Verse of the Day

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Fifth Sunday in Lent - Passion Sunday - Propers with explanation – Rev Jack’s Sermon – With Video



Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video RIGHT HERE -> https://youtu.be/eyRSxeR-yhc.


Today’s Collect acknowledges to God we acknowledge without God’s great goodness and divine intervention, we cannot be preserved in either body or soul.   In the Epistle, Paul discusses the failure of the sacrifices of the old covenant and the difference with the new.  The Gospel is another example of the Jews (in this case Pharisees) being very conversant in The Law with absolutely no grasp of its meaning.  In the Gospel, Jesus explained to the Pharisees before Abraham had even been conceived, He was. In fact, Jesus was the one who created this Earth, so He has been around since before the beginning of the planet. The Pharisees could or would not grasp in their heads Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Son of God. They chose to try to destroy His ministry rather than follow Him. He was interfering with their comfortable way of living and deceiving the Jewish people. He was a threat to their system. They would not understand His Message, so they opted to try to destroy Him instead. Great stuff and it all comes together, listen or read to understand how. 


The Propers for today are found on Page 132-133, with the Collect first:

 

The Fifth Sunday in Lent, commonly called

Passion Sunday.

The Collect.

 

W

E beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:

 

The first day of Lent, commonly called
Ash Wednesday.

The Collect.

 

A

LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.

 

The Epistle for today came from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, starting at the Eleventh Verse of the Ninth Chapter.   Paul summarizes both the symbolism and the substance of the Lord’s sacrifice on our behalf.  Paul opens the secret of the One Perfect Sacrifice, One Time, for All Time and All Mankind.  Paul is clearly appealing to the sense of the Jews when he asks them if the blood of goats will set aside or atone for sin, how much more can be done by the Perfect Sacrifice made on our behalf?

 

C

HRIST being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

 

This morning’s Gospel comes from the Gospel of Saint John, starting at the Forty-Sixth Verse of the Eighth Chapter and tells the story of Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in the temple.  Like much of John it is filled with deep explanation of Jesus and His purpose here. 

 

Knowing them looking to find the worst in Him, Jesus asked, “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?”  In a point central to Christianity, he went on, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”  When we hear the term Jews here, we should hear the world in general, for He spoke to all who would not hear.  When they would not hear, He pointed out He sought not glory or praise from them, but only from the Father whom in reality they knew not.  Here He offers the singular benefit of Christianity, “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”  This concept being foreign to them, they asked if He thought He was greater than Abraham.  That brought the crowning touch, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.”  Knowing He was only in his early 30s, they could not grasp how he could have seen Abraham.

 

In a demonstration of the non-linearity of God’s time, He said, “Before Abraham was, I am.[1]”  As might be expected, this offended the Keepers of The Law.

 

J

ESUS said, Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words:  ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you; but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.

 



[1] This response was similar to God’s answer to Moses’ question, “Who do I tell them sent me?”


Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

You can view Rev Jack's sermon on video RIGHT HERE!

https://youtu.be/eyRSxeR-yhc

 

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

 


Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… thy people; … by thy great goodness … may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul …

 

In the Collect, we acknowledge without God’s great goodness and divine intervention, we cannot be preserved in either body or soul.  This is a constant truth through ought the Bible, the New Testament in particular.  Without God’s great goodness we simply cannot be preserved. What does asking for God’s great goodness mean for us? It means when we ask we might be governed and thus preserved by His great goodness, we are in effect asking for His Guidance for us, so we can be preserved in both body and soul. We acknowledge God is the ultimate good and is the source of all truth, and we need His Help if we are to succeed. This concept is constant throughout all the collects. It is constant because it is the truth. We can only follow the narrow uphill path towards heaven with His Goodness and His Guidance.  As always, if we are left to our own devices and desires, we are lost.  Guided means we need to ask, then listen to what He Tells us, then actually follow those instructions.  

 

For those who are not perfect[1], following instructions can be hard at times but it must be done nevertheless. And I have found this holds true in all aspects of live not just our spiritual aspect. However, in all areas without His Guidance we are truly doomed. We must look to Him for the guidance we need to get through the spiritual and physical turmoils of this life. We must trust in Him and not in our own fallible guidance. We on our own volition cannot drive the narrow up hill path towards heaven safely, we must rely on the Holy Ghost as the perfect infallible lead car that we follow for that guidance. The Holy Ghost will always give us perfect directions, however it is on us to act on and follow those directions.

 

Further to this thought, if we are looking to Him for guidance, we then need look to Him for safety.  Safety meaning only the safety of our soul, our eternal life. It does not mean safety from dangers to the body here on Earth. Our bodies are still able to be physically harmed, but our souls are safe from eternal damnation, that is what safety truly means. It also does not mean we are to put ourselves at risk recklessly, but it means we are to have confidence that if we die while doing actions for Him, we are ensured that our souls will be safe and headed towards heaven.

