Verse of the Day

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Trinity Sunday


Rev Jack's sermon can be viewed on video 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. 

 

Today’s sermon covers the basic concept of the Triune God, that is the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and how they were introduced to us through time and the Bible in particular; it draws the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above.

 


Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity…

 

In the Collect, we acknowledge there is a Triune God, that is to say there are three aspects of God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.  A Triune God means literally Three in One, not three separate Gods or godlets, but a single being with three aspects.  How does this work?

 

The honest answer is – WE DON’T KNOW.  We have not been told of how this Being operates. We just have been told that there are three and They are ONE. Like many secrets, we don’t really have a need to know, so we have not been told.  It has not been deemed need to know for us.

 

However what we do know is:

 

·      God is I AM;

·      God the Father sent The Son to be our Savior, He was there at the beginning and created this world;

·  The Holy Ghost breathed life into the world, and brings understanding, comfort, strength, perseverance, courage, inspiration, patience;

·      They all have always been and always will be.

 

That is what we know; it leaves a lot we don’t know, but we can certainly be kept busy with what we do know.  What we do know is that what must be enough for now. The answer to any theological question, i.e how many angels can dance on the head of the pin can be best answered with how many God needs at the time.

 

All we have to understand is that He is I AM, there is God, there is the Son, there is the Holy Ghost and they all work together in their own way to be the one God of our faith. There is a reason for this even though we don’t know it, but it works out, so we do not have to wonder how it works, we just continue believing and acting!

 

But, what of later?  If we have eternal life, we have it now and later.  What comes later?  Heaven.  What is heaven?  In the epistle John attempts to describe to us what Heaven is like.  He attempts to show us the majesty and glory of heaven using words.  The picture he paints is intended to be awe inspiring and seems to meet that goal handily.  The main thing we can be certain of is that we will not be disappointed.  We speculate as to will this or that be in heaven?  When we get there, the answer will manifest itself and you will have no regrets.  John’s description should serve to tell us heaven will easily surpass all of our expectations. He is trying to convey Heaven is a destination truly worth our earthly toils. All that we need to know about heaven is is that it is a really wonderful place we should be aiming to go to when we die, through our belief and actions here on earth working together!

 

So, how do we get to the real world from these Shadowlands?  There is but one way, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the Propitiation for our sins.[1]

 

Do not be fooled by “there are many paths to God” which seems to be the way of the world today, there is only one way into heaven.  All roads do not lead to heaven. Many lead to the pit, but out of the many roads, there is only one narrow uphill path which will get you to heaven. Doing good is good, so to speak; doing good without God is not good enough.  Only being accounted perfect will get you up the path and in the door.

 

One thing is clear, in order to traverse this narrow uphill trail we need help!  Lots of help as a matter of fact.  The first thing we need in our hearts is a new heart, a new and contrite heart.  This is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus in the Gospel. He was explaining how we need a new heart in order to continue to serve God.  The Pharisees could not or would not see that their hearts were not good enough on their own to serve Him, as ours are not if they are not regenerated. That is really hard, in fact, it is so hard it cannot be done by ourselves.  We need something like turning over a new leaf so to speak. There is a way as a matter of fact for us to do this.

 

We must be born of the spirit!  What spirit?  

 

The Holy Ghost.  We must accept we in and of ourselves will never be perfect.  Our hearts as they are will not lead us towards God, but away from God unless we have the help of the Holy Ghost! No one gets in to heaven unless they are accounted as perfect.  We will never be perfect in and of ourselves.  Should we quit trying?  No!  We are commanded to follow our Christ.  Will we fail?  Without question.  What is the solution?  To believe and follow the Christ.  To open our hearts to the Holy Ghost that we might believe in full and accept the help from the Christ that our imperfection needs to be His followers.

 

To follow God, we need Christ as our leader and the Holy Ghost as our compass. In short, we need all members of the Trinity’s influence in our lives if we are to arrive in the real world, that of Heaven.

 

There is but one way to heaven.

 

That easy to find, easy to follow, easy to hike path does not lead to the summit where eternal life in the real world awaits.  Open your heart to the Holy Ghost; use His Power to follow our Lord to God who awaits in heaven.

