Verse of the Day

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Eighth Sunday after Trinity

The entire AOC Sunday Report can be found RIGHT HERE!
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, wherein we ask God who … ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; … to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which are profitable for us …

We must understand in our hearts that God does indeed “ordereth all things” here as well as in heaven.  Once we understand that, then we can ask Him to keep us away from those things hurtful to us and incline our hearts towards those things that are good for us.  This is one of the many things for which we need the inspiration of the Holy Ghost in our hearts.  Without His Help, we cannot recognize the help we need.  We tend to think of ourselves as perfectable by our own work, without the need to depend on others (Him).  The problem is, it does not work.  And yet, we cannot seem to figure this out on our own. To try what clearly does not work over and over again, is the very definition of insanity. On the other hand, if we look to God for help, for guidance, for direction, for course correction, for strength, for structure, for the ability to persevere, there is nothing that must be done that cannot be done.  In other words, on our own we cannot do anything that works, but with God’s help, we can do things that work!  But it is not because of us, that we can do things that work, but because God is acting within us with the help of the Holy Ghost. He can help us put aside our fears, worries, concerns and do what we need to do. It may not necessarily be what we want to do, but in the end, it is better than anything we could want to do. God asks only that we do our very best.  By the way, do not confuse saying you are doing your best with actually doing it. There is a difference between words and actions!

The difference lies in what our actions convey. Do our actions convey faith or disbelief? If we are true followers of Christ, then our actions will convey faith. If we are not of Christ, our actions will convey unbelief. I know what I want my actions to convey, do you? Our faith means nothing, if it is not evident in our actions. We would then not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ within us, who saves us. It is not our faith that saves us, but Him who rose and died for our sins. He cannot be truly within us unless we ask for Him to come in and help guide our actions. His faith is what saves, not ours. We cannot buy our way into heaven, nor any other way we can think of will get us into heaven, but the way that God provided for us, will get us into heaven, that of His Son Jesus Christ, who was sent to die for our sins that we would have eternal life, to all that believe upon His name. BELIEVE, is the key word. To truly BELIEVE, you must act in a Christly manner, believe that He died for our sins, and to live out the faith as preached by Him. If you do not believe any one of the tenants of the Nicene Creed, then you cannot be considered a Christian, for all of the elements necessary to be a Christian are consolidated into the Creed. It summarizes the story of the Gospel into a Creed that we acknowledge and believe.

There are 66 books in the Bible, of those 27 are in the New Testament, of those Saint Paul wrote 13, almost half!  More than anyone.  Paul gives much of the guidance and direction we call The Word of God.  Yet, his message is very simple.  People claim to find it hard to grasp, which mostly means they don’t want to hear it.  If they truly did want to hear it, they would not offer up those excuses! Today, Paul tells us, much like last week, that if we are of this world, we die of this world. Pretty simple message, right? Yet if we will accept our adoption by God, we will be entitled to call Him Abba, or Daddy.  We have been emancipated from the bondage of sin and are now freemen under the promise of eternal life. We are no more beholden to sin, no more under the eternal debt of sin, but we have been freed from that terrible master of death, to the absolutely perfect master in God. He truly is the most perfect master for us, better than we could be of ourselves. For that was why we were in the bondage of the sin prior to the coming of Christ. We humans (Gentiles and Jews) could not overcome that most terrible and natural malady of sin. But God came up with the perfect way, the One Way, His Son Jesus Christ to die for us that we might gain a bridge between this earth and life eternal.

For, if we are His children, then we gain His Birthright and all that results from that status. Again, this is simple, but following as His Children can be a fairly difficult task, if we try to do things without His guidance. Actually, without His Guidance, we cannot do anything that is great or worthy. But with His Guidance, we can do all things! While we may have some cause for suffering here on earth, the resultant glory will all be well worth it.  The problem with this is that while we are all willing to suffer (just not today) we are so often not willing to put off what we want to do now for what God wants us to do.  We justify doing what we want, while ignoring what God clearly told us He Wants.  We look for people who claim authority who will tell us what we want to hear.  Once again, it is what we want, not what He Wants. What He wants will ultimately result in our salvation, what we want will ultimately result in our eternal damnation. I know which way I want to go, do you?

That leads right in to the point Jesus said in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew when He Tells us to take great care in who we choose to follow. There are many today who seem to say the right things, but do the other. This duplicitous nature is not becoming of those who would be ministers of God. Therefore those men cannot be true ministers of God, but must be false prophets. Scripture has been given to provide an unchanging standard against which we should judge the words and actions of those who would lead us towards God.  Jesus tells us to listen to those who preach of the Gospel and discard the words of those whose teachings are not congruent with The Word.  For, it is by their actions can you judge their teaching. By their fruits you shall know them. Examine the “fruits” of a persons actions, and you can see where their heart truly lies, is it with mammon, or is it with God?  To quote President Reagan, “Trust, but verify.”  Does what the person say match with The Word.  We all have Bibles, most the Authorized Version.  Does what the person preach match what God has said?  Does their life live that talk? We do not want to follow people that produce evil, corrupted fruit, but good and plentiful and delicious fruit!

