Today we celebrated the Sixteenth
Sunday after Trinity. Revs Jack
and Hap Arnold were on travel to the AOC Biennial Meeting and were in
Enterprise, Alabama celebrating the first day of the week with Bishop and Mrs.
Ogles at Saint Andrews Church. The
visit was incredible. The
congregation is primarily young people, the average age probably 23. The service was a modification of
the Morning Prayer service which allowed maximum participation from the
congregation. The people were
living the service, not just attending!
Afterwards a feast! What a
stirring experience!
On
Point
Someone asked, where do the quotes come
from? The answer is from the
people who uttered them. But, how
did you find them? Oh, that. Some from Bishop Jerry, many from Rev
Bryan Dabney, a few from other places, some from Rev Geordie Menzies-Grierson,
but overall mostly from Bryan. He
always has some great ones to share.
On to the On Point quotes –
For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though
he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job
27:8
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
St.
Mark 8:36
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and
behold, I am alive for evermore; Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation
1:18
The reason why hypocrites do not persevere in
religion is because they have no pleasure in it.
Matthew
Henry
17th and 18th century
English pastor and author
There is a common, worldly kind of
Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough—a cheap
Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice—which costs
nothing, and is worth nothing.
JC
Ryle
19th century Anglican bishop and
author
(Holiness, p. 204)
He who cries loudest is often the least hurt.
Aesop
6th century BC Greek philosopher and
author
(The Creaking Wheels)
Propers
The Propers for today are found
on Page 212-213, with the Collect first:
The
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
|
O
|
LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy
Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve
it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today’s Epistle came from Paul’s Letter to the
Ephesians, the Third Chapter beginning at the Thirteenth Verse. Paul, writing
to the church in Ephesus, prays that the people might “be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God.”
More simply put, Paul asks that we open our hearts to God and to Christ,
that they might work in our hearts the miracle of love.
|
I
|
DESIRE that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is
your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might
by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory
in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel started in the Seventh Chapter of the Gospel according to St.
Luke, beginning at the Eleventh Verse.
Jesus was going into the city of Nain with his disciples and many
followers. “When he came nigh to
the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of
his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.” In those days, a widow with only one
son had little, a widow with no son was in deep trouble. Taking compassion on her and also the
opportunity to make His power evident, He came to the bier, and touch it said,
“Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.”
The young man arose and began to speak; whereupon Jesus brought him to
his mother. Not surprisingly, news
of this event was spread “forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the
region round about.” Like the
young man, we are dead to eternity until we hear the command “… Arise.” If we hear and act on that command, we
have eternal life, just like the young man, it starts right then!
|
A
|
ND it came to pass the day after, that Jesus went
into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much
people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead
man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much
people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion
on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they
that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And
he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his
mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a
great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. And
this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the
region round about.
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
Sixteenth
Sunday after Trinity
Saint Andrew’s
Anglican
Orthodox Church
5 October
2014, Anno Domini
The
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
|
O
|
LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy
Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve
it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel
St. Luke vii. 11- 17
|
A
|
ND it came to pass the day after, that Jesus went
into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much
people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead
man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much
people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion
on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they
that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he
that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great
prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. And this
rumour of him went forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the region
round about.
Funeral directors hate to see Christ coming, because
their business fails, and those who are dead simply will not stay dead.
Two things cannot abide the Presence of Christ:
Darkness and Death for He is the Fountain of Life, and the Light of the World.
On the day before this incident in today’s Gospel,
Jesus had healed the servant of the Centurion due to the Centurion’s great
faith.
Now He comes to a city named Nain – meaning BEAUTIFUL.
It was beside Mount Tabor and the River Gison. But though the setting is
beautiful, there is great sorrow and mourning in Nain today. The only son of a
widow woman had died.
Outward beauty does not necessarily lead to inward
joy.
The young man was all that the widow had left in Nain
– and in the world. Now, like her husband, this young man too had died. Such
sorrow of the mother cannot be imagined by those who have not suffered a
similar loss. Her entire life was lying dead on a funeral bier. Now, instead of
seeing grandchildren being born of him, she followed on to the sad destination
of a grave in Beautiful Nain.
Death, too, is abject darkness – and it has its
origin in the works of Satan at the Garden in Eden.
Now comes Light and Life in the form of Jesus
Christ to the gates of the city.
In Christ, death has no being – it is only a sleep
and not a cessation of life.
AND it came to pass the day after (the
Centurion’s servant healed at Capernaum), that Jesus went into a city
called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him(not only the
apostles, but many other followers), and much people (some out of
faith, others out of curiosity).
