Sexagesima Sunday

What is Sexagesima Sunday?  See the explanation at the end!

If you enjoy this,
the entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

Sermon - Rev Jack Arnold

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:

…put not our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity …

In the Collect, we tell God we put our trust for eternal life not in our actions, but in His Power.  If we do this, then we must do as He asks us.  For, to make trust in His Power rational, we must follow His Direction. If we do not follow His Direction then we are surely just going be as lost as before we accepted Him into our hearts. It would be foolish to think that we could guide ourselves, when in fact we need Him to guide us. The problem is that often, at least in my case, pride gets in the way of seeing that I/we need to rely on Him for guidance. We need Him as our navigator to guide us along the rocky paths of life, so we don’t crash into the rocks of Sin and Death! We need His directions if we are to proceed upon the path to Heaven.

The Collect also goes onto explain His Power will give us defense in adversity. His Power is the only real power which can help us in times of trouble and sorrow. We may think we can get ourselves through trouble, but that is only us deceiving ourselves. We need to recognize that God has the power to help us over come adversity. All the goodness and greatness that we have within us, is not sourced from us, but from the Holy Spirit and God.

This squares with what Paul tells us, that is salvation, honor and glory come not from what we do or have done, but rather from God.  Therefore, we should turn to Him for guidance and not ourselves.  Following His Word is where the salvation, honor and glory come from. And that is also to whom we should give credit and not us. We haven't earned the credit; so we should give it to whom it is due, that is to God our Father. Nothing that we have done as far as anything good or significant is not from us on our own volition, but from God. He will guide us through all of our life’s trials, if we let him. Paul, who as Saul, had been a super star on his way to being the number one rabbi in the Hebrew nation.  He was more learned, more vigorous in following the law, more vocal in all things.  When he “saw the light” and converted, he took that same approach to Christianity.  No one was more in any thing than he.  He had been the worst of the worst and was the best of the best.  Yet, through God, now he was keenly aware of how short he himself fell.  But even more importantly, he was keenly aware of the saving perfection of Christ.

From his early days as the chief persecutor of the Church, to the main missionary of Christ’s Church, from this timeline he could tell us of the experience of the power of God first hand, using his life as an example of that. He told us these things not to glory himself, but to show the glory and honor that comes from on high, from following His Word. He wanted to highlight God’s saving power and Grace, which had helped him, and show us how it can help us as well. He wanted us, other Christians to learn from his example and to do their best to follow Him. Thus he counseled all to take comfort and pride in God, not themselves.  Do your best and look towards God.

This brings us right in to the well known Parable of the Sower, which might be better referred to as the Parable of the Four Soils, for the seeds were all alike. 

Like the seed sown by the sower, The Word is spread throughout the world for all to hear and act on:

·      Yet, some will not even hear The Word (Hard ground);

·      Others will hear, act quickly and abandon God’s help at the first sign of adversity (Stony ground);

·      Still others will hear The Word, but The Word is overtaken by the “pleasures” of this world and is choked out by them.  Like the line from the Bible, where your money is, that is your worldly effort, there is the evidence of your heart.  The temptation of this world is great, the reward from God should be greater, but you have to look long term;

·      Finally we come to those who accept and act on The Word, like the one seed planted growing into a great plant bearing its fruit, the rewards are manifold, though the effort is also great, the end reward far greater.  For the seed to grow to full fruition and glory, with its manifold blessings, it must have the ground prepared, carefully tended against encroachment of the evil weeds, it must be continually watered by the life blood of those around it.  There is much effort required on our part, but the ultimate reward is so much greater.

While we are on the subject, consider the issue of weeding.  Is this not part of the reason for the Church, that is to say the body of believers, to exist?  We often cannot pull our own weeds, but we can help others and they can help us.  We cannot pull our weeds alone, but with help, we can remove them one by one. Christianity is not a religion of hermits; it is a social religion where we can help each other.  This is why it is best that believers attend a Bible believing Church, where they can get valuable friendship and from that friendship, spiritual mentoring for their day to day lives.

So, think about this, we need to understand eternal life and indeed on a shorter term, happiness in our life here, comes not from our self-directed actions, but those of God and our action following His direction. If we follow our self-directed actions, we will find death and misery awaiting us. However, if we put our trust in Him and follow His commands, we will “live long and prosper” to quote Spock. Do your best and look towards God for the Light to illuminate your path.  If you prepare your heart, as the farmer prepares the field, root out the forces of this world as the farmer roots out weeds, cultivate the good given by God, water your heart with His Water, your life will be manifold.

