The Sunday after Ascension Day

  

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

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

 

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

 

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

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

 

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

 

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

                                                                                   

The end of the earth and this world may come at any time, indeed for 313,000 people each day, their time here is up.  Thus, in a very real sense as Saint Peter put it, “The end of all things is at hand…”  He counsels us to live each day as if it were going to be our last. Thus, we should act as if it was our last day on earth and do our jobs with smiles on our faces knowing our eternal destination is secure as long as we do our best to follow Him.  This puts things into perspective for us and should make us more mindful of what we need to do to follow Him.

 

Jesus left us so that the Holy Ghost could come down and dwell amongst us and in us to provide us with the guidance we need to follow God. Without Jesus leaving, the Holy Ghost could not come down and dwell amongst us. With Jesus’s departure, the Holy Ghost was free to descend and enter into our hearts, souls and minds upon invitation. 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Pray for His continual presence in your heart.

 

Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

It is by our actions we are known.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

Fifth Sunday after Easter commonly called Rogation Sunday

Rogation Sunday

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The main thing to remember is “Ask and ye shall receive.”  For, if you do not ask, you cannot receive.

Rev Jack's sermon can be view 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. 

 

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

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

 

As we near the Ascension and thus Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, we ask for God’s “holy inspiration we may think those things that are good.”  We need help from the Holy Ghost to direct our souls to the things we cannot see as good without His Help.   Once we see them, we need His “merciful guiding”so we “may perform the same…”.  After all, what good is it to know what we should do, if we won’t, can’t or don’t do it? In short we need God’s help to think good thoughts and then to act upon those good thoughts which when translated into action are good deeds. The point of the Collect is without God’s help, we cannot think or do anything that is truly righteous. Only by having God help us are we capable of any righteous actions.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

We have to listen to His Answer and think on it and then act upon His Answer and not just dismiss it. Dismissing it is all too easy for us to do, since we are naturally inclined to follow our own desires, not His. But we have to think that dismissing His Answers will not gain us anything in the long or short term.  We need to listen to His Answers and then act upon them, the key to true happiness within our lives. We need to realize that without God’s guidance in our lives, we are doomed, but with His Guidance in our lives there is no limit to what we can accomplish for Him.

 

We have to realize what we truly need and ask that He will open our hearts, minds and souls to His answer that we might act upon His answer. The critical portion is we act upon the answer that we are given, to do our best for Him so our friends, family and coworkers and neighbors might see the light we shine for Him and see who we follow in word and in deed. 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Ø  Talk the Talk;

       AND

Ø  Walk the Walk.

 

It is an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

It is by our actions we are known.

                                 Be of God - Live of God - Act of God 

Fourth Sunday after Easter

Rev Jack's Sermon is 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. 

 

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found…

 

The very first phrase is critical to understanding the world and our place in it.  We want to follow our own hearts, that is the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, which will lead us not to heaven but to hell if left unchecked. This explains why the world is in such a horrible mess, as people by and large are naturally inclined to sin rather than follow God. Just think, all of problems of this world could be easily prevented if people would just open their hearts to God and the Holy Ghost. Alas since people are naturally resistant to God, there will always be some sort of evil in this world. The only goodness in this world comes from those who have the Holy Ghost in their hearts and reject the wicked ways of our natural inclinations and Satan. We are called to not be a part of the world, and be set aside that is to say holy. The Holy Ghost will help us be holy, if we will but let Him into our hearts.

 

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

 

Our life will be better when we follow His directions and if we will allow God to rule us and desire His help, we will be able to attain the state of happiness we will then deserve. He knows what is right and what is wrong for us. He does not want us to lead so called puritanical lives with no fun allowed whatsoever, but we must have fun the right way and not the wrong way. The right way can lead to a lifetime of happiness, whereas the wrong way leads to a life time of misery. It is as St. Paul says moderation in all things. Too much of a good thing can end up becoming a very bad thing. This is why God puts limits on us, not to punish us, but to help us live our lives in a spiritual and a physically healthier manner.

 

Many people think that God forbids things for us, because He does not want us to have fun. Nothing can be further from the truth. He forbids things harmful for our spiritual well being, and allows us to have clean spiritual, joyous things in our life to develop our spiritual well being. Those people confuse the things that are harmful for our spiritual well being with fun and think that the things that are actually helpful for our spiritual well being are not fun. When it is completely not the case. The Holy Spirit will help us to truly see what is harmful for us and what is not harmful for us.

