Fourth Sunday in Lent

 

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

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved …

 

In the Collect, as is often to the case we acknowledge to God we have fallen way short of our goals He set for us. We are also acknowledging we deserve to be punished for our failures; by His Grace we are relieved of that punishment. Jesus accomplished that relieving by laying down His Life so we might be free of eternal damnation. 

                                                                                        

In order for us to enter heaven, we have to be accounted as perfect.  Most of us know we are so far away from perfect, it would not seem to be possible.  

 

How then can we get into heaven, if not by our own means?

 

The answer is simple. God has provided the Way, the one true Way, by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so we might have eternal life, and He also sent the Holy Ghost to help guide us. 

 

At that final judgment day, if we stay the course and follow God’s guidance, we can be accounted as perfect through the Grace of God’s Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Paul is right on point when he talks about the two sons of Abraham, one of the bond, one of the free.  Being adopted into the freewoman’s family requires us to follow Him and His guidance. This gift of eternal life is not free. It was paid for by Jesus’ death on the Cross and it requires us to actively follow and work for Him here on earth. 

 

The son of the bondwoman represents our state before Christ and those who refuse to follow Him.  They are stuck in bondage to their own sinful selves and can never exit that state, except they allow the Holy Ghost into their hearts and redeem themselves. It represents the state of all those who do not have the Holy Ghost within them and us before we let the Holy Ghost into our hearts to regenerate us.

 

The two are representative of the two covenants with God, the bond under The Law and the free under The New Covenant.  

 

The people of old are The People of The Law.  Six Hundred Thirteen Laws each of which they were to follow.  They really did not attempt to follow them, rather to avoid being seen to break them.  A very complex and even more difficult life to live, to comply and uphold those laws and failing. We still fail miserably at times, but we only have two laws, which we will hear about in a second. They are still hard to uphold, but if we manage to, easier to remember.  The big thing to remember about the 613 laws is they could not accomplish what Christ accomplished with His Sacrifice and establishing the New Covenant. The Holy Ghost helps us along the journey to this goal, to bring us to eternal life.

 

The New Covenant is so much less complex than the Old Covenant.  It is much easier to remember the ways of the New than the Old. However, we must remember that the Old Covenant had a purpose. The Old Covenant had to come first to get people’s hearts ready to follow the New Covenant.  For the New Covenant could not be introduced, or in other words, Jesus could not come to Earth until the people were ready for His Teachings. The Old Covenant was a stepping stone to the New Covenant. 

 

Remember this from Holy Communion:

 

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:

 

T

HOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

 

Under the New Covenant, we have only two laws with which we must comply.  But, there is a catch.  We are not to just avoid breaking those two laws, we must actually live them in our hearts, souls, minds AND bodies.  We must actualize them. It is the common theme of Action not just Diction, that appears in sermons past here. The only way in which we can follow these two laws is we have to put them into practice in our day to day lives, which requires Action and not just Diction. The New Covenant is not about following the Law perfectly, but it is about living the spirit of the Law to the best of our abilities.

 

This requires that we act based on what we can and should do, not what we want to do.  What we want to do will not get us the results that acting from following God’s word will.  The results may or not be obvious right away, but they will be soon enough. A hard principle to follow; but in the end, it is the easiest way and worth the struggle to trust God instead of worrying and or doing what we want to do. 

 

What we want to do is very rarely if ever in congruence with God’s Word. We have to realize this and shift our behaviors that are in line with God’s Word and Will.  We must recognize that what we want to do will not benefit us as well in the long run as what God wants us to do.  This is very hard, but it can be done with the help of the Holy Ghost. We just have to let Him into our hearts and provide us that guidance. Once we receive that guidance than we should act upon that guidance.

 

Action will always benefit our spiritual state compared to inaction. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are compelled to act upon our faith. Perhaps not what we want right at the time, but certainly what we need then and in the eternal future.  In the middle of nowhere, two thousand years from the nearest McDonalds, the disciples looked to Jesus to fill the needs of their congregation.  Jesus took what they had and gave them what they needed; “for he himself knew what he would do.”  He acted to help them.  Do ye likewise:

 

ACT

 

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

 

The Third Sunday in Lent

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

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies …

 

In the Collect, we ask God look in to our hearts, and see our desire to be His children and defend us against evil.  That also means we are looking for His Help which comes in the form of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost will assist us in the process of changing of our hearts to actually have “hearty desires” to do His Will and to be “humble servants”, not our usual and customary self-centered selves.  Quite a combination of thoughts in a small bit of verbiage!  It is amazing how much we can put in a short sentence if we use words to their best advantage! If we will be follow Him, He will defend us in all assaults of our enemies. ^[1]  If we will not accept His Help, He will not force it on us.  Back to that old, “Thy will be done.”  The question arises once again, from whose mouth does it proceed, ours or God’s? 

