But by the time they do the Illuminati banking and financial institutions plan to confiscate the wealth of the middle class through a... “manufactured crisis.” Saul Alinsky, who dedicated his book Rules for Radicals to Lucifer, coined the phrase “never let a good crisis go to waste.”  This is the reason that America and the world is in a continual state of crisis. Every institution is in crisis because every institution is being radically transformed to bring about this Utopian vision of a totally controlled society represented by the pyramid structure which is based on the Egyptian Pharaoh god-king model.
Paul McGuire
20th nd 21st century American commentator, film producer and author
(Illuminati Music Videos: Satanism, Crowley and Neurological Warfare, 10-29-13)


Propers
Each Sunday there are Propers: special prayers and readings from the Bible.  There is a Collect for the Day; that is a single thought prayer, most written either before the re-founding of the Church of England in the 1540s or written by Bishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Archbishop of Canterbury after the re-founding. 

The Collect for the Day is to be read on Sunday and during Morning and Evening Prayer until the next Sunday. The Epistle is normally a reading from one of the various Epistles, or letters, in the New Testament.  The Gospel is a reading from one of the Holy Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The Collect is said by the minister as a prayer, the Epistle can be read by either a designated reader (as we do in our church) or by one of the ministers and the Holy Gospel, which during the service in our church is read by an ordained minister.

The propers are the same each year, except if a Red Letter Feast, that is one with propers in the prayerbook, falls on a Sunday, then those propers are to be read instead, except in a White Season, where it is put off.  Red Letter Feasts, so called because in the Altar Prayerbooks the titles are in red, are special days.  Most of the Red Letter Feasts are dedicated to early saints instrumental in the development of the church, others to special events.  Some days are particularly special and the Collect for that day is to be used for an octave (eight days) or an entire season, like Advent or Lent.

The Propers for today are found on Page 198-199, with the Collect first:

The Seventh Sunday after Trinity.

The Collect.

L
ORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle came from the Sixth Chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans beginning at the Nineteenth Verse. Paul reminds us when we strive above all else for the things of this world, we gain nothing we can take with us to the next.  “For, when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.”  Conversely, if we will be servants of God (righteousness) we can be free from the devil sin).  “… the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  If we will follow God, we will live, not only forever in the next world, but better in this world.  We must put aside what we did and do what He would have us do.  Actions are the key to everything.  Talk is nice.  Action is what counts.

I
 SPEAK after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today Holy Gospel was written in the Eighth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Mark beginning at the First Verse. Jesus had been in the wilderness teaching a multitude, some four thousand in number.  In those pre-restaurant on every corner days, the people had been without food and were hungry.  Jesus was concerned and inventoried their supplies, seven loaves and a few small fishes.  He gave thanks to God, and commanded the food to be set out before the people.  When they had eaten their fill, the scraps gathered up from the seven loaves filled seven baskets.

Many speculated over the years as to just how He did it.  The answer is simple, He did it.  He did not talk about feeding the multitude and sit down to His own meal.  He acted and they were fed.  Does this story recall the words from the Last Supper used in Holy Communion at the Consecration? “he took Bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you; Do this in remembrance of me.”  Those few words produced The Word, which has satisfied so many over millenniums. 

I
N those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.

Bishop Ogles’ Sermon
We are oft fortunate to get copies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes.  Today is one of those Sundays.  Today’s sermon starts off with the collect, and like always, it will give you a lot to consider in your heart.

The Law –Then and Now
Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Saint Andrew’s
Anglican Orthodox Church
3 August 2014, Anno Domini


The Seventh Sunday after Trinity.

The Collect.

L
ORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

            The Collect for today rightly acknowledges that the Lord is the “Author and Giver of all good things” – including LOVE. The prayer appeals for a grafting into our hearts a love for of “Thy Name” as well as a natural practice of “true religion” – not that false and apostate religion that passes for Christianity in most mainline churches. The term ‘Graft’ is used because love of God and true religion do not naturally exist in our hearts, but must be imparted by Grace, through faith, by Him who is an Author of Love and the Finisher of our faith. Whatever good is imparted to our hearts must be constantly nourished by His Word and Love.