 

We need God’s help (this is one of the places the Holy Ghost comes in) to be able to want for ourselves that which He Wants for us.  The Collect asks us to allow God into our hearts to bend our will towards His Will and His Wants.  If we can desire what He Wants, our ability to follow His Instructions will be much enhanced. And not only will they be much enhanced, but the more we follow His Instructions, the easier it will be for us to continue on that straight and narrow path towards heaven. It is like practicing any sort of learned skill, the more you practice at it the better you will get. Of course, we will never be fully perfect at it, but as long as we keep doing our best to get as close as we can to perfection, that is all that matters.

 

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

 

So, how can we hear?

 

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

 

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

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

It is by our actions we are known.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

 

Third Sunday after Easter

  

 

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

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

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

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

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… who showest to them that are in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness; Grant unto all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Religion, that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same…

 

God is a Triune God; Father, Son, Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost’s job is to open our souls, hearts and minds to God’s Will.  It is to help us see where we are in error and how to fix those errors.  Thus, open our “ears” to His Voice so we can listen and make our improvements based on His Words.  He is there to guide us when we have gone astray from the path. What the Collect asks is we let the Holy Ghost in so He can change us.  Without the Holy Ghost, change is impossible.   Consider this quote from Jack Lewis out of Mere Christianity:

 

“When He said, ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder—in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

 

It does not matter if it is hard for us to listen to the Holy Ghost, we must do it.  He is our perfect instructor and if we will listen to Him, God will always provide the light to show us where “We have erred, and strayed from His ways like lost sheep. Where we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. Where we have offended against His holy laws. Where we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done[1]…”   He will shine His Light onto the dark areas in our heart and souls so we can focus on removing those evil attributes and replacing them with more Godly attributes. We just have to focus on letting Him into our hearts, souls, minds and bodies that he might be able to help us change our course guidance. In order to do that, we can’t resist Him, we have to let Him in. He will not force his way in, He has to be invited in.

 

The Holy Ghost does this this so that we can remain on the course which brings us to His World.  For without that guiding light, we will be forever lost on the path to darkness. He is our infallible navigator/GPS. If we will always rely on Him, He shall never fail us. We more have to worry about failing Him than Him failing us. 

 

Then we can shine that Light for others to see, to lead them to that Light, that they might pick up their torches and bring His Light into the darkness of the world, be it the Western Civilized Word or the Eastern World. First, we have to let His Light into our hearts before we can shine it to others that they may see the works of His Light. We cannot lead others to a Light we do not have within us. So, we must first make sure we have the Light of the Holy Ghost within us before we can think of leadings others to that Light.

 

We must start in our own little corner of the world and work our way outward.  That is the best place to start. We cannot change the whole world at once, but it must be changed by us, individually, one little corner of the world at a time. We are always striving to work towards total transformation of our area to the light. However, we will always find opposition from evil. If evil is thwarting our efforts then we all must put in 110% to stop evil and combat it across the world wherever it is. We must never, never, never, ever give up on this fight.  

 

We must fight evil wherever and whenever we run across it. Evil anywhere is Evil everywhere[2].  We must not let the little and big evils in this life get us down or defeat us. We must rely on the guiding power of the Holy Ghost and God’s unlimited grace to save the day. His Grace can help you out of any horrific situation; only if you ask for and accept His help, which is a universal theme in our sermons here, because it is a truth and one that Jesus preached, that is that we have to accept Him into our hearts, if we are to become truly Christians. 

 

Peter tells us our actions need to be consistent with the principles of Scripture and of Jesus’ message. In short, we need to be good citizens, be good neighbors, take particular care of our Christian family.  In short, do what Christ would do, as far as it is in us. We need to cling to the good and reject the evil thoughts and actions of our old sinful selves.  Let us do our best to think, in hard and trying times, what would Jesus do in our situation, and then act in a manner most like Him. In order to make the world a better place, we first have to start with our selves then work out word, applying the principles of Christ to our lives. God does not ask us to be perfect; He does ask us individually to do our best to try to be perfect, to follow Jesus’ lead to the extent we have it in us.  Each of us is different, some are in truth less bad than others.  God holds us each to the same standard, that is to do our best. 

 

We are not competing against each other. All of us in the Church are on the same team. We are just called to do the best individually for our Team and to stay on that narrow uphill path towards heaven. We are also called to encourage and support each other on that trek on the uphill path towards heaven.