 

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

 



[1] 1 St. John ii. 1, 2 and Book of Common Prayer, page 76



[1] Catechism - a series of fixed questions, answers, or precepts used for instruction in other situations.

[2] This is Rev Jack Arnold’s term for summarizing, rearranging and expounding on the underlying text; kind of a descriptive and interesting way of putting it!

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Pentecost, commonly called Whitsunday


Rev Jack's sermon can be viewed on video 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:


 

… sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort …

 

When Jesus left on Ascension Day, we lost a teacher here on earth.  We still have Him in our memories as Redeemer and Savior; but what to do for understanding and that needed closeness to God?  In response to His departure, God sent us the Holy Ghost.

 

Who is this Holy Ghost and why is he here?

 

We worship the One True God, a triune God, that is Three in One; Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Most people have no trouble understanding the concept of God the Father, Christians seem to get God the Son, but many seem to have a difficulty with the Holy Ghost, the Third God Guy.

 

The Holy Ghost has been there since the beginning.  He breathed life into the world, yet His actions seemed to be sporadic until Pentecost. 

 

Well, today is Pentecost, the time one normally thinks of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, the Comforter.  When people do think of Him, they oft think of the actions described in the words of Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.  The dancing and speaking in tongues.  All that happened so we might understand with the help of the Holy Ghost we might bring the Word to all mankind.  The Word of God is a universal language.  When the disciples spoke in tongues, the people around them heard the Word in their own language, not an odd combination of sounds that no one understood.  The point behind the demonstration was that through the Holy Spirit, we can reach out to all the corners through the world and find a way to communicate the Good News to all people in this world. The key is we need the help of the Holy Spirit in order to help us spread the word. There will of course be efforts to be made to learn the languages of the various peoples, this was just to show that with work and practice and with the Holy Spirit within us, this massive effort is indeed possible.

 

We need the Holy Ghost if we are to follow Christ’s Great Commission. He knew we would need the Holy Ghost if we were to have any success in this endeavor. However, He also knew He needed to leave if the Holy Ghost were to come and stay, so the Holy Ghost’s coming had to wait until after the Ascension. He had it planned out so the disciples would not be without a direct connection to Him for very long. 

 

The Holy Ghost also helps us to give the “righteous judgment” the Collect speaks of. This judgment is not the same as God’s final judgment on our performance, but it is a judgment based on Scriptural values, with the Holy Ghost’s help, we can make on our lives and others lives, based on how we see it through the lens of the Holy Ghost and Scripture. It is not to insult people, but to be truthful from the standpoint of Scriptures and be able to say certain behaviors in this world do not line up with Scripture, i.e. homosexuality and abortion. To say those behaviors are not Christian is a righteous judgment statement that the Holy Ghost helps us determine.  To stay on course we need to use the Holy Ghost for that righteous judgement so we can stay on the narrow up hill path towards heaven.

 

The Holy Ghost is also our direct connection to God. When Jesus left, the disciples were distant from God. When they were not near Jesus, they did not do as well as when they were with Him. This is why God sent the Holy Ghost that the Apostles and us might have that connection. As with the righteous judgement, the Holy Ghost helps us to align our actions and views with that of Scripture. The Holy Ghost helps us to properly understand and apply Scriptural principles in our own lives. The people not of God and that don’t have the Holy Spirit within them will never understand the righteous judgement and label it bigotry when that word couldn’t be farther from the truth. Note Peter’s actions after the arrest of Jesus for an example, thrice denying His Lord. The Holy Ghost came so we would have understanding and a direct connection to God, wireless as it were, instead of having to be tethered to Christ.  This is how God can always be with us wherever we arer.

 

If we allow the Holy Ghost into our hearts, we will never be far from Him, and He will never be far from us. We have to consciously let Him into our hearts, He will not come uninvited into our hearts. The Holy Ghost helps us understand Scripture and gives us guidance on our earthly lives, as we work towards staying on the straight and narrow path towards heaven He will be a constant guiding presence in our lives, that will give us peace in times of trouble, and will help us guide and focus our minds in our worship of God.  He will give us inspiration and help us to do what is right for our fellow Christians and friends, while staying true to God. He will light our paths in difficult times and trials and will give us the guidance we need to finish our race for God.