The Gospel for Holy Communion for this Sunday:

I
N those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away. (Mark 8:1-9)

            The text from mark today follows in every important detail the same event described in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chap 15, verses 29-39. Each Gospel sheds a variant of beauty to the occasion. The setting is both serene and majestic – a mountain overlooking the pristine waters of Galilee. The crowds have flocked to hear Jesus, far more hungry for the Word of God than for the physical bread required to nourish their own bodies. The miracle of Jesus in feeding so many souls from meager crumbs is preview for that Last supper which He served the night of His betrayal. It is to be observed that these thousands of soul-hungry souls represent our own souls if we have thirsted for that matchless grace and love of Christ. This is the second such miraculous feeding of the multitudes. In this act are represented two perspectives: 1) that of the crowd (you and me); and 2) the perspective of our Lord in dealing with the multitudes.

            Though I have preached from this text many times, the Word of God lends itself to variant colors of brilliant light when held up to the sun, as a diamond with many facets, and turned about to view those complementary colors of stark gold, blue, green, and blue – each represented a single component of that white light of the Sun of Righteousness.

Let us first observe the nature of the MULTITUDES that followed Christ:

 1. The hunger was great in those days to hear the Word: “In those days the multitude being very great.” Why is it not so in our own day? Those attending churches that adhere to the Word of God have dwindled significantly due to the self-righteous nature of modern man. They come in dozens to worship in true reverence today rather than by the thousands in those days in which travel was difficult.
2.     These thousands did not come to satisfy the physical, but spiritual, senses: “they have now been with me three days.” It is a great accomplishment in our day to hear a minister preach longer than 20 or 25 minutes, but an even greater accomplishment to witness worshippers willing to sit through a sermon that is as long as the Holy Ghost would have it to be. These multitudes came to hear the Word until it was finished being spoken. They did not mind their physical needs during the preaching of the Word.
3.     Their sustenance was not physical, but spiritual: “have nothing to eat.” There is no record of any glances often at their watches, or running to and fro for water or other nourishment. They were fixed on the Lord, and nothing else mattered in their hearts.
4.     Though they were actually famished for bread, they had not murmured or complained of it: “. . if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way.” The soul is always satisfied when coming into the Presence of the Lord, but faints in His absence. In our partaking of the Supper of the Lord, do our hearts not burn in our breast when the meaning of the elements of Bread and Wine are contemplated?
5.     Many of the multitudes did not take a casual stroll to hear Jesus. Most had traveled from far villages and lands to hear the Words of Jesus. How far, friend, did you travel to hear this Word, and how far are you willing to travel if necessary? “. . for divers of them came from far.” How far will we go in questioning the power of God? “From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?” A mere man cannot satisfy, but a man who is the Son of God can, indeed, feed all who are hungry.
6.     The multitudes came not only to hear the Word, but to obey it as well: “. . he commanded the people to sit down on the ground.” They obeyed not even knowing what to expect later. Is our own obedience so prompt and unquestioning? After standing to hear the Gospel for three days, why would they now sit upon the ground? They didn’t know the reason, but they obeyed any way.
7.     The multitudes were filled both spiritually and, now, physically, at the hearing of the Word. “So they did eat, and were filled.” We are always filled when it is the Lord that feeds us: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) I will add that the Bread which came down from Heaven is also the Word (from beginning to end). (John 1:1) Do we hunger and thirst for that Bread (Word) daily, or do we presume ourselves well-fed upon the bread of our own unworthiness?
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Today we live in abject luxury and opulence compared to the people of Jesus’ day, yet we have no time to drive a few minutes to Church on the Lord’s Day, or to take 15 minutes only from our leisure to read into the depths of the Sea of God’s Word. Shameful! We need not traverse desert and mountain to hear Christ – His Word is conveniently at our finger tips. We cannot even sit patiently in worship until the Holy Spirit has spoken His Word to us. We are a people in a hurry to go nowhere. We dare not deprive our souls of any desire compared to our duties to God. We ask for short, simple sermons, fast food style worship services, and a prompt release to go about our worldly pursuits. We are not like those people who hungered for the Word of god, traveled great distances by foot to hear it, lingered for three days without food, and left filled with both the Bread of Heaven and the bread of sustenance. Those who came at personal effort went away filled, and so will we if we approach worship in the right disposition of mind, body, and soul.

