Pearl Harbor Day
This past Wednesday was also another day important to us as Americans. Seventy-one years ago on Wednesday, “7 December 1941 – a date which will live in infamy - - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.[1] Two thousand three hundred fifty Americans gave their lives defending our country, giving their blood that we might live in freedom.
The Arnolds’ Uncle Jack, Admiral Jackson D. Arnold[2], was the Engineering Test Pilot at NAS Ford Island, Pearl Harbor and shot down a Japanese torpedo plane from the ground when no aircraft were flyable, then went on to rescue many survivors, some from his first ship ARIZONA. More here: http://adm-arnold.blogspot.com/
Sermon – Rev Deacon Jack Arnold – Pearl Harbor Day 2012
In Matthew 24, Christ gives the people of Jerusalem warnings as to the end of their time in the land of Israel, for about 1,500 years (until they return in about 1948, Anno Domini), and he describes the destruction of their temple, which occurred in about 70, Anno Domini by the Roman Empire, due to the Jewish Insurrection. The Jews have always been a hard headed, stubborn people, and they are not ones to listen to a warning that would have saved them from destruction and a longer exodus than their 40 years in the wilderness.
If we do not recognize the signs of trouble and listen to the warnings, then how are we to expect to follow His Word, if we ignore his warnings and do not heed them appropriately? Look at the Jews for an example of this, with Matthew 24. He had said if they had heeded his warnings, this would not have come to pass. If they had followed His Word, then they would not have revolted against the Roman Authorities and caused them grievous heartaches and sufferings, and would have avoided the suicides at Masada.
A more modern version of what the Jews went through can be found in Pearl Harbor, on December 7th, 1941. At the time, America was content to ignore the rising problem of Imperial Japan in the East, while secretly giving aid to Britain against the rising might of Nazi Germany in the West. There were warnings present, starting with the Japanese aggression in China in 1936, the actual, physical manifestation of World War II.
The isolationists were content to ignore the aggressions committed by the Axis in both theatres of the war, figuring it was no big deal to them; Jews were murdered by the hundreds and thousands in Germany, undesirables murdered in Stalin’s Russia (originally a member of the Axis, a long forgotten and less cared about fact), the rapes of so called “sub-humans” in Japanese held Manchuria (e.g Rape of Nanking, Rape of Fena Reservoir.) They saw only what they wanted to see. They were blind to the truth, to the pure evilness of the Nazis, to the Imperial War Party and to the Communists. The blindness prevails to this day.
As the signs of aggression became more and more obvious, isolationists dug their holes deeper and put their fingers in their ears and shouted how wonderful and sunny a day it was in the world, while millions were being oppressed, murdered and raped in the far corners of Asia and Europe under Japan and Nazi Germany and Russia.
This is just as the Jews ignored growing signs in Jesus’ time, and were resistant to co-operating with the authorities. If they had not disregarded Christ’s warnings, they would have been far better off, and possibly retained their homeland.
Had we acted on those clear signs of aggression, a quadrant of madmen (Stalin, Hitler, Tojo/Emperor, Mussolini) might not have been able to act on their desire to dominate the world for their own purposes.
On December 7th, 1941, all this ignorance of the aggression, the ear plugging by the isolationists came to a sudden and complete stop. The attack upon our soil by the Imperial Forces of Japan at Pearl Harbor changed the tune. Due to the ill-preparedness of our country and the unwillingness to confront the problem of Japan in any form, we lost 2,402 fine men, and 1,247 wounded. They paid the high price to learn the true face of Imperial Japan; greedy, low moral and ethics (though their “culture” professed to have high ethics, (e.g saving face.) country, hell-bent on dominating the world, especially the United States, subjugating it to its will.
We found the problem a little too late, ignoring clear warnings of Japanese aggression. With such forewarning, we should have been prepared tor the eventuality of war with Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
A lesson to be learned from the attack on Pearl Harbor, is that we should not take spiritual or worldly warning lightly. If we do not heed this warnings, as those of us are not now, then how can we expect to have a future, where we can tell our children of those who went before us, who heeded those warnings, to pass on the moral fiber (through Scripture this should be established) necessary to establish a solid generation of Godly, Good and Great American people, (or the Three Gs!).