 

However in order to get into heaven one must be perfect. But as we all know as Saint Paul says, all fall short. So how do we get in then? This is quite the accounting dlemma. How do you account us, who are very imperfect creatures as purified and perfect creatures? There is an easy solution for this and that is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Our only means of being accounted as perfect when we come before God is to rely on the sacrifice and intermediary priesthood of His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ to account us as perfect before God on that final day. Christ has replaced the intermediary priesthood of the Jews with himself, our one and only High Intermediary Priest.  Your AOC ministers, while officially titled as priests, are not intermediary priests! The day of the intermediary priests have come and gone for us with the Old Testament in the past. We need only Christ, there are no middle men between us and Jesus.  He is our Savior, our Leader, our Teacher, our Master, our Example! 

 

Christ came to succeed the Old Covenant marked by sacrifices of innocent animals; killing off animals in an effort to atone for our sins really did not do the job.  However as we have stated before, the Old Covenant was a needed step before the New Covenant could occur. It was a way to prepare people for Christ’s coming. They would not have understood His Message otherwise without it. Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection highlighted that His Ministry was all about action. If we truly are believers of Him, we will ACT upon His Word and not just say it. There is truth to the saying that action speak louder than words. 

 

In the Gospel, Jesus explained to the Pharisees before Abraham had even been conceived, He was. In fact, Jesus was the one who created this Earth, so He has been around since before the beginning of the planet. The Pharisees could or would not grasp in their heads Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Son of God. They chose to try to destroy His ministry rather than follow Him.  He was interfering with their comfortable way of living and deceiving the Jewish people. He was a threat to their system. They would not understand His Message, so they opted to try to destroy Him instead. Note the word try. Try as hard as they might, the Pharisees could not interfere with Jesus’s ultimate action for us, his Death and Resurrection upon the cross. Even with the truth of who He was laid bare in front of them, they still chose not to believe. Time and time again we see them confronted with the truth Jesus offers and they always choose to reject it rather than embrace the truth.

 

This is a very common pattern with God’s enemies. Their names and appearances my change, but their inner hearts and souls have not changed over the eons. Their hearts have been blinded by their love of their selves, pride and greed. They cannot see the simple truths we see as followers of God. They look down upon us and think we are the ignorant ones, when reality is the other way around. 

 

They cannot, or will not, see that the priceless gift Jesus came to offer us. Jesus came to save our souls and give us eternal life, eternal life starting right then.  Not just for the Jews and Israel, but the whole wide world, Jew, Gentile, Greek and all others.  Jesus brought salvation and life to the entire world.  That was not what the Pharisees were looking so hard for with their magnifying glasses as they examined Torah and The Law.  They were looking for what would be only a temporary power, power on this physical plane. This pales in comparison to safety and happiness forever, for all eternity.  Pharisees were not big picture people, and as Calvin told Hobbes, We big picture people rarely become historians or Pharisees, I might add.   The Pharisees were very obviously not big picture people; they misinterpreted the prophecies of the Messiah. Regardless, even though some people chose to misunderstand the prophecies, He came and He made that one sacrifice, at one time, for all mankind, for all time. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life[2].

 

Who is Jesus?  Our Savior?  Indeed.  But, more He has been since before the beginning of the world, for He is One with I Am.

 

Through His Actions, we are saved.

 

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



[1] All of us, that is.

[2] If the text of this sentence seems familiar, it is John 3.16, probably the most widely quoted text of the Bible.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Fourth Sunday in Lent - Propers with explanation – Rev Jack’s Sermon – With Video

 

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video here -> https://youtu.be/UJZyeqx-v9I

 

Today’s Collect acknowledges to God we have fallen way short of our goals He set for us and 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 the Epistle, Paul discusses the two covenants, the two parts of this world.  The Gospel is another example of Jesus’ action, not diction.  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. Great stuff and it all comes together, listen or read to understand how. 


The Propers for today are found on Page 130-132, with the Collect first:

 

The Fourth Sunday in Lent.

The Collect.

 

G

RANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:

 

The first day of Lent, commonly called
Ash Wednesday.

The Collect.

 

A

LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.

 

The Epistle for today came from the Fourth Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians beginning at the Twenty-First Verse.

 

Paul talks about the two sons of Abraham, one of the bond, one of the free.  These two, the bond under The Law and the free under The New Covenant.  The people of old are the people of The Law, 613 laws by which they must abide.  Perhaps more properly said in practice that they must work around or evade those 613. Yet, they cannot comply with all the laws nor even work around them.  They are doomed to failure with no help from God.  As people of The New Covenant, the original and real New Deal, we have only to comply with two laws or rules; To love the Lord with all our hearts and to love our neighbor.  Actually, those two are much harder to fully comply with than avoiding the 613 laws of The Law.  But, we have the key – Jesus Christ.  He came to earth not only to lead us to heaven, from the front; but to be a propitiation for our sins, to make us account as perfect to God to allow us to come into His Land.

 

T

ELL me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 

 

This morning’s Gospel comes from the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John beginning at the First Verse. 

 

J

ESUS went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

 

 Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

You can view Rev Jack's sermon on video RIGHT HERE!

https://youtu.be/UJZyeqx-v9I

 

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.  Before we accepted Christ and the Holy Spirit we were like the son of the bondwoman and enslaved to sin. Once we accepted Christ and the Holy Spirit and have made an effort to transform our lives from our old sinful selves as the son of the bond, to the better selves, we are now sons of the freewoman.