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

What is Sexagesima?

Sexagesima, or, in full, Sexagesima Sunday, is the name for the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday in the Catholic (Universal or Whole) Church Calendar.

The name "Sexagesima" is derived from the Latin sexagesimus, meaning "sixtieth," and appears to be a back-formation of Quinquagesima, the term formerly used to denote the last Sunday before Lent (the latter name alluding to the fact that there are fifty days between that Sunday and Easter, if one counts both days themselves in the total). Through the same process, the Sunday before Sexagesima Sunday is known as Septuagesima Sunday, and marks the start of the Pre-Lenten Season, which eventually became the time for carnival celebrations throughout Europe, this custom being later exported to places settled and/or colonized by Europeans. While Quinquagesima (50th day) is mathematically correct (allowing for the inclusive counting), Sexagesima and Septuagesima are only approximations (the exact number of days is 57 and 64 respectively). The earliest Sexagesima can occur is January 25 and the latest is February 28 (or February 29 in a leap year).

The 17-day period beginning on Septuagesima Sunday spanning Sexuagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays was intended to be observed as a preparation for the season of Lent, which is itself a period of spiritual preparation (for Easter). In many countries, however, Septuagesima Sunday marks the start of the carnival season, culminating on Shrove Tuesday, more commonly known as Mardi Gras.

Septuagesima Sunday

If you enjoy this, the entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

By the way, wonder what Septuagesima is, check out the article after the sermon!

Sermon - Rev Jack Arnold

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:

… we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness …

In the Collect, we ask God who knows we should be “…justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour …”  To get into heaven we need to be accounted as perfect.  Yet, we cannot be “cured” of sin nor “improved” to perfection. So how do we solve this irregularity? We are imperfect creatures with free will, the most confounding combination ever created for salvation.  We know we ourselves cannot solve our dilemma, Who can?  There is a solution for us!  Consider the words of John Newton near the end of his life, “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior!” The answer lies in the latter part of Newton’s quote. Our sins are justly punished by eternal damnation, yet there is hope in our Lord.  For eternal salvation is the delivery promised to each of us by Jesus.  This is the reward of the race we run here on earth.  Our race is for that eternal prize, not just, as they say, filthy lucre.  It is the complete opposite of filthy lucre and an extremely pure one. It is for the promise of an eternal, unending life, to be spent with our Lord and Savior Jesus. It is for the promise of a world unaffected by the tarnish of sin, unblackened by the sinful deeds of imperfect beings. It is an unshadowed world.  It shall be true happiness at last, to meet with our beloved family, our Christian heavenly family, friends and beloved pets.

Eternal salvation is a far more valuable prize than anything we could possibly acquire here on Earth.  It is in fact a priceless treasure, truly priceless, except for the death of our Saviour and resurrection. That is the only price involved with our eternal freedom. We have to keep this foremost in our thoughts as we continue to run the race set before us!  Keep the eyes on the prize, as it were!  As my grandfather was fond of saying, “Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole.”  That means keeping the important things in sight at all times, excluding the unimportant.

Particularly when things get hard, we must keep our end goal fixed firmly in our mind’s eye in order to stay on the path. In order to stay focused on the path, we must always remember that the end, the arrival in Heaven will outweigh all of the sacrifices, blood, sweat and tears we shed in this life. Paul assures us our efforts will give us a reward greater than even our pitiful minds can imagine, if we but stay the course.

Our eyes should be focused on the finish line, not our “competition.”  The only thing which counts is that we each cross the finish line.

So how do we run the race? 

With our eyes focused tightly on the finish line, not on those around us, wondering are they doing better than we are?  That is not a useful question.  The useful question is, “Am I doing the best I can?” And, remember this is a Team Effort. We have to want to win, and in order to win the race set before us; we have to perform actions. We need to act upon the Word of Scripture, the message, which is to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ and preach it to all nations, as in the Great Commandment. But we must first start with our neighbors and work our way outward. It must be a team effort, we cannot all do it alone. We need support along the way, especially when things get tough, we need our Christian buddies to give us moral support and encouragement from the Word.   We want the Christian Team to win.  If an outsider joins, they join the team fully from then on.  We need to give each team member all the help we can.  A deathbed[1] conversion gains the same prize in the end as a life long Christian.  The life long Christian will have had the more rewarding life here on earth, but eternity is a long time after that. So, with that in mind, we must DO our best and not just say it, and we do that by acting upon the Word and not just reading it, but acting.