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that He would be leaving, but the Father would send a facilitator; one who whose presence, if we let Him into our hearts, would bring understanding of His Word into those self-same hearts.  The Comforter would bring the Love of God into our hearts to let us feel His Love.  He will help us understand we are striving to be one with God, with Jesus and with the Holy Ghost.  Our love is demonstrated by our actions.  Jesus points out those who do not truly love Him will not keep His Commandments. However, if we truly do love him, we must act for Him and by doing so will keep his commandments.  

 

If you think about it, you will recall the second half of the Book of Luke is titled The Acts of the Apostles.  It is not the thoughts, the beliefs, the feelings, the meditations, the inner feelings or any other touchy feely thing, it is the ACTS.  If you believe, you must act on those beliefs. The Holy Ghost is here to help us know how to act, we will just have to let Him into our hearts, and then ACT. 

 

We need the help of the Holy Ghost to learn what we are to do, how we are to do it and most of all to do it.  Action, not just diction.

 

Pray for His continual presence in your heart.

 

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, May 16, 2021

Sunday after Ascension Day


Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion
Descanso, California

Rev Jack's sermon can be viewed on video RIGHT HERE!


Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above. 

 

Once again the propers for this week come together very well, their focus is narrow, thus powerful.

 


Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before …

 

In some ways, today is no different than the very First Sunday after the Ascension.  Jesus has ascended in to heaven, we are alone and physically separated from God who gives us the strength we need to do His Will.  Like Peter and the other apostles, the further we are from God, the weaker we are.  Thus, we are looking towards Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost who will strengthen our connection to God. 

 

We ask for God’s help we might have the true belief, courage, knowledge and strength to follow Jesus to heaven for all eternity.  That help is on the way in the form of the Holy Ghost.  On the other hand, it is different today than two thousand years ago.  We actually have the real presence of the Holy Ghost, here and now.  He does not ebb and flow with the liturgical year; where would we be if He did?

                                                                                   

The end of the earth and this world may come at any time, indeed for 313,000 people each day, their time here is up.  Thus, in a very real sense as Saint Peter put it, “The end of all things is at hand…”  We need to be mindful of the fact that at any time, the world may well end for each of us. With that in mind, how are we to act?  We should act as if it was our last day on earth and do our jobs with smiles on our faces knowing our eternal destination is secure as long as we do our best to follow Him.  

 

That is a question we all must ask more often and not only ask it, but answer it. The answer comes with the help of the Holy Ghost, who could only come once Jesus left. That is one of the reasons Jesus ascended into heaven. He left so the Holy Ghost could come down and dwell amongst us and in us to provide us with the guidance we need to follow God.

 

In order to get the guidance from the Holy Ghost, we have to wait and hear what  He  has to say before we act. Then once that Holy Spirit has given the answer, we must act upon the answer. This is a continuous cycle and we must always prioritize our work to be for God, our Country, Family, friends and co-workers in that order and things will fall in line. Along these lines, we must strive to work hard, take care of those who cannot and be good stewards of the considerable grace God has given us.  This does not just refer to spending MONEY, but rather to giving of our time and effort to bring the Gifts of God to others. We are called not to hoard love, but to spread it throughout our travels. For as love is of God, then it follows there is an infinite supply of love.  In fact, love multiplies with use, so there is more than infinite amount of love out there.

 

For as Saint Peter says in his Epistle this morning, charity (love) truly does cover a multitude of sins. So, when we do things for others, the driving force behind our actions should be that of charity, or love, for our fellow human beings and not any self-seeking motivation. Charity will cover for our multitude of sins, but we need to be thinking how we can help others. It is the greatest of gifts God and the Holy Ghost gives to us; a gift we find ourselves needing to use more often. The Holy Ghost is key in giving us the desirable thoughts and attributes that we need to carry out His Plan on Earth. He also helps us deal with our less desirable thoughts and attributes and helps us deal with very difficult people and situations. Turning to the Holy Spirit in those very stressful times will reduce the burden on your heart and shift it from you to God, giving you the clarity you need to act for Him, to be able to act in an effective and Christ like manner.