On the subject of Pearl Harbor itself, and of the men and women who died there, I would like to offer up to you a selection of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – Abraham Lincoln.
Also, he said this, which preceded the above part which is also very appropriate for this occasion:
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
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. If you have a hard time remembering, “Do I read the Collect from last Sunday or next Sunday during the week?” Remember Sunday is the first day of the week. There are also two Bible readings, the Epistle and the Gospel. While they are “lessons”, they are not the First Lesson and the Second Lesson, they are the Epistle and the Gospel. 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 our minister or deacon.
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 are found on Page 92-93, with the Collect first:
The Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The propers for the First Sunday in Advent can be found on Page 90-92:
The First Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
Dru Arnold read the Epistle for today, which came from Paul’s letter to the Romans, starting at the Fourth Verse of the Fifteenth Chapter.
Paul tells us the scriptures up to that time were written that we might have hope. He now reminds us to treat each other the way Jesus treated those about him, to open our hearts to each other as Jesus opened His. The promise of Jesus was not to Jews only, but to all people (Gentiles). Paul tells us Jesus Christ was a minister of … the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.”
He reminds us of the writing of Esaias, “There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.” Paul leaves with the blessing, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
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hatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Hap Arnold read the Gospel for today which came from the Gospel according to Saint Luke, the Twenty-First Chapter, beginning at the Twenty-Fifth Verse. In preparation for our recollection of the First Coming, the Nativity, we read St. Luke’s description of the Second Coming, “and there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts fail-ing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”
As clear as the Second Coming will be, so was the First Coming to those who would see and hear it. Once again, we are reminded that there are none so blind as those who will not see and none so deaf as those who will not hear.
Can you see Him? Will you hear Him?
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nd there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Sermon – Reverend Deacon Jack Arnold - Time and Action
The Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The First Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
The Collect and the Epistle and the Gospel all tell us we are to learn from Scripture and to place our hope in God and not man. We are to use the scriptures for our learning, so we might become wiser through the Holy Spirit, whose guidance as we read and study Scripture will allow us to come to a full understanding of the meaning it should have in our daily lives. If we try to live our lives or write our sermons without that guidance, we will be for naught.
In the Epistle, Paul tells us Scripture was written that we might have hope, even in times of darkness. Time like these where there are unbelievers in high places, doing their best to defile and ridicule our faith can try our souls. We must treat others the way that Christ taught us to, with respect and humility, no matter our personal feelings/opinion on them and how they conduct their lives. If we are nice to them, we may plant a seed in their lives for the better, causing perhaps a change for the better in them.
Returning to the Gospel, St. Luke describes the signs of the Second Coming and how we are to prepare for it. We are not to be caught unaware of the signs, if we read the signs, then we shall be prepared to meet our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This means we have to be active in our faith, and not brain and faith dead like so many around us today.
We have to use the tools given to us by God, Scripture, our faith, and our friends in the faith to combat the evils of this world. We must do our best to make this world the best place we can. If we study, digest and use Scripture in faith, we will have hope in these times of darkness; we will go forth and spread Good News, which will give us satisfaction and hope for people, therefore renewing our spirit and vigor and the knowledge that in the end we will triumph will fill our hungry spirits.
The common theme through the collect, Epistle and Gospel is that if we have hope and trust in God, we must dread naught, and carry on, empowered through them in our daily lives here on Earth until we are called to our heavenly home.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
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.
Sermon Notes
The Second Sunday in Advent
9 December 2012, Anno Domini
The Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The First Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:25-33)
In addition to being the 2nd Sunday in Advent, today is Communion Sunday - should bear even greater gravity as a feast day.
There is great power in the Communion of the saints taking the same prayers, the same bible text, the same bread, and the same cup all around the world.