Today, too, many follow Jesus – even in
churches - for the wrong reason – curiosity, social or business advantage, and
pride.
Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city,
behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she
was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
Just the day before, Jesus had healed a sick man
owing to the faith of his master. Today He will raise a man to life without any
expression of faith whatsoever. Why?
First, of all, Jesus saw the great mourning of the
widow and others, and took compassion on her. Love will overcome every barrier –
even a failure of faith.
Secondly, the dead know nothing at all. They are
unable to respond in faith. This is true of the physically living sinner who is
dead in trespasses and sin. He is unable to turn and of his own power in faith.
In the face of inordinate grief, the Lord does not
lay the woman’s sin to her charge as a perquisite to satisfy the longings of
her heart.
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on
her, and said unto her, Weep not. When the Lord appears on the scene, there
is never need for weeping. He always comforts the hurting without reservation.
And he came and touched the bier: and they that
bare him stood still. All that Christ touches stands still in awe of Him.
There is nothing dead that can remain so when Christ touches it.
And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his
mother. Jesus spoke directly to the young man; else every grave in the land
would have been opened. He speaks to the dead, ARISE!
Those whom He calls from the death of sin, He calls
to ARISE from their pig sties and come unto Him. Jesus restores to the believer
what death takes away, for in Christ, there is no death – only a sleeping.
The early beginning of faith starts with fear, “And
there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet
is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.” And faith
ends with glorifying God.
What was the result of this miracle? Remember, there
was no telephone or television in those days – no radio or newspapers: “And
this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region
round about.” Not only was the news wafted about in Judaea, but all around
that entire region of Palestine – and all by means of witnesses testifying to
what Jesus had done.
What about you? Are your tongues frozen, or do you
share this good news of Christ with all who will listen?
Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion -
Descanso, California
Today’s
sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and talked, as is oft the case,
of the need for action, not simply diction.
Consider the words of the Collect, “…let
thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot
continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and
goodness …”
When the Collect talks about the
church, just like last week, it is not talking about buildings; it is talking
about us. Each of us; all of
us and together. We need God’s help (pity) to keep the group of us together
following His Will, for without His Help (Holy Ghost) we are doomed to utter
failure. We can see this in the
church today. Many churches are
leaving the Bible used for over 2,000 years and adopting newfangled
translations which mangle His Word.
When they leave the theology Christ gave to us, they soon find they are
on a broad easy path paved with smooth talking New Age pagan theology. The problem is that Heaven is at the
end of a hard and narrow uphill trail.
The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit. That seemingly easy way leads to the
Pit. The way of the easy to read Bibles with their corrupt non Received Text
manuscripts is not the way to go. This proves the truth of this collect, that
without His help, we are doomed. With His Help, we are set for success for
evermore. He offers, do we accept?
That leads us to Saint Paul’s point:
If we will open our hearts to God, He will send the Holy Ghost to fill
our hearts with Love, Courage, Inspiration, Tenacity and Confidence, to mention
just a few helpful additions to our portfolio. In short, all of the things that
will help our character development. He offers all of these things for our
benefit, so that we will be successful for Him. We have to accept this offer by
opening our hearts to Him. One of
my favorite cartoon strips Calvin and Hobbes, oft has great moral
lessons. Calvin’s dad so very often reminds Calvin that doing one’s duty in the face of adversity builds
character. It also strengths the
soul building trust in God. If we
will open our hearts to Him, our ears will hear the command “…
Arise.” When we rise, we rise with the
confidence of immortals and can conquer any obstacle. We will have died in
our old sinful ways and are
resurrected like our Lord in a new spirit and a new birth of everlasting freedom.
But, without an open heart, our ears will never hear the command directed to
our soul, “… Arise.”
We will be dead to eternity. There are none so deaf as those who will
not hear.
Open your heart to our Lord and
arise. Arise; go forth with Love,
Courage, Inspiration, Tenacity and Confidence to fight the battle our Lord
leads us into.
All Jesus asks is that we follow
Him. That is all follow Him. But, words mean something. The word follow is very important.
I have heard my dad say many times in
the military fighter world the strongest acceptance and recognition of
excellence that can be given is, "You lead; I'll follow." For to do so is to put your life in the
other's hands. Literally,
completely and without question.