 

The Gospel’s take away is without the Holy Ghost’s presence in our hearts, the needed action on our part is impossible.. This explains why those who do not follow Christ cannot comprehend the strength and value of the Good News and Jesus’s death and resurrection. They do not have the wisdom to understand because they refuse to let the Holy Ghost into our hearts. The Holy Ghost is that portion of God who can enter our hearts bringing the needed spiritual resources to help us win the spiritual battle here on Earth.  Those who will not have Him in their hearts can never understand God and His Will.  That is why they cannot understand or fathom the plan He has for us. They cannot understand why we follow God and Christ. They do not believe; therefore, they cannot have Him in their hearts, and therefore they will not understand. 

 

The end of time is nearer each day than the day before, of that we can be certain.  But there is a certainty we have in this uncertainly world, the unfailing love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus and the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, if we let Him in, and the inerrant Holy Scriptures to guide us throughout the rest of our lives. With this knowledge of an unchanging standard, we can stand fast by this standard and be content knowing we are following the One True Triune God, and though we may physically suffer a while, it is nothing to enjoying eternity with God. 

 

The current world climate, even in this country, is less hospitable than in centuries to Christians.  There is a reason for this which only God understands and not us. God has a plan for all of this.  And in the end God’s plans always work out, even if we do not understand it at the time. We just have to trust in God and do our part to follow Him and do our part to follow His Plan.   In time, we will realize what the plan is. But for now, we are unaware of His plan in the greater scheme of things. But what it is doing is solidifying the faith of true believers around the globe, forming the Army of Light together, ready to battle against the malicious forces of Satan. We cannot make this journey alone.  We must have the close and continuous presence of God.  That presence is the Holy Ghost.  That is why He is here.

 

Pray for His continual presence in your heart.

 

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, May 9, 2021

Fifth Sunday after Easter - commonly called Rogation Sunday

 




Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion
Descanso, California


Rev Jack's sermon is available on video RIGHT HERE.


Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above. 

 

We are on the last Sunday in the Easter Season, which consists of Easter and the following five Sundays, the last of which is Rogation Sunday.  This is a time we should work on centering our lives on the central figure in our religion, Jesus Christ.  


 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same …

 

As we near the Ascension and thus Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, we ask for God’s “holy inspiration we may think those things that are good.”  We need help from the Holy Ghost to direct our souls to the things we cannot see as good without His Help.   Once we see them, we need His “merciful guiding” so we “may perform the same…”.  After all, what good is it to know what we should do, if we won’t, can’t or don’t do it?

 

That brings us right to Saint James’ point, we gain our salvation through the freely given gift of Grace by our Lord Jesus Christ.   Once given, it must be accepted.  If we truly accept the gift, it will be evident in our actions. James makes the point that if you are going to be a Christian you have to ACT like a Christian. Our faith will be made manifest in our actions. A person who calls themselves a Christian can and will talk the talk or portions thereof, but will they walk the walk? That is the real test if they are a Christian or not. As the tag line to my sermons goes, action and not diction is what counts in the very end. 

 

Being a Christian requires both, which will be very difficult sometimes, but it must be done. It is the only way we will have salvation through Christ.  We cannot have salvation if we say we are for Him, but our actions profess otherwise. Fortunately we will have the help of the Holy Ghost to help us walk the walk and talk the talk.

 

We must align our lives to be able to show people we do follow Christ. There are too many people who claim to be Christians, who are clearly not, because their lives do not reflect their stated belief. We must not let this happen. We must show the truth of John 14:6, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. To show this truth we have to live that truth through our actions. It is not just enough to say we know the Word of God, if we truly know the Word of God, we will act upon that Word of God and serve Him in this life. 

 

Without Christ’s guiding light, we are not on the path to holiness and righteousness. We must show this in our lives, by living and breathing His Word, and using His Word to guide us throughout our lives. These are all actions we naturally take which demonstrate we have belief and are acting upon that belief.  This is important to our souls for our spiritual health, and as well as our physical health too. We need all the Help of the Holy Ghost to keep us on this path. How do we keep on this path?