Actually, that brings us to another point, does the Bible you use match the real Word of God.  It is not the grammar or style that count, but the facts, the points, the real message of Scripture.  The Authorized Version comes from the Received Text and is reliable.  Make certain the version you use loses nothing in the translation.

So once you let the Holy Ghost into your heart, then take the direction He Offers, read and understand Scripture, you will know what you are supposed to do.  Then, you need to actually act on that knowledge.

Action counts.  For by their actions ye shall know them. 

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

Sermon – Reverend Hap Arnold
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
While I know what I should do at one level, I oft find my actions incongruent with what I am supposed to do.  This incongruence is most evident amongst those with whom I am most comfortable; my family and closest friends.  Is it because they “bring out the worst” in me?  To quote Paul, “God forbid!”  Perhaps it is because they are closest to my soul and I have no wall between us.  Those actions, unacceptable amongst strangers, are even more unacceptable amongst family and closest friends.  Yet they persist.  Why?  Perhaps because as an imperfect creature with free will my only hope is God.  I need His help to grow closer to Him and to those around me.  I need the Light of the Holy Ghost to shine into the deepest corners of my heart, to eradicate the darkness there and plate those crevices with His Light. 

Apparently I am not the only imperfect creature with free will who has this issue[1], what a surprise!  Consider this short piece by Jack Lewis:


Rats in the Cellar on our Journey towards Christ  
We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are. This may sound rather difficult, so I will try to make it clear from my own case. When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.
Jack Lewis
Mere Christianity

Looking at the little graphic, it seems that the little rats are enjoying their time in the cellar and thus will be hard to drive out.  But, driven out they must be.  Those cellar rats must go, they cannot be tolerated no matter how comfortable we are with them, no matter how much we think they cannot go.  They must go.

Belfry rats, on the other hand, with their relationship to those same bats, would appear to be necessary to survival in this world.

Think about it.



[1] 9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Seventh Sunday after Trinity

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.
The entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

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. That holds true not just for myself, but all of us who follow under Christ’s banner.

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. There is truth to the saying of Solomons that there is nothing new under the sun. For there is no new sin in the world that has not existed since the time of Adam.  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. We are merely passing through this world as a portal to our new unending life with God.  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. This will be a continuous never ending cycle for us, who will endeavor to do our best to follow Him, make mistakes, then get back up and try our best 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 message of the story is action, and the whys and hows behind all of it does not matter as much as the simple message that He did it. It is all too easy to get wrapped around in fine details, when it is the bigger picture that matters. 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

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Sixth Sunday after Trinity


Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit
The entire AOC Sunday Report is available RIGHT HERE!

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,  … who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire …

We acknowledge God will give those who love Him more good than they can imagine, let alone ask for.  But, first you have to love Him.  So what should we ask for?  The Holy Ghost to enter in to our hearts that we might truly love Him.  If we do, more good will come to use than we can even imagine or hope for. The Holy Ghost is a key element of love, without Him we cannot even love Him. If we cannot love others, how can we love Him who we have not seen? He gives us far more love than we possibly deserve. 

That is the great and wonderful news about following our Lord. He has love for the entire world, if they would turn from their sinful ways and follow Him. This is the message that we are bringing to the world. That God loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice His Son on the cross to die for us, that we and all who believe on Him might have everlasting life.  This is truly the Good News, for we were once condenmned to hellfire, but now through our Lord’s sacrifice are going to be allowed to enter into heaven, though we are imperfect creatures.

We are imperfect creatures, created with free will by a Perfect Being.  To get into heaven’s gate, we need be accounted as perfect before the Judge.  That requires a bit of an accounting irregularity, to get imperfection accounted as perfection.  

So what does the Collect counsel, ask for the Holy Ghost to enter into our hearts that we might get more than we can desire!  Jesus!  Jesus is that accounting irregularity. He can give us his guidance and grace via the Holy Ghost, to make us better men and women of the Lord. By His Sacrifice, made one time, for all mankind, for all time, we are accounted as perfect by His Faith and action.  Thus, through His Faith and His Action, we attain life everlasting. This is truly the greatest miracle that Christ performed for us, those of us who believe will get eternal life. And it doesn’t start when you die either! Starting today, you don’t have to wait until you die to benefit from your immortality.  In fact, God would prefer you to start acting like you will live forever right now.  Thus, decisions you make, actions you take will be with the long term view of eternity!  Versus our rather usual shortsighted short term view, we must think in the terms of the big picture, not the tiny speck in the picture. Think of the clear vision of the big picture 

As imperfect creatures, immortal or not, we make mistakes.  One to avoid is being “mad” at ones fellow creatures, particularly family and friends.  We pick the most illogical reasons to be mad, the word chosen rather than angry.  Looked at logically, as God does, we need to solve the issue, kiss and make up, and do it before the sun sets on our anger.  Never part in anger.  One of you may not come back.  We put aside our often foolish and angry thoughts and not act upon them, but rather have Christly thoughts and act upon those. Remember that before you are “angry” at a friend, relative, acquaintance, or stranger. We must not let the anger and other irrational emotions such as fear get the best of us, but rather think calmly and figure out the best way to handle whatever situation we are in without losing control of our emotions. It can be a rather hard thing at times, but it must be done nevertheless. But through the Holy Ghost it can be done. So, the solution is to pray to God and ask for His Help in bridling our tongue and have it be a reasonable tool rather than a tool of anger and deceit! 