We are all so far from perfect that Holier than Thou is pretty damning praise.  Don’t even go there.  The best you can really do is not to be as evil as another, even that is pretty doubtful. But, we can do our best for our Lord and that is what really matters.

The Gospel for today, the very important parable of the vineyard, also gives us very good advice on the conduct of our daily lives and contains a crucial key to happiness.  There is the lesson that the deathbed conversion gains the same prize of eternal life as the lifelong follower, but there is a lot more in it for every day life.

It is a fine lesson in “buyer’s remorse” or coveting of jobs or similar concepts.  If you got a good deal, it does not change because someone else got a “better” deal.  Take what you got, go forth and be happy.  Don’t complain because somebody else got the same deal as you did sooner. Other meanings abound.  For a very direct application, what this means is “cradle” Christians are no more likely to go to heaven than this morning’s convert.  They just get to enjoy the Christian experience longer.  So let us not begrudge those who are newly converted, but let us rejoice that they have been saved! As Christ said, we should rejoice that one sinner has repented of his ways!  One note, if you wait until the last minute to join the gang, your time here might end before you get around to it.   So don’t wait until tomorrow to act, do it today while you still have time!

Sometimes people act like being a Christian is an unpleasant experience that they will do when they get a round TUIT.  It is not.  Christians aren’t perfect, they just have more fun being imperfect and imperfectly trying to improve!

Christ gave us eternal life.  But, we have to accept it.  Once you accept it, start living as if you will live forever.  You will and you will have to live with your actions for ever! So Act early and Act often!

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

What is Septuagesima?

Septuagesima Sunday is the name given to the third Sunday before Lent. The term is sometimes applied to the period of the liturgical year which begins on this day and lasts through Shrove Tuesday (with the following day being Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins). This period is also known as the Pre-Lenten season or Shrovetide. The next two Sundays are labelled Sexagesima and Quinquagesima, the latter sometimes also called Shrove Sunday. The earliest Septuagesima Sunday can occur is January 18 (Easter falling on March 22 in nonleap year) and the latest is February 22 (Easter falling on April 25 in leap year).

Septuagesima comes from the Latin word for "seventieth," with Sexagesima and Quinquagesima equalling "sixtieth" and "fiftieth" respectively. They are patterned after the Latin word for the season of Lent, Quadragesima, which means "fortieth" because Lent is forty days long (not counting the Sundays, which are all considered little Easters).  Because a week is only seven days long, not ten, and since even then only six of those days might be counted if the pattern of Quadragesima is followed, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, don't literally correspond to the periods of time they imply. It is interesting, however, that just about 70 days (68 actually) is the minimum number of days between the octave day of the Epiphany on January 14 and Easter, implying that a season just about 70 days long can always fit between the two.

The 17-day period beginning on Septuagesima Sunday was intended to be observed as a preparation for the season of Lent, which is itself a period of spiritual preparation (for Easter). In many countries, however, Septuagesima Sunday still marks the start of the carnival season, culminating on Shrove Tuesday, more commonly known as Mardi Gras. The Gospel reading for Septuagesima week is the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).

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[1] Of course, you must consider that overshooting a deathbed conversion will result in no conversion, thus no eternal life.  Convert earlier than needed rather than later than needed.  My dad talks of a bombing range in England, Cowden, on the edge of a cliff.  If you dropped short, you got a score.  If you dropped long, you missed the whole country.  Same idea here.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

If you enjoy this,
the entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

Sermon - Rev Jack Arnold

Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California

Today’s sermon ties together the propers, that is to say the prayer and readings for this week. Consider these words from the Collect:

… God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life …

In the Collect, first we acknowledge God’s place in the universe, that is He is the ultimate ruler of all things.  Thus, the civil authorities of each country, state, county and locality govern with His Authority, so long as they do His Will, whether they be Christian or not.  Our Constitution, which serves as the skeleton or foundation of all our laws gets its authority from the Declaration of Independence.  Where, pray tell, does the Declaration of Independence get its authority, from our Creator.  Acknowledged right there in plain English.  It needs no explanation, merely a grade school reading ability!  We go on to ask God to listen to us and give us His peace in our hearts.  God is perfect.  His hearing is perfect.  It is not His hearing that is in need of help.  He hears us clearly when we pray, God always hears us when we call Him.  This Collect is really to remind us that when we pray to Him, we need to listen to Him. It is our hearing that is need of help, from Him!  Too often we ask Him what to do, when He tells us what He wants us to do, it is not what we want, so we don’t hear.  After all, there are none so deaf as those who will not hear.  So, the question is not, Does God hear our supplication?  Rather the question is, Do we hear His answer and abide by it?  Do we listen when His answer is not what we want, but what we need? We think He doesn’t answer, but that is often because we are deaf to His answer through our own condition of being poor, sinful creatures who need His Forgiveness and Guidance desperately. What we really need to do is stop our wanting thoughts and to listen to what we need, His Guidance. We need to be still and listen to His answers and not just go off and do what we want. Instead we need to hear what He wants us to do and act upon it. Too often we just do not bother to listen to that voice that tells us Gods will and run off and follow our own devices and desires and get into trouble.

Instead of doing that, we need to truly listen and take His Guidance to heart. We need His Guidance to stop the evilness which lies within ourselves and to control it, to mitigate it, so that we can do good things for Him. Without His Guidance, we cannot ever hope to be good and righteous. To do that, we must open our hearts and minds; and let Him in. He will not force His way in. It takes action on our part to let Him in.  If we open our hearts and minds, then we will hear Him. Will we let him in to our hearts for this to happen? It has to start with us letting Him in, and then we will hear His answer loud and clear.  That describes the purpose and function of the Holy Ghost, that Third God Guy.  He is there, always there, we merely need to let Him in!  Without Him, Scripture is so much foolishness, with His Insight, it is perfectly clear.

We all have some talent; each has something they do better than others.  Paul reminds us for the church, or any organization for that matter, to succeed, we must do what needs to be done, working hard, honestly, cheerfully, looking for no public praise, being kind to all.  Everybody needs to utilize their talents according to the needs of the church, not somebody else’s talents, but their talents. Each and every one of us has a talent of some sort, be it musically, talking (being good with communication), sweeping, taking out the trash, there is no end to the need. Almost anything else that can be used for His Glory is a talent. Each and everyone has a unique talent and or gift that can be used to further His Will on Earth. Sometimes, we fail to remember for the team to be successful, each person needs to do the job they do best to the best of their ability; not necessarily the one they like best the way they want to do it at the pace they enjoy.  It is not good enough to just say you are doing your best when you are actually doing your half, quarter or not at all best, but full “best” ahead as it were! The reward of a job well done in and of itself should be sufficient.  And knowing you did your best is what really counts, not just getting recognition from others, but the satisfaction in your heart of knowing that with God’s Help you accomplished a large task, is one of the best feelings in the world.  It does not matter to God who gets the credit, what matters to Him is we get the job done and to do it right! We should not be giving of ourselves to God, so that we can get praise and recognition.  That is not giving; it is selling. And that would not be truly giving from the heart as is God’s desire.  That would be using the talents He loaned to us for our own wants and ends, which would not be becoming of the Christians we are called to be, the New Men we are called to be. If we get praise and recognition as a result of our actions, then it is fine, as long as we keep in mind why we performed our actions and who helped us.

At the same time, though we should not look for praise for our own work (though we may appreciate it, we should not dwell on it too long, lest we get swollen heads!), we should look for reasons to praise and encourage others.  We need to recognize hard work, sacrifice, thoughtfulness and talent in others, remark on it and praise the use thereof!  That which is rewarded most is that which grows best. Reward the good, so that we may reap the goodness of our works!

Look at John the Baptist, out in the wilderness; not in the fancy building, the gold plated temple, but out where he could prepare straight the way for the Lord.  Smoothing the path so to speak, making ready the hearts and souls of the people for the coming of the Lord.  He did not point at himself, rather he pointed the way towards God incarnate!