 

The son of the bondwoman represents not only our state before Christ but also 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. It did not work that well. 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. It its more efficient than the Old Covenant. However, the New Covenant requires that our actions match our claimed belief in Jesus and God and the Holy Spirt.  However, tempting as it may be to discard the Old Testament entirely, 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 

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Third Sunday in Lent - Propers with explanation – Rev Jack’s Sermon – With Video

  

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video here -> https://youtu.be/TuOZZZN-Yvs

 

Today’s Collect asks God to look into our hearts and see what we really want, tehn to protect us from the snares of this world.  In his letter to the people of Ephesis and us, Paul points out that if we are truly believers in Christ, we must as a matter of choice keep His commandments.  Not that we keep them to be believers, but that if we really believe, we have no choice but to follow His precepts.  In the Gospel Luke relates a story of Jesus casting out a devil from a dumb person and being attacked by the local estabilshment.  His very pointed response bears thinking about.  Luke also relates Jesus’ talling about relapsed Christians.  There is much more to this story than meets the eye.  Great stuff and it all comes together, listen or read to understand how. 


The Propers for today are found on Page 128-130, with the Collect first:

 

The Third Sunday in Lent.

The Collect.

W

 

beseech thee, Almighty God, 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:

 

The first day of Lent, commonly called
Ash Wednesday.

The Collect.

 

A

LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.

 

The Epistle for today came from the Fifth Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians beginning at the First Verse. He echoes the  advice of St. James in his general epistle to be Christians, not just claim to be followers of Christ, when James wrote, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

 

B

E ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

 

This morning’s Gospel comes from the Eleventh Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke beginning at the Fourteenth Verse. 

 

J

ESUS was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.


Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

You can view Rev Jack's sermon on video RIGHT HERE!

https://youtu.be/TuOZZZN-Yvs

 

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. And we cannot try and please both man and God, we have to pick which master we are to serve God, or Satan/man/mammon. I know who I want to serve, do you? Faith without the actions to back it up is a false and meaningless faith. Sadly there are too many people in this world today who call themselves Christians who do not truly act like Christians. We must strive to not be like those people, but strive to be Christian not just in name only but in deed as well. 

 

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. We must emulate the example that Christ Himself set for us in His ministry of action. 

 

Speaking of His ministry, it 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 like the difference between saying we are going to the grocery store and actually getting in the car and driving to the grocery store. 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. He is warning us not to let our natural desires overcome us, but let the Holy Ghost in so we can desire what is good for us, versus what is not good for us as our natural tendency is. We need the Holy Ghost’s help to fight our natural tendency of wanting bad things. We should be doing our best to emulate Christ’s example as much as we are able.

 

As we have discussed many times, 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. 

 

 

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 faithTo 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

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Second Sunday in Lent - Propers with explanation – Rev Jack’s Sermon – With Video



Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video here -> https://youtu.be/9vdNyOpx8J

 

Today’s Collect acknowledges our inability to set our own course in life that would follow God’s Plan for us and our need for His Guidance for both our physical and spiritual needs.  Paul writes to the people of Thessaloniki telling them to follow the guidance de he left them on both their spiritual and physical actions. In the Gospel Matthew relates the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman of Canaan who needed His help for her daughter and the famous quote, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” There is much more to this story than meets the eye.  Great stuff and it all comes together, listen or read to understand how. 


The Propers for today are found on Page 127-128, with the Collect first:

 

The Second Sunday in Lent.

The Collect.

 

 

A

LMIGHTY God, who seest that 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:

 

The first day of Lent, commonly called
Ash Wednesday.

The Collect.

 

A

LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.

 

The Epistle for today comes from the Fourth Chapter of Paul’s First letter to the Thessalonians beginning  at the First Verse.  Apparently the Corinthians were not the only church founded in a Red Light District.  In this letter Paul is telling the people to refrain from random sex and get married.  Paul is starting into the beginning of his New Man concept.  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 happiness.

 

W

E beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.

 

This morning’s Gospel comes from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the Fifteenth Chapter, beginning at the  Twenty-First Verse. 

 

J

ESUS went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

 

This story surfaces again in the Book of Common Prayer in the Prayer of Humble Access, in the Book of Common Prayer, Page 82:

 

W

E do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

 

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

You can view Rev Jack's sermon on video RIGHT HERE

https://youtu.be/9vdNyOpx8J

 


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.

 

The first step of getting onto the narrow uphill path towards heaven is that 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. These things he lists out are things that would derail us if we engaged in those activities. We must seek to not do them and to instead remain on the courseline that the Holy Spirit has outlined for us. 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.  

 

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 must put our nice words into action and not just leave them as words. 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.  This is not a battle that we should be fighting alone, but with support from the Holy Ghost and our Christians and other friends. 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.  This woman had just as much faith in Jesus as the Faithful Centurion. She had faith that He would share His Mercy with her and heal her Daughter. She was rewarded for her faith by Him healing her daughter. 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



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