When Jesus gave His Life for us, He did it knowing we would fail to follow in perfection, but fully aware some would follow to the best of their ability. We must get back up after we make our mistakes and continue on trying the best we can to follow Him. That is all He asks, do your best.  Even Saint Paul had trouble following our Lord, but he kept trying and doing his real best not to make that same mistake again.  Doing your best is not the same as saying you are doing your best.

There are none so deaf as those who will not hear. 

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

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Fifth Sunday after Trinity

The entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

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 these words from the Collect:

the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness

In the Collect, we ask that the events of this world might follow God’s governance or will.  Why?  Because in those places where it does, we find happiness and joy.  It is that simple, it means more, reflect on that.  After all, amazing is it not?  Since the Garden, it has always been one of the two same choices:

1.     We follow God’s Will for us, we do what is good for us, individually and as a people or a country.  It is hard work, but easier than we imagined; we prosper when all goes well.  It was all our doing, we are happy because we were so smart.

2.     We ignore God’s instructions, doing what we want to do, not what we are supposed to do.  It turns out to be way harder than we thought possible, in the end everything turns to weasel spit.  It was not our fault, it was God’s fault, He is punishing us.

As long as we are human, imperfect creatures with free will, it will never change for humanity.  But, we individually can change, and with enough individuals changing, humanity will change.  We can learn from the past and live for the future in Him who gave His Life that we might be free eternally. This is a very similar theme to last Sunday’s sermon, with very good reason. It applies to almost every single lesson in the Bible, which is to do God’s will, above what you want to do. Every time we do what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do, we fail. But when we do what God wants us to do, we succeed! Even though we want to do what we do, rather than what God wants us to do, it is better for us in the end to do what God wants us to do.  Doing what God Asks = Happiness, Not doing what God Asks = unhappiness, to put it into mathematical terms!

So, how do we make our little part of this world follow God’s will? Peter tells to be of one mind, have compassion and pity for each other, to be courteous, to give good to all our brethren, to return good for evil, to seek peace, to do good, not just talk good.  Peter tells us to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.  We have to start first with ourselves and allow the Holy Ghost intou our hearts to transform us. After we are transformed by the Holy Ghost, only then can we truly be able to help others. It will not happen right away, but it is a steady and continuous process, in fact taking most of our lifetime here on earth. But while we are being transformed, we can do our best to help others. But we must realize that it is only through God we can help others, and not to us only. To put ourselves in others’ places, understand when they fall short and make good things happen. The key word is “walk”, to act upon the teachings of Christ, and not just utter them and not do them. All of us, including myself struggle with this, but as long as we are DOING our best, and not just saying it, then that is all He asks of us.  We cannot do more than our best. We must be doing our best and not just faking doing our best. There is a sincere difference between the two. If you are sincere, people will know it. If you are not sincere, people will also know it too.

So, just how do we make good things happen?  Fairly simple, do what God asks! Follow the Summary of the Law and all shall be well in ones life. Every moral law hangs off of the Summary of the Law “Love your God with all your heart soul and your mind, and Love thy Neighbor as thyself.”. These two commandments are all where the Ten Commandments originate and thus what all the moral laws of the universe are governed by. They are the ultimate benchmark for us, which we should try and do our best to meet. This is an extremely common theme again! Doing what God asks is the answer to all of our problems if you think about it! Don’t figure out ways to seem to do what He asks, while doing what you want.  Don’t be a Pharisee! Consider when Jesus told Simon Peter to go out and set his nets.  Simon was tired, he was hungry, he had fished all night with no result.  After making excuses, he decided to do what he was told! There is a lesson there, instead of making excuses why things are the way they are, why not be quiet and do God’s will instead? It will have a lot better results that is for sure, like Simon Peter and his nets!  The net gathered an incredible catch that Simon Peter and his friends could not board. 

That is what happened to Simon Peter; that is what will happen to you, if you will but listen. Listening and then acting are the key principles of this Gospel, we must listen to what He says, and then ACT upon it.

Do not misunderstand, every day Jesus speaks to you telling you what to do.  It is your choice, you can listen like Simon Peter or you can ignore Jesus.  He has the pony for the lottery.  He wants to give it to you, all you have to do is accept.  While He is a bit more subtle than a Drill Instructor, the question is the same, “Can you hear me?” The problem with us is that we just do not want to hear. That is why we need the Holy Ghost to open up our ears, that we might hear and obey.

There are none so deaf as those who will not hear.

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