By the way, how necessary is praise to miserable human beings?  God Himself, looking on His Son’s baptism remarked for all to hear, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

How oft do we praise the actions of others?  To often we are quick to criticize the failings of others and over analyze their failings. Sometimes when we think of people we know, all we can think of is their failings and forget everyone has their good parts as well, from God. It is in our nature, part of our human nature, our free will condition that we must fight against with His help. We must understand that while it is valuable to know when we fall short, people strive the most for praise of those whose opinion they value.

When you hear those words, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” remember to use them yourself.  Lead others to God, don’t point the way.

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

First Sunday after the Epiphany

If you enjoy this, the entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

Sermon – Reverend Hap Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California

Through the leading of the star, the wise men from Persia (modern day Iran) were led to seek the Christ Child. This was the “revealing” of Christ to the Gentiles, and the first such event. Though he mainly ministered to the Jews of Israel, it is important that he ministered to the Roman governor and the Faithful Centurion (from which our parish gets its name) whom were Gentiles.

Though the Apostles in the early church did not think ministering to the Gentiles was worthy, through the actions of St. Paul, The Word began spreading to the Gentiles. Paul says in his Epistle the time has come we should start spreading to the Gentiles, and bring our gifts (talents) to His Service (as our talents are on loan from God, as Rush Limbaugh says) and use them accordingly to further His purpose on this planet.

Paul also said that he was charged by God to bring The Word to all, not just the Jews. The time was now ripe to expand past the original target market (the Jews), and to spread it to all. He said that he wished to explain the mysteries (The Word) of God to all, including the Gentiles, that they might see and hear The Word.

In the Gospel, Herod tries to entice the wisemen to find the Christ child and report His whereabouts to him that, he claims “that I will come and will worship him.”  But like most modern leaders of the world today, his words were duplicitous in nature. “I will come and worship him” translated to he would come and murder Christ, as he did the Holy Innocents, while Christ was in Egypt.

After they visited the Christ child. God warned the wisemen in a dream of Herod’s true intentions, and they went home a different way so they avoided a confrontation with Herod.  They brought Jesus frankincense, incense and myrrh. In a way, they did what Paul talked about and brought Him “gifts” for His Service. Now we do not know if these gifts were ever used in Christ’s life. But, like present time gift giving, it is not the gifts themselves that are important.  It is the thought and meaning behind the giving of gifts.

Now in this troubled time, we must be ready to bring our talents to Him, to use for His Glory and to spread His Word.  In this time, we must spread The Word and without ceasing praise Him and His Majesty. In order to institute a turn around of the moral decay, we must first act.  If we do not act, then how can we expect to stem the tide of the moral decay. We must act with steadfast purpose.

This may require some courage on our behalf, as we will be mocked and perhaps in this troubled time, may come a day, when we like the apostles are thrown in jail. However scary this time may be for spreading His Word, no matter how hostile it is, we must do it anyway.  We are soldiers of Christ and like our military counterparts, we must do out duty, then count the cost.  We must step forward into this hostile world, and charge forward against the fire of hostile media and people, whose hearts have been turned to stone. We must charge against them, using The Word as our defense and our offense against Satan. The greatest defense is the best offense. And we truly have both in The Word of God. We must remember God wants everybody to follow Him, not just certain ethnic groups (like the Jews), and we must concentrate on spreading His Word, through bringing our Gifts and Talents to His Service.

He comes!

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

Second Sunday after Christmas

Sermon - Rev Jack Arnold

Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California

Today’s sermon ties together the propers, that is to say the prayer and readings for this week.  Due to calendar considerations, we do not oft get to celebrate the Second Sunday after Christmas as there are only 12 days in Christmastide, but this is one of those years!

If you enjoy this,
the entire AOC Sunday Report is RIGHT HERE!

Consider these words from the Collect, “…God, who hast poured upon us the new light of thine incarnate Word; Grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives…”

First, note God has given us the New Light of Jesus Christ in the world and in our lives as the Word Incarnate, or the Word in the Flesh.  We did not earn it He gave it to us!  Gave, as in we did nothing to deserve it. It is a gift of God’s wonderful Grace!  However once we have it, that is if we really have it and not just say we have it, we must do something with the Word, hence the second part that His Word might shine in our lives.  We ask the light of the Word will take root in our hearts and shine forth as action in our lives.  That is to say that our lives will act as a window to the Word, not a closed door. We want the window to show our lives have been renewed by Christ’s presence to encourage others to follow Him as well. In order for that to be so, we have to act upon the Scriptures and Christ’s teachings, and do our very best, and not just say it, to follow Him.