It is a matter of putting the light on the star and hanging in
there. It is said by few to
an even smaller number. When you
break out of the cloud after an hour of GE-28 Volt burning in your
retina and see the runway or pop over the ridge after a half hour of dodging
trees and triple A and the target is right there in the reticle, or gunsight,
it is all okay. Sometimes in
between, it does not seem like it will turn out that way. What makes you keep the light on the
star is trust. Just like the
Marines in World War II had to put their trust in their squad/platoon/company
leader that they would be able to outfight the Japanese for example. Even
through the hell of battle, they surely must have felt relief when they were
able to finally push the Japanese out of the islands. Like them, we have to
trust God to get us through whatever hell the enemy can throw at us. I see this
as another aspect of that truth.
The numbers are different in the case of God. We all (unlikely to happen) need to put our lives in the
hands of a small number (that would be ONE).
We need recognize who has the ability,
the power, the perfection in leadership and have that trust to say, "You
lead; I'll follow." I believe that is what Jesus expects from us in regard
to our entire life. We may get out of position or even go lost wingman on the
odd occasion, but he expects us to Our very best to follow His lead and stay in
position. Hard to do if your eye
is not padlocked on Him.
I might add, as ministers of our Lord,
we have a similar responsibility to those who would follow us here on
earth. And we have to work even
harder, for created by a perfect God, we are imperfect creatures with free
will. A problematic
combination. We must strive for a
correct attitude, heading, stability and predictability in our path so that we
can be followed towards that final destination that marks a successful mission.
We must always be checking our navigational instruments of the Holy Sciotures
and our navigator the Holy Ghost, to ensure that we are following on the right
heading.
When Saint Luke relates the story of
the Widow of Nain, it is more than just a simple miracle.
In those days, a widow with only one
son had little, a widow with no son was in deep trouble. Jesus took compassion on her and also
took the opportunity to make His power evident. He came to the bier, and touched it saying, “Young
man, I say unto thee, Arise.”
The young man arose and began to speak; whereupon Jesus brought him to
his mother. Not surprisingly, news
of this event was spread “forth throughout all Judæa,
and throughout all the region round about.”
Like the young man, we are dead to eternity until we hear the command “…
Arise.” If we hear and act on that command, we
have eternal life, just like the young man, it starts right then! Eternal life
doesn't start when you take your last breath, it starts when you take your
first breath!
Also, please take note Jesus
ACTED. He did not just tell the
widow He was sorry, so very sorry; He actually did what He could to help
her. He can do more than we can,
but we can do more than we do and we can certainly do more than just talk. Words are very nice, but do not mean a
whole lot unless they are backed by words.
If we truly have faith, then we will
have good actions that will follow with that faith. If we only speak with our
lips and do not have good actions, then we do not have any faith. However, if
we do truly have faith, then we will speak the right things and do the right
things.
Action, not diction, is what counts in
the end.
Heaven is at the end of a hard and
narrow uphill trail. The easy
downhill trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God
- Act of God
Sermon – Reverend Hap Arnold - Time and
Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
Rev Jack tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel
together today. I just want to
take a few minutes to talk more about the Gospel. First, Saint Luke, the physician, wrote one long book,
because books were written on scrolls in those days, the book was too big. So,
it was a two scroll book. We know
the first scroll as the Book of Luke.
The second is called The Acts of the Apostles.
Acts, not thoughts, words, meditations, hopes,
dreams, worries. Actually in both
books, Luke describes ACTS.
When you read the Bible, notice it is about ACTION,
not DICTION. It is what you do
that counts, not what you claim to believe.
There is a lot of talk among Christians about
salvation. Are we saved because
Christ somehow makes us better people?
To use one of Saint Paul’s favorite phrases, “God forbid.” It is through Christ’s faith and our
confession of that faith that we are saved. Through Him we gain eternal life. Eternal life, by the way, starts now; not at death. A side note, are you living as if you
will live forever? Your life does
not end when your body “gives up the Ghost.” You will live on in your true home. You want to live so it is a pleasant
home.
So, what of good works? Can you get into heaven by doing good works?
NO
So, I don’t need to do good works?
NO
You need to believe on the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ and keep His Commandments.
What that means is that if you actually believe, your
nature will be to do good things, thus while you are saved by faith alone, once
saved you are going to do good things?
So, what does all this have to do with the Gospel?
As Jesus came into Nain, a funeral procession was
coming out. A widow had lost her
only son. Today loss of a son, an
only son at that, is devastating.
For a widow to lose her son, even worse as she then has little to rely
on. In those days, there was not
only the spiritual problem, but a financial one. There were no social services or public aid, if your family
did not take care of you, you starved.