 

Today’s Epistle and Gospel share the same theme. This theme is centered around action. In order to be a Christian, you have to act as a Christian and not just say we are. Jesus’s whole ministry could be summed up in one word, action. Jesus set the ultimate example for us to follow for action.  Saying we are Christians and actually being Christians are two different states of being. It is quite easy to say we are Christians, it is quite another to act like we are. Acting like Christians is a lot harder than just saying we are but it is something we must strive to do if we are to be more like Christ.

 

In his Epistle, Paul tells us in order to live out our faith, we need to make our actions match our stated desires, very much in line with the thought above. Actions! Not just Dictions, but Actions! He points out that our actions have to be in line with that of Scripture and that of Christ’s teachings in order for them to have any meaning. He warns us against acting like many in this world do with unclean thoughts and actions. He says that those folks have no inheritance in the kingdom of God, so let us strive not to be like them. We should be doing our best to emulate Christ’s example as much as we are able.

 

There are too many people who claim to be Christian, yet do not actually act on the principles of Christ and follow His Instructions. They do not truly understand what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is called to a life of action and not just diction. To be Christian, we have to actually follow those said principles. The key word here is following or acting. Action is the central theme of the Christian faith, which was first shown with Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection. He came to act for us, not just to talk or meditate; His great plan involved action, though it was painful, it was His action which released us from the wages of sin. We have to follow His Example that He set for us and live our lives in a manner that reflects we believe the Gospel.

 

Think about the Gospel.

 

It is very important to be unified in our worship and maintain mutual support; a team always beats individuals.  That is not to take away from individuality, but rather to note we need to remember whose side we are on and work together with our teammate. If we are not working together, then we are not truly united under Christ’s banner. And if we are not truly united, then we will not get anywhere in spreading the Gospel for all to hear, learn and understand.

 

We might have individual personality differences, but as long as we all believe on Christ and His Death and Resurrection and Gospel, then those differences we might have with others are minor and not worth arguing or fighting over. We must cast aside our personal feelings about the minor differences and focus on how we can work together with our fellow Christians to further His Mission here on Earth. 

 

In light of this, there are two phrases particularly worth remembering, “a house divided against a house falleth” and “He that is not with me is against me.”  Middle ground exists, but it is quicksand.  Eventually one has to choose a side.  Everybody has to make that choice sooner or later. It is very clear to us what side we should choose. The only rational side to take is that of God, the side that will lead us to eternal life not that of eternal death.

 

And, we cannot keep with the opposition.  It is the natural part of the history of the Bible and of life. We have to choose to follow God, as there is no other reasonable option, which will give us the result following God will result in. We must decide who we will follow. We do not have true faith if we do not act upon the words that our lips speak, of believing in Christ and His Father.

 

Christ himself came not to unite the world, but to divide it, father against son.  In Matthew 10:32-34 He says “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” He is saying here He has not come to unite the World, for the World is not on our side. But to clearly divide the world to show who is with God and who is against God.  He came to highlight who is for Him and who is against Him.

 

For as earlier explained, one man cannot serve two masters. And also the saying of where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. In this life by reading through Scripture we can easily tell who is for Him and who is against Him. It is simple, who holds to the principles of Scripture is for Him. They who do not hold to them are not with Him. 

 

You must keep constant vigilance against backsliding, for a fallen Christian is in worse shape than one who was never exposed to The Word. In order to maintain the constant vigilance you have to always act upon your faith. The Epistle and Gospel both talk about the curious dichotomy; you are saved by faith, Jesus’s faith, and your faith alone saves you, not what you do; yet if you have faith, you must act on that faith. To maintain your Christian course, you must truly turn a new leaf, and not slip back into the old man. This is one of the most difficult challenges as a Christian, but with the help of the Holy Ghost, we each can do it. 

 

You must receive the Word, hear it, and act upon it and spread it joyously to others, in order for your faith to have any meaning at all. Otherwise we will have been for the worse than if we never had heard the Good News. It is not a gift to selfishly lock up, but to share and give to others. That is the true joy of the Good News. It is most certainly more blessed to give than to receive in this case.

 

You must grasp your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your savior and your repentance is the beginning of your life as a New Man in Jesus.  

 

Will you slip?  Without doubt.  But, when you do, will you again repent and continue to do your best to follow the Word of God, the Light and the Truth?  All that matters is you get up and do your best not to do what you did to slip. Life is a continuous learning process. Indeed, if you are a Christian that is what you must do.  We will always slip up in our lives, that is in our fallen nature. But we have to get up and get back on track, using the Holy Gospel to guide us like the instruments in an aircraft.  We cannot trust our feeling, but only our instruments (God’s gift of Holy Scripture).  You are called to believe and act on those beliefs to the best of your ability.  If you do not, then prepared as you were for life, you will so be prepared for the pit.  As you read Luke, remember the second half of the Book of Luke is The ACTS of the Apostles, not thoughts, wishes, prayers or meditations. 