We will now examine the manner in which our Lord viewed the multitudes:

1.   Jesus recognized the need of the multitudes. He not only resolves to satisfy their needs, but also allows his disciples (you and I) to assist in satisfying His works of Mercy and compassion: “In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him.” Jesus takes note of our personal needs, and points out to us the needs of others.
2.     Jesus has COMPASSION on those who have grave needs. Compassion is not sympathy only, but the kind of sympathy that evokes ACTION to satisfy. Compassion means to feel the pain of the sufferer as that one one’s own pain, and to take action to remedy the need or pain. Jesus ALWAYS had compassion on the sick, the crippled, the blind and deaf. And He demonstrated His greatest compassion for the sinner in His last act of mercy at Calvary in dying in our stead. “. . . because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.
3.     Jesus asks us to serve Him with whatever resources we have, and those resources will always be enough. “And he asked them, How many loaves have ye?” Truly, there were scarce resources, in the eyes of man, to suffice; but God needs only our small resources combined with a mighty faith in Him. “…And they said, Seven.
4.     6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.” Jesus asks us to rest in Him when He works because it is only by His works, and not our own, that we are benefitted. Moreover, though He was God in the flesh, He still gave thanks to His Father for every blessing. He also allows His people to participate in serving others the Bread of Heaven and of life. He allows His ministers to serve as servants to the people. Jesus not only used the small supply of bread, but added variety to the feast by multiply the few small fish that were there. “7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.
5.     Jesus ALWAYS provides a full meal. “8 So they did eat, and were filled:” All of the thousands present were filled and satisfied. Numbers matter not to the Lord, it is abiding faith that He expects of us.
6.     Jesus does not desire that we waste aught of any blessings He showers upon us. “and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets.” They did not leave the scraps in the field, but took up all that remained and, interestingly, that which remained was many times the amount with which they began. God takes the meager mites of the widow woman and multiplies those thousands and millions of times.
7.     It would be such a joy to fest with the Lord always, but there is also a component of service that must be satisfied by the disciple. Not only are we fed, we must seek others to be fed as well. “9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.” We must leave the mountain of our daily feats and go into the valleys and meadows to spread the good news of the mercy and grace of the Lord.
Were we not present in that mountainside multitude to be fed by the Lord? Have not the multitudes of Christians since that time fed of the same Bread and drank of the same Cup? Have we become more like that Bread of Heaven by consuming it through God’s Word….so much so that we, too, have compassion on the multitudes and are moved to take action? These are questions no other man can answer for us. It is directed to the heart of every Christian.

Bishop Dennis Campbell’s Sermon
Bishop Dennis is a brilliant speaker.  He is able to take biblical precepts and make them perfectly understandable, even to me.  Oft he provides the text of his sermons and I take the utmost pleasure in passing them on:

That Form of Doctrine
Romans 6:17
Seventh Sunday after Trinity
August 3, 2014
                                                      
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  (Romans 6:17)
                                                                       
That “form of doctrine.”  We tend to think of doctrine as the intellectual study of the Bible by which we reduce it to dry, and, often, meaningless statements that are completely irrelevant to real faith or Christian life. Ministers are especially susceptible to doctrine.  We talk about the doctrine of the Church or the doctrine of salvation.  We usually give them Greek or Latin names, like ecclesiology and soteriology, because that makes us sound very scholarly and erudite.  I am teasing ministers a little, but I also agree that the systematic study of Scripture is absolutely necessary to rightly understand the Bible. And we are deeply indebted to those who have given their lives to this work.  Bishop J. C. Ryle was one of these people, and I heartily commend his books, Knots Untied, Old Paths, and Practical Religion.  These three volumes are a set, a systematic study of Biblical teaching, and they will help anyone understand the Bible better.  Knots Untied, for example, discusses the doctrines of salvation, baptism, regeneration, and the Lord’s Supper, to name only a few.  Old Paths looks at the inspiration of the Bible, the soul, and the atonement.  These are great elucidations on great Biblical themes, but, in my opinion, Practical Religion is the magnum opus of the three books, and that is because it is about how the doctrines explained in the first two books apply to daily Christian living.  Other writers usually make a distinction between what the Bible teaches about Christian belief and what the Bible teaches about how Christians live.  They call the teaching about belief, Doctrinal Theology, and teaching about Christian living Practical Theology.  But Bishop Ryle includes both in this three-volume set. Here, alongside chapters on the atonement, we find chapters devoted to things like prayer, reading the Bible, charity, why and how to receive Holy Communion, and the family of God.  These things belong in theology books, too.