Her end was near.
Jesus saw this and ACTED. He did not merely tell her how sorry He was, how things
could get better. He MADE them
better.
In a sense, without Him in our lives, we are dead men
walking. Our time here on earth
will be over and we go into the Pit.
As with the widow’s son, Jesus offers to raise us from the dead into a
life which goes on through eternity.
His offer, our choice.
Will you accept His offer of life? Will you sit up and speak?
Would you prefer the “comfort of death” or the luxury
of life?
I know you have heard this before and recently at
that, but:
Action, not diction, is what counts.
Heaven is at the end of a hard
and narrow 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
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.
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
In today’s
epistle we heard the hopeful words of the apostle: ...that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able
to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:17-18). St. Paul then went on to
pen the following uplifting affirmation ( Ephesians 3:20-21): Now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to
the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. The Rev. Matthew Henry once noted
that, “There is an inexhaustible fullness of grace and mercy in God which the
prayers of all the saints can never draw dry. Whatever we may ask or think,
still God is able to do more, abundantly more. We should encourage our faith by
a consideration of his all-sufficiency and almighty power.”
In another place, the apostle Paul advised Christians to ... put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts thereof (Romans 13:14). In our reliance upon God, we ought to avoid
asking for those things which will merely slake our lusts. God knows what we
are asking for, and he knows what the consequences will be should he give them
to us. If we are asking amiss then we cannot expect such requests to be
answered in the affirmative.
There is also an attendant matter with regard to our petitioning of
God. If we expect him to fulfil our requests, then it is incumbent on us to
accept that God is who he says he is as found within the pages of Scripture. In
his first epistle, St. John wrote: Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God...
(4:2) He also noted that, Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwelleth in him, and he in God (4:15). Now one might think that every
person who claims to be a Christian would be in agreement with these
fundamentals of the faith. No doubt some still do. Nevertheless, there are a
sizeable number who do not. These infidels have managed to gain control over
the principal denominations of the modern church and are using them to peddle
their false doctrines that cloud men’s minds and thus keep them from discerning
the true doctrines of Christianity. Said persons deny our Lord’s virgin birth,
resurrection, and ascension. They doubt that he will come again to judge and to
rule over the earth. They denigrate Scripture by saying it is a compilation of
myths, sagas or legends. They believe that the gospel writers spoke only of a
man called Jesus— a good teacher who was executed by the Romans— but not the
living Lord who rose again from death to life that Easter morn so long ago.
They cannot teach a saving faith in the only begotten Son of God because they
do not accept the living Christ as their Saviour.
Consider the survey which the Barna Group conducted awhile back
regarding biblical truths. The participants were asked if they agreed with the
following six statements:
1.
Absolute
moral truth exists;
2.
The
Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches;
3.
Satan is
a real being;
4.
A person
cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or by doing good works;
5.
Jesus
Christ lived a sinless life on earth;
6.
God is
the all-knowing, all powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe
today.
Barna found that less than one percent of the participants agreed with
all of those statements. That is disheartening to say the least because nearly
every point mentioned by Barna was once an established teaching for much of the
Christian Church nearly a century ago.
But Barna has not been the first to highlight the growing lack of faith
in orthodox Christian teaching. Back in 1965, John Stormer warned about the
growth of apostasy within the churches in his book entitled None Dare Call
It Treason (pp. 131-132) wherein he noted that, “Redbook Magazine, in its
August 1961 issue, published an article... based on interviews with 100
students at eight seminaries [which] found, ‘that 56% of... ministerial
students do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ... that 11%
[denied] the divinity of Jesus... that many of the 89% who [affirmed the
divinity of Jesus] wanted to define divinity to suit themselves. Belief in the
immortality of man ranked as a major belief of only 2% and only 1% were
convinced there will be a Second Coming of Christ... Only 29% believe in a real
heaven and hell, 46% believe that Jesus ascended physically into heaven as
described in [the gospel accounts].’” Rev. Stormer noted parenthetically that
the last point revealed a contradiction in that “twice as many reported
believing in the Ascension into heaven as believe in heaven.” He then went on
to credit “Modernist theologians” for their role in the furtherance of apostasy
via their denial of the Bible’s supernatural origins.