 

In the Gospel according to Saint John, Jesus tells of His impending bodily death and resurrection.    He reminds us if we have eternal life, sorrow, even the sorrow of death is transient, for He has conquered death. It is a very minor thing in the long term view the sorrow of a temporary parting of a loved one. For that is all that is, if we put our trust and hope in God and do our very best to follow Him.  We have to keep this in mind throughout our travel along the straight and narrow upward path. His One Sacrifice, made One Time, for All Mankind, for All Time is that joy that no man can take from us.  But, if we want to share in that eternal life, we need to see the error of our ways in the Light of His Light and take actions to follow Him.

 

Often it seems much easier to take the path of least resistance, to quit our work at the first sign of effort, to goof off when “no one” is looking.  But in the end, the right thing to do is always the easiest, the most profitable.  The one that will result in happiness.  It might seem hard, but it will not be as hard as doing the “easy” thing.

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

It is by our actions we are known.

 

As we go off on our business, please recall this quote from GK Chesterton:

 

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

---

[1] General Confession – BCP Page 6

[2] Lord of the Rings

Saint Philip and Saint James superseding the Second Sunday after Easter

Rev Jack's sermon is 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. 

We are in the Easter Season which consists of Easter and the following four Sundays, through Rogation Sunday.  This is a time we should work on centering our lives on the central figure in our religion, Jesus Christ.   Today, we recall the memories of two of the great apostles, Philip and James and supersede the normal propers with those dedicated to the two.

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that, following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life…

 

We ask God to give us perfect knowledge that his Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ of God, is the truth, and the life we seek, we need and in fact require to be truly happy or at one with Him.  We ask that, so like Philip and James we might stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life.   What is The Way, The Truth, and The Life?

 

The Way

These terms are really intertwined.  Jesus way of living, His approach to life in general, His priorities, His way of thinking, His sense of duty, His sense of honor.  All these things are represented by The Way.

 

The Truth

Jesus, like His Father whom we call our God, is perfect, thus always truthful, thus His story never changes, His standards never change, He does not evolve.  When He says something it is right and it stays right.

 

The Life

Jesus created the earth and all that is therein.  The Holy Ghost breathed life into the world and it was.  He came into this world in human form knowing how He would leave.  He did this that we might have life everlasting starting the very instant we accepted Him into our souls.  Think about the scripture, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) Many have participated in actions that meant almost certain death to save or rescue comrades, friends or family.  But, to come into this world, to assume the form of a human being, which for the Son of God must have been like us assuming the identity of a monkey or maybe a cockroach, to live in a time of hardship amongst people who for the most part barely got along, to try to lead them to God and then die a terrible death on the Cross at the hands of the very people he came to save.   To do all that knowingly, with full knowledge aforethought.  That is the action of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

In the Epistle James mentions that in times of trials and difficulty, our patience will be tested and we will need all the patience we can get. Therefore, he urges us to ask God for that patience, that we might withstand those trails and temptations. He says if we have any trouble with wisdom in our situations, to ask God and the Holy Ghost for that wisdom and they will provide. We just have to allow the Holy Ghost into our hearts so he might spread that wisdom into our hearts and souls. James goes on to say we must have conviction in our faith and not waver. He says the one who wavers is not sure or steady within their faith and can call to the slightest temptations.

 

Then I think we should ask for God to strengthen our faith, that we can resist all temptations and endure all the trials and difficulties of this world. Our eternal life with God will be worth all of the pain and suffering we have to endure here on Earth.

Speaking of eternal life with God, the Gospel mentions that Jesus is going to prepare places for us with God. He assures us that if he is going to prepare a place for us, that means he will come back for us to escort us to those places. Thomas then asks Him saying they did not know where he was going and how would we know the way?

 

Jesus responds to Him saying He is the One Way, and no man can come unto the father but by Him. What does that mean for people of other faiths? We do not know and cannot know for sure. All we know for sure, is that Jesus is our way and there is no other way to get to heaven but by Him. Phillip then asks Him to show them God the Father and that would suffice.

Jesus responds with if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father which goes into the Triune God concept. He mentions the words that he speaks, he speaks not from himself, but from the Father who dwelleth within Him. We do not know exactly how this works, but we must trust and believe what Jesus says.

 

He goes onto to point out whoever truly does believe in Him, will do actions like Jesus would act, because they would have the faith of Jesus. He mentions that this would be possible when He goes to the Father. This would seem be be a prelude of sorts to the Holy Ghost coming down at Pentecost, when He makes His First Appearance. The message of Jesus is clear, whosever believes on Him, would do actions that reflect that of Christ and His Faith. Jesus is calling us to action here, not just talk the talk, but we must walk the walk as well. 

 

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