 

We find a lot of help in John’s words, he gives us insight into things which none of the other disciples do.  We need help.  We pray for help. Pray for help that we might act, and that is how we keep on the straight, narrow and uphill path.  So, what about prayer?  Let’s start with to whom do we pray? 

 

Jesus is pretty clear.  Don’t pray to Him, pray to God.  Feel free to use His Name.  Pray to God in His Name.  In effect, we are CC’ing (Carbon Copying, to use an archaic term which as transitioned to an electronic mail (email) term) Jesus in our prayers. We are not to put Him in the To: line, but the CC line. Not addressing Him directly, but to address God directly with Jesus copied, as it were. He tells us God loves us because we love Jesus.   But, pray to God. I think not many people understand this part of scripture, as I have heard people pray to Jesus when he is not the correct person to address your prayers to. He specifically tells us to direct the prayers to His Father who will help us.

 

If we will pray to God, we can be certain He will answer us, and even if we don’t like the answer, we know that is the course we will have to take. It doesn’t matter if we like God’s answer or not, we still have to listen to it and do it anyway, knowing it will be the right path in the end. We will always have some sort of a struggle with this in our lives, but if we turn to God, He will help us win our struggle. 

 

We have to listen to His Answer and think on it and then act upon His Answer and not just dismiss it. Dismissing it is all too easy for us to do, since we are naturally inclined to follow our own desires, not His. But we have to think that dismissing His Answers will not gain us anything in the long or short term.  We need to listen to His Answers and then act upon them, the key to true happiness within our lives. 

 

We have to realize what we truly need and ask that He will open our hearts, minds and souls to His answer that we might act upon His answer. The critical portion is we act upon the answer that we are given, to do our best for Him so our friends, family and coworkers and neighbors might see the light we shine for Him and see who we follow in word and in deed. We must show others not just through our words, but through our actions that we truly belong to Christ’s flock. We must show great love for our fellow man, even to the point of death, through our actions, to reflect Christ’s love for us, that He too loved us even to the point of death.

 

So, pray to God, ask for what you want in Jesus’ Name.  He always listens and He always delivers.  The problem for us is He delivers what we need, not necessarily what we want. Our wants and our needs are oft different, in fact they are seldom the same. But we should want what we need, and God will help us understand if we be a doer and a hearer of His Word. He will always give us what we need, but will we listen to what He wants us to do?

 

Need and want, they are both four letter words, oft used interchangeably, which do not mean the same thing.

 

God’s Will is always done, we just don’t understand.  Accept what happens as acceptable, so long as you have done all you can.  In the end, all that counts is where you go when you leave here.  That depends on your actions in following Jesus’ instructions.  If you believe, you are safe.  Now and forever.

 

Ø  Talk the Talk;

       AND

Ø  Walk the Walk.

 

It is 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

Mother’s Day - Fifth Sunday after Easter - commonly called Rogation Sunday- Propers with explanation - Rev Jack's Sermon

  


This is the Fifth Sunday after Easter; the Easter season is five Sundays, the last of which, the Fifth Sunday after Easter, is commonly called Rogation Sunday.  Like every day, today we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, “Christ the Lord IS Risen today!”  It is also Mothers Day, when we recognize our mothers and those who have gone before and on whose shoulders we have risen.  This, by rights, should be every day.


On Mothers


On this Mother’s Day, it is very easy for us to look back at our mother’s life and think of all the things we like about our mother.  We like, it is all about our mother and what she did for us.  The pivotal thought seems to be us.  It is not about us, our / us is merely an adjective to describe a particular mother.  For motherhood is about self-sacrifice.  Putting the child’s welfare above that of the mother.

 

The love of the mother for her children comes with a price; yet the price paid is not without return.   The last words of almost all soldiers who die in battle are either “Mom” or “Jesus.”  There is a lesson all in of itself.

 

What did your mom choose?  An extra child or an extra home or trailer?  Your schooling, or her vacation without you?  Dental work for you or a new car for her?  Shoes for you or a fancy dress for her?

 

Jesus commanded us to follow Him, He who put our lives before His.  Who on this earth does this more consistently than mothers?