The Rev. EM Bounds once observed that, “The church is distinctly,
preeminently, and absolutely a spiritual institution... Her ministers and
doctrines have appeal, relevance, and power only when they are channels of the
Holy Spirit. It is his indwelling and inspiration that give the church its
divine character and accomplish its divine purposes.” And what purposes has it
been called to carry forth? Bounds supplied the answer: “Its purpose is to
regenerate and sanctify the individual, to prepare him by purifying and training
him for the high pursuits of eternal life. The church is like a net cast into
the sea. The purpose is not to change the sea but to catch the fish... What if
fishermen spent all their energies trying by some chemical process to change
the essential elements of the sea, vainly hoping to improve the stock of fish?
They would never catch any fish! If the church used this method, personal
holiness would be impossible, and heaven would be stricken from our creed, life
and hope. To attempt to save the world while ignoring the individual is not
only Utopian but also destructive in every way.”
St. John also reminded us in his first epistle to, Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he
that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (2:15-17). How can Christ dwell in
those who love the world in opposition to the expressed will of God the Father?
He cannot. How can said folk understand the absolute need for salvation which
Jesus Christ provides through his atoning work on Calvary’s cross? They cannot.
The truth is that modern, Laodicean Christianity proclaims a flawed
Jesus, relies on a compromised bible, and rejoices in a useless religion fit
only to be cast out. Such churches are powerless to successfully proclaim the
gospel without the permission of the Holy Ghost who will not assist them in
their futile efforts. Why are so many young people leaving those churches?
Because Modernist Christianity has so denigrated its doctrines and tenets as to
render it a fruitless exercise. As the apostle Paul noted in his first epistle
to the Corinthians, ...if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ
not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain (15:14)... And if Christ be not raised (15:17)... then they
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable (15:18-19). Why follow
the dead Christ of myth and legend which the modernist church teaches its
congregants? From the Redbook and Barna Group surveys, we can clearly see that
the path of apostasy by the Modernists has led to the wholesale rejection of
Biblical Christianity which has, in turn, opened the door to a whole host of
pagan cults and practices from man’s ancient past. The early twentieth century
writer, G. K. Chesterton once noted that, “When a man ceases to believe in God,
he does not believe in nothing. He believes in anything.” And so with the
rejection of God comes the worship of all sorts of things and none of them will
do the worshiper any good.
If one would have the benefits of the Christian religion, one must
recognize that the true Christ of faith is the same as the Christ of history.
One does not cancel out the other. To have Christ dwell in one’s heart, one
must accept Jesus Christ as the risen Lord— the only begotten Son of God— and
then seek God’s pardon for sin in his name. God expects us to come to him in
faith believing, not in the faithlessness of unbelief.
Time is short, my friends, and there is no guarantee of success in
winning those deceived back from the world, the flesh and the devil. If we are
to have any success, we must present to the lost a clear and consistent gospel
message that says what it means and means what it says. But such will not be
devoid of difficulty. The Devil and his minions have done much to prepare the
ground of their hearts for the bad seed of the world as opposed to the good
seed of the Word. They have labored to spread tares among the wheat, bad fish
among the good, apostates among the saints, and ravening wolves versus the true
pastors and shepherds of our Lord. They have won victory after victory within
the various denominations and now are poised to sweep away the last vestiges of
sound doctrine within the very near future.
Nevertheless, we must not lose hope. Our Lord proclaimed that the
Church cannot be overcome by evil, neither shall the gates of hell prevail
against it. In spite of the seeming triumph of our adversary, we ought to have
confidence that our Lord will prevail against the forces of darkness. God
foresaw the rise of evil, has judged it, and will call an end to it in his
time. Our duty is to occupy until he comes for us. The wretched figment of the
modernist church is but the synagogue of Satan. It has no real power to save,
and has only the power to destroy those of its membership. God’s wrath will
fall upon it much as he poured out his fury on Sodom and Gomorrah. Our job is
to call out to the righteous who, like Lot, have had their souls vexed by the
things they have witnessed within those churches.
If Christ dwells in us, then we must preach the word: be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned
unto fables (II St. Timothy 4:2- 4). Without a doubt we are in such times as
the apostle Paul has described. If we love the Lord, we will follow his word
and commandment. Seek therefore then to be a beacon for the gospel. Spread the
true message of Christ to those around you and live as becomes the name
“Christian” proving that Jesus Christ does indeed dwell within your heart.
Let us pray,
|
H
|
oly and gracious God, grant to us the courage
and the wherewithal to spread the truth of the gospel of Christ to those who
are as yet in darkness and the shadow of death; that they being so informed
might turn unto thee and give thee thanks for the free gift of salvation in his
name; all of which we ask in the very name of thy Son and our Saviour, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Have a blessed week, Bryan+
No comments:
Post a Comment