 

For, “blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

 

ACT

It is by our actions we are known.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

---

^[1] A Collect for Peace – 1928 Book of Common Prayer Page 17

The Second Sunday in Lent

 

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

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves; Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul …

 

In the Collect, we acknowledge to God that we cannot direct our own lives; if we listen to our own selves we are without guidance.  Consider the airplane flying, it orders its movements according to Polaris, the Pole Star of True North.  If a pilot flies guided by his “inner self” he soon knows only where he is: at the controls, and little else.  Like the pilot who needs to know where the True North is so he can orient himself, we need God’s guidance to move towards our goal of eternal life with Him. While flying my aircraft in instrument meteorological conditions or IMC , I have to rely on the aircraft instruments as our bodily senses lie to us about our aircrafts true altitude. So too do we have to rely on Scriptures for our guidance on the path towards heaven as our natural inclinations will also lie to us on our true performance. And we also need the help of the Holy Ghost to be our infalliable co pilot and help guide us on the narrow uphill path towards heaven.

 

We have to let Him into our hearts in order to let Him guide us. If we do not do this, then how can we expect to have Him guide us, if we are not open and ready to receive Him and His Guidance? We would be perpetually lost and would never make it onto the narrow uphill path towards heaven. That is why we need to be open and ready to receive the Holy Spirit and His Guidance.

 

Thus, when Paul tells us to keep our bodies under control of our minds and our minds to be guided by God only, He helps move us on course. He tells us to avoid the things that can sabotage our journey towards God and can physically hurt both our souls and body. This ties in very well with the collect’s request for God to keep us outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls. It links the theme of both spiritual and physical moderation extremely well.  We are to be true and honest in all our dealings, both physical and fiscal and to live our faith.  His Epistle ties in well with the theme of the collect to keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls. To do this, we must live the faith. Living the faith requires us to restrain our bodies and our minds from doing foolish/evil actions which hinder our walk towards heaven. This is a very difficult task, one we will slip up from time to time on, but as long as we repent and return back to the course God has set, all will be well.

 

Being honest with others and especially ourselves is one of the most important things we can do. If we are not honest with ourselves to start, how can we be honest with others?  The worst person to lie to is yourself after all. For only by living our faith can we demonstrate that we in fact have faith.  For professed faith with no action when you are able to act is not real.  You must actualize what you claim to believe. We are called to be as God wants us to be, not as we would be without His guidance and help.  God does this, not that we would miss fun, but rather that we would enjoy true happiness.

 

Keeping evil thoughts under control can be a difficult task, but we do not have to face it alone, we have the Holy Ghost in our lives and other Christians and friends that support us and guide us, that can help us battle evil thoughts.  Of course we need to be willing to talk to our good friends within the Church about our problems and evil thoughts and listen to their advice, and more importantly to the Holy Ghost’s advice to combat these evil thoughts and drive away the temptations of the devil.  As we have discussed before, Christianity is not a hermitic religion, but a social one. Christianity did not flourish because its followers were hermits, it flourished because its followers evangelized the religion throughout the known world. It is an active religion and it requires its followers to actively participate in it by spreading the Good news.  It would never have spread as far as it did if it was a hermetic religion.  Keeping our thoughts under control can be almost impossible at times but with the help of the Holy Spirit it is not impossible at all.

 

Matthew gives us a fine example of faith that demonstrates how we must be guided by faith in our Lord.  The woman who cries unto Jesus is a Gentile, just like us.  Just like us she longs for His Mercy.  In her case, she asks only for the mercy rejected by others, the crumbs of the Master’s Table[1].  This is the essence of our faith, we are not worthy to dine at His Table, no more than dogs are meet to dine at our table.  Yet, what is left over is more than enough for us.  And we are content with that, knowing what miserable creatures we are.  And, even more important, even knowing what miserable creatures we are, Jesus offers to share His Table with us.  He is not content for us to grovel for His crumbs. If He offers His love for us, should we not love Him back, by acting upon our faith?  If you truly believe, you are compelled to act upon the faith you have. Action is the key cornerstone of the Christian faith. Jesus afterall laid down His life for ours on the cross that we might have eternal life, the ultimate example of action. If He did that for us, it would be behoove us to act upon our Faith and follow His Example of helping others and leading them to God. 

 

It is also important to understand if one loves God, He still has the exact same amount of love available for any other person or group.  His love is infinite, even if it wasn’t, love multiplies in use! We do not have to worry about God running out of love at all. There is more than enough to go around!

