 |
| If you enjoy this, you can read the whole AOC Sunday Report RIGHT HERE! |
Rev Jack Arnold’s Sermon
Church of the Faithful Centurion -
Descanso, California
Today’s sermon
brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the
forewords above.
Consider these words from the
Collect:
… Give us grace to use such
abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit we may ever obey thy
godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory …
In the Collect, we ask God to help us to subdue our
natural evil tendencies so that we can live life here His way and honour His
wishes so we can be truly happy.
Without His help, we end up with what we want, not what we need. We are
asking him to help us fight our human nature and follow His divine nature, we
are attempting to replace our nature with that of God’s. It will be a long and
difficult road that we must travel, doing this, but we are going to be much
happier in the long run if we at least try. Do or do not, there is no try, Yoda
is quoted as saying, and I have found it applicable here and in my own life. We
have to act, not just say we are going to act, but we have to actually
physically perform ACTIONS!
Want and Need; two words, used interchangeably in
both our speech and thought that do not mean the same thing. Think about that!
Following the thought of the Collect, Paul asks us to
be worthy of the grace God has given us.
He tells the people when they needed him, he was there. They need to be there for those around
them. They must not frustrate
God’s work by showing up late, or not at all. We have to put in our 110% for
Him, as He sent His Son to die for us and redeem us, so we should truly show
our gratitude for His act, by serving others and performing actions for Him,
with His Help. We are outnumbered
fiercely in this world, by the enemies of God. We are like the men in the Battle of Ia Drang (also related
to being Paul’s message, the sacrifice of Kenneth Ogles and his fellow men in
the Vietnam theatre, as well as those in WWI, WWII and before, and now.),
fiercely outnumbered by the enemy, they did not just sit on their hands and
wait for the enemy to come. They did something about it, they took action,
otherwise they were going to be overrun by the North Vietnamese. We have to
always keep moving, like the article I read about Wally Kaenzig, a 93 year old
man who is one of the last survivors of the Iwo Jima, he said on Iwo, the big
deal was to keep moving so you didn’t get hit. We want to keep moving and avoid
getting hit by the forces of evil, if we are to minister effectively. Like them, we cannot just sit and wait,
else we will be overrun by the Forces of Satan. We have to do this by doing
actions that are consistent with His Word and show that we truly believe in Him
and not just say we do.
Those around us are watching our actions in the time
of testing. God is also watching
us in the time of testing to see how we perform with the talents He has given
us. Make no mistake it is a hard battle we are fighting, against the forces of
wickedness, of the Devil all across the globe. Our actions will show whom we
truly serve, the forces of God, or the Forces of Satan. Which side will you
serve? You in the end have to choose one side or antoher. Pick the winning side
now, which is the Forces of God, and you will have a rich everlasting life. The
key to winning this battle for souls is to never ever ever give up and to trust
in God and Dread Naught. We have been given eternal salvation by Jesus’
sacrifice, the understanding of the Gospel by the Holy Ghost. We are at this time dying here on
earth, yet progressing towards eternal life in the next world, in Jesus’ world
with His help. While we may never be wealthy here on earth, our actions can
make our fellow Christians wealthy in spirit beyond measure.
If you claim to be a Christian, you know what is
right. If you are a Christian, you
do what is right, you don’t take a vote to see what the right course of action
might be. Right does not change
with public opinion and we must do the right thing. In fact the public opinion
often times is rather in the wrong, see peoples opinions on homosexual marriage
and abortion to reference this. This is because of our fallen nature. We must
go especially against the grain to become Christians. The truth does not
change, as it is the constant that never changes. God is the Truth, The Word
and the Life of this universe. The Truth is God, and like God, the Truth never
changes. It is our actions that
count, in good times or bad. We
are Christ’s ambassadors to this world; unfortunately we do not have diplomatic
immunity.
When the devil attempted to
tempt Christ, he shows how little he knows of Him. If we emulate our Lord, it shows how little the devil will
be able to tempt us with his deceit. If we follow Him we will be able to
withstand any temptation that arises as our Lord showed for us in the desert
2,000 years ago.
Consider how little the devil really offers you and how
much Christ offers, the temptation is ever so much less. The devil is often referred to as the
deceiver or dissimulator. His
forte is deception, he seems one thing, is another. He offers what he has no intention or ability to deliver. He ignores the inevitable result of
accepting his proffered help or inside track. Jesus has more for us than the devil can
ever hope to offer, the promise of eternal life with Him and His Father. The
devil can never offer us anything close to that. We have to remember this next
time the Deciever comes and tempts us for earthly riches and treasures. We also
have to remember that mammon cannot make us happy, only serving God can make us
truly happy. Mammon might offer a fun factor, but only serving God can have
true happiness and bliss that comes from serving Him.
He clearly knows Jesus is the Son of God. There is no doubt in his mind. So, having understood that, consider
what he offers Jesus in temptation.
Remember, Jesus has fasted 40 days OF HIS OWN CHOICE; now comes
the devil daring Him to show His Power by turning the stone into bread. This to the Son of He who delivered
manna daily to the Jews in the wilderness for 40 years.
Cast thyself down and let angels
catch thee; this to He who walked on water.
Up to the mountain lookout – Here
is it all yours if you worship me.
This to He who as it says in Psalm 95:
In his hand are all
the corners of the earth; * and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and
he made it; * and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us
worship and fall down, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord
our God; * and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
The devil promised Jesus nothing
that was his to give, nothing that would help Jesus in the real world beyond
the Shadowlands. He never
does. The devil is all about
shortcuts. Remember, if the
shortcut was the best way, it would not be a shortcut
The temptation of Jesus is no
different than his attempt to tempt us!
The devil never delivers what we need, only what we, in our imperfect
want. Remember as little as the devil
understands of Christ, the same way, as we are in God, so he understands little
of us. He will never offer you
real help. Remember that and the
temptation is ever so much less.
Or, as my grandfather said, “Keep your eye on the
donut, not on the hole”
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