Today’s COLLECT – petitions the Lord that we might:
1) Hear the Word of God written (medical science last sense to go at death); it is the means whereby our faith is enlarged: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)
Later today, in the Communion, you will be invited to draw near by faith. If you have not even heard the Word of God, how shall that faith be gained?
2) Read them over again and again. A law of learning is that repetition aids recall. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)
Remember the two disciples on the sad road to Emmaus on the Sunday following the Lord’s Passion? Forlorn and despondent, they knew not that the very Lord whom they presumed to be a dead Lord, was alive eternally and walked beside them.
Are you a stranger in Jerusalem? What things? They told of the horrible events:
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)
Remember, my friends, this afternoon in the Communion how the eyes of these two disciples were finally opened to Christ - And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. (Luke 24:30-31)
Then in verses 44 &45 of Luke 24, Christ tells His disciples:
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
3) Mark those Words of God that are written – just as we mark off the boundary lines when we purchase a plot of land to make it our own, we mark those wonderful words of God which we read to make them our own. They constitute the boundaries of our faith as measured from that Ancient and immovable Landmark.
Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. (Prove 22:28)
4) Learn them. Seek and ye shall find many hidden gems and treasures in the leaves of God’s Word. The Holy Ghost will aid the diligent heart.
The people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6
5) INWARDLY DIGEST the Word: Jesus Christ is the Word Incarnate.
He is our Bread of Life….. which His Body – the church – must consume daily in order to be of healthy and living spirits.
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)
Yes, we need Water with the Bread, and He is that also – the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s well came for the water of the world, but left with the water of life.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Rev 21:6)
That Bread of LIFE is much like the bread that we take physically. We prepare it properly as in reverent and orderly worship.
We savor its wholesome aroma when it is piping hot.
We love the sweet aroma of God’s soothing Words of Life.
We place it in our mouths and chew it with relish – just as we meditate upon that Word whose sweet-smelling aroma has drawn us to it.
We swallow that Bread or Word.
It goes into our stomachs where various enzymes combine to break the bread down into simple nutrients that can be used by the Body.
God’s Word does the same in our hearts. Those special meanings God desires to impart to us alone are broken down and fed into our spiritual blood. It gives life to every cell of our spiritual being.
All of these things the COLLECT remind us from out of the Word itself.
It will direct our hearts and our outward walk, too.
It gives life, but not a temporary life, but that Water of Life that satisfies eternally!
The first Advent Sunday COLLECT very clearly tells us that we must put upon our countenance that great Light which is the Light of the World.
He will be our armor and our covering for sin.
We were those same who walked in darkness (Isa 9:2), who finally came to make our home there by sitting down in comfort among sinners (Matt 4:16) by sitting in darkness.
Sin is a direction as shown in the 1st verse of the 1st Psalm - Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (Psalms 1:1)
These doctrinal principles apply to nations as well as individuals.
Today’s Epistle from Romans 15 tells us: Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus
If we have put on that Mind which was in Christ Jesus, how can there be division among us for we will all think with that Mind of Christ, and Christ is not divided against Himself!
That is why we have the common Cup – the same from which Christ drank;
and the common Bread – the same which He blessed, broke, and gave to the disciples.
Today’s GOSPEL text deals with the Advent of Christ, but particularly, the Second Advent. Christ has been coming since before the earth was formed.
He visited Abraham in spirit. He spoke with Abraham, and to Abraham made a promise both to him and to US!
He came to many of the Old Testament who yearned in their hearts for the promised redemption to be made available in the finished work of Christ.
They looked forward with perhaps a greater measure of faith than we that with which we look back on the accomplished fact.
He came profoundly as an innocent baby to be falsely judged of men. But He shall come physically a second time in great power and glory – not to be judged falsely – but to judge all things with righteous judgment.
At His FIRST ADVENT, He came as a little baby, laid in a rough, manger of wood to be hung on a cross of that same wood.
His SECOND ADVENT shall be with great power and glory – so much so that the heavens themselves will be filled with His Angelic Armies.