            This brings me back to the word, “doctrine.”  The Greek word for it is didach, didache, from which we get our English word, “didactic.”  Didache refers to the entire body of Apostolic teaching.  It includes things like the being and nature of God, the Trinity, and the Atonement, which we normally call Doctrinal Theology.  It also includes the things we call Practical Theology, like the way we worship, the way we dress, and the way we treat one another.  Another word to describe the Apostolic body of belief and practice is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, which says, “Therefore brethren, stand fast, hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”  Tradition.  The entire body of Apostolic teaching.  That is what Romans 6:17 means when it uses the word, “doctrine.”

           Romans 6:17 also talks about the “form of doctrine.”  The Greek word is tuptos, which isn’t a very pleasing sound to my ears.  In fact, I think it sounds kind of ugly.  But its meaning is very noble and very beautiful, and it tells us what the Apostolic doctrine does for us.  The word carries the meaning of an example, a pattern, a model.  When Acts 7:44 says God had Moses make the tabernacle in the wilderness “according to the fashion that he had seen,” that word translated fashion is tuptos.  When Hebrews 8:5 saying God told Moses to “make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee on the mount,” the word translated, “pattern” is tuptos.  So the Apostles’ doctrine is a pattern for our thoughts and lives.  It is an example given to us to copy, to emulate, to aspire to.

            Tuptos can also refer to a mold.  When the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans around 58 A.D. Rome dominated the Western Hemisphere and much of the Eastern Hemisphere.  The Romans were great builders, and they were masters of making concrete.  We all know concrete has to be poured into a mold to make anything useful, and  we call these molds, “forms.”  I imagine Paul had this in mind when he wrote to the Romans about the “form” of doctrine.  I think the Romans reading his words, would naturally think of mixing the ingredients to make concrete, and pouring the new substance into forms, and making buildings and walls and patios and walkways.  I think this is also a good illustration of what Paul is saying the Apostolic doctrine does in the life of a Christian.  It is by means of this doctrine, the teachings found in the Bible, that God mixes spiritual ingredients into our souls and pours us into a form.  The doctrine shapes us.  That’s the point. Pour yourself into the Bible. Let it form faith and hope and wholeness in your soul.

           Romans 6:17 goes on to say, “ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.”  Obedience, as used here is not the forced obedience of slavery.  It is the commitment of a person who is becoming a follower of a way of thinking and living.  It is embracing a way of life.  It is devoting your life to something, and allowing it to form you into its image.  We can easily see how this relates to the Apostolic doctrine. We become followers of it.  We devote ourselves to it.  We embrace it as the core and meaning and purpose of our lives.  The Apostles themselves are wonderful examples of this.  When Jesus said to Simon and Andrew, “Follow Me,” the Bible says they “left their nets and followed Him.”  When Christ called James and John, they left the ship and their father, and followed Him.” The beautiful words of Ruth to Naomi express this commitment well.  She said:

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.  Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly  contained in the forewords above.

Consider the words from the Collect,  author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same (that is to say keep us in goodness)…

To get anywhere, we must acknowledge in our hearts that all good is of and comes from God.  Once we acknowledge that, we are in a position to ask God to put in to our hearts love of Him and all that is His.  This will help us to appreciate and act in goodness.  Without His love our efforts will ultimately be of no avail. We cannot do anything with out His help, and with it, it will be easier. There will be times where we fail, but if we turn back to Him,  then we shall succeed. I find personally when I turn to Him nowadays for help with stuff, that I do far better than if I do not.  When I pray for something that I truly need, I find that He answers. I just have to listen to what He says.

So, pretty clearly we need to be of God.  Thus, when Paul wrote to the people of Rome, he was writing to all of us; for there truly is nothing new in the world.  Before we are of God, we are of this world.  Our life is here, our end is here.  Once we are of God, then we are merely sojourners here; our life is not really here and certainly does not end here.  The only way to be of God is through God, that is His Son, our Lord. “I am the way, the truth, the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6, KJV.) Jesus himself clearly says the only way to be of God is through Him. Nobody comes unto God but by Christ. What does that mean for those of other faiths? Nobody knows but Christ, what provision – if any – He has made for those who chose not to follow Him here on earth for whatever reason.  We do know He always means what He says and no one comes unto the Father (gets into heaven) except through Him.  That is clear, beyond any misconstruing.  He is the only way, so why not follow the proven way to God and salvation?