 

Recognize how poorly you do with your own guidance, accept His Guidance, stay on course and accept the fruits of that action.

 

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.

 

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] Sound familiar?  Check out the Prayer of Humble Access, Holy Communion, BCP Page 82.

 

The First Sunday in Lent

 

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

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory …

 

In the Collect, we ask God to help us change our natural evil tendencies so we can live life here His way and honor His wishes so we can be truly happy.  Without His help, we end up with what we want, not what we need.  Lent is the time in which we focus on fighting our sinful selves and working with the Holy Ghost to reconcile us with what God wants for us. What we want is not the same as what we need. We are asking him to help us fight our human nature and follow His divine nature, we are attempting to replace our nature with that of God’s. It is a long and difficult road we must travel, doing this, but we are going to be much happier in the long run if we at least do our best. Do or do not, there is no try, Yoda is quoted as saying, and I find it applicable here and in my own life. We have to act, not just say we are going to act, but we must physically perform ACTIONS!

                                 

Want and Need; two words, used interchangeably in both our speech and thought that do not mean the same thing.  Think about that!

 

Following the thought of the Collect, Paul asks us to be worthy of the grace God has given us.  He tells the people when they needed him, He was there.  Following his example, we need to be there for those around us.  We must not frustrate God’s work by showing up late, or not at all. It all goes back to Jesus’ saying, No man can serve two masters. We have to choose who we are going to serve God or Satan/Mammon and then once we have chosen to serve God, we need to do our best to be there for Him and His People. Action and not just dictions alone are needed to serve God. 

 

Our actions will reflect whom we truly serve,  God or the Forces of Satan. Which side will you serve? You in the end have to choose one side or another. Pick the winning side now, which is the Forces of God, and you will have a rich everlasting life. The key to winning this battle for souls is to never ever ever give up and to trust in God and Dread Naught.  It may get gloomy and depressing sometimes but as long as we turn back to God and His Scriptures and the Church for comfort than all will be well with our souls. And also remembering when we are finished running the race here on Earth so to speak, we will get to spend eternity with God, Jesus and our family who have gone before, it makes bearing the trials and the tribulations of this world a lot easier.

 

When the Devil attempted to tempt Christ, he showed how little he knows of Him.  If we emulate our Lord, it shows how little the Devil will be able to tempt us with his deceit. If we follow Him we will be able to withstand any temptation that arises as our Lord showed for us in the desert 2,000 years ago. 

 

Consider how little the Devil really offers you and how much Christ offers, the temptation is ever so much less.  The Devil is often referred to as the Deceiver or Dissimulator.  His forte is deception; he seems to be one thing, but is another.  He offers what he has no intention or ability to deliver. He actually has zero ability to deliver on his large promises, he has no right to give away what is not his! 

 

The Devil clearly knows Jesus is the Son of God.  There is no doubt in his mind.  So, having understood that, consider what he offers Jesus in temptation.  

 

Remember, Jesus has fasted 40 days OF HIS OWN CHOICE; now comes the devil daring Him to show His Power by turning the stone into bread.  This to the Son of He who delivered manna daily to the Jews in the wilderness for 40 years.  

 

Cast thyself down and let angels catch thee; this to He who walked on water.

 

Up to the mountain lookout – Here is it all yours if you worship me.  This to He, who as it says in Psalm 95:

 

I

N his hand are all the corners of the earth; * and the strength of the hills is his also.

 

The sea is his, and he made it; * and his hands prepared the dry land.

 

O come, let us worship and fall down, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

 

For he is the Lord our God; * and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

 

The devil promised Jesus nothing that was his to give, nothing that would help Jesus in the real world beyond the Shadowlands.  He never does.  The devil is all about shortcuts.  Remember, if the shortcut was the best way, it would not be a shortcut. The devil will not help us at all in the long run, if you look at things from the eternal perspective. That is what we need to keep in mind every time he tempts us.  We have to remember that what the devil offers us will pale in comparison to what God has to offer us and that the way of the devil will cause us more pain here on Earth and a lot more pain after we leave Earth. If we keep that in mind, it makes it ever so much easier to fight off the Devil and his temptaitons.

 

The temptation of Jesus is no different than the Devil’s attempt to tempt us!  The Devil never delivers what we need, only what we, in our imperfection, want.  He can’t understand what we really need, he only knows what we want. This is an advantage we have over him. We understand what we truly need; if we remember it, then holding off against the temptations is easier. Remember as little as the Devil understands of Christ, the same way, as we are in God, so he understands little of us.  He will never offer you real help.  Remember that and the temptation is ever so much less.

 

Or, as my grandfather said, “Keep your eye on the donut, not on the hole”

 

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.

 

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