The time and circumstances described by Christ are too stark and too profound to relate only to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. though they may secondarily relate to that great tragedy. He warns His disciples, first, of the coming ruin of Jerusalem as a warning for their own well-being, but then describes far greater events than ever seen upon the earth. Much is still a mystery until the moment that He choses to fully open our own eyes to them.
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring We have gotten a glimpse of this distress already with the tremendous storms that have impacted our shores.
The cataclysmic events grow progressively severe until the time of the end. 26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
I have deep concern for my children and grandchildren in view of the great evil that I see coming upon the earth.
There is a common fear among all of the patriotic and Godly Americans with whom I have spoken about our descent into the abyss of sin and licentiousness. These are those times described, at least to some extent, in these passages.
When the fear and panic is greatest among the world, it is the best of times for the return of Christ to put a final end to sin and disobedience.
The Christian is not forlorn at the appearance of these signs, but has the hope of certain redemption drawing more nigh with each increasing terror. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Do we have minds of logic and common sense?
Can we not discern the simplest signs of Christ’s Second Advent? Not just the fig tree, but all trees, show definite signs of approaching spring. They give evidence that is not observed in other seasons.
God wants us to know His Word and to discern the times in which we live – we do not have to be prophets to know His Word and to draw logical conclusions therefrom.
We do not need a special sign of His Coming, it is enough to know that He will come when all of these things begin to come to pass. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
I agree with Bishop JC Ryle in believing that this is not the compete event described in the Fall of Jerusalem by the Preterist.
That would be too insignificant and too provincial as a precursor of the return of Christ.
That generation, or race of Israel, has not yet passed away. They are one race of people that have survived every displacement. The Kingdom was taken from them and given to another bearing the fruits, but they remain a people nonetheless. Jesus told the Jewish rulers: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matt 21:43) It is so because being a child of Abraham is not by bloodline of Abraham, but by the faith of Abraham.
There is only one bloodline that will avail for us. The blood of Christ. In that blood we are more related than to a dear brother or sister in the flesh.
Finally, one of the most profound passages of all Scripture:
33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. Though men disrespectfully alter God’s Word in their new and copyrighted versions of the Bible, nonetheless, His Word remains preserved and immutable. When all has turned to dust and ashes, the Word shall remain. And all who are in that WORD shall also remain inviolable.
He is our Ark of Security in the same way Noah’s Ark preserved a family of only eight to regenerate and replenish the earth. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation (Gen 7:1)
Friends, have you found your security in the Ark of Christ?
Door of Ark! And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. (Gen 7:16)
Christ is OUR Door which no man can open and no man can close but Christ!
Rev 3:7 (KJV) These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth
John 10:7 (KJV)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
When we partake of that Bread in communion today, let us remember His Body that was broken for us, that we may be broken for others. Let us remember the wine of His blood that was shed for us that we may be willing to do the same for our fellow brothers and sisters. He is coming among us today for He has promised – “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am among them also.”
In the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
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:
Finding God in the Bible
Psalm 119:1-16, Romans 15:4-13, Luke 21:24-33
Second Sunday of Advent
December 9, 2012
Advent calls us to step away from frantic activities and commercialism, and to quietly reflect on the things of God. Things like, what does it mean that God came to earth in Bethlehem? And, what does it mean that this same Jesus will come again? Thus we are reminded of the two Advents of Christ: the first in humility as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world," the second as the Lion of Judah who will come again "to judge the quick and the dead."
Yet, there is another way in which Christ "comes" to us. This is not a visible Advent or Return. It is not heralded by angels or trumpets. It is a spiritual advent as Christ's Spirit comes to those who love Him. When a soul seeks Him in prayer, He comes. When His Church worships Him, He comes. When we kneel at the communion rail, He comes. When we open the Bible, He comes. He is here now.
People often tell me they don't feel God's presence with them. They don't feel His presence in church or at prayer or in the every day things of life. The Bible never tells us to "feel" His presence. The Bible simply tells us He is with us, and leaves it to us to believe it in faith. We know He is with us because He says He is, and we believe His word.