If we will follow God, we will live, not only forever in the next world, but better in this world, starting right now, not just after we our earthly time is gone.  We must put aside what we did and do what He would have us do.  Actions are the key to everything.  Talk is nice.  Action is what counts. We have to act upon our beliefs, which can be very hard sometimes but must be done. I struggle with this myself, but I find that returning to God helps with this, and He cleans the slate, so I can try again anew.  This is always a very comforting thought, that God will always accept you, if you repent and do your best not to make that same error again.

Saint Mark tells us of action. Jesus had been in the wilderness teaching a multitude, some four thousand in number.  In those pre-restaurant on every corner days, the people had been without food and were hungry.  Jesus was concerned and inventoried their supplies, seven loaves and a few small fishes.  He gave thanks to God, and commanded the food to be set out before the people.  When they had eaten their fill, the scraps gathered up from the seven loaves filled seven baskets.

Many speculated over the years as to just how He did it.  The answer is simple; He did it.  He did not talk about feeding the multitude and then sit down to His own meal.  He acted and they were fed. The clear moral of this story is that He acted, not just talked, but he actually acted and fed the people. That is a model we should follow, not just talk but act as well.  Does this story recall the words from the Last Supper used in Holy Communion at the Consecration? “he took Bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you; Do this in remembrance of me.”  Those few words produced The Word, which has satisfied so many over millenniums.  It does not take a lot of words to satisfy us, but they have to be the right ones, which come from Our Lord.

Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

It is by our actions we are known.

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

Roy Morales-Kuhn, Bishop and Pastor - St. Paul's Anglican Church - Anglican Orthodox Church
Bishop Roy is pastor of the biggest AOC parish West of the Mississippi and is in charge of the Diocese of the Epiphany. 

Seventh Sunday after Trinity
3 August 2014
Epistle-Romans: 6: 19 – 23 Gospel: Mark 8: 1-9

The Collect.

L
ORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


I
 SPEAK after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans: 6: 19 – 23)

When St. Paul wrote this letter to the Romans he was reaching an audience that was mostly under civil law; the law of Rome.  If you take the time to read some of the collected laws that would eventually be codified under the Emperor Justinian, you will see many familiar concepts we still use today as our civic law or common law.   Paul was reaching into spiritual area of the law as codified by God handed down to Moses.   The concept of what happens to all who sin and who fall short of the glory of God would be the spiritual thrust of Paul’s message to the Romans.   It is interesting that in the verses that proceed our reading today deal with the idea of being a slave.  He was showing the Romans or all others outside of Judaic law that they were slaves, if not to righteousness then to sin. V. 16.  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?   

St. Paul writes this in no uncertain terms.  You are either for or against sin.  You can not have it both ways.  Being human we give ourselves over to sin, it is our nature, we were born into sin.   Paul exhorts us to leave that state and be free.   He writes that when you follow God’s Word that leads to salvation, through his Son Jesus,   ...v.18 “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

Again, St. Paul gives us the contrast of the two human states.  In verses  20 & 21 we read;  “ For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.”

So in ‘no hard to understand terms’ Paul writes out the results of our past life, a life without hope, a life in sin, a life ending in spiritual death.     Now he doesn’t leave us hanging, he always gives us hope, the same hope he found on the road to Damascus.

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  (V. 22)

What a wonderful alternative to death.  

Then, just in case we didn’t get the idea the first time around, Paul reiterates the concept in the last verse of this chapter, a well known one from our Sunday School days; ....For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In this short reading from the letter to the Romans, we get the whole story in short.  You will be a slave to something, either a slave to sin or a slave to God.   We must understand that even though we abhor the concept of slavery, the realization that spiritual slavery does exist we need to make that choice as to which master we will serve.  You might like to think of it as spiritual servant-hood, a concept that we must serve ONE master.

As Joshua once told the Children of Israel, they could serve whom every they wanted if they felt serving the Lord was undesirable.   He wrote...

 “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We also must make that choice today, to whom will we serve, to whom will we be a slave?

Let us pray.