 

Saint James tells us in his Epistle, “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.” Who on this earth does this more consistently than mothers?

 

As Christians we need to uphold and recognize the example of sacrifice in motherhood so we might understand the sacrifice made by God on our behalf in Jesus’ death for our sin.

 

Rogation Sunday

 

The fifth Sunday after Easter is commonly called Rogation Sunday from the words in the Gospel appointed for the day: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give to you". (The Latin is 'Rogare' - to ask.)  In the strictly biblical context, the chief thing to ask for is the spirit of God to enable us to be true children of God.  

 

In the Western Catholic Churches, including the older Anglican traditions particularly before the Reformation and in some higher churches afterwards, processions to bless the crops and to include "beating the bounds", developed from the old Roman rites of "Robigalia" ("robigo": Latin for "rust" or "mould"), when prayers would be offered to the deity for crops to be spared from mildew. 

 

Today the emphasis has shifted.  Asking for God’s blessing on growing crops in fields and gardens, and on young lambs and calves remain.  In the agricultural cycle, the main themes are seed sowing and the tending of the young plants and animals. This does not pre-suppose that all sowing takes place around Rogation.  Sowing is done all the year round, as does the birth and rearing of the young.  It is convenient to fix on one particular festival the time to remember these before God in a public way.

 

In the Northern Hemisphere, Rogation Sunday takes place in the springtime, when there is a renewing of the earth. In this country, it follows Easter, the season of resurrection. Renewal and resurrection therefore are also underlying themes of this occasion.

 

But, there is far more to the day than that.  The real meaning is in rogare.  If you don’t ask, you won’t get.  You have to ask God in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for what you want so that you can get what you need.  You have to ask.  Then, once you get what you need, act of the gift and thank God for that gift.

 

Remember “Ask and ye shall receive.”  


The Propers for today are found on Page 175-176, with the Collect first:

 

The Collect for The Fifth Sunday after Easter, 

commonly called Rogation Sunday.

The Collect.

 

O

 LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

The Epistle for today came from the First Chapter of the General Epistle of Saint James beginning at the Twenty-Second Verse. Saint James tells us not to just talk about being Christians, but to act on those beliefs and do things.  We act in accordance with the principles set forth by Christ.  We gain our salvation through the freely given gift of Grace by our Lord Jesus Christ.   Once given, and accepted; if we truly accept the gift, it will be evident in our actions.

 

Saint James reminds us we not only must:

 

Ø  Talk the Talk;

       but

Ø  Walk the Walk.

 

We do not gain eternal life and salvation by our good works here on earth, but only by the Grace of God, through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Through Christ our sins are atoned for that we might go to heaven.  True enough, but we demonstrate our attempt to follow his instructions by our works here on earth.  Remember, it is by only by our actions we are we truly known.

 

B

E ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

 

Today’s Holy Gospel came from the Sixteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John beginning at the Twenty-Third Verse. Jesus told his disciples tat when they pray to the Father, they should ask in His Name and what they asked for would be given.  But, you must ask to receive.  Jesus told us not to ask Him to pray to the Father, but rather that we pray directly to the Father, asking for what we will in His name, because God loves us because we love Jesus.  This explains why most of our prayers end in, “we ask all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” or similar words.  So, if we are to if we are not to ask Jesus to pray for us, why would we ask “saints” and such.   We can talk directly to God and we are supposed to!

 

Jesus went on to say the forces of this world would scatter the disciples, they would be alone in the world.  Yet like Jesus, they would not be abandoned by all; He would be with them, as would the Father.  For as always, the Father is with them, as He is with Him; as He is with us.

 

V

ERILY, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world

 

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. 


 

We are on the last Sunday in the Easter Season, which consists of Easter and the following five Sundays, the last of which is Rogation Sunday.  This is a time we should work on centering our lives on the central figure in our religion, Jesus Christ.  

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same …

 

As we near the Ascension and thus Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, we ask for God’s “holy inspiration we may think those things that are good.”  We need help from the Holy Ghost to direct our souls to the things we cannot see as good without His Help.   Once we see them, we need His “merciful guiding” so we “may perform the same…”.  After all, what good is it to know what we should do, if we won’t, can’t or don’t do it?