I believe we can be aware of living close to God, or of living apart from Him. We become aware of this, not through a "feeling" inside of us, but through comparing our thoughts and actions to the clear teachings of Scripture. We know we are close to God when we are living for Him in faith and obedience. We know we are living apart from God when we neglect the things of God, either intentionally or unintentionally. We know we are living apart from God when we neglect our God given duties to our family, community, or church. We know we are living apart from God when we neglect the Church, the prayers, the sacraments, and the Bible. Perhaps that is why, on this Second Sunday in Advent, when we begin again to reflect upon the doctrines of the Christian faith, we turn to the Holy Bible, and to Christ coming to His people in His Word.
When we talk about the Bible we generally talk about two things; its Divine origin, and its Divine subject. To say the Bible has a Divine origin is to say the Bible comes from God. This is what we mean when we call the Bible, "the word of God." Somehow, God put His words into the minds of men, and enabled them to speak and/or write them exactly as God gave them.
The Old Testament is very clear about the Divine origin of the Bible. God spoke to Adam and Eve. God spoke to Noah. God spoke to Abraham and Sarah. God spoke to Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah, and Isaiah. All of these people received revelation directly from God, which is recorded in the Bible. The prophets always prefaced their messages with words like, "The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah from the Lord." They often spoke the word of God at great personal sacrifice. Jeremiah is well known for enduring persecution. Others suffered also, so many that, before our Lord prophesied judgement on Jerusalem in Matthew 24 and 25, He wept over the city, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee" (Mt. 23:37).
The New Testament is also filled with references to its Divine authorship. The Gospels record the ministry and teachings of Christ, which He gave to the Apostles and commissioned them to, "teach all nations" (Mt. 28:19). The Epistles teach the faith Christ committed to the Apostles. "I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you," wrote Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23. Peter said the Scriptures are the result of holy men speaking "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (1 Pet 2:21). John said he wrote the Book of Revelation at the direct command of Christ (Rev.1:11). Then there is that magnificent statement in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." I am sure you have heard many times that the original Greek says all scripture is, "God breathed," or, "breathed out of the mouth of God" as His word.
So the Bible has a Divine origin. The Bible also has a Divine subject. The Bible is about God. In the Bible alone we find what God wants us to know about Him. The Bible teaches us about the Trinity, the cross, and the resurrection. The Bible teaches us of the Divine Wrath that hates our sins, and the Divine Love that gave Himself for our sins.
The Bible teaches us how to have peace with God. The Bible puts forth the unique and surprising view that we can only have peace with God if God gives it to us out of His own free grace. The Bible teaches that we can't be good enough to save ourselves because we can't atone for our sins. The Bible teaches that knowledge won't save us because knowledge can't create in us the ability or desire to do what we know. We need a complete moral/spiritual transformation of the very core of our being, based on a complete and eternal atonement for sin, and that can only be done by God Himself.
The Bible teaches us how God wants us to live. We hear much talk today about finding your passion and following your dream, but the Bible talks about receiving a better passion and a better dream from God. It tells us that our greatest passion can be to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. It tells us to let other passions go and to embrace the passion of doing the will of God. It talks about learning to love what God loves, and learning to desire what God wants to give. It talks about loving truth, and righteousness, and holiness, and self-sacrifice. It talks about learning that in our relationships with others, it is more blessed to give than to receive, and that, rather than living for the next trinket or amusement, real happiness is found in living for God.
The Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
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+Dennis Campbell
Bishop, Anglican Orthodox Church Diocese of Virginia
Rector, Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
Powhatan, Virginia
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.
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent
In St. Luke 21:5-36, our Lord warned of impending catastrophe before his return. In verses 5-11, he spoke of the end times; while in verse 12, he prefaced his remarks about those events in the near term by saying But before all these... (v.s 12-24). No doubt, our Lord wanted the apostles to know of those events which were soon to come upon them, as well as to warn future Christians to watch for the signs which will mark the beginning of the period known as the Great Tribulation (St. Matthew 24:21).
Consider now the words of our Lord as found in St. Luke 21:36, Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man.
