Bishop Jerry is on travel today and asked that you consider this sermon from Rev Jack.
 |
| The entire AOC Sunday Report is 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.
Once again the propers for this
week come together very well, their focus is narrow, thus powerful.
The
Sunday after Ascension Day.
The
Collect.
O
|
GOD, the King of
glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy
kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us
thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us un-to the same place whither our
Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same
Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
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 …
The Ascension having just
happened, Jesus having ascended in to heaven, we are alone and separated from
God who gives us strength. Like Peter,
the further we are from God, the weaker we are. Thus, we are looking towards Pentecost and the arrival of
the Holy Ghost. We ask for God’s
help that we might have the true belief, courage, knowledge and strength to
follow Jesus to heaven for all eternity.
While the end of the earth and this world may come at
any time, for 285,000 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…” So, how should we act?
We are to do what we can with a smile on our face. We should act as if it was our last day
on earth. In other words, if this was our last day on this planet, how would we
act? That is a question I must ask myself more often and not only ask it, but
answer it. Then once the Holy Spirit has given the answer, we must act upon
that answer. This is a continuous process and we must always prioritize our
work to be for God, our Family and Country in that order and things will fall
in line. Along these lines, we should 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 must give ourselves entirely to help others, so that we may
share the benefits of the Gift of God truly. Then we will know the grace of
God’s love truly. We are to share
the LOVE in our hearts with those we encounter, for Love is of God.
But, without the Holy Ghost, the needed action on our
part is impossible. We need God’s
help and He sent it in the form of the Holy Ghost. He sent it as the
“Comforter”, that is to Comfort us and to Guide us on the journey on the narrow
uphill path towards heaven. The Holy Ghost is that portion of God who can enter
our hearts bringing understanding, hope and most of all the courage and
determination to do what needs be done.
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 with knowing we are following the One True God, and though we may
suffer a while, it is nothing to enjoying eternity with God. We just have to DO
and ACT our best for Him here, though it may be hard, it will be worth it in
the end. The current climate in the world and 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, 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, and 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