L
ORD of all power and might, Who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, Increase in us true religion, Nourish us with all goodness, And of thy great mercy keep us in the same; Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

O
 ALMIGHTY God, Who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; Grant unto thy people, That they may love the thing which thou commandest, And desire that which thou dost promise; That so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, Our hearts may surely there be fixed, Where true joys are to be found; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us bring our gifts before the Lord:

Jesus said unto them, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. (St. Luke 10: 2).

O
 ALMIGHTY Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to direct, sanctify, and govern, both our hearts and bodies, in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy commandments; that, through thy most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be pre served in body and soul; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Rev Rick Reid of Saint Peter’s Sunday Sermon
We are happy to have a sermon from Reverend Rick Reid, minister of Saint Peter’s, whose congregation is right at the Worldwide Headquarters of the Anglican Orthodox Church.  Rev Rick has all the resources and challenges right at hand.  I think you will enjoy it very much.
Life is Full of Choices   Romans 6: 16-23
I SPEAK after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Every day of our lives we make choices:

·      What to wear;
·      What to eat;
·      With whom we associate;
·      What classes to take;
·      What college to attend;
·      Etc. etc. etc, as the King of Siam would say.

There is one choice unlike all those other choices we make in life; there is one choice that is a life or death decision.

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us we all have a master. We must choose whom we will serve.  While we were under the Law, sin was our master and we all remember that The wages of Sin is Death! (Romans 6.23)

Or, we can choose to serve Jesus Christ, whose gift to us is everlasting life.  But, to attain everlasting life, we must become new men and pattern ourselves and our lives after our master.  The law could not justify us or help us overcome sin.  So, God sent His Son so that through Him, we might be saved.  Remember; For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  (John 3.17)

What we must understand is without Jesus there is no choice, we are condemned to be slaves to our sin.

If we choose not to follow Him there is guilt, suffering, separation from God, and eventually death. But thanks to Jesus, and what He did on the Cross, along with God’s Grace, we have a choice; we can choose Him as our Master.

Jesus told us: 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. (Matthew 6.24)

There is no neutral position, we all need to make this very important life or death decision to choose a master: God or sin.

Choosing Jesus does not mean we will never sin, but when we choose Jesus as our Master, Paul says: 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. (Romans 6.18)

Following Him, we move from darkness into the light.  St. Paul then says: 22"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." This means by choosing to serve the Lord you now belong to Him and are on the narrow road to receive His righteousness before the Father, and the gift of eternal life.

This gift is not something to be earned or paid for; gift is paid for by the recipient. The best way to receive any gift is with gratitude and thanksgiving. Our salvation is a gift of God, and not something of our own doing. We are saved because of God’s mercy and Grace, and not because of our kind hearts or good works. If that were true there would have been no need to send his only Son to die on the cross in our place.

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Those who are slaves to sin will ultimately receive the wages of sin, which is death.

Serving God is not a burden, but a high privilege to "become servants or slaves to God." Paul called himself, though an apostle, a "slave of Jesus Christ" as did James, Peter, Jude, and John.

It’s comforting to know we are in such great company, and we are certainly no better than they, to say the least. We also need to recognize if we are genuine Christians, we are slaves of Christ.

Since "ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" as Paul told the Corinthians, much less "slaves of sin," but of Christ.   1st Corinthians 7:23

We belong to Him, having been "bought with a price"; we owe Him full obedience.

We would all do well to remember Joshua’s words: And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

The choice is yours.  Amen

Rev Bryan Dabney of Saint John’s Sunday Sermon
We are fortunate to have Bryan’s Sunday Sermon.  If you want people to come to The Truth, you have to speak the truth, expouse the truth and live the truth.    This is really a good piece and I commend it to your careful reading.

Seventh Sunday after Trinity

As Christians, we know from our study of the scriptures that God has called on all men to receive his free gift of grace (see St. John 3:16). We also know that those who choose to reject his gift of grace are, ...condemned already because [they] hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (St. John 3:18). And further, while we know that God is love beyond our understanding of that word (I St. John 4:8); he is also holy, just and righteous. And because he is these things, he expects humanity to be likewise. When God told Abraham, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect (Genesis 17:1), he was setting forth the standard by which all would be judged of him.