 

That brings us right to Saint James’ point, we gain our salvation through the freely given gift of Grace by our Lord Jesus Christ.   Once given, it must be accepted.  If we truly accept the gift, it will be evident in our actions. James makes the point that if you are going to be a Christian you have to ACT like a Christian. Our faith will be made manifest in our actions. A person who calls themselves a Christian can and will talk the talk or portions thereof, but will they walk the walk? That is the real test if they are a Christian or not. As the tag line to my sermons goes, action and not diction is what counts in the very end. 

 

Being a Christian requires both, which will be very difficult sometimes, but it must be done. It is the only way we will have salvation through Christ.  We cannot have salvation if we say we are for Him, but our actions profess otherwise. Fortunately we will have the help of the Holy Ghost to help us walk the walk and talk the talk.

 

We must align our lives to be able to show people we do follow Christ. There are too many people who claim to be Christians, who are clearly not, because their lives do not reflect their stated belief. We must not let this happen. We must show the truth of John 14:6, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. To show this truth we have to live that truth through our actions. It is not just enough to say we know the Word of God, if we truly know the Word of God, we will act upon that Word of God and serve Him in this life. 

 

Without Christ’s guiding light, we are not on the path to holiness and righteousness. We must show this in our lives, by living and breathing His Word, and using His Word to guide us throughout our lives. These are all actions we naturally take which demonstrate we have belief and are acting upon that belief.  This is important to our souls for our spiritual health, and as well as our physical health too. We need all the Help of the Holy Ghost to keep us on this path. How do we keep on this path?

 

We find a lot of help in John’s words, he gives us insight into things which none of the other disciples do.  We need help.  We pray for help. Pray for help that we might act, and that is how we keep on the straight, narrow and uphill path.  So, what about prayer?  Let’s start with to whom do we pray? 

 

Jesus is pretty clear.  Don’t pray to Him, pray to God.  Feel free to use His Name.  Pray to God in His Name.  In effect, we are CC’ing (Carbon Copying, to use an archaic term which as transitioned to an electronic mail (email) term) Jesus in our prayers. We are not to put Him in the To: line, but the CC line. Not addressing Him directly, but to address God directly with Jesus copied, as it were. He tells us God loves us because we love Jesus.   But, pray to God. I think not many people understand this part of scripture, as I have heard people pray to Jesus when he is not the correct person to address your prayers to. He specifically tells us to direct the prayers to His Father who will help us.

 

If we will pray to God, we can be certain He will answer us, and even if we don’t like the answer, we know that is the course we will have to take. It doesn’t matter if we like God’s answer or not, we still have to listen to it and do it anyway, knowing it will be the right path in the end. We will always have some sort of a struggle with this in our lives, but if we turn to God, He will help us win our struggle. 

 

We have to listen to His Answer and think on it and then act upon His Answer and not just dismiss it. Dismissing it is all too easy for us to do, since we are naturally inclined to follow our own desires, not His. But we have to think that dismissing His Answers will not gain us anything in the long or short term.  We need to listen to His Answers and then act upon them, the key to true happiness within our lives. 

 

We have to realize what we truly need and ask that He will open our hearts, minds and souls to His answer that we might act upon His answer. The critical portion is we act upon the answer that we are given, to do our best for Him so our friends, family and coworkers and neighbors might see the light we shine for Him and see who we follow in word and in deed. We must show others not just through our words, but through our actions that we truly belong to Christ’s flock. We must show great love for our fellow man, even to the point of death, through our actions, to reflect Christ’s love for us, that He too loved us even to the point of death.

 

So, pray to God, ask for what you want in Jesus’ Name.  He always listens and He always delivers.  The problem for us is He delivers what we need, not necessarily what we want. Our wants and our needs are oft different, in fact they are seldom the same. But we should want what we need, and God will help us understand if we be a doer and a hearer of His Word. He will always give us what we need, but will we listen to what He wants us to do?

 

Need and want, they are both four letter words, oft used interchangeably, which do not mean the same thing.