The reading used for the Epistle is not an Epistle as such, but a portion of the Book of Isaiah, one of the Old Testament books filled with New Testament ideas and thoughts.  Without the freedom that Jesus brings us, we are prisoners of the darkest prison, our heart separated from God.  If we embrace His Gift of freedom, we are free, truly free, with eternal life starting as soon as we accept it.   In the reading, Isaiah says what we should all be saying, The Lord has selected us to pass on His Good Tidings to all, to tell the world the Good News of the Lord Jesus!  To comfort those in need, to bring happiness where there is heaviness, to talk of the Glory of God!  Good News indeed! Jesus will be proclaiming liberty to us, the former captives of the sin that would bring us to a final death. Instead of death, He proclaims light and light to all the hearts who accept Him. This is absolutely terrific news indeed!

On the surface, in the Gospel, Matthew is just relating the historical fact of Joseph being told to go back into Israel with Mary and Jesus, that all was safe for the time being.  Yet, there is more.  The verses also recall the threat to Jesus’ life from Herod and sends Joseph and his family to take up residence in Nazareth in fulfillment of the prophecy that the King of Kings would be called a Nazarene.

So what of us?  How do we fit in to all this?

We are to spread the light unto the world, to be beacons, directing the people of the World to follow Christ and not the World. We are the lamp bearers, the torch bearers, bringing the light of Scripture unto the darkest places. We are like the light of Galadriel, which was given to Frodo in Lord of the Rings, that it might be a light “unto the darkest places.” Indeed this world is dark, a lot like the world of Mordor, also from Lord of the Rings. Even when we despair and all seems hopeless, with Christ and the Holy Ghost in our hearts, we can ride out amidst the darkness of the world and triumph over what seems like overwhelming odds, when the evil folk outnumber the good folk. With this rallying to our King, we can defeat anything that evil throws at us. We know in the end our side wins for all eternity. We have the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us in difficult times and the wonderful guide of Scripture to guide us.

So too shall Scripture be a light for us and others in the darkest times and places on this planet. Christ is the great guiding star, like the North Star for sailors of old to navigate by. So too shall we navigate by Christ as our great guiding star. If we hold the light up, we shall never fall and stumble. But if we do not hold it up, we will fall and stumble. So the obvious solution to our problems when we are troubled is to turn back and hold up the light to light our way.

That is to say, to return to the Scriptures and His Word and consult Him for guidance and not look for true guidance from the heart of man. Christ will show us the way.  But, for us to find The Way, we must not only look for it, but listen when He delivers and see when He points.  For that to happen, we must let His Word take root in our hearts, and to fully take root, we must act upon the Scriptures daily.

In order to have it take root, we must be opened to His Word and not shut and deaf to Him.   He cannot come in if we will not let him, so we must open our hearts and minds to Him.  That is the mission of the Holy Ghost, to enter into our hearts to give us understanding, to make our hearts receptive to His Will, to inspire us to do His Will in a manner which will be effective.  Our Lord will free us from ourselves if we open the door, so we must be willing and ready to accept Him. We have to be ready, willing and able to receive Him and to spread His Word, to have a true solid, Christian faith.

In order to be of help to others who would come to Christ, we must walk the walk besides talking the talk; we must not be as hypocrites, saying one thing but doing another. We do not want to be like the Pharisees of old, with their lavish prayers and gestures in the public. But we must be like the publican who would not so much as lift His eyes up onto the heavens. We must have a humble, hearty and contrite spirit, to spread the Word of the Lord to those who need to hear it most.

The time has come to show the light unto the world. The time has come to choose God or Satan. The choice is like those in the Lord of the Rings[1]. Do we choose the Light, like the Men of the West and Aragorn of Gondor, or do we choose the forces of Darkness, of Mordor and their allies? Who shall we choose? Our actions shall show our hearts. “For where your heart is, there shall your treasure be also.”

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

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[1] No so surprising a comparison as you might think if you knew little of literature. The great fantasy and children’s writers, John Ronald Reuel (JRR) Tolkien, Clive Stapleton (CS) Lewis and Gilbert Keith (GK) Chesterton were all friends and more importantly, devoted well educated Christians.   While they are famous for their apparently secular fantasy writings, there is a Christian theme woven through each of their works.