Yet being perfect is not something that mankind has the capacity to do under the best of conditions unaided by the Holy Ghost. So we should not be surprised that there is absolutely no hope of pleasing God without a new nature— without being born again. There is but one way to receive God’s free gift of salvation, and that is to believe on the name of Jesus Christ as your Saviour and live in accordance with his word and commandment. If we are living in disobedience then we will suffer the wrath of God. The apostle Paul warned of God’s wrath in several of his letters.

In our epistle for today St. Paul warned that, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them (Romans 1:18-19).

To the church at Ephesus he wrote: For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye partakers with them (5:5-7).

St. Paul also admonished the Colossians to, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience (3:5-6).

And in his first letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle penned the following words of comfort: For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (5:9).

The first three passages tell us in no uncertain terms of God’s coming judgment as he has promised to punish the wicked, not for their ignorance of him, but on account of their knowledge of him; while in the last one, God will preserve and save all who are his in Jesus Christ from his wrath to come. Consider the following hypothetical situation.

Imagine, if you will, that there is a raging fire approaching your town; and while it is some distance away, you can see a smoke cloud rising over its location. So being a good citizen, you pick up the phone and call the local fire department. After looking at the smoke cloud, the fire chief says, “Well, that could be anything from a farmer burning off a field to another citizen burning some trash. We’ll just wait and see.”

Hours later, you see the cloud drawing closer and you notice that it has expanded, so you take a few pictures of it to show the chief and the town council. They look over the images you took and, without going to see for themselves, they simply take the fire chief’s advice, “Old so-in-so here is just a wee bit excited and overly anxious. It is not a threat. It won’t come this way.” None of them seem interested in taking the time to go and look, nor do they see the danger as reflected in the images you supplied.

Of course, the fire is drawing nearer by the minute. You press them to take action, but they treat you as an alarmist. Needless to say, the fire will continue to spread, eventually reaching the town. To rephrase the noted Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, “People never believe in wildfires until the flames actually overtake them.” The public officials knew there was a fire. They knew because anyone can look at a smoke cloud and reason that, “where there is smoke, there is flame”. They could see from the pictures that there was a fire and that it was pretty large in size. Though they were not ignorant of the fire, they were, however, influenced by a powerful figure to ignore its potential harm.

Our hypothetical illustrates a fatal flaw in man’s character regarding his “so- to-speak” ignorance of sin as well as his seeming inability to recognize its principal agent. That is where Satan and his messengers come in. They have sought over the millennia to deceive as many souls as they can by fostering within them a state of denial concerning the truth of God’s word written. In the Old Testament, the Devil convinced the majority of people in Israel to reject the word of the prophets; while in the New Testament, he managed to turn many of the Jews against the words and works of our Lord at his first advent, as well as the ministry of the word since his ascension.

But no man can truly plead ignorance of God’s presence much as the town council in our hypothetical situation could not plead such with regard to the approaching wildfire. Again, the apostle Paul reminds us, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans1:20). God says that by virtue of his creation, humanity can see his handiwork which has been affirmed by the variety and complexity of the things that are before them. As the noted British scientist, Lord Kelvin once opined, “Mathematics and dynamics fail us when we contemplate the earth, fitted for life but lifeless, and try to imagine the commencement of life upon it. This certainly did not take place by any action of chemistry, or electricity, or crystalline grouping of molecules under the influence of force, or by any possible kind of fortuitous concourse of atoms. We must pause, face to face with the mystery and miracle of creation of living creatures.”

And yet, in the face of all that God has done in nature, the unregenerate block such from their thoughts, and why? Sir Arthur Keith explained: “Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it because the only alternative is special creation which is unthinkable.” And Julian Huxley once said: “I suppose the reason we leaped at The Origin of Species was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.” Notice the key words in each quotation regarding rejection of godly understanding: that it was, “unthinkable,” and that it, “interfered.”

Every sinner would rather not think about the existence of God especially when he or she is living in disobedience to his expressed word and commandment. Does the adulterer contemplate God’s wrath while in the act of adultery? Does the murderer remember the commandment of God, Thou shalt not kill? Does the burglar, the robber, the thief as well as the greedy in politics, gaming, and business dwell on, Thou shalt not steal? But to a person, they know that what they are doing is wrong. Every sinful and inordinate desire is condemned, and if persisted in will result in a separation of that person from God eternally.