 

God’s Will is always done, we just don’t understand.  Accept what happens as acceptable, so long as you have done all you can.  In the end, all that counts is where you go when you leave here.  That depends on your actions in following Jesus’ instructions.  If you believe, you are safe.  Now and forever.

 

Ø  Talk the Talk;

       AND

Ø  Walk the Walk.

 

It is 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, May 2, 2021

Fourth Sunday after Easter

    

Rev Jack's sermon can be viewed as he gave it 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. 

 

We are in the Easter Season which consists of Easter and the following four Sundays, through Rogation Sunday.  This is a time we should work on centering our lives on the central figure in our religion, Jesus Christ.  

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… 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

 

The very first phrase is critical to understanding the world and our place in it.  We want to follow our own hearts, that is the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, which will lead us not to heaven but to hell if left unchecked. This explains why the world is in such a horrible mess, as people by and large are naturally inclined to sin rather than follow God. The only goodness in this world comes from those who have the Holy Ghost in their hearts and reject the wicked ways of our natural inclinations and Satan. The Holy Ghost is indeed key to not being like most of the world, that is to say, we are set apart from the world by our actions, if we are indeed true believers.  

 

We have to internalize His commands into our hearts through listening and then through repetition, action.  This is the only way we can follow His Commandments and show the World we follow Him. For all of the above to happen we have to let God into our hearts, souls, minds and bodies and let His Directions carry us through life. In order to be true believers, we have to actualize our stated beliefs. This means we hae to live out our Christian Faith and not just talk about it. God can and will help us do this, but only if we let him into our hearts. 

 

Our life will be better when we follow His directions and if we will allow God to rule us and desire His help, we will be able to attain the state of happiness we will then deserve. He knows what is right and what is wrong for us. He does not want us to lead so called puritanical lives with no fun allowed whatsoever, but we must have fun the right way and not the wrong way. The right way can lead to a lifetime of happiness, whereas the wrong way leads to a life time of misery. Many people think that God forbids things for us, because He does not want us to have fun. Nothing can be further from the truth. He forbids things harmful for our spiritual well being, and allows us to have clean spiritual, joyous things in our life to develop our spiritual well being. Those people confuse the things that are harmful for our spiritual well being with fun and think that the things that are actually helpful for our spiritual well being are not fun. When it is completely not the case. The Holy Spirit will help us to truly see what is harmful for us and what is not harmful for us.

 

We need God’s help (this is one of the places the Holy Ghost comes in) to be able to want for ourselves that which He Wants for us.  The Collect asks us to allow God into our hearts to bend our will towards His Will and His Wants.  If we can desire what He Wants, our ability to follow His Instructions will be much enhanced. And not only will they be much enhanced, but the more we follow His Instructions, the easier it will be for us to continue on that straight and narrow path towards heaven.

 

We are God’s creatures, first among all His Creation with all the privileges (which we like) and all the responsibility (which we are not so keen on) which come with that status.  All good comes from God, who is always with us; always the same; a true bearing in world in a constant state of flux. While the world may change, the Word will never change, no matter what happens in the world today. His Word is aa refreshing constant, in this world where  nothing ever seems certain. The Ways of the World go to and fro and are in a constant state of flux. However God’s Word always stays the same and its meaning never changes, as God never changes. As God is truth, which by its nature cannot change, so should we never change in our beliefs towards Him. 

 

So, how can we hear?

 

When Jesus got ready to leave this world for His, He told the disciples that He would send them the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, to keep them in Him and to help them understand what they had so far been unable to truly grasp.  Unless we allow the Holy Ghost to enter into our hearts, we will never understand that which is from God.  This is an important concept with messages that are not from God being bombarded across the world through principalities and powers of this world. Only the Holy Ghost can help us remain grounded within the truth. We need the Holy Ghost to enter into us that we might be able to hear the Word of God, and more important than just hearing the Word, we need the Holy Ghost to be able to act upon the Word. We must allow the Holy Ghost to enter in to our hearts and souls so we can understand what God has for us.  It is that simple.  Open your heart, pray for God to send Him into that open heart. 

 

For with the Holy Ghost’s help, you can hear, understand and act on The Word.

 

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