The Greek word ekpheugo means literally to flee, to seek safety in flight, or in the case of verse 36 of St. Luke’s gospel, escape. Now you do not escape a bad situation by going through it. There is a difference between escaping and simply surviving. You escape by either being taken out of the way, such as Lot was taken out of Sodom, or by an exodus, such as the one in which the children of Israel left Egypt. You survive a situation by going through it, coming out alive much as Caleb and Joshua survived the forty year journey of the Israelites through the wilderness.
In St. Luke 21:36, Christ spoke of those who are worthy to avoid these events by a means of escape. In Revelation 3:10, he said, Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. In St. Matthew 16:18, he stated that the devil shall not prevail against his church. The Scriptures also tell us that during the Tribulation, the devil and his minions will hold sway upon the earth and will prevail over the saints (Revelation 13:1-[7]-18).
If the church cannot be prevailed against by the Wicked One, then the verses of Revelation 3:10 and St. Luke 21:36 have a fairly unambiguous meaning. And there is more. The word church or churches is not mentioned again after Revelation 3:22 until chapter 22:16. Thus we have further evidence which supports the escape of the church as noted in St. Luke 21:36.
In I Thessalonians 4:13-18, the apostle Paul wrote, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (go before) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
The apostle had spent the earlier portion of the chapter setting forth the paradigm for our Christian walk, and now connects such to that great reward which the Lord had established in his own resurrection and one which he would exercise on our behalf.
In his first epistle to the Corinthian church, the apostle penned the following, All flesh is not the same flesh... There are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial... So also is the resurrection of the dead, It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body (15:35-44). The return of our Lord who will raise up our dead bodies is that blessed hope (St. Titus 2:13-14). For all who love the Lord Jesus will, by the power of his shed blood, be set free from the bondage of sin and death. (I Corinthians 15:54-57).
Jesus Christ is coming again, and in that knowledge we have been commanded to watch for his coming all the while busying ourselves in his harvest. And because this is our Lord’s expectation for us, we also know that he will judge us concerning those works. St. Paul warned in his first epistle to the Corinthians, Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it...(3:13). A proper Christian witness ought to include the need for salvation as well as a sense of immediacy concerning the same and for two reasons. As St. Paul observed, now is the accepted time...now is the day of salvation ( II Corinthians 6:2).
And since we neither know the time of our deaths; nor the date of our Lord’s return, it stands to reason that those tenets of the faith ought to be front and center in our witness before the unregenerate of this world. Take another look at I Thessalonians 4:13-18. The apostle Paul, writing under the influence of the Holy Ghost, sought to comfort that body of Christians because they were anxious about their friends and relatives who had departed the precincts of this life in the faith. Further on, he wrote: For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (I Thessalonians 5:9). There is little doubt what he meant. The wrath of God will fall on the ungodly, not on his people.
The preservation of Noah and his family at the time of the great flood (Genesis 6:1-8:22); the exclusive nature of the plagues which God put upon the Egyptians prior to the Exodus (Exodus 7:14-12:30); as well as the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:1-31) where the sea was opened for the children of Israel but closed upon the Egyptian host of pharaoh; these along with Lot and his family: who were physically removed from Sodom (Genesis 19:1-22) as an act of divine kindness; yes, all these and several others are illustrations of God’s clear intent to protect his own while punishing the wicked. The apostle Paul’s words of comfort to the Corinthian and Thessalonian churches as well as John’s words to the church at Philadelphia were not confined to them alone. We have them to take comfort in as well.
There can be little doubt that we are in the latter days for the headlines of any newspaper will validate such to the observant Christian. We have been told to watch and to work in our Lord’s harvest. Let us then be mindful of the times so that our Lord does not catch us unawares when he returns. As he said in St. Matthew 24:46, Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find [him] so doing. May our Lord bless you in every good word and work.
Let us pray,
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OLY Father, bless us with wise and understanding hearts that we might properly comprehend thy word; and that we would, in turn, communicate the same to others; for this we ask in the name of him who is our Saviour and King, even Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have a blessed week,
Bryan+
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