We should not be surprised at the lengths to which the wicked will go in their denial of the one true and living God. They will embrace every false notion of God, and bow before every image or idol that comes along. And on account of those behaviors, God will darken their hearts in agreement with their choice to reject him as the God of all creation and the Saviour of their souls (Romans 1:21- 23). They will then be open to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25). That creature— that created being— is the Devil. And Satan desires worship from mankind. Over the ages, he has sought to redirect to himself all the worship and glory which mankind was supposed to render to the Godhead. And that, dear friends, has been and remains the basis for all idolatry.

St. Luke’s gospel account of the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness supplies us with Satan’s testimony: All this power [speaking of the kingdoms of the world] will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine (4:6). And the apostle Paul also confirmed the same when identified the forces behind idolatry: What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God... (I Corinthians 10:19-20). All of which is in line with the First and Second Commandments of the Law state, I am the LORD thy God... Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them... (Exodus 20:2-6).

We ought to disabuse ourselves of the false notion that humanity has somehow changed from the time of the apostles— or from the time of the expulsion from the Garden. Mass man— or the bulk of unregenerated humanity— worships all sorts of things. You name it, and it can become an idol. But when human beings fall into idolatry, God takes away his hand and the evil one comes and infuses his wicked nature into those who have fallen under his spell. And wickedness knows no limits.

Long ago, God established boundaries regarding the relations between men and women (see portions of Leviticus 18-21). So, when people choose to act in ways that are beyond God’s laws for life— idolatry, whoremongering, inordinate desires of the flesh, etc.— they are, in essence, replacing the will of God with their own. At that moment they have become as gods (Genesis 3:5), and in so doing they will suffer God’s wrath.

Yet in spite of that inflated view of himself, mortal man has no power to set aside his sins. And so for the unregenerate to assume that they have such power via their ability to create their own rules for life is not only arrogant, it is absurd. What gives the unregenerate any reason to believe that their laws are bidding upon the Universe, and by extension, upon the very words of God himself? They have willfully forgotten that original sin has rendered every human being incapable of being forgiven and redeemed apart from a heart-felt confession of those sins to God the Father in the name of his only begotten Son.

It is vitally important that Christ’s ministers teach the whole counsel of God to their congregations, as the apostle Paul proclaimed, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:16-17). Unfortunately, a growing number of preachers will not mention the judgmental aspects of God’s word for fear of scaring off some of their church members. In that cause, they are content to preach the false gospel of universal acceptance. This message appeals to the unregenerate who salve their souls with such. They have convinced themselves that a veneer of godliness is sufficient to warrant God to grant them salvation. They also believe that they are somehow different from those who have no veneer at all. But all that their veneer of Christ does is mask their true spiritual nature. They have been so deceived by the evil one, and so hardened against God’s word written, that they have stopped their ears concerning his warnings regarding their particular lifestyle choices. Just as the town council from our hypothetical did not want to face the fact that there was a massive wildfire approaching; likewise, those who are so fondly attached to their sins do not want to hear about that fiery eternity which awaits them if they do not repent and turn unto to Christ.

Friends, I ask you to recall that moment when you came to accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. You came to see your old life as God saw it: filthy, rotten, and depraved. You had to admit that you had been slaves to the evil one. You had to face the fact that you were dead to God. But when you came to know the Lord as the Saviour of your souls, everything changed. You were transformed. You were made whole in the eyes of God. You were born again of the Holy Ghost. You became citizens of God’s coming kingdom and your names were inscribed in his Book of Life (Revelation 21:27).

St. Paul tells us as much in his first epistle to the Corinthian church: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived... And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (6:9-11). And in his epistle to the Romans we are comforted with the following, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (8:1).

We Christians have been called to proclaim the “good news” of Jesus Christ to all, that they might come out from among the wicked and be made clean by the blood of Christ. We also have been called to remind those of our fellowship that a new life in Christ excludes a continued participation in wickedness. God has called us to make a new beginning— a fresh start— so if we have been born again, we will abstain from all appearances of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). Only then can we avoid the wrath which is to come: that all-consuming fire of our righteous and holy God.

Let us pray,

F
ather, we thank you for your free grace; and so comfort and fill us with the Holy Ghost, that we might daily communicate the good news of salvation to others, that they too might also escape thy wrath to come; and this we beg in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.


Have a blessed week